Painting: The Monarch of the Glen by Edwin Henry Landseer {{PD-US}}
Wet heather brushed his chin and drenched his pants, while his lungs filled with the heady scent of earth and musty, damp tweed. He felt more like a predator than ever before, his heart pumping with the mounting adrenaline of the chase.
“It’s your shot, lad.”
Andy wriggled closer. Next moment, the smooth wooden stock of the rifle was in his hands. He lifted his head and felt sweat collecting in the space between his eyebrows and the peak of his cap.
He put his eye to the scope. The stag, sleek and majestic, was in beautiful condition—but he could see the reason Hector had singled it out. A limp was clear as it took a few paces forward to reach a juicy clump of heather.
His breath eased in as the cross-hairs came halfway up its chest and just behind its shoulder. He watched it for a moment, enveloped in deep quiet as time itself seemed to wait for the shot. He clicked the safety off, and found the trigger with his index finger.
The stag raised its head, ears pricked, nose high, its senses on full alert . . .
…
© C. R. Hedgcock
Note: Hunting can be a controversial subject. In Scotland, deer populations have no natural predators and need human regulation in order to maintain healthy herds and habitat.
crhedgcock.com 
I can’t wait to read it!!
I can’t wait until it’s released! 🙂
Sounds great! Can’t wait to read it!!
We can’t wait!!!!
I’m so excited!
Do you know when it will be released?
Lord willing, before Christmas! 🙂
That’s amazing!!!! You are such a talented writer.
Looking forward to it!
Wow!!! Can’t wait!!
I am so exited! I can’t wait to read it! It sounds so cool!!!
Cool!!!!!!! How old is Andy, Abby, Tom, and Phill in this book?
I think they’ll be the same age.
Maybe
Wow!!! On the top-most heights of excitement!!!! My family and I CANNOT wait until it’s released!!!! Doing a fantastic job!!!!:):):)
So excited! My friend keeps asking me when the next book comes out:)
Mine are too! I know for sure that there are at least a baker’s dousin Baker Book fans in the state of Idaho.
You couldn’t be more right!!!!!
Miss Hedgcock, are you plotting this book out ahead of time or are you winging it? Also, do you have a sense of how long it will be chapter wise? I am so exited! It’s totally ok if you don’t read this, just keep on writing! 😉
Hello Jubilee 🙂 Yes, I’ve plotted the story with enough detail and structure to know what happens next, while allowing just enough free rein for each scene to have the potential to surprise me. I’m not sure about the chapter count yet 🙂
I am anticipating the day it releases.
My Brother and I are both excited for the book to come out!!
Is the character we haven’t heard from in a while a protagonist or an antagonist?
Sounds awesome! I can’t wait to read it!!!!!
Do you have your plot finished, or are you still revising it? I love writing, and it is so interesting to me to see how other people do it as well.
Hi Isabelle,
The plot structure for this one is fairly settled, but I love to have room for imagination as I work. So I might know *what* has to happen in a given scene, but allow myself the freedom to figure out the most compelling *way* that happens when I’m in the moment. 🙂
Will you have detective Mortermoir back?
There’s a conversation in the comments on the Announcing Baker 7 page. I think that should answer you question. It’s the 100th comment on the page, by Isabelle.
It’s a comment about Mortimer.
thanks.
I am so excited!!!!!!!!!