The Jana Bibi Series
Emeralds Included (Book 3) 
Feathers fly and cultures clash as the Jolly Grant House prepares to welcome a special delivery from Scotland
In the third installment of the Jana Bibi series, Betsy Woodman takes us back to the Jolly Grant house for the arrival of Jana’s son, Jack, from Scotland, and his Hungarian bride-to-be, Katarina Esterhazy. The whole gang is excited to welcome their international visitors—and Jana is determined to repair the house to Jack’s high standards and those of her grandfather, from whom she inherited the eccentric building. But this puts a strain on Jana, both emotionally and financially, and she risks her most prized and valuable possession—the (surprisingly real!) emeralds she got from the Treasure Emporium—to help her through it. Learn more…
Love Potion Number 10 (Book 2) 
Jana and the gang seem happily settled, but a mysterious imposter threatens the Jolly Grant House and Mr. Ganguly is in danger. Meanwhile, a locally-made potion has love on everyone’s mind.
The Jolly Grant House still welcomes visitors with the sign Jana Bibi’s Excellent Fortunes hanging proudly outside its front door. Jana’s fortune-telling has brought fame to Hamara Nagar, and now that the dust has settled and the town won’t be flooded by a government dam, all eyes are on Jana and her loose-beaked parrot, Mr. Ganguly. Some people, though, are not to be trusted, and Mr. Ganguly finds himself the target of a potential kidnapping that puts Jana and her household on edge. Learn more…
Jana Bibi’s Excellent Fortunes (Book 1) 
Meet Jana Bibi, a Scottish-Indian woman making her home in a quirky old house in the Himalayas and accumulating an eccentric family.
Janet Laird’s life changes the day she inherits her grandfather’s house in a faraway Indian hill station. Ignoring her son’s arguments to come grow old in their family castle in Scotland, she moves with her chatty parrot, Mr. Ganguly and her loyal housekeeper, Mary, to Hamara Nagar, where local merchants are philosophers, the chief of police is a tyrant, and a bagpipe-playing Gurkha keeps the wild monkeys at bay. Settling in, Jana Bibi (as she comes to be known) meets her colorful local neighbors—Feroze Ali Khan of Royal Tailors, who struggles with his business and family, V.K. Ramachandran, whose Treasure Emporium is bursting at the seams with objects of unknown provenance, and Rambir, editor of the local newspaper, who burns the midnight oil at his printing press. When word gets out that the town is in danger of being drowned by a government dam, Jana is enlisted to help put it on the map. Hoping to attract tourists with promises of good things to come, she stacks her deck of cards, readies her fine-feathered assistant—and Jana Bibi’s Excellent Fortunes is born. Learn more…
Here’s an audio clip on how I happened to write Jana Bibi’s Excellent Fortunes. Have a listen:
JanaBibi-Audio
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