Forget Ho Ho Ho, if you’re a menopausal woman your holiday chant is more like Hot Hot Hot.

Wear that really cute Christmas sweater to a party? Not if I don’t want to melt into a puddle on the floor! In fact, at a holiday wine exchange party last weekend, I wore a sleeveless summer top – and I was sweating bullets!

I don’t love my upper arms, and there are so many cute outfits out there, but my mistress is my sweat glands and they rule above all else!

I have to admit, I really do resent seeing all of those cute outfits walking around on somebody else; outfits like the ones I used to wear all the time. But these days, when I spend the money and effort on a “put-together”outfit, menopause robs me of the ability to look and feel chic for the day; invariably something will have to come off! It’s a topic I touch on in my newly released book: Is It Still Murder, Even If She Was a Bitch?

Is It Still Murder, Even If She Was a Bitch?

My protagonist, Donna Leigh, is a menopausal business owner and amateur sleuth. Although not obsessive about it, she occasionally references menopausal inconveniences, such as in this quote from an early passage where she and her two colleagues are heading to the scene of the murder in search of clues:

True to her word Babs and Peg were waiting at the elevators at precisely 11:30.

“Okay,” I exclaimed, “Road trip.” And we were off.

Once we settled into my car, Babs and Peg were anxious to talk about all the excitement of the past couple of days. So for the next few minutes the car buzzed with the chatter of three fifty-something menopausal, maybe post-menopausal women – all of us colleagues and all acquaintances of the victim. Peg and Babs were attired in their office uniform of jeans and a sweater, while I wore my standard black pants and a black t-shirt. My regulation-issue black jacket had been cast off due to an early menopausal heat wave that morning. After spending the bulk of my career in the Northeast, my wardrobe pretty much consisted of all black all the time. Even though that religiously adhered-to uniform did not exist out here in the heartland, I was now at a stage of life where the slenderizing aspects of all black made it seem like the most logical wardrobe guideline to embrace. Besides, it made accessorizing a breeze!

Even when her focus is on the murder of a former colleague, menopausal symptoms demand her attention and end up keeping her from wearing the outfit that she had planned for that day. No longer does she leave her jacket on for a more polished look, nor shed her jacket to get more comfortable. Donna’s outfit is controlled exclusively by her menopausal temperature gauge – and that’s just her life now. The choice is not hers.

Writing about Donna’s trials with menopausal heat fluctuation was easy – because that’s how it is for me too. I plan business outfits based on the ability to strip off layers, and when I entertain I just go right to the sleeveless, light material garments – there’s just no point in getting my hopes up on a Christmas sweater – they don’t make them in gauze without sleeves, do they?

For more information on: Is It Still Murder, Even If She Was a Bitch? click on www.rldonovan.com.