diff --git a/MANIFEST b/MANIFEST
index 5b63595..84782f9 100644
--- a/MANIFEST
+++ b/MANIFEST
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ MANIFEST.SKIP
 README.md
 t/00-load.t
 t/10-new.t
+t/30-basics.t
 t/carp.t
 t/comment-spelling.t
 t/coverage.t
@@ -24,10 +25,10 @@ t/noopentickets.t
 t/noplan.t
 t/obituaries.t
 t/pod-cm.t
+t/pod-snippets.t
 t/pod-spelling.t
 t/pod-synopsis.t
 t/pod.t
-t/snippets.t
 t/strict.t
 t/unused.t
 t/vars.t
diff --git a/lib/Genealogy/ObituaryDailyTimes.pm b/lib/Genealogy/ObituaryDailyTimes.pm
index 04f2ede..376c7b4 100644
--- a/lib/Genealogy/ObituaryDailyTimes.pm
+++ b/lib/Genealogy/ObituaryDailyTimes.pm
@@ -147,32 +147,35 @@ sub _create_url {
 }
 
 # Helper routine to parse the arguments given to a function,
+# Processes arguments passed to methods and ensures they are in a usable format,
 #	allowing the caller to call the function in anyway that they want
 #	e.g. foo('bar'), foo(arg => 'bar'), foo({ arg => 'bar' }) all mean the same
 #	when called _get_params('arg', @_);
 sub _get_params
 {
-	my $self = shift;
+	shift;  # Discard the first argument (typically $self)
 	my $default = shift;
 
-	my %rc;
+	# Directly return hash reference if the first parameter is a hash reference
+	return $_[0] if(ref $_[0] eq 'HASH');
 
-	if(ref($_[0]) eq 'HASH') {
-		%rc = %{$_[0]};
-	} elsif((scalar(@_) % 2) == 0) {
+	my %rc;
+	my $num_args = scalar @_;
+
+	# Populate %rc based on the number and type of arguments
+	if(($num_args == 1) && (defined $default)) {
+		# %rc = ($default => shift);
+		return { $default => shift };
+	} elsif($num_args == 1) {
+		Carp::croak('Usage: ', __PACKAGE__, '->', (caller(1))[3], '()');
+	} elsif(($num_args == 0) && (defined($default))) {
+		Carp::croak('Usage: ', __PACKAGE__, '->', (caller(1))[3], "($default => \$val)");
+	} elsif(($num_args % 2) == 0) {
 		%rc = @_;
-	} elsif(scalar(@_) == 1) {
-		if(defined($default)) {
-			$rc{$default} = shift;
-		} else {
-			my @c = caller(1);
-			my $func = $c[3];	# calling function name
-			Carp::croak('Usage: ', __PACKAGE__, "->$func($default => " . '$val)');
-		}
-	} elsif((scalar(@_) == 0) && defined($default)) {
-		my @c = caller(1);
-		my $func = $c[3];	# calling function name
-		Carp::croak('Usage: ', __PACKAGE__, "->$func($default => " . '$val)');
+	} elsif($num_args == 0) {
+		return;
+	} else {
+		Carp::croak('Usage: ', __PACKAGE__, '->', (caller(1))[3], '()');
 	}
 
 	return \%rc;
diff --git a/t/carp.t b/t/carp.t
index 6c63ccb..8dd9f16 100644
--- a/t/carp.t
+++ b/t/carp.t
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ SKIP: {
 
 	my $search = new_ok('Genealogy::ObituaryDailyTimes' => [ directory => 'lib/Genealogy/ObituaryDailyTimes/data' ]);
 
-	does_carp_that_matches(sub { my @empty = $search->search(); }, qr/^Value for 'last' is mandatory/);
+	does_croak_that_matches(sub { my @empty = $search->search(); }, qr/^Usage: .*last/);
 	does_carp_that_matches(sub { my @empty = $search->search(last => undef); }, qr/^Value for 'last' is mandatory/);
 	does_carp_that_matches(sub { my @empty = $search->search({ last => undef }); }, qr/^Value for 'last' is mandatory/);
 	done_testing();
diff --git a/t/critic.t b/t/critic.t
index b954bf3..0ecea67 100644
--- a/t/critic.t
+++ b/t/critic.t
@@ -2,16 +2,11 @@
 
 use strict;
 use warnings;
+
+use Test::DescribeMe qw(author);
 use File::Spec;
 use Test::Most;
+use Test::Needs 'Test::Perl::Critic';
 use English qw(-no_match_vars);
 
-if($ENV{AUTHOR_TESTING}) {
-	eval 'use Test::Perl::Critic';
-
-	plan(skip_all => 'Test::Perl::Critic not installed; skipping') if $@;
-
-	all_critic_ok();
-} else {
-	plan(skip_all => 'Author tests not required for installation');
-}
+Test::Perl::Critic::all_critic_ok();
diff --git a/t/pod-snippets.t b/t/pod-snippets.t
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ccf91ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/pod-snippets.t
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+#!perl -w
+
+use strict;
+use warnings;
+
+use Test::DescribeMe qw(author);
+use Test::Most;
+use Test::Needs 'Test::Pod::Snippets';
+
+my @modules = qw/ Genealogy::ObituaryDailyTimes /;
+Test::Pod::Snippets->import();
+Test::Pod::Snippets->new()->runtest(module => $_, testgroup => 1) for @modules;
+
+done_testing();
diff --git a/t/pod-spelling.t b/t/pod-spelling.t
index 5aa2f56..5199742 100644
--- a/t/pod-spelling.t
+++ b/t/pod-spelling.t
@@ -3,19 +3,14 @@
 use strict;
 use warnings;
 
+use Test::DescribeMe qw(author);
 use Test::Most;
+use Test::Needs 'Test::Spelling';
 
-if($ENV{AUTHOR_TESTING}) {
-	eval 'use Test::Spelling';
-	if($@) {
-		plan(skip_all => 'Test::Spelling required for testing POD spelling');
-	} else {
-		add_stopwords(<DATA>);
-		all_pod_files_spelling_ok();
-	}
-} else {
-	plan(skip_all => 'Author tests not required for installation');
-}
+Test::Spelling->import();
+
+add_stopwords(<DATA>);
+all_pod_files_spelling_ok();
 
 __END__
 CPANTS
diff --git a/t/snippets.t b/t/snippets.t
deleted file mode 100644
index 4f07d99..0000000
--- a/t/snippets.t
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,24 +0,0 @@
-#!perl -wT
-
-use strict;
-use warnings;
-use File::Spec;
-use Test::Most;
-
-if($ENV{AUTHOR_TESTING}) {
-	eval 'use Test::Pod::Snippets';
-
-	if($@) {
-		plan(skip_all => 'Test::Pod::Snippets required for testing POD code snippets');
-	} else {
-		my $tps = Test::Pod::Snippets->new();
-
-		my @modules = qw/ Genealogy::ObituaryDailyTimes /;
-
-		$tps->runtest(module => $_, testgroup => 1) for @modules;
-
-		done_testing();
-	}
-} else {
-	plan(skip_all => 'Author tests not required for installation');
-}
diff --git a/t/strict.t b/t/strict.t
index 458516a..6223d49 100644
--- a/t/strict.t
+++ b/t/strict.t
@@ -9,4 +9,4 @@ use Test::Needs 'Test::Strict';
 
 Test::Strict->import();
 all_perl_files_ok();
-warnings_ok('lib/CGI/Info.pm');
+warnings_ok('lib/Genealogy/ObituaryDailyTimes/obituaries.pm');