My new book of Sherlock Holmes stories is on preorder now on multiple sales channels. It contains ten new stories, written in the style of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Read of Holmes’s first case after he arrives in London, as he becomes known as The Wizard of Montague Street. Follow Holmes and Watson in The Adventure of the Persistent Pugilist, as they investigate Another Case of Identity, encounter The Witch of Ellenby, and more. Expeirence the joy of reading brand new Holmes stories once again!
Here are some of the preorder links. More will be added in time.
The latest book in the Natalie McMasters Mysteries, Sister!, will begin it’s virtual book tour on January 2. Each day, Sister! will be featured on a different blog. There will be excerpts, author interviews, reviews and more! Please visit each host listed below to show your support. And enter the giveaway to win a FREE copy of Sister!
In Nine Elms, Robert Bryndza introduces us to Kate Marshall, criminology professor at a small college in the UK, and former police detective who left the force after catching a serial killer. Kate fell into serious drinking when she found out she was pregnant by the killer, but she had the child and got sober in AA, and is trying to start a new life. But then, an eerily familiar killing spree starts again… Kate and her academic assistant and investigative partner Tristan find themselves tracking the killer. The story has a lot of twists and turns and Kate and Tristan prove to be likeable characters you can root for. However, I docked the book a star because I thought the ending was a bit contrived and predictable. That doesn’t mean that I found Nine Elms a less than enjoyable read.
Three new volumes of the wildly successful MX Books of New Sherlock Holmes Stories will soon be released by MX Publishing. The release will comprise parts XXII, XXIII, and XXIV. With this release, the series has grown to over 500 new Holmes adventures by nearly 250 contributors from around the world. The theme is Some More Untold Tales, meaning adventures that were alluded to in the original stories by Sir Artur Conan Doyle, but that he never got around to writing. My new story, Another Case of Identity, will be found in Part XXIV.
The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories was first published in 2015. It was a huge three-book set featuring over sixty new traditional Holmes exploits, all set within the correct time period. It was wildly successful, sparking the demand for even more traditional Holmes adventures
Each volume in the latest release contains forwards by the noted Sherlockians Otto Penzler, Roger Johnson, Lizzy Butler, Steve Emecz, and David Marcum, as well as stories by the following contributors:
Part XXII: 1877-1887
S.F. Bennett, William Todd, Geri Schear, Susan Knight, David Marcum, Bob Bishop, Tracy J. Revels, Chris Chan, Richard Paolinelli, Derrick Belanger, Stephen Mason, Leslie Charteris and Denis Green, Tim Symonds, Liese Sherwood-Fabre, Ian Ableson, Chris Chan, Mark Mower, Robert Stapleton, Roger Riccard, Kevin P. Thornton, and Denis O. Smith , and a poem by Christopher James
Part XXIII: 1887-1894
Will Murray (2 stories), Tim Gambrell (2 stories), Craig Janacek, I.A. Watson, Jane Rubino, Paul Hiscock, Hugh Ashton, Mike Chinn, Shane Simmons, Dacre Stoker and Leverett Butts, David Marcum, Matthew J. Elliott, Paul D. Gilbert, Tracy J. Revels, Margaret Walsh, Arthur Hall, Barry Clay, Steven Philip Jones, Jan van Koningsveld, and Marcia Wilson, and a poem by John Linwood Grant
Part XXIV: 1895-1903
Marcia Wilson, Brenda Seabrooke, Stephen Herczeg, Tracy J. Revels, Kevin P. Thornton, Thomas A. Burns, Jr., Dick Gillman, Jayantika Ganguly, John Davis, DJ Tyrer, Harry DeMaio, Arthur Hall (2 stories), Susan Knight, David Marcum, Craig Stephen Copland (2 stories), Gayle Lange Puhl, John Lawrence, John Linwood Grant, and Paula Hammond, and a poem by Joseph W. Svec III
The series is particularly noteworthy because all of the stories are strictly canonical – there are no anachronisms, supernatural events, or other occurrences not justified by Doyle’s original stories. Any of the stories in these volumes could have appeared in the Strand Magazine. Holmes and Watson are portrayed as the Victorian gentlemen and heroes that they were; not as the caricatures so prominent in other modern depictions.
This series was conceived as a philanthropic project; all contributor royalties go to the Stepping Stones School for special needs children at Undershaw, one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s former homes in the UK. To date the project has raised nearly $70,000 for the school. The collection has had some very famous authors contribute to it, including Lee Child, Jonathan Kellerman, Lyndsay Faye, Bonnie MacBird and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
The link for the Kickstarter is below. Please follow it and reserve your copies now!
My Sister’s Grave is the first entry in a series featuring Tracy Crosswhite, a Seattle homicide detective. Tracy is haunted by the death of her sister Sarah twenty years ago, for which Edmund House, a known rapist, was tried and convicted. Problem is, Tracy doesn’t think that House did it – there were enough irregularities at his trial so she suspects he was framed because the cops in Cedar Grove, her hometown, couldn’t find the real killer. So Tracy teams up with an old flame to try to get House a new trial, which she hopes will reopen the investigation into Sarah’s murder. For the most part, this is a good read. The characters are well-developed and interesting, which makes up for a dearth of action in the first half of the book. More suspense builds up in the second half, but the suspect pool for Sarah’s murder is thin, which makes it easy to finger the perp. Once the murderer is exposed, the book drones on, tying up loose ends, for much longer than it should. All this accounts for the loss of a star.
A Gentleman’s Murder is a tour de force in the English mystery genre. Set primarily in London in 1924, it’s the story of Eric Peterkin, a Chinese-English veteran of WWI whose men have traditionally been soldiers and members of the Brittania club in St. James. When a newly elected club member is murdered, Peterkin takes it upon himself to find the killer. To do this, he must delve into a decade-old murder and risk expulsion from the club of which was founded by one of his forebearers. But A Gentleman’s Murder is so much more than an excellent mystery. It’s also a factual chronicle of daily life in post-war England. The setting positively scintillates, reflecting Huang’s extensive research. The story also provides incisive commentary on contemporary issues-the treatment of returning veterans, the overt and subtle racism of the era and attitudes toward the addicted and mentally ill. All of the characters are well developed and their actions are consistent with their personalities. It’s one of those books that you are sorry to see end.
The Girl in the Snow was a book that did not reach its potential. It’s premise was sound. Carolina Caccia, a divorced mom, takes he kids to a ski resort so the can have time with their father, her ex. This is complicated because he’s there with his new fam. As one would imagine, fireworks ensue, and one of Carolina’s kids goes missing. Since Carolina is an ex-FBI agent who specializes in missing kids (the first in a series of convenient coincidences), naturally, she becomes involved in the investigation. What did work for me was the characters. They were deep and believable, far from cardboard. The setting was well-done, obviously based on an actual place that the author was familiar with. But ultimately, this story did not work well for me because it felt too contrived. Carolina did some things that were totally off the hook, which should have gotten her into serious trouble, but was given a bye as an ex-FBI agent. There were also too many coincidences, and the ending was somewhat predictable. And a minor point — who the heck was the girl in the snow? IMO, she never did show up.
Today my friend Heather Baker Weidner visits the 3M Detective Agency for a guest post. Please welcome her.
Author Interview
Tell our readers a little about yourself and your writing. Thanks, Thomas for letting me visit your blog. My name is Heather Weidner, and I write the Delanie Fitzgerald mystery series. I also have short stories in the Virginia is for Mysteries series and in 50 Shades of Cabernet and Deadly Southern Charm. And I write novellas for the Mutt Mystery series.
What are you reading now? I love to read, and since I’ve started writing, I consider reading as research. Right now, I’m reading Lee Childs’s Blue Moon.
What writing projects are you currently working on? I just published
the third mystery in the Delanie Fitzgerald series, Glitter, Glam, and
Contraband. I am working on edits to a new cozy series set near
Charlottesville, VA, and I have a novella, “The Fast and the Furriest” that
comes out in March in the next Mutt Mysteries.
Who is your favorite author and why? I have way too
many to list. I love a good story and a good mystery, so my favorites are Lee
Child, John Berry, David Baldacci, John Grisham, Janet Evanovich, Agatha
Christie. Lisa Scottoline, Louise Penny, Sherry Harris, and May Corrigan.
When did you know you were a writer? And how did you
know?
I have always loved to write. I wrote stories, a teen romance, and a lot of bad
poetry in high school. I had written several mysteries through the years, but I
didn’t start writing seriously and thinking about publishing until after I
joined the writing group, Sisters in Crime.
What’s the number one item on your bucket list and
why?
I would love to go to New Zealand. I have had a pen pal there since 1975, and I
would love to meet her in person.
What’s in your “To Be Read” (TBR) pile right now? And
how many TBR piles do you have? My TBR pile became a TBR bookshelf in my
office. There is also another pile on my nightstand. I love to read.
What are some things you know now that you wish you
knew when you started writing? Writing is a business, and you need to
treat it as such. It’s also a tough business. You need to develop thick skin.
Seek and take advice that will help you improve your craft. And keep writing.
Don’t give up.
Where is your favorite place to write? Why? My new office has
a big window behind my monitor. It faces the woods, and I can see the sunrise
through the trees. It’s my treehouse view.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to be a writer? Don’t give up. If you want to get published, keep writing. Don’t get discouraged. And learn to take advice that will help you improve your writing.
Author Biography
Glitter, Glam, and
Contraband is Heather
Weidner’s third novel in the Delanie Fitzgerald series. Her short stories
appear in the Virginia is for Mysteries series,
50 Shades of Cabernet, and Deadly Southern Charm. Her novellas
appear in The Mutt Mysteries series. She is a member of Sisters in Crime –
Central Virginia, Guppies, International Thriller Writers, and James River
Writers.
Originally from Virginia Beach, Heather has been a
mystery fan since Scooby-Doo and Nancy Drew. She lives in Central Virginia with
her husband and a pair of Jack Russell terriers.
Heather earned her BA in English from Virginia Wesleyan University and her MA in American literature from the University of Richmond. Through the years, she has been a cop’s kid, technical writer, editor, college professor, software tester, and IT manager.
Private investigator, Delanie Fitzgerald, and her computer hacker partner, Duncan Reynolds, are back for more sleuthing in Glitter, Glam and Contraband. In this fast-paced mystery, the Falcon Investigations team is hired to find out who is stealing from the talent at a local drag show. Delanie gets more than she bargains for and a few makeup tips in the process. Meanwhile, a mysterious sound in the ceiling of her office vexes Delanie. She uses her sleuthing skills to track down the source and uncover a creepy contraband operation.Glitter, Glam, and Contraband features a strong female sleuth with a knack for getting herself in and out of humorous situations like helping sleezy strip club owner, Chaz Smith on his quest to become Richmond’s next mayor, tracking down missing reptiles, and uncovering hidden valuables from a 100-year-old crime with a Poe connection.
Faithless is the penultimate book in Karin Slaughter’s Grant County series. When I began this series, I really wanted to like it, but each successive installment keeps hitting me as meh. Slaughter is a superb writer–her plotting, pacing, scene construction and word choice are all very good. She is a master at building suspense. I think I’ve finally identifies the problem I have with the stories–I don’t like the characters. All of them are flawed, which seems to be the trend these days, and I’m a romantic at heart, so that rubs me the wrong way. But they also make poor decisions vis a vis their work–decisions that would likely get one severely reprimanded, if not fired, had they occurred in real life. Naturally, the results such decisions are responsible for many of Slaughter’s plot twists, and her characters don’t seem to learn from their mistakes. I just can’t gin up much sympathy for people like that. In Faithless, protagonists Police Chief Jeffery Tolliver and county coroner Dr. Sara Linton discover the body of a young woman who was entombed alive in a box with an air pipe attached, only to be killed later by cyanide poured down the pipe. The investigation leads to a rural religious cult. However, as much or more of the action in the books come from the characters personal demons–Jeffery and Sara’s on-again, off-again relationship, Detective Lena Adams abusive relationship and Sara’s sister’s involvement with the cult. I figured out the mystery pretty early on, so most of my reading was done just to prove I was right while shaking my head at the characters’ ill-considered actions. I’ll read the last book in the series just to finish what I’ve started, but I don’t hold out great hope. Of course,these problems might be why the author chose to end the series after just six entries.
