20 June 2023!

After more delays than anyone would like, this is finally happening! 20 June 2023, four weeks from today, will see the North American release of Unnatural Ends. What this means for you, if you’ve pre-ordered any physical copies, is that you should CHECK and UPDATE YOUR MAILING ADDRESS. It has been a while, after all, and if you’ve moved in the meantime (as I have) you don’t want the thing you’ve paid good money for to be sent off to the wrong place.

You may have noticed that I specified North American release up there. This is because we’re also getting a UK release a month later, in July. (I think this means that those of you in the UK will have the satisfaction of getting your ordered copies in before Waterstones.) Inkshares is breaking into the UK market, and guess what they’re using as a battering ram?

That’s right. That’s me on the cover of the issue of The Bookseller distributed on the second day of the London Book Fair last month. The other guy is Fulton Ross, author of The Unforgiven Dead, which you should definitely check out because it’s a darn good read.

We’re just counting down the days now!

We have progress, ladies and gentlemen! Cat’s Paw has always been only a working title, one I’ve wanted to change for well over a year now. And we’ve come to a decision: the book formerly known as Cat’s Paw will be published as Unnatural Ends ... a far better title, mainly because it does not conjure up pictures of cute kittens when you run it through Google.

Which also means these updates will need a new header:

If you head over to Amazon, you’ll find we also have a cover, though my understanding is that this is not final. The cover artist is still working on something much better. Still, having even a placeholder cover brings home the idea that this is really happening after all. I’m sure that, given the time this has taken some of you must have begun to give up, or cease to believe ... I know there was a sense of unreality about the whole process for me as well, towards the end.

Meanwhile, the proofs have come and gone. I heard mention of printing at the beginning of the next month, though I’m assuming that’s about the Advanced Reader copies for reviews and the like before the actual release. As I said: we have progress.

Happy Canada Day, everyone. 2019 is half over, and there’ve been a number of developments since my last update.

First of all, I’m pleased to report that A Gentleman’s Murder won the silver for Mystery in the 2018 Foreword Indies. This makes a neat little hat trick for Inkshares, with Jacqui Castle’s The Seclusion and Juliet McDaniel’s Mr. and Mrs. American Pie also winning silver in their respective categories.

A German edition of A Gentleman’s Murder is also in the works and set to come out in December this year.

Some long-overdue paperwork was finally completed with respect to the option for the TV rights, so I think I can more comfortably say now that that’s in the works, too.

The most significant update I have to share, however, is that I have since relocated from Montreal to Calgary, a move that takes me to the other side of the continent. I’m writing this from what should be my study for the foreseeable future, once the movers deliver all my stuff.

It’s a new life. Perhaps there will be Bovril.

Until next time!

The winners of the Inkshares Mystery Contest have been announced, and I’m happy to say that "Cat’s Paw" is on the list! This means we will be going forward with all the editing and rewriting and nosegrinding that goes into the publication process, and, probably a year from today, the book will make it into your hands.

Onwards!

As of this writing, we have about FORTY-TWO HOURS LEFT on the Inkshares Mystery & Thriller contest. If you haven’t placed a pre-order yet for "Cat’s Paw", now would be the time to do it.

From the last will and testament of Sir Lawrence Linwood, dated 14 September 1914:

...However, in the event that I should die from unnatural causes, that is, by another’s hand; and, assuming the identity of my killer remains a mystery to the police; then, in lieu of the above, I bequeath the entirety of my residual estate, less the bequests listed in the first section, to whichever of my three children (Alan, Roger, or Caroline) first identifies my killer to the police....

From Sir Lawrence Linwood’s letter to his younger son, Roger Linwood, dated 28 March 1921:

...As such, I will be contacting my solicitors within the next week to alter my will in your favour. I’m afraid Alan will not be pleased, but as he has no time for England, I have no time for him; and Caroline, of course, never expected anything to begin with. Keep this information close to your chest. If anything should happen to me....

Remembrance Day, 11 November, is a week away now. I believe I mentioned last week that this will mark the 100th anniversary of the WW1 armistice. I don’t know if there’s much I could say in an update that hasn’t already been said better in an editorial, so here’s a picture from my last visit to Bristol:

This was taken in May this year. And that’s how it should be. Whatever we remember on 11 November, I hope we do not forget on 12 November.

For those of you who are in the Montreal area, I will be joining five other mystery writers next Saturday, 10 November, from 10am to 6pm, at the Chapters Pointe Claire (6321 Transcanadienne) for a day of readings, signings, Q&A, and general discussions of all things fictionally criminal. Come join us: Michael Kent, Katherine Prairie, Jim Napier, Barbara Fradkin, Robin Harlick, and me.

Meanwhile, on Inkshares news, consider checking out "Ruining Boise" and "Ripe for Execution", two very strong and dedicated contenders in the Mystery & Thriller contest. The first concerns a single father who turns to burglary in a desperate bid to keep his family going; a grim situation, yet I get the idea that it’ll be thoroughly laced with black humour. The second concerns the hunt for a terrorist who demands the reinstatement of the death penalty in the UK; check out the author’s reading of the first chapter, here, for a better idea of what it’s all about.

And finally, of course, is a reminder to check out "Cat’s Paw", my second novel, which is still in its Inkshares funding campaign. Your support is always appreciated. Thank you.