Victorian San Francisco Stories: Volume 2

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Over six years ago, I put out a collection of the four short stories I had written in my Victorian San Francisco Mystery series, and since then, despite the fact that I give away this first volume of stories to anyone who signs up for my newsletter, I’ve sold over 4000 copies of the collection. At the time of publication, I wrote this post about why I enjoyed writing short stories. If anything, the reasons I listed are even more true now, when I have put out a second volume of short stories. The stories in this second collection come between the events in my last two full-length mysteries, Scholarly Pursuits and Lethal Remedies. As with my other short stories and novellas, they feature secondary characters from the series. The first story, Beatrice Bests the Burglars, finds Mrs. O’Rourke, the O’Farrell Read more…


New Victorian San Francisco Short Story

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Tilly Tracks a Thief December 1881, San Francisco: Tilly, the young O’Farrell Street boardinghouse servant, is determined to discover who’s stealing from houses in the neighborhood before the thefts ruin the holidays for everyone. This short story in the Victorian San Francisco Mystery series comes after the short story Mrs. O’Malley’s Midnight Mystery and right before Lethal Remedies, the seventh novel in the series. 99 cents on Kindle, AppleBooks, Nook, Kobo, GooglePlay and Other Retailers   In addition to this Christmas tale, the audiobook edition of Kathleen Catches a Killer is only $1.99 on AppleBooks and Chirp for a limited time. Have a lovely and safe holiday. M. Louisa Locke December 19, 2020


Pilfered Promises and other Holiday Promotions

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Now that the presidential election is over, and at least half of the American public is feeling relieved, it seemed a good time to turn my attention to the holidays and let you know about some promotional deals that are currently available. First, I have made Pilfered Promises, the fifth book in my series that is set in during the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas in 1880, free. In addition, for the month of November, the audiobook edition of the short story, Mrs. O’Malley’s Midnight Mystery, is only 99 cents on Chirp. Finally, I’ve included a description of Murder by Misrule, a historical mystery that is set during the winter holidays in Elizabethan England, which I think all of you might enjoy. Pilfered Promises: It is November of 1880, and the future looks promising for Annie and Nate Dawson. Nate’s law Read more…


Lethal Remedies and other Audiobook News

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Lethal Remedies is now an Audiobook: Last spring as the pandemic broke out, there was some debate about whether or not audiobooks, which had been increasing their sales year-over-year, would take a hit. The logic was that most people had been listening to audiobooks while they were commuting. With the lock-down in many large urban cities, the initial drop in sales numbers seemed to support that idea. Yet, as the months of social isolation have worn on, there have been signs that the decline in audiobook sales has been temporary. I was carefully watching these numbers in May, when Lethal Remedies came out, to determine whether or not I should hold off on getting the audiobook edition produced. The cost is minimal to produce ebook and print versions for my books (primarily the cost of the cover design) since I do Read more…


How I have used my book titles to establish my brand

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When a potential reader looks at a book product page in one of the on-line bookstores, the first two things they are likely to notice are a book’s title and its cover. A good title can not only capture a reader’s interest, but it can signal the genre and sub-genre of the book, the setting and time period of the story, and it can even reveal a little about the plot. In addition, if the book is part of a series, the title can help brand that series. I am going to discuss the titles of both my novels and my shorter works in my mystery series to demonstrate how a title can achieve all of the above. In 2009, when I published my first novel, Maids of Misfortune: A Victorian San Francisco Mystery, I knew it was to be Read more…