Victorian San Francisco Stories: Volume 2
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…
Pilfered Promises and other Holiday Promotions
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…
How I have used my book titles to establish my brand
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…
Lethal Remedies is now available
I’m always a bit ambivalent when one of my books is launched. Happy that the long period––usually between a year and a year and a half––spent working on the book is over. A little sad to be leaving behind some of the characters who may not show up in the next book. Anxious to see how readers—specifically fans of the series––react. With the launch of Lethal Remedies, the seventh full-length novel in my Victorian San Francisco mystery series, I was also curious about what it would be like to launch a book in the middle of a pandemic. On one hand, it’s clear that many people have been finding more time than ever before to read, so there is the hope that this will have a positive effect on sales. In addition, this book, perhaps more so than my last Read more…
Dandy’s Discovery is out, and I’m doing fine, how are you?
First of all, pleased to announce that my new short story, Dandy’s Discovery, is now out, and people seem to be enjoying this little bit of fluff to lift their spirits. In addition, the manuscript of my newest Victorian San Francisco Mystery novel, Lethal Remedies, just went to my proof reader (Jessica Meigs). It has been through multiple drafts and two rounds of beta readers, so at this point it has been read by nine people and much improved by their feedback. I enjoy hearing back from this small team of readers about what they liked about the story, but I also like hearing where they had problems. In my experience, my beta readers often pinpoint exactly those sections of the book I already had some doubts about. This really helps because then I know exactly those sections that need Read more…
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