So, what has P.I. Isabel Long been up to these days? Plenty. And fans of the mystery series will soon be able to read about it when I release no. 8 — Finding the Source. That will happen late May, a date to be determined. Right now, my son Ezra Livingston is working on the cover.

For those just tuning in, Isabel Long was coming off a bad year when she decided to investigate what happened to a woman who walked home from her family’s general store and was never seen again. That was 28 years ago. When she began the case, Isabel was coming off a bad year after her husband died unexpectedly and she lost her job as editor-in-chief of a local paper. With that case solved, she moves onto others. 

Each book features a cold case Isabel tries to solve in the fictional hilltowns of Western Mass. I wrote the first, Chasing the Case, eight years ago.

Writing a series means that I can hold onto the characters I love but let them do something else. Certainly, that includes Maria, Isabel’s 93-year-old mystery-loving mother who is her Watson; Jack, who owns the Rooster Bar, where Isabel has a part-time job and with whom she has a relationship; the Old Farts, a group of gossipy old who provide great intel; Annette Waters, aka the Tough Cookie who owns a junkyard. Others are one and done.

So, what’s Finding the Source about? Isabel Long and Maria are about to have lunch in a nearby city when they are approached by a homeless man, Tom McKenzie, who announces his mother had been murdered 43 years ago and the case never solved. Tom was only 12 when he found her beaten and strangled in their home.

His mother, Abby McKenzie, was a likeable and smart book buyer, finding vintage editions where people don’t value them like in yard sales. She sold books to collectors and at her store in the small town of Dillard. Her body was found beside a smashed bookcase where she kept her most valuable books.

Here’s a chance to help somebody who obviously was traumatized. Naturally, Isabel is interested.

So, as she did with her other cases, Isabel gets to work finding sources to interview. Fortunately, Tom has accumulated helpful information in a notebook.

One of the obstacles Isabel faces in this case is that many of the suspects are dead. They include an avid book collector, a former town official who stalked her, and the man who was allegedly the last to see Abby alive. But there are others to interview like the collector’s twin brother, a supposedly best friend, and Abby’s ex-husband. Hmm, what about his current wife?

Then there is Jim Hawthorne, Dillard’s police chief, who has become Isabel’s nemesis running interference on her other cases. He even tried to pin a murder on her.

In this midst of all this drama, there is fun, including a big Halloween bash at the Rooster.

As I get closer to the release, including making a formal announcement, I will tell you a whole lot more, like how a chance encounter inspired this book.

For those who want to catch up, here is the series: Chasing the Case, Redneck’s Revenge, Checking the Traps, Killing the Story, Working the Beat, Finding the Source, and Missing the Deadline. You can find those and other books I’ve written for Kindle and paperback in this link.

By the way, I was very happy this weekend, when a reader bought the entire series to take home to Canada. Thanks Murray.