Tag Archives: Mysteries

Darkstroke Books, Isabel Long Mystery Series, Readers

Out of Nowhere

One never knows who will want to read your books. Lately, I had two experiences that brought this home.

First, I should say I don’t write books to sell books. Of course, I want to make money from my hard work. It would be great if it were a great deal of money. But I write because I love to write and I hope people will have the same experience reading the words I put together on paper or screen. I want them to forget they are reading but feel they are inside the story I created.

I certainly appreciate the support I receive from fellow authors, especially those I have met through my publisher darkstroke books. You know who you are. I smile at the reviews and ratings that perfect strangers leave on Amazon and their comments via social media. Then there are those who come to in-person readings or I meet randomly, say at my son’s brewery. Of course, I have the backing of my family and longtime friends.

But let me tell you about those two experiences I mentioned above.

The first was aided by Fred, a writer who I met in college and continues to be a close friend. He was in communication with a friend who is incarcerated in a prison. I won’t go into the reasons why, but he does share with Fred an interest in books. Fred recommended my Isabel Long Mystery Series. It turns out Fred’s friend belongs to a reading group in prison, and upon his request, the members took up my first book, “Chasing the Case.” Last I heard, they enjoyed it enough to move onto the second, “Redneck’s Revenge.”

The second is an encounter I had with the person at one of the newsrooms where I work. She handles many responsibilities for the ad department. I happened to be near her desk when she showed the paperback copies of the first four books in my series. Would I be willing to sign them? And as I did, she told me she asked for them as a Christmas present and was so happy when she found them under the tree. She had heard I write mysteries, her favorite genre. I was touched and promised her a gift of the fifth that will be out later this month.

Both experiences made me smile and glad that I write books people wanted to read.

ABOUT THE PHOTO ABOVE: That’s the full cover of Working the Beat, no. 5 in my Isabel Long Mystery Series, set for a Jan. 27 release. Here’s the link: mybook.to/workingthebeat

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Darkstroke Books, Edinburgh Crime Series

Val Penny, Scotland and her new mystery Hunter’s Rules

I have read all of Val Penny’s books in her Edinburgh Crime Mysteries Series, which is set in Scotland, where she lives. Truth be told she is originally from the U.S. So, I asked how her adopted home inspired her to write this series. Here, I will let her tell you herself and about the latest in the series — Hunter’s Rules — which will be released Jan. 1 by darkstroke books and is available now on Amazon for pre-order.

Thank you for hosting me on your blog today. It is always a pleasure to visit.

My family has been moving between the U.S.A. and the U.K. for generations. It is always a bit of a lottery as to where you end up! As for me, I have been moving East all my life. Born in Northern , I attended high school in the Mile High City of Denver then worked in Virginia before crossing the pond and marrying a Scot.

I write crime thrillers and started writing in this genre because that is what I enjoy reading. I firmly believe that to be a good author, you must first be an avid reader and it is due to my love of reading and story-telling that I began to write novels.

Hunter’s Rules is the sixth book in my Edinburgh Crime Mysteries series and there are many more to come! Although the books form a series, each works as a standalone novel, so readers can join the stories at any point.

The books are set in the beautiful city of Edinburgh which is the capital of Scotland. I chose it because it is a relatively small city and people from different walks of life and backgrounds are known to each other. That allows me to have some fun with my characters and storylines.

I am particularly proud of this book because, although the story is complete within itself, the concept follows on from a short story that I contributed to a charity anthology, Dark Scotland. The story, which is again a standalone piece, is the prequel to the novel. I hope those who read both will enjoy the conceit and those who read either will be absorbed by them.

Hunter’s Rules Blurb

A bloody scene brings Hunter and Meera’s romantic plans to an abrupt end.

A young woman was attacked in a hotel lift. She has life-changing injuries, but she is alive. Hunter notes that her wounds are like those inflicted on two women who previously died.

Can Meera keep the injured woman alive long enough for her to identify her assailant? Is the same person responsible for all three crimes? When Hunter is identified as a suspect in the crime, can he establish his innocence and lead his team to solve the crime and keep Edinburgh safe?

An excerpt from Hunter’s Rules

“Scott,” Hunter repeated. “Earth to Scott.”

“Evening, sir. This is posh, isn’t it?”

“Are you here to work or admire the décor?” Hunter asked.

“Sorry. The sarge says you need us to take witness statements.”

“Exactly so, and here comes the cavalry,” Hunter said. He smiled at Chloe Ferguson. Everyone called her Fergie. She led her team of CSIs towards him. He looked at her grim expression.

“We’ll need to get this done pronto so the hotel can have their lift back. Of course, it must be thoroughly sanitised before it’s back in use,” she said. “Anyway, Sam’s on her way. We’ll let her get her initial photos taken before we start. It looks like someone’s danced on the floor. Look at those bloody footprints in the car and all over here.” She pointed to the marks on the shiny polished floor.

“Sorry, Fergie. Hands up, that was me and Meera. We checked if the woman was still alive and when she was, Meera did what she could for her while I called you and the ambulance.”

“For fuck’s sake, Hunter. You know better.”

“I did as little damage as I could, but the victim was in a lift.”

“I know, I know. It’s just lucky the professionals are here now. Oh, and there’s Sam. Let’s give her space.”

Hunter watched the quiet photographer get her equipment ready and set to work.

“Neil, if you stay here and keep everybody away from the elevator. No mobile phone photos or films either. See anybody taking any you just confiscate their phone as containing evidence. That’ll stop the rest fast enough. Charlie, you and Scott take statements from the staff on duty in the bar and restaurant tonight. The guests too. See if you can get any descriptions of the woman and whoever she was with.”

“As we don’t know what either of them look like or names or anything, can you give us a clue, perhaps?” Scott asked.

“The woman mentioned the name Frederick. She has dark hair and was dressed in a fancy red velvet dress. A cocktail dress, I think they call it,” Hunter said. “I suppose there wouldn’t be too many red velvet dresses.”

“What are you doing here anyway?” Charlie asked.

“I was treating Meera to dinner, if it’s any of your business.”

“Well, it is. If you were having dinner at the same time as the victim, you could be witnesses. Did you see her?”

Val Penny’s books

This is the sixth book in The Edinburgh Crime Mysteries series of novels. Val Penny’s other crime novels, Hunter’s Chase Hunter’s Revenge, Hunter’s Force Hunter’s Blood and Hunter’s Secret form
the rest of this bestselling series set in Edinburgh, Scotland, published by darkstroke.

You can also start at the beginning of The Jane Renwick Thrillers with The First Cut.

Her first non-fiction book Let’s Get Published is also available now and she has most recently contributed her short story, Cats and Dogs to a charity anthology, Dark Scotland.

Author Contact Details

www.valpenny.com

https://www.facebook.com/Authorvalpenny

https://www.facebook.com/valerie.penny.739

www.facebook.com/groups/296295777444303

https://www.facebook.com/groups/167248300537409

https://twitter.com/valeriepenny

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17300087.Val_Penny

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Val-Penny/e/B07C4725TK?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1611574956&sr=1-1

https://www.bookbub.com/profile/val-penny

Buy Links

mybook.to/hunterschase

mybook.to/huntersrevenge

mybook.to/huntersforce

mybook.to/huntersblood

mybook.to/hunterssecret

mybook.to/huntersrules

bit.ly/LetsGetPublished

mybook.to/darkscotland

mybook.to/thefirstcut

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Isabel Long Mystery Series, Working the Beat

No. 5 Is Finished — Sort Of

Today, I reached the end of Working the Beat, no. 5 in the Isabel Long Mystery Series, which weighs in at 74,940 words. Well, I’m sort of at the end. I have printed all 279 pages and will go through them with my trusty red flare before I listen to them on my computer.

And then I will happily submit Working the Beat to my publisher, darkstroke books.

Yesterday, a son asked if this was only a first draft. My answer: I don’t work that way. I will stop at certain points in a novel’s process, basically when I feel I am ready, print out what I’ve written so far and go at it. I feel by time I’ve reached “the end” that it’s in solid shape. Of course, my editor will find things I need to fix as well.

I will admit it hasn’t been easy finding the time to write — and promote — given the increased demands of my job as editor-in-chief of three newspapers. But when I could, I found a great deal of satisfaction being with the characters and setting I created as I let Isabel Long try to solve yet another mystery.

So, what is this one about? A man’s body is found after a demotion derby at a country fair. The official story is that he was drunk and fell down a rocky ravine. His scrappy grandmother doesn’t believe it, so she hires Isabel to get to the truth. Once again Isabel encounters family secrets, unsolved crimes and the unusual suspects.

Just to get you started, here’s the opening scene to the book’s first chapter “Dead at the Rooster.” For those new to the series, Isabel and Jack, who owns the Rooster Bar and Grill, are an item, as they say. She tends bar part-time for Jack as well as being a P.I. solving cold cases in the hilltowns of Western Massachusetts.

It’s a dead night at the Rooster, deader than I’ve ever seen it. There’s no band even though it’s a Friday night, but Jack was smart not to book one. A few drinkers have bellied up to the bar, but nobody lingers long. Neither did those who come for dinner. Jack’s customers have somewhere else more important to go: the Titus Country Fair in the next town over. It was the same yesterday for truck pull night. That’s when drivers, mostly guys, try to get their stripped-down and souped-up car or pickup to pull as much weight as possible over a line, and everybody in the crowd watches to see if they make or break it. Tonight, horses are pulling, a draw for the traditionalists. And tomorrow, Saturday, is demolition derby night. Jack’s not even going to bother opening his bar. Besides, he wants to go like his pals. And he wants me with him. That’s what I get for hooking up with a local boy. 

Right now, Jack and I are sitting at the bar, playing poker and listening to tunes on the jukebox to pass the time until much later when people will likely show up when the fair shuts down. No booze is allowed at the Titus Country Fair, for good reasons, so people will be mighty thirsty unless they managed to sneak in something.  

“Ready for our hot date tomorrow night, Isabel?” Jack asks. 

“Are you saying watching cars smash into each other until only one of them is left is your idea of a hot date?” 

He grins as he throws down his cards. Crap, he’s beat me again. 

“Uh-huh. What’s your idea?” He chuckles. “By the way, you’re one lousy poker player. If we was playin’ strip poker, you would’ve been naked a few hands ago.”

“Me naked at your bar?” 

Jack grins.

“Not a bad idea.”

“Sure, boss.”

Okay, that’s enough. It’s back to work for me. In the meantime, if you want to check out my other books on Amazon, here’s the link: Joan Livingston Books

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Isabel Long Mystery Series

The Suspense Is Killing Me

No, not really, but I wanted to get your attention. Besides, it’s an appropriate sentence given I’m closing in on the ending to the next book in my Isabel Long Mystery Series. This one, number five, is called Working the Beat. I believe I’m on track to have it wrapped up by the end of the month and shipped off to my publisher.

As I’ve written before, I solve my mysteries along with my protagonist Isabel Long, a long-time journalist who uses the skills she learned in that prematurely shortened career to solve cold cases in the very rural area where she lives in Western Massachusetts. Yes, you have guessed correctly I am not one of those authors who plots ahead of time. I let my imagination loose on the characters I create, several from past books plus new ones, the setting and the story line. Without sounding like a total nut, I channel Isabel as she tries to solve a case.

I’ve read and watched enough mysteries that I am disappointed when I figure out whodunnit way before the P.I., cop or whoever does. Throw me some curveballs please. But likewise I don’t want too many long leads that turn out to be obvious dead ends.

So, what’s Isabel up to this time? It’s the end of summer and the Titus Country Fair is being held. That’s where and when Isabel is approached by this crusty old gal, Shirley Dawes, who wants her to investigate the death of her grandson at the fair four years earlier. It happened during demolition derby night although his body was found the next morning. The case brings Isabel — and her mother, who is her sidekick — in contact with a new set of characters after she agrees to take it on. I’ll be sharing more on that soon.

But back to that crucial scene. It involves the people of interest in this case at a place and setting that pulls them all together — a birthday party at Baxter’s Bar. Isabel just showed up. Jack’s with her. What kind of trouble can she get herself into there?

I can’t wait to find out.

MY BOOKS: In the meantime, if you haven’t read them already see the links below to the series on Amazon. If you have, thank you very much,

http://mybook.to/chasingthecase

http://mybook.to/rednecksrevenge

https://mybook.to/checkingthetraps

https://mybook.to/killingthestory

PHOTO ABOVE: I was chuffed, as my UK friends would say, to see the Portuguese flags strung above the main drag in Provincetown on a recent trip. Isabel would like that too.

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Darkstroke Books, Isabel Long Mystery Series, Isabel Long Series

Moving Over to the Dark Side

I am happy to announce that my Isabel Long Mystery Series is now in the hands of Darkstroke Books. Darkstroke is an imprint of Crooked Cat Books, which is the series’ original publisher.

While Crooked Cat published mystery, romance and other genres, Darkstroke, as its name implies, focuses on the darker things in life: crime fiction, mysteries, thrillers and dystopian, sci-fi and horror.

Yes, welcome to the dark side.chasing the case full size

I am grateful to Laurence and Stephanie Patterson for taking on the first Isabel Long book — Chasing the Case — and for sticking with the series. I can’t tell you how many publishing houses and agents I approached, sometimes getting a nice rejection, most of the times just a cold shoulder. I still laugh about the publishing house that rejected my first book, Chasing the Case, in part because I broke a supposed rule by killing off a pet. Actually, Isabel Long, my protagonist, was digging a grave for her cat.

Thank you, Laurence and Steph.

I knew when I signed on in late 2017 that Crooked Cat Books, which is based in France, was going to end in four years. The Pattersons were upfront about it. But I decided I would see where this would lead. And so I wrote two more books — Rednecks Revenge full sizeRedneck’s Revenge and Checking the Traps — that Crooked Cats published.

Three is a good number for a series. But, frankly, I can’t let go of Isabel and the rest of my characters. I love them too much, even the bad guys. And not to sound like a complete nut, they are very real to me.

And so I am working on the fourth, Killing the Story — yes, another journalistic term. As I’ve posted before, this one’s taking a bit longer because of my full-time job as editor-in-chief of a daily newspaper. But I’m more than two-thirds of the way done. Most weekdays I am up at 5:30 a.m. to write before I head to the newsroom. I have more time on the weekends.

For the past several months, I’ve been wondering what will happen to this series. Would another publisher be interested in picking up my new book when the rest of the series is under contract? Would it be willing to buy out my contract? Should I self-publish again? Ah, the business of writing.

And then Laurence emailed me an invitation last week asking if I wanted to join Darkstroke. When I thought it over that night, it made sense to move the series there. I can concentrate on the books I Checking the Traps full sizewant to write and promote them . Yes, I have ideas for two more books after I finish Killing the Story.

Plus, I admire the other authors from Crooked Cat Books who have moved over to Darkstroke. One of the pluses of being part of an international house is getting to know authors on the other side of the pond. I suggest you check out their books. Find them on darkstroke.com.

If you haven’t read my books, head to Amazon for a copy either in paperback or kindle. I have a few others that I self-published there. Here’s the link: Joan Livingston on Amazon

ABOUT THE PHOTO ABOVE: That’s the harbor in Mattapoisett, Mass. in December.

 

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