Video meetup

Well, it’s been an… interesting month, hasn’t it? Two weeks ago, I was in San Diego for a conference. Today, I’m not sure any of us will ever travel again… So, in that spirit, we’re embracing the virtual reach-out. Yesterday I spent a very brisk hour of keyboarding with a chat with the Beekeeper’s Apprentices FB…

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Exotic Settings

(Added note:for a few days, Dreaming Spies will be $2.99 on Nook and Kindle. in the US.) I always find it interesting to look back at a book I’ve written and reflect on what it turned out to be about, and how it fits into the rest of the series. While I’m actually writing the things,…

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Giveaways for June

For those of you who like giveaways but aren’t yet signed up for the newsletter, this month we have two.  One is from my US publishers, for a book-club sized pile of the new Island of the Mad paperbacks AND some nice swag for your book group to enjoy.  The other is from me (therefore, not…

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Pub day for ISLAND OF THE MAD

To celebrate today’s paperback birth of Island of the Mad, here’s a groovy tune for you to hum all day—and yes, those are my kids dancing: In olden days, a glimpse of stocking Was looked on as something shocking. But now, God knows, Anything goes. Good authors too who once knew better words Now only use…

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A Winner—and a Paperback!

Matter the First: The winner of the four “inspired by the Sherlock Holmes canon” anthologies that Les Klinger and I edited is Isabella T.  And I think Bella’s going to enjoy these dozens of excellent stories, because she said: OH MY GOD!! Wow thank you sooooooo much!! I’m such a huge fan! I can’t believe this…

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Lefty nom for Island of the Mad!

Thanks to everyone who nominated Island of the Mad for a Lefty Award! Left Coast Crime is such a fun conference, I’m looking forward to zipping north to Vancouver, BC in March. And you? See the rest of the great nominees here.

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Haunted Poveglia

In the spirit of the season, a sample from Island of the Mad, when Russell & Holmes set out for a haunted island of the Venice lagoon, Poveglia. Before leaving the hotel, Holmes and I had studied the general maps and my slightly more detailed sketch of this tripartite island. The boat-house, on the southern…

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Island wiki-vid

Island of the Mad is joined by a number of other great historical mysteries in this new video production by the “video wiki” group ezvid. (Click here.) Other than a minor date problem, what do you think of their images?

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The Community of ISLAND

So, it’s three weeks since Island of the Madwas published; did you enjoy it? Now that you’ve read Ms Russell’s 15thmemoir, have you revisited the background images of her London and Venice? There’s a Pinterest page here, with a few others on Instagram. Perhaps you’d like to talk about Island of the Mad?  You’re in luck,…

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MADness and Melania

As I’ve mentioned before, Island of the Mad, though originally intended as an escape from the events of 2017, has become all too relevant to daily life. Take the recent fashion choice of our First Lady as she set out to comfort a group of underage political prisoners: As various writers have pointed out (here and…

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