Obsessed with genre fiction book covers. Occasional author interviews and bursts of short fiction. Though not a bookseller, I draw inspiration from this quote: "The book salesman should be honored because he brings to our attention, as a rule, the very books we need most and neglect most."
Here’s the cover of one of my next books. Hope to get it out before the end of the year. It will feature a character that will first appear in a short story of mine next year in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine.
The book’s an urban fantasy. (Some would even call it a paranormal whodunnit — a mash-up of a straight mystery with elements of witchcraft and ghosts.)
As always if anyone would like to review the book, contact me and I’ll send you a free copy when I’m ready to release it. I don’t ask for anything more than an honest review.
Here’s the pitch:
***
In an ancient chapel in an ancient land, an old woman screeches a warning:
“Beware the touch of Job—he’s cursed!”
Matteo Scarpone is a man more sinned against than sinning.
Once a cool-headed logician and the pride of Rome’s carabinieri, he’s devastated when disaster rocks his world.
He is a lost man. Beaten. Shaken.
HAUNTED.
Shunned as an embarrassment, he is exiled to a tiny village in the sticks—a hamlet, a burg, a borgo.
But in this land of vineyards and olive groves, life is far from idyllic. Murder, witchcraft and hate taint the soil once tread by the Etruscans.
Now the young captain must unravel a series of murders that pit him against a cynical evil and force him to use a power
—A GIFT
— A CURSE
that he has long denied.
* * *
THE MARSHAL OF THE BORGO
A full-length urban fantasy by the author of The Mesmerist.
Cover by Jeroen ten Berge
Murder scene map from The Bishop Murder Case (1929) by S.S. Van Dine.
Everyone always talks about how the Philo Vance mysteries by S.S. Van Dine inspired the very first Ellery Queen books. But few of us have seen those all books in first editions. I have only three. They’re without dust jackets, but I thought I would share the distinctive covers and post some of the images from inside the books.
A recent post on the blog The Corpse Steps Out inspired me to dig out these books, the oldest of which is 84 years old and prone to crumbling.
The blog post tells you a little about author S.S. Vine (pen name of Willard Huntington Wright) who wrote 12 of these mysteries, popular in the 1920s and 30s.
There’s also a reference to Vance wearing a green carnation—code for gay.
Other images to follow.
I might add that all the Van Dine books are available as a single $9.99 ebook. I haven’t gotten it (and I have no connection to the book) but the preview makes it seem that the publisher has conscientiously scanned and included all the original images that were so critical to mysteries of this era.
I just found out that my short story “Back to the Boke” is published over at Beat to a Pulp. I hope you’ll go check it out. (Yes, Martha, it’s free.) The usual caveats about language and adult subject matter apply. My thanks to editor David Cranmer.
This is a story that was inspired by the…
See illustrations for my short story, ‘Button Man’
Illustrator Tom Pokinko posted some images he created for my upcoming story in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine (AHMM). I’d rather not reveal what the story’s about until it pubs in December, but you might be able to glean some clues from the pencil sketch and the final ink sketch on the blog of this Ottawa, Canada-based illustrator. Thanks, Tom!
Ellery Queen fans might enjoy reading some of this Anthony Boucher history, at the link, as provided by current EQMM editor Janet Hutchings.
When I was a kid, I read AHMM and its sister publication, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (EQMM), on a regular basis until I just couldn’t keep up with the subscriptions anymore.
I would also, from time to time, submit stories to these magazines during my teens. Shockingly, they were all returned with little white slips—the first rejections I ever got in my life.
Decades later, I finally have some good news to report on that front. Two of my short pieces have been bought by Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine (AHMM). I couldn’t be more thrilled—penetrating that market has (obviously) been a lifelong dream of mine.
One is a straight-up story of corruption I wrote years ago. The other is one I wrote this year. It’s set in Rome. I’ve been thinking of it as written in the voice of an Italian Jane Austen, if such a thing were even possible. Seriously, the voices of both pieces couldn’t be more different.
They’ll run sometime next year. I’ll post the info when I have it.
“The male brain is drawn to the flesh because we desire it so much.”
Okay—an analysis of book covers published by Hard Case Crime.
Killer In A Box is the first of the Detective DiPino thrillers by David Thayer, introducing NYC Detective Armand DiPino and his partner, Mickey Reidel. While DiPino is investigating his wife’s death after a hit and run he discovers a truth more shocking than his worst fears. Fast paced, dark and gritty this is a great read. Buy Killer In A Box as ebook from Amazon today.
I like the grainy textures here.
