SMFS Member Publishing News: A Fatal Honeymoon: An Ella Shane Mystery Novella by by Kathleen Marple Kalb

 

SMFS list member Kathleen Marple Kalb reported that her latest book, A Fatal Honeymoon: An Ella Shane Mystery Novella, is now available for free at a variety of vendors.

 

Author Description:

Diva Ella Shane and her Duke find themselves in the midst of murder, mystery, and mayhem on their Niagara Falls honeymoon, a special adventure in the highly-praised series featuring an Irish-Jewish orphan made good as an opera star.

 

A blissful Niagara Falls honeymoon for Gilded Age trouser diva Ella Shane and her new husband the Duke turns deadly with a murder during a theatre outing -- with a dear friend's beloved the prime suspect. Now, the couple will have to clear his name, unravel a nefarious plot dating back to the Civil War, and protect an ingenue in desperate straits...all while staying incognito. With the surprisingly diverse and open-minded (but period-appropriate) cast this acclaimed series is known for, it's a delicious adventure...and if Ella doesn't win a duel on the Maid of the Mist -- it may be her last!

SMFS Member Publishing News: Devil in the Rearview by Stephen D. Rogers

SMFS list member Stephen D. Rogers’s novella, Devil in the Rearview, was published last week. This is the fifth novella in the Chop Shop series created and edited by SMFS list member Michael Bracken. Published by Down & Out Books, the eBook is exclusively available at Amazon.

 

Publisher Description:

Synopsis … Car thieves and the chop shop that buys from them combine to create high-octane stories of hot cars, hot crimes, and hot times in Dallas, Texas.

Some vehicles are too expense to steal. By the time you figure that out, it’s too late. In “Devil in the Rearview,” Liza Lee escapes one monster only to find herself running from a worse one, wondering all along whether she will become a monster herself.

SMFS Member Publishing News: Barracuda Backfire by Tom Milani

Today is publication day for Barracuda Backfire by SMFS list member Tom Milani. This is the fourth novella in the Chop Shop series created and edited by SMFS list member Michael Bracken. Published by Down & Out Books, the eBook is exclusively available at Amazon.

 

Website Description:

Car thieves and the chop shop that buys from them combine to create high-octane stories of hot cars, hot crimes, and hot times in Dallas, Texas.

In “Barracuda Backfire,” Billy Wright’s first loves were Veronica Valdez and his 1965 Plymouth Barracuda. Forty-five years after he thought he’d lost them both for good, he has a plan to win them back. All he needs to make it work is a whole lot of luck—and maybe a miracle.

SMFS Member Publishing News: Run and Gun by Joseph S. Walker

Today is publication day for Run and Gun by SMFS list member Joseph S. Walker. This is the second novella in the Chop Shop series created and edited by SMFS list member Michael Bracken. Published by Down & Out Books, the eBook is exclusively available at Amazon.

 

Amazon Description:

Car thieves and the chop shop that buys from them combine to create high-octane stories of hot cars, hot crimes, and hot times in Dallas, Texas.

When Lyle Mulaney steals his first car in “Run and Gun,” he doesn’t know he’s also stealing a blackmail film hotter than a Dallas summer. Now, the disgraced cop is caught between a progressive firebrand eager to take down the powerful and a cold-blooded fixer who will kill to protect them. Mulaney’s a hell of a driver, but can he outrun the man he has no hope of outgunning?

SMFS Member Publishing News: The Cadillac Job by Stacy Woodson

Today is publication day for The Cadillac Job by SMFS list member Stacy Woodson. This is the first novella in the Chop Shop series created and edited by SMFS list member Michael Bracken. Published by Down & Out Books, the eBook is exclusively available at Amazon.

 

Publisher Description:

Car thieves and the chop shop that buys from them combine to create high-octane stories of hot cars, hot crimes, and hot times in Dallas, Texas.

In “The Cadillac Job,” loyalty beyond the battlefield sends Carly and Knuckles on one last mission to save a dying teammate.

When Carly isn’t slinging drinks at the local VFW, she boosts cars—a job much like the one she had on a vehicle recovery team in Afghanistan.

Except her team isn’t the same.

Sweets is dying. And the last time Knuckles scouted for a Mustang, he ended up at a dude ranch off highway 175.

Her commanding officer is different, too.

She no longer answers to Captain Shrader. She answers to Huey, and the consequences for disobeying orders are deadly.

Determined to save Sweets, Carly steals cars to pay for a lifesaving surgery. But progress is slow, and Sweets is running out of time—until the Cadillac Job. The payout is big. So are the risks. If Carly succeeds, Sweets lives.

If she fails, they both die.

SMFS 2023 Black Orchid Novella Award Winners

SMFS congratulates SMFS list members Libby Cudmore and Paul A. Barra for their wins in the 2023 Black Orchid Novella Award.

Libby Cudmore's novella, Alibi in Ice, won first place and is scheduled to appear in the July/August 2024 issue of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine.

Paul A. Barra's novella, Death of a Papist, collected an Honorable mention.

Presented by The Wolfe Pack and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, the news was announced on December 2^nd at the 2023 Black Orchid Banquet in New York City. More about The Wolfe Pack: The Official Nero Wolfe Literary Society can be found at their website. More about the award can also be found at the AHMM website.

 

Thank you to past President, Robert Lopresti, who brought this important news to the attention of the SMFS list.

SMFS Member Publishing News: Stealing Paradise: A Grifter’s Song by Curtis Ippolito

SMFS list member Curtis Ippolito’s novella, Stealing Paradise was released earlier this month by Down & Out Books. This is the thirty-fourth installment of the A Grifter’s Song series. The read is available in eBook format from Amazon.

 

Publisher Description:

Sam and Rachel are taking a much-deserved break in America’s Finest City—San Diego. Staying at the legendary Hotel Del on Coronado Island, the couple hack their way into a free suite, swanky spas, and numerous other luxuries. But that’s where the scams cease.

Rachel has enacted a mantra of “observe but don’t act,” intended to allow Sam time to decompress and recover—and it’s working. But true to their nature, when a con too easy to pass up comes along, all other intentions are quickly discarded. Once a young businessman brags about increasing his net worth over the pandemic through the windfall of small business loans from the Federal government he had forgiven, the couple hatch a simple con to lighten his load some.

After some cozying up and planning an “investor presentation,” they seem poised to net an easy payday of six figures. The only hitch? A disgruntled former employer also has Sam and Rachel’s mark in his sights, unknown to them. Will his unwelcome presence not only kill the con but spell doom for them all?

SMFS Member Publishing News: A Cow Hunter's Lament and Other Stories by Larry D. Sweazy

 

Today is publication day for SMFS list member Larry D. Sweazy’s new short story collection, A Cow Hunter's Lament and Other Stories. Published by Five Star, the read of short stories and one novella is available at Amazon and other vendors.

2022 Black Orchid Novella Award Winner: Jacqueline Freimor

 

SMFS congratulates SMFS list member Jacqueline Freimor for her Black Orchid Novella Award win for “The Case of the Bogus Cinderellas."  Presented by The Wolfe Pack and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, the winning novella is scheduled to appear in the July/August 2023 issue of the magazine. More about The Wolfe Pack: The Official Nero Wolfe Literary Society can be found at their website. More about the award can also be found at the AHMM website. 

SMFS Member Publishing News: Maddie Day/Edith Maxwell

 

Today is publication day for two books by Edith Maxwell writing as Maddie Day.

Out today is Murder in a Cape Cottage: A Cozy Capers Book Group Mystery and is the fourth book in this series. Published in print, audio, and digital formats by Kensington Cozies, the read is available through a number of vendors including Amazon.

 

Synopsis:

It’s beginning to look a lot like murder in Agatha-awarding winning author Maddie Day’s latest Cozy Capers Book Group Mystery, as Cape Cod bike shop owner Mackenzie “Mac” Almeida and her book club sleuths must solve a murder before Mac and her fiancée’s New Years Eve wedding...

'Tis the day after Christmas, following a wicked-busy time of year for Mac’s bike shop. It’s just as well her Cozy Capers Book Group’s new pick is a nerve-soothing coloring book mystery, especially when she has last-minute wedding planning to do. But all pre-wedding jitters fade into the background when Mac and her fiancé, Tim, begin a cottage renovation project and open up a wall to find a skeleton—sitting on a stool, dressed in an old-fashioned bridal gown . . .

As Mac delves into the decades-old mystery with the help of librarian Flo and her book group, she discovers a story of star-crossed lovers and feuding families worthy of the bard himself. Yet this tale has a modern-day villain still lurking in Mac’s quaint seaside town, ready to make this a murderous New Year’s Eve . . .

Includes Recipes!

 

Today is also publication day for the anthology, Christmas Scarf Murder.  The read includes her novella, Scarfed Down. Published in print, audio, and digital formats by Kensington Cozies, the read is available through a number of vendors including Amazon.

 

Synopsis:

They’re coziest of wintertime accessories…unless, of course, they become accessories to murder! USA Today bestselling author Carlene O’Connor teams up with Maddie Day and Peggy Ehrhart for a holly jolly Christmas collection of seasonal stories, as their beloved series sleuths each solve cases revolving around handknit Christmas scarves.

 

CHRISTMAS SCARF MURDER by CARLENE O’CONNOR

When grinchy thefts steal the good cheer at a local nursing home, Siobhan O’Sullivan manages to identify one missing item before Kilbane, Ireland’s Christmas tractor parade—a hideous shamrock scarf wrapped around a very dead body. Now, with her holiday farmhouse bash approaching, Siobhan must dash to stop a deadly Secret Santa from gifting another unwanted surprise.

 

SCARFED DOWN by MADDIE DAY

It’s beginning to taste a lot like Christmas at Pans ‘N Pancakes, as twelve days of menu specials dazzle hungry locals. But the festivities go cold the instant a diner dies while knitting a brilliant green scarf. With Aunt Adele tied into a murder investigation, it’s all on Robbie Jordan to find out who’s really been naughty or nice in South Lick, Indiana.

 

DEATH BY CHRISTMAS SCARF by PEGGY EHRHART

Suspects pile up faster than New Jersey snow when frosty-tempered Carys Walnutt is found strangled by a handmade scarf auctioned at Arborville’s tree-lighting ceremony. Between a winning bidder hiding behind the alias “S. Claws” and a victim who deserved coal in her stocking, can Pamela Paterson and the crafty Knit and Nibble ladies freeze a killer’s merry murder plot?

SMFS Member Award News: William Burton McCormick

 

The Coffee Pot Book Club has awarded a Bronze Medal in the “Historical Young Adult” category to William Burton McCormick for his suspense novella, A Stranger from the Storm. Published by Mannison Press, LLC, the read is available in print and digital formats via the publisher, Amazon, and other vendors. A full list of those who won awards from the Coffee Pot Book Club can be found here.

SMFS Member Publishing News: House of Tigers by William Burton McCormick

SMFS list member William Burton McCormick’s novella, House of Tigers, has been published by Wildside Press. The read is available in eBook format at Amazon. This is in addition to the fact that it was also published this week in Black Cat Weekly 52. The story was a Black Orchid Novella Award finalist last year as noted here.  

 

Amazon Synopsis:

Ilya Dudnyk, a corrupt but romantic Russian police inspector, is trapped inside his oligarch employer’s Siberian mansion with an unknown killer, a duplicitous Latvian journalist chained to his arm, and an apocalyptic insect plague raging for hundreds of kilometers beyond the smoke barriers and barricaded windows. Can Ilya track down the killer before he is the next victim? Or will the endless swarms find a way inside and all are consumed by a hundred trillion ravenous, blood-sucking mosquitoes? An Honorable Mention for the Black Orchid Novella Award, “House of Tigers” is published here for the first time ever!

SMFS Member Publishing News: Two Tofu Tacos, a Taurus TX22, a Taycan, and a Ton of Trouble by Alan Orloff

 

Yesterday was publication day for Two Tofu Tacos, a Taurus TX22, a Taycan, and a Ton of Trouble by Alan Orloff. This is the latest installment of Season Four of the Guns + Tacos series edited by Trey R. Barker and SMFS list member Michael Bracken. Published by Down and Out Books, the read is available at the publisher, Amazon, and elsewhere.

 

Publisher Synopsis:

Blackmail is such an ugly word. Even uglier when it’s happening to you, especially when you don’t know who’s behind it, and defense lawyer Jefferson Bell doesn’t have a clue. Disgruntled client? Current mistress? One of a handful of pissed-off ex-mistresses? An opportunistic co-worker? A team of blackmailers looking for a big payday?

If the truth comes out, however, it will destroy his career and cause the end of Bell’s marriage. And he can’t let that happen, not after all the hard work he’d put in, not after all sacrifices he’d endured over the years. So following the advice of a friend, Bell visits a multi-purpose taco truck and procures what he needs to bring the extortionist down, and hard. Now he just has to find him. Or her. Or them.

With the help of his buddy and former client Rags Richland, Bell follows the trail through Chicago. When the blackmailer sets up an exchange, Bell attempts to seize the opportunity and spring a trap. But things go sideways, and Bell is no closer to learning his tormentor’s identity. To complicate matters, Bell’s situation has attracted the attention of the managing partner at his law firm, who gives Bell an ultimatum: fix things and make sure there’s no blowback on the firm. The ultimatum comes with a veiled part: Or else.

The more Bell searches, the more things come unraveled, and the more his desperation grows. And keeps growing, right up to the snapping point.

Then blows right past it.

SMFS Member Publishing News: Bev Vincent

SMFS list member Bev Vincent’s horror novella, The Dead of Winter, was recently published in the book, Dissonant Harmonies, a collaboration with Brian Keene. Published by Cemetery Dance in print format with an eBook on the way, the read is available at the publisher and Amazon. The Spotify play list of musical selections that served as inspiration can be heard here.

 

Synopsis:

Inspired by specially curated mixtapes, Bev Vincent and Brian Keene present two new spine-chilling novellas...

As a blizzard descends upon the sleepy town of Bayport, Rhode Island, brothers Joey and Frank Shaw investigate the mysterious disappearances of several townsfolk. After the discovery of strange tunnels, tunnels that only Joey can see, the trio suspect something is lurking beneath the snowbound town. Something burrowing. Something hungry. And it looks like Joey might be next in The Dead of Winter. 

Did you imagine the world vanishing to a flood or a comet, the hand of God or nuclear war? What if it started with something as innocuous as the Berenstain Bears, and something known as the Mandela Effect? Barricaded in a seedy motel room, one man makes sense of love, loss, and life as the end of the world looms. Do you see what he sees? Do you know what he knows?

SMFS Member Publishing News: Frank Zafiro

Today is publication day for Frank Zafiro’s new novella, Down Comes The Night. Billed as Season Two Episode 12 of A Grifter’s Song, the read is published by Down & Out Books. Currently, it is available in eBook format only from the publisher, Amazon, and other vendors.

Synopsis:

A battered Sam and Rachel decide to take a sabbatical from the grift for a year or two. To do so, they have to raid all of the honey pots they’ve left scattered across the country. Some may be watched by the mob, some will require a con to get to. They go after these caches of cash, wending their way to their eventual hiding place in Portland, Oregon…or Costa Rica.

SMFS Member Publishing News: Edith Maxwell

Today is publication day for SMFS list member Edith Maxwell’s new novella, Christmas Cocoa and a Corpse appearing in the three novella collection, Christmas Cocoa Murder. Writing as Maddie Day, the read is published by Kensington Books. The book is available in print, audio, and digital formats, from Amazon and other vendors.  Edith Maxwell’s novella is part of her well established Country Store Mysteries Series.

Synopsis:

'Tis the season for hot chocolate and mouthwatering treats. But sometimes too much of a good thing can be downright deadly . . .
 
CHRISTMAS COCOA MURDER by CARLENE O’CONNOR
Siobhán O’Sullivan’s hopes for a quiet Irish Christmas are dashed when the local Santa turns up dead in a carnival dunk tank of hot cocoa. Now instead of hunting down holiday gifts, she’s pursuing a heartless killer. Seems the dead Santa was no angel either, stealing neighborhood dogs to guide his sleigh. But was it his holiday antics—or worse—that led to his death by chocolate? 
 
CHRISTMAS COCOA AND A CORPSE by MADDIE DAY
When local businessman Jed Greenberg is found dead with a Chocolate lab whimpering over his body, the police start sniffing around Robbie Jordan’s country restaurant for answers. Was it something in Robbie’s hot cocoa that killed Jed, or was it Cocoa the dog? As the suspects pile as high as her holiday tree, Robbie attempts to get to the bottom of the sickly-sweet murder . . .
 
DEATH BY HOT COCOA by Alex Erickson
A Christmas-themed escape game seems like the perfect pre-holiday treat for bookstore café owner Krissy Hancock and her best friend. But when the host is found dead in a pool of hot cocoa, it’s up to Krissy and her team to catch the killer—or escape before getting killed.
 
There’s nothing like a hot cup of murder to warm up the holiday season!

SMFS Member Publishing News: Frank Zafiro

SMFS list member Frank Zafiro’s new book, A Gyro and a Glock: Guns + Tacos Book Three, is released today. This is the third novella in the overarching series and follows Tacos de Cazuela con Smith and Wesson by Gary Phillips and Three Brisket Tacos and a Sig Saur by Michael Bracken. Published by Down & Out Books, the read is now available in eBook formats from Amazon and other vendors.

Synopsis:

Tim never wanted to hurt anyone. He certainly didn't want to get hurt. Mostly, he just wanted to hang out with his best friend Ernie and enjoy their high. But an overbearing cop and a series of rough drug dealers conspired to make that impossible. 

Pressured into becoming an informant, Tim finds himself slipping deeper and deeper into dangerous territory, until there seems to be no way out. Until Ernie tells him about a very special taco truck...

SMFS Member Publishing News: Gary Phillips

SMFS list member Gary Phillips’ novella titled, Tacos de Cazuela con Smith and Wesson  is released today by Down & Out Books. This is the first installment of six book series, Guns + Tacos, created and edited by SMFS list member Michael Bracken and Trey R. Barker. At this time, the read is available in eBook format only from the publisher, Amazon, and other vendors. 

The entire series, with bonus content, can be ordered direct from the publisher.

Synopsis:

Why does an ER doctor used to dealing with the physical and psychological trauma of gunshot wounds obtain a handgun? What exactly has brought her to this breaking point, and what will be the consequences when she puts her plan into play on the infamous South Side of Chicago?

SMFS Member Publishing News: Gary Phillips

Back in April, SMFS list member Gary Phillips’ novella titled, The Movie Makers, was released by Down & Out Books. This is the fourth installment of the five book series, A Grifter’s Song. As noted in news announcement then, the read was only available in eBook format. As Gary announces below, the read is now available in print format.

Publishing News From Gary Phillips

I’m quite pleased with my 13,000-word story in the second volume of A Grifter’s Song series. “The Movie Makers” is Jim Thompson meets Harold Robbins.

Sam and Rachel are working a con in La La Land where the gold is for the asking as long as you can spin a captivating fable. Rachel’s character is an indie producer with Silicone Valley roots and Sam a life coach as they work their magic on the mark. 
All is going according to plan until the smiling gangster shows up and suddenly the scenario they created from fairy dust starts to evaporate as things go sideways…and they just might not get out by the skin of their teeth.

Plus only if you subscribe, there’s a bonus story by series creator and editor Frank Zafiro. Go to: https://downandoutbooks.com/bookstore/grifters-song-s1-subscription/

Little Big Crimes Review: The Spy Who Walked Into The Cold by Ron Collins

Little Big Crimes: The Spy Who Walked Into The Cold, by Ron Collins: "The Spy Who Walked Into The Cold," by Ron Collins, in Fiction River: Spies, 2019. Not a very short story this week.  A novel...