Michael Balter's Blog

I'm excited to share that Dead Exit: A Marty and Bo Thriller, the third novel in my Marty & Bo Thriller Series, is officially available today.

Thank you to everyone who has already read an advance copy and taken the time to leave a Goodreads review. Your thoughtful comments—and your willingness to help other readers discover new books—mean more than you know. I'm especially grateful to Bella Wright, Warren Anderson, Jo Anne Ellis, and the other early reviewers for helping launch this book.

Whether you've followed Marty and Bo since Chasing Money: A Marty and Bo Thriller or you're discovering them for the first time, I hope you enjoy this new adventure.

If you read Dead Exit, I'd love to hear what you think. Please consider leaving a Goodreads rating or review when you finish—it makes a tremendous difference for authors and helps other readers decide whether to pick up the book.

And if you'd like a chance to read it for free, I'm currently giving away 100 Kindle copies in a Goodreads Giveaway through July 21.

Thank you for being part of this wonderful reading community, and happy reading!

I'm delighted to share some exciting news about The Vatican Deal, the second book in my Marty Schott and Bo Bishop thriller series.

The novel has just been named the Winner of the National Indie Excellence Award for Crime Fiction. It also received a CIPA EVVY Gold Medal for Thrillers & Suspense and was selected as a Finalist for the Eric Hoffer Award.

What makes this book especially meaningful to me is that it grew out of my own experience negotiating a licensing agreement with the Vatican. Years ago, I worked with the renowned Chiurazzi Foundry in Naples to produce officially licensed reproductions of Michelangelo's Pietà and other Vatican artworks. The negotiations, the people I met, and the unique access I was given provided the inspiration for the novel.

In The Vatican Deal, Marty and Bo travel to Rome to finalize a licensing agreement with the Vatican, only to find themselves pulled into a dangerous web of kidnapping, organized crime, corruption, and murder. As the stakes rise, they discover that powerful interests will do almost anything to protect their secrets—and their profits.

If you haven't read The Vatican Deal yet, now is a great time to catch up. The third Marty and Bo thriller, Dead Exit: A Marty and Bo Thriller, arrives in July, and the events of that story grow directly out of the dangerous business partnership Marty and Bo become entangled with in The Vatican Deal.

Thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, and supported the series. Your encouragement means a great deal to me and helps keep these stories coming.

- Michael

I’m excited to share that Dead Exit: A Marty and Bo Thriller, the third book in my crime thriller series featuring Marty Schott and Bo Bishop, is now available for pre-order on Kindle.

Every book in this series has started with a “what if,” but this one may have been the most unsettling: What if the danger you thought you had survived wasn’t over—just waiting for the right moment to return?

In Dead Exit, Marty and Bo are trying to extricate themselves from a dangerous partnership with a Russian oligarch when a midnight phone call changes everything. A murder pulls them back into a world they’ve been trying to escape—and into a web of smuggling, counterfeit money, and a covert FBI operation they don’t yet understand.

But at its core, this book isn’t just about the external threats.

It’s about pressure—on a partnership, on trust, and on the choices people make when the stakes keep rising. Marty is still entangled in a relationship he can’t quite break, and Bo is forced to decide how far loyalty really goes. As secrets surface and tensions build, the real question becomes: what happens when the cracks between people start to widen at exactly the wrong time?

This story was inspired in part by a real-world FBI sting operation, which gave me the chance to explore the gray areas between law enforcement and criminal enterprise—where motives aren’t always clear, and outcomes rarely are.

Early readers have called Dead Exit “riveting and unrelenting” and “a sweeping saga of smuggling, corruption, and intrigue,” which is exactly what I was aiming for—a story that keeps the pages turning while digging a little deeper into the characters at the center of it.

The book will be released on July 7, 2026 in hardcover, paperback, and Kindle, but the Kindle edition is now available for pre-order.

If you’ve read the first two books, I hope you’ll enjoy where this next chapter takes Marty and Bo. And if you’re new to the series, this is a great time to jump in.

Thanks, as always, for reading—and for being part of this journey.

—Michael Balter

In December, Audio Book Reviewers announced the winners of their 2024 awards.

Chasing Money: A Marty and Bo Thriller won the 2024 Best Mystery Award in the thriller genre!

This was quite an honor and speaks to the exceptional narration provided by Frits Zernike.

Frits has had a long career as a professional actor which helps him bring each of the varied characters in Chasing Money to life.

He did a masterful job with the Russian killer - check it out in the Audible sample on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/3ZHKNr4

Kudos to Frits for this award. I'm looking forward to having him narrate the next book in the Marty and Bo thriller series - coming in May 2025.

Wow! I was surprised and honored to learn this week that my debut novel, Chasing Money: A Marty and Bo Thriller won the Feathered Quill Award for Mystery, Thriller, and Suspense novels. And - it earned second place in the overall competition for best debut author!

I can't tell you how much this means to me as a first-time author. I was thrilled when I won the Best Indie Book Award for Crime Thrillers last November - but part of me thought that might just be dumb luck. Learning that the professional judging panel at the Feathered Quill Awards also thought Chasing Money was worthy of their top honor is incredibly validating. Thank you!

GoodReads Fans,

To introduce my award-winning debut novel, Chasing Money: A Marty and Bo Thriller, to a larger group of readers, I’m giving 100 free copies of the Kindle book on GoodReads on President’s Day weekend in February. The deadline to enter is February 17th.

Enter now!

CHASING MONEY - WINNER 2023 BEST INDIE BOOK AWARD - CRIME THRILLERS

A missing masterpiece. A deadly threat. A desperate search. Marty and Bo were just trying to keep their struggling startup alive - but now they’ve got a bigger problem - keeping themselves alive.

"Exceptionally clever and compelling" - Midwest Book Review
"Packed with action. A strong voice paired with authentic dialogue… Witty and engaging.” The BookLife Prize
"A satisfying crime novel that will keep readers hooked." Kirkus Reviews

Available in hardcover, paperback, Kindle, and audiobook versions now on Amazon.

Or order the paperback or hardcover from your favorite independent bookstore

Note: If you’ve already read Chasing Money, please share this news with your friends, so they can enjoy it too!

Thanks,

Michael Balter

I was surprised and delighted to learn last month that my debut novel, Chasing Money: A Marty and Bo Thriller, won the 2023 Best Indie Book Award in the Crime Thriller category.

This was an unexpected honor for me. I had entered my book in this international literary contest with no real expectation of winning. There are thousands of entries each year, so I was blown away when I found out that Chasing Money had made it through every round of judging and had come out on top.

From what I've learned, Chasing Money impressed the judges with a compelling story, engaging narrative, gripping hooks, and the "author's mastery of voice, character, and dialogue."

As a debut author, this kind of validation means a lot to me, as do reader comments and reviews. It's one thing to write a book, and to hear from family and friends that it is good, but you never know if they are just being kind.

If you haven't read Chasing Money, and you enjoy a good crime thriller, please check it out. It tells the story of two business partners in a struggling startup, Marty and Bo, who take money from the wrong person. When an angry Russian killer demands $10 million and a mysterious missing masterpiece, they find themselves in a desperate chase for survival.

You'll find it's a little different. I was tired of thrillers with traditional heroes - grizzled detectives, secret agents, special forces. It was more interesting to craft a story where ordinary people, people like you and me, find themselves in extraordinary circumstances. And that seems to be something readers like too.

It's not everyone's cup of tea. If you prefer a cozy mystery or a lots of gun battles, then Chasing Money probably won't be for you. But if you like dark humor, simmering threats and tightly paced action, then give it a try.

I'd love to hear what you think,

Michael Balter

Hey Fans,

I was thrilled to see that over 1000 people have added my novel, Chasing Money, to their "Want To Read" shelf on Goodreads. That's fantastic for a book that just launched in September.

If you are one of those readers, or if you just want to settle down with a fast-paced thriller - now is the time to get Chasing Money.

From Nov 1-7, the Kindle version is on sale for only 99 cents as part of a Kindle Countdown Deal. The price goes back up to $9 on November 8th.

Chasing Money: A missing masterpiece. A deadly threat. A desperate search. Marty and Bo were just trying to keep their struggling startup alive - but now they’ve got a bigger problem - keeping themselves alive.

“Exceptionally clever and compelling” - Midwest Book Review

"Packed with action. A strong voice paired with authentic dialogue… Witty and engaging.” -The BookLife Prize

“A gritty, heart-pounding thriller that grabs you from the first page and won’t let you get away!”-Michael Lindley, author of the Amazon #1 Chasing Money: A Marty and Bo ThrillerHanna and Alex Low Country mystery series.