“Have I Got a Deal for YOU!”

“What can you possibly mean by that, Holmes?”

“It’s elementary, my dear Watson.”

After a long, dreary winter, everyone is ready for spring. More than ready! We spent a month at our cottage in the woods in the Berkshires, where one day registered a chilly -15°F! Now we’re back in Seattle, sipping coffee, where it’s a not-so-balmy 43°, but at least there are buds on the trees.

But, as they say, hope springs eternal, or, maybe it should be, hope for spring is eternal. Either way, let’s get things rolling in the right direction.

For the entire month of March, Level Best Books is offering a huge discount on the eBook version of every one of my mysteries they’ve published.

(GIVEAWAY ALERT! At the end of this newsletter, take the 1-Question Quiz and you can be one of five winners of a free eBook of your choice!)

Take your pick of any or all of these eBooks, for only $1.99 each!

(A satisfied customer)

From the critically acclaimed Daniel Jacobus Series that takes place in the dark corners of the classical music world:

Devil’s Trill – “Will delight music lovers and mystery fans alike.”

Danse Macabre – “This book should not be missed!”

Death and the Maiden – “Fast paced and punchily written.”

Death and Transfiguration – “Brilliant and captivating on every level.”

Cloudy With a Chance of Murder – “A vibrant cast of characters and Jacobus’s indomitable wit.”

Murder at the Royal Albert – “A near perfect mystery.”

And from my pair of page-turning standalones:

The Beethoven Sequence – “A riveting mystery.”

Roundtree Days: A Jefferson Dance Western Mystery – “Exceptional” and “Hilarious.”

And That’s Not All!

My self-published collection of 30 gripping short mysteries, It’s a Crime! recently hit the market. For the month of March this collection – over 400 pages of tantalizing short mysteries – is on sale for an irresistible $2.99.

Check out this review of It’s a Crime! via all the way from the U.K.:

“I enjoyed every story in this collection, and I cannot tell you how rare that is! Delightful offerings from a superb writer – I cannot wait to start reading the novels about the characters in the short stories. My favorite is the bass player’s tale, told over coffee and crullers.”

As you’ve surmised, 2023 has gotten off to a busy start. Here’s a look at what’s happened so far and what’s coming up, with some fun events that you can participate in!

January 1: The New Year got off to a blazing start with the release of Murder at the Royal Albert , which has been attracting great reviews from noted authors and contented readers like bears to honey. Here, in its entirety, is a review a mystery writer would die for (figuratively):

“Gerald Elias has given us, his enthralled readers, friends who have developed deeply and become a part of our lives. Daniel and Yumi and their great friends invite us into their world of great music, food, travel and compassion as they solve yet another brilliant mystery.
     “This book left me speechless, a difficult thing to achieve. My heart and mind were glued to page after page. It had my heart racing at times so much that I had to check the heart rate on my watch. No joke. Mr. Elias is a master storyteller who can convey exactly what it feels like to perform on the world’s greatest concert stages with breathtaking detail. If you love music and mysteries I invite you to read this series. You will probably end up, as I have, in giving copies as gifts to like-minded friends. Go for it.” – F. Lifsitz, happy reader.

January 10: The release of Coolest American Stories 2023.  My story, “A Scarab for Normandy,” was among 13 selected for one of the year’s most popular anthologies.

February 8: The release of It’s a Crime!, which, in its 1st week, was Amazon’s #12 bestselling hot new release for Kindle New Mystery Anthologies!

March 11: I’m joining three other prominent Western authors as an online panelist for Murder at High Noon, part of a 2-day Zoom conference of writers and readers called Murderous March. Sponsored by the Upper Hudson Chapter of Sisters in Crime, the “Mavens of Mayhem,” there are a whole slew of user-friendly events. As you can guess from the name of my panel, we’ll be conversing about Western mysteries, including my own Roundtree Days. Register now!

March 14: My short story, “Last Night,” about the race against a catastrophic pandemic, is featured as the first story in the wickedly clever Crimeucopia issue, One More Thing to Worry About, a Murderous Ink Press Anthology.

March 22: I’m partnering with author Scott Graham in a lively discussion of our Western mysteries, again with my Roundtree Days and Scott’s Saguaro Sanction, in an online event sponsored by The King’s English Bookshop.