Tidbits: Belie

Where has the year gone? Just like that, the release date for my latest novel, Belie, is right around the corner — and you know what that means! Time for some teaser tidbits that may or may not include spoilers. (You’ve been warned.)

First and foremost, of course, a little self promotion: if you’ve not already preordered your copy of the book, there’s still time! Use these links for the version you want:

Kindle

$3.99

Delivered directly from Amazon

Order Kindle

My favorite Version

Hardcover

$37.27

Save when you purchase this through Bookshop.org – and support your local bookseller, too!

HardcoverPaperback

$17.70

Also available through Bookshop.org

Paperback

All editions will be downloaded and/or shipped starting on November 18, 2025. (Full disclosure: I get a tiny affiliate cut if you happen to use the above links for Bookshop.org.) For those of you interested in an Audible version of Belie, that will appear about a week after the Kindle version is released.

Okay, now down to business! Per usual, these tidbits will be presented like the kind of Q&A I do on my podcasts — and yes, there will be new episodes of that in the new year, so be sure to subscribe.

Belie is an unique title for a novel.

If you’ve been a fan for a while, you probably have already seen or heard my explanation for how I name my books, namely that the title is significant to the plot, though not always in the most obvious of ways. This novel is no exception, for while there is a direct connection the crime that drives this story, how it relates to the many threads I began weaving back in Blindsided is equally as critical. Sean has several moments of reckoning in Belie, many of them rather painful — and with repercussions that will radiate out into future stories.

I’m starting to worry that might be why the next Sean Colbeth novel is titled Aftermath.

Yes, that title is equally as significant. And that is all you are getting out of me right now.

The central case in Belie revolves around a mass shooting. That seems like an unusual starting point for Sean.

Part of the genesis for this story came from an extremely tragic event that befell a Maine community the year before I began writing Belie. Having lived and worked in that portion of the state, the unbelievable loss of life in spot I knew well affected me far more than I expected; like most people, I continued to be horrified there seems to be no answer as to how we stop this epidemic of gun violence. The only tool I have is my writing, and as I’ve made no secret of my tendency to sneak social commentary into my stories, crafting a tale that might focus a bit more attention on the situation felt like the right move. Belie therefore starts out quite dark as Sean tries to process the insanity he is forced to deal with; for me, as an author, it was a difficult experience that took more out of me than I expected.

Sounds like it was tough to write.

It was. Enough so that I took almost a full year off from Sean before starting Aftermath.

The blurb notes that Sean does some sort of off-the-books investigation. That doesn’t seem like him?

I had an extremely interesting email conversation with a reader about this very point after Solitude was released. The honest answer here is that, frankly, Sean hasn’t truly been himself since Suzanne dropped out of his life for a week in Vengeance; losing his position as Police Chief with Windeport seems to have compounded the issue and affected his sense of self, enough that he actually begins acting slightly out of character.

Will he recover?

Absolutely — and that’s not really a spoiler, for all of us have periods where we wrestle with who we are and where we happen to be in life. Sean is no different, though it might take a book or two for him to get there (given how slowly time passes in my universe).

Wait – aren’t these stories contemporary?

Yes. But before you ask how that answer contradicts my prior one, you should know I’ve inverted the laws of physics such that while the time period stays consistent with current events, my characters aren’t aging as fast. Think of it as my version of the fountain of youth. I’ve made a few exceptions though; while I obliquely reference the current political climate in the United States, I have chosen to ignore the entire COVID pandemic.

You hinted earlier that Sean wasn’t happy working for the State Police.

Solitude didn’t cover this directly, but if you read between the lines in that critical final chapter of Vengeance, Sean shows the first vestiges of doubt when he accepts the offer to run the Major Crimes unit. All of those feelings come to full bloom during the course of Belie, though how he resolves them won’t become apparent until Aftermath. All I can say is: fasten your seatbelts. This is going to be a bumpy ride.

Okay, that’s it for now! Just in case you missed it at the top, here are those links again for preordering your copy of Belie.