Reading the Detectives discussion

Hi,

If you are an author and want to promote your book, please do so only in this section. Any self-promotion threads posted elsewhere will be moved here. Threads about special offers/giveaways will be deleted after the event has finished if there are no further comments. Please don't create multiple threads about the same book or post long extracts from your book.

If you are a new member, please only post about your book if it is a mystery/detective story or a biography of a crime writer, etc.

However, if you are already an active member of the group and have written a book on another theme, feel free to mention it here. Thanks, everyone.

Judy wrote: "Hi,

If you are an author and want to promote your book, please do so only in this thread. Any self-promotion threads posted elsewhere will be moved here.

Please only promote books which are relev..."

Hello, Judy
I'm a raw newbie here. Was something posted by somebody for me in the wrong place? Not even sure what the right place is, but on the chance that it's here, I'll just post a link to the website for my new police procedural whose pub date is tomorrow. Synopsis, excerpt, pre-pub reviews at http://manhattanroulette.com

Hi Walt,

Thanks, that's great - congratulations on your new book! We've only just opened this self-promotion thread and you are in the right place. :)

Your introduction was originally in the wrong thread but I moved it, so no worries.

I've got a novel at Inkshares.com that I hope fits well into the golden age mold ... I've been shopping it around as "a 'golden age' detective story". It's set in 1924 London, at a gentlemen's club that caters to war veterans, and unsurprisingly titled "Murder at the Veterans' Club".

It ought to be going into pre-orders soon. Inkshares crowdfunds its manuscript acceptance process by taking pre-orders for books: if you get enough pre-orders, the book gets published, marketed and distributed, same as with any traditional publisher; if not, everyone gets their money back and you decided whether or not to try again. I'd originally thought to wait until the launch of the pre-order campaign before doing any promotion, but I figure I might as well give everyone a heads-up first.

I've also just put up a short story on Wattpad, The Adventure of the Oxford Comma", starring the same detective hero ... sort of an appetiser for the main course that is the afore-mentioned full-length novel. I hope people will check it out, let me know how close it comes to the classic golden age flavour.

Christopher, that sounds like an intriguing theme for a novel. I've just signed up at Wattpad and will read your short story as a taster.

Thanks, Judy. I hope it whets the appetite. I plan on putting up more short stories there as time goes by.

Christopher, just to say that I've now read and enjoyed your story. Wish you luck with your future ones.

Thanks. I'm actually planning to add another one today; and maybe every two weeks if I can manage it.

And it's up. Castles on the Moon. An Indian inventor is murdered after a presentation on the feasability of an expedition to the moon--note that it's the mid-1920s.

I confess I've been a bit hesitant about this one. Colonialism can be a very touchy topic, and a short murder mystery story isn't really a place to discuss it in any sort of depth.

Anyway, just like the previous Wattpad entry, it's another appetiser for my full-length novel, Murder at the Veterans' Club.

Murder at the Veterans' Club is now available for pre-order. As mentioned earlier in the thread, it's set in 1924, at a London gentlemen's club for war veterans. I'm actively trying to capture that "golden age" flavour here, and I hope people will enjoy it.

By my calculations, the final release date should be around October 2017, but if I manage the pre-order goal well before then, it could come out earlier. And there we go: I need pre-orders to make this happen ... and I think we all need more "golden age" puzzlers on the market.

Christopher wrote: "Murder at the Veterans' Club is now available for pre-order. As mentioned earlier in the thread, it's set in 1924, at a London gentlemen's club for war veterans. I'm actively trying to capture that..."

Hmm this is an ebook - will it be available internationally?

It should be, and it's not just an e-book: there are printed books too. I've heard a rumour there's some sort of issue with Amazon "accidentally" not making e-book titles available outside of the US/Canada if they didn't publish through Amazon Kindle, but you can always get Inkshares e-books--kindle or epub format--from the Inkshares site.

And if you pre-order now, there's no question about it: you will get your e-book download regardless of where you are.

Christopher wrote: "It should be, and it's not just an e-book: there are printed books too. I've heard a rumour there's some sort of issue with Amazon "accidentally" not making e-book titles available outside of the U..."

Excellent! Officer Class it is then lol

There's a way to get US$5 knocked off the price, by the way. After first signing in, wait a while and you'll get an email alerting you to a credit. There's a "claim" button in the email; click that, and you'll have $5 against your next purchase--or your first purchase, if you haven't made it yet.

Not a book, but a game: "Mustard, Music, and Murder". It's sort of a companion piece to the book I wrote ("Murder at the Veterans' Club", mentioned earlier in the thread.) and features the same detective hero.

I hope I've made it as accessible as possible for people unfamiliar with the standard text adventure ("Interactive Fiction") format, too ... and I have this idea I should write a series of these short games. What d'you think?

I've just read the start of your book, Christopher, which is excellent - I've pre-ordered the ebook and am looking forward to reading the whole thing.

Will check out the game too!

Thanks, Judy! I'm really grateful, and I hope you find the book lives up to the best traditions of the Golden Age!

Hi, just published Murder on the Strike of Five, a classic-style whodunnit, set in the Russian revolution of 1917, on the trans-Siberian railway. Murder on the Strike of Five: Russia 1917 Written as an homage to favourite authors, Christie, Sayers and Tay. Hope you enjoy it!

Congratulations, Bradley! Must be an exciting time for you.

M.P. wrote: "Hi, just published Murder on the Strike of Five, a classic-style whodunnit, set in the Russian revolution of 1917, on the trans-Siberian railway. [book:Murder on the Strike of Five: Russia 1917|316..."

Congratulations, M.P. - I've just downloaded a sample on Kindle and will look forward to getting started. I love mysteries set in Russia.

Bradley, congratulations - look forward to hearing more about your novel.

M.P., you certainly got me hooked - I missed my bus stop reading the sample and had to walk back! I've now bought the whole book. :)

Judy wrote: "M.P., you certainly got me hooked - I missed my bus stop reading the sample and had to walk back! I've now bought the whole book. :)"

Great compliment! - hope you enjoy reading the rest. :)

Hello, everyone! I absolutely love the Golden Age of Detective Fiction which is why I'm very much into the "Clue-Puzzle" format reminiscent of Agatha Christie. Back in June of this year I published my first eBook via Amazon: The Case of the Curious Client. It's about a group of amateur detectives called The Bow Street Society who have all been recruited due to a particular field of knowledge/field of expertise they possess which they bring to the task of solving crimes. The Case of the Curious Client is the first book to feature the Society but I intend to write more (I'm on the 2nd one currently). Each new mystery will see new members being assigned to each investigation so as to take advantage of their suitable skills etc. Anyway, if you decide to read it I hope you enjoy it. You can also find out more by visiting my website: www.bowstreetsociety.com

Hi TG, have you published your dissertation on the Internet? It sounds very interesting, I'd love to read it.

Unfortunately not. I did have a copy of it somewhere but I think it's on floppy disc. One of the dissertation parts focused on Gender Roles in Death on the Nile and how the gender roles were reversed for the main male and female characters. Also exploring the idea of Poirot as Punisher who came in and had to put things right by solving the mystery and thereby restoring the "norm" of traditional Gender Roles. The second part of the dissertation was along the same lines but explored Class roles. I did cover 5 books in total: Absent in the Spring was in the last part on its own. I think Endless Night and Murder of Roger Ackroyd were in the same part (the Class part) and I can't remember what I compared Death on the Nile with.

I see that James Bernthal's book 'Queering Agatha Christie' will be published next month.
==

This book is the first fully theorized queer reading of a Golden Age British crime writer. Agatha Christie was the most commercially successful novelist of the twentieth century, and her fiction remains popular. She created such memorable characters as Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple, and has become synonymous with a nostalgic, conservative tradition of crime fiction. J.C. Bernthal reads Christie through the lens of queer theory, uncovering a playful, alert, and subversive social commentary. After considering Christie’s emergence in a commercial market hostile to her sex, in Queering Agatha Christie Bernthal explores homophobic stereotypes, gender performativity, queer children, and masquerade in key texts published between 1920 and 1952. Christie engaged with debates around human identity in a unique historical period affected by two world wars. The final chapter considers twenty-first century Poirot and Marple adaptations, with visible LGBT characters, and poses the question: might the books be queerer?

About the Author
J.C. Bernthal is a private researcher for a major crime writer. He holds a PhD from the University of Exeter, UK, where he taught English Literature, and is the editor of The Ageless Agatha Christie (2016).

(Via Amazon)

Hmmm, that one might be an interesting read

Murder on the Strike of Five: Russia 1917 is available for $0.99/£0.99 in a Kindle Countdown deal https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Strike-... or https://www.amazon.co.uk/Murder-Strik...

M.P., I just put an order through for "Murder on the Strike of Five" via Amazon.ca. We need more classic whodunnits on the shelves!

Great news - very interested to see how your crowdfunding goes.

Christopher wrote: "M.P., I just put an order through for "Murder on the Strike of Five" via Amazon.ca. We need more classic whodunnits on the shelves!"

If you're looking for another classic whodunnit then my book, The Case of the Curious Client, is also available for download from Amazon.ca: https://www.amazon.ca/Case-Curious-Cl...

Thanks! And maybe I should put up a reminder here that "Murder at the Veterans' Club" is still taking pre-orders, and the final publication deal depends on the pre-order volume. Classic whodunnits all the way!

This is the beginning of a series of novels, novellas, and short stories all based on characters that lived in North London right after WW2. The author of the stories died some years ago, leaving boxes and boxes of published and unpublished works that we are slowly piecing together for publication on Kindle

We published a compilation of 3 stories called the Miss Dallen Affair. The first is a short story, the second is a small novel, and the last is a novella. They all are hard-nosed stories of London, and Richard loved writing about the people he knew as a child in that world.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0719PVHY8

thanks

James, thanks for posting about this book that you have edited, featuring a P.I. in 1940s London - I think from the Amazon write-up that some of his work was published at the time? Sounds fascinating and the book cover is tempting in itself.

Hello, everyone! In addition to my first book, The Case of The Curious Client, I also have another in the same series, The Case of The Lonesome Lushington as well as 2 short stories: www.bowstreetsociety.com

I've launched a new weekly blog dedicated to promoting the works of published crime, thriller, suspense, horror, and true crime nonfiction authors. Inspired by Desert Island Discs, the blog invites authors to imagine themselves as inmates of a fictional, prison cell block while answering the following questions:

1) Who is your cellmate, and why?
2) Which four books would you choose to pass the time with, and why?
3) Which one of your own literary creations would you choose to visit you, and why?

Full information, including links to previous featured authors' segments and how to subscribe to the free mailing list, can be found here: http://www.bowstreetsociety.com/writers-wing.html

Thanks for posting, T.G. it looks really interesting.

Susan wrote: "Thanks for posting, T.G. it looks really interesting."

Thank you!

Hi,
Please check out this new book "The Death Messenger" by Henry Taba and share with me your reviews at Kindle.
The Kindle edition is 99c and I am also exclusive to Amazon and available for free download on the Lending Library, Matchbook and Kindle Unlimited.
This is the link to my novel:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FFW9XBX
The Death Messenger: book 1
Thank you very much for your time. Happy Reading!!

Thank you for posting, Henry. I hope your book does well!

My goodness, it's been over two years since I first talked about pre-orders for my book here. Since then, "Murder at the Veterans' Club" has been retitled as A Gentleman's Murder and it's coming out THIS COMING TUESDAY. Yes, I'm excited. I'm really hoping it hits that Golden Age vibe for everybody.

Also, there's a Goodreads Giveaway (US only) ending on publication day: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...

I’m excited to read your book after such a long wait, Christopher. Congratulations on the great reviews you have got, including author Rhys Bowen comparing you to Sayers! I’m slightly worried that my credit card details are probably out of date by now, so will log into the site and check.

Editing to say I think this probably isn't a problem - I don't remember now but I think they took payment when I ordered.

Yes, congratulation's, Christopher. Are you bringing out the book on kindle? Only a paperback copy is listed on Amazon.UK.

It seems the book is only available on Kindle to US. Even though it is on Amazon US its not available for purchase in my neck of the woods either.

Susan and Lesley, I'm in the UK, but ordered it as an ebook from the Inkshares site a while back and my order was accepted - hoping to receive it on July 31, publication date!

P.S., Christopher, I see Amazon is calling you 'Professor Christopher Huang', because there is another author of the same name who has written a medical textbook!

Oh, OK. Do they send the book directly to your kindle? I am useless about downloading files, etc. I only use Amazon and NetGalley, which I can cope with!

I'm not sure, Susan - I am guessing they will email me the file, but it only takes a minute to forward it to my Kindle's email address, then open it up. I'll let you know after it arrives!

OK. I have received similar files before and found myself unable to open them; although, undoubtedly, this is down to my own incompetence...