Chris Chan's Blog, page 12

Announcing Two Upcoming Books with Level Best Books: Some of My Best Friends are Murderers and 156 Homicides!

Announcing Two Upcoming Books with Level Best Books: Some of My Best Friends are Murderers and 156 Homicides!

 

It’s finally official now, so I can make the announcement.  Level Best Books has accepted two more of my books for publication: a critical analysis of a beloved crime television series, and an experimental epic novel looking at how murder affects a modern American city.

 

Some of My Best Friends are Murderers studies the classic series Columbo, and critiques every one of the show’s many killers, studying their crimes, psyches, and relationship with Lieutenant Columbo.  The book’s description is as follows:

 

Can you enjoy a crime television show if you already know whodunit?  As Columbo proved, definitely!  In nearly every episode, Lieutenant Columbo, played by Peter Falk, paired off against a murderer who’d supposedly committed the perfect crime.  Columbo would question, trick, and even befriend the very different killers in order to make an arrest.  But despite the standard formula for the episodes, each guest murderer was very different.  This book will explore the killers who believed they were too clever to be caught, only to be undone by a detective who kept asking about just one more thing…

 

Some of My Best Friends are Murderers is scheduled for publication in the autumn of 2024.

 

My other book, 156 Homicides: A Year of Murder in Milwaukee features three hundred sixty-five chapters, telling the story of the toll crime takes on one of the largest cities in the Midwest over the course of twelve months.  In this completely fictional story featuring some of my recurring characters from the Funderburke and Kaiming series, plus over a thousand additional characters, a multitude of perspectives come together to create an unprecedented look at the human cost of crime.  The book’s description is as follows: 

 

How does murder shape an American city?  156 Homicides is composed of 365 short chapters, each set during a different day of the year, each one narrated by one or more people who have been affected by violence.  The over four hundred different narrators come from every conceivable background, and include police officers, grieving loved ones, prosecutors, defense lawyers, trauma surgeons, witnesses, clergymen, gang members, journalists, professors, politicians, criminals, bloggers, children, business owners, and even the perpetrators and victims. The tone of the stories ranges from farcical capers led by inept criminals, to heartbreaking stories of families devastated by the losses of loved ones.  Every corner of the city is a setting at some point, from graffiti-scarred alleys to churches filled with mourners, from the universities to the parks, from Lake Michigan to the city’s downtown, from the poorest and most crime-ridden neighborhoods to the nineteenth-century mansions built by Milwaukee’s first millionaires.  No corner of the city is left untouched by the effects of crime.

 

156 Homicides includes slice-of-life tales, police procedurals, cozy mysteries, private eye narratives, noir, suspenseful adventures with twist endings, opinionated musings, and family dramas.  This epic mosaic novel depicts both the worst and the best aspects of society, but it’s not just about crime.  156 Homicides is a story about people, adversity, and ultimately, hope.

 

156 Homicides is scheduled for publication in the autumn of 2025.

 

Thanks so much to Level Best Books!

 

 

 

Chris Chan’s sequel to Sherlock’s Secretary, Nessie’s Nemesis, was published on September 3rd by MX Publishing.  His novel Ghosting My Friend was released by Level Best Books on March 28th. His first novel, Sherlock’s Secretary, was released by MX Publishing, as was his anthology Of Course He Pushed Him and Other Sherlock Holmes Stories Volumes 1 & 2.  His Agatha-nominated book Murder Most Grotesque: The Comedic Crime Fiction of Joyce Porter was published by Level Best Books.  His first non-fiction book, Sherlock & Irene: The Secret Truth Behind “A Scandal in Bohemia” is available for sale at Amazon.com and the MX Publishing website, as well as at Book Depository (with free worldwide shipping there).  It is also available in a Kindle edition.

 

The 2023 CLUE Book Awards for Suspense/Thrillers Longlist

The 2023 CLUE Book Awards for Suspense/Thrillers Longlist

 

Chanticleer Book Reviews runs an annual book awards competition in various categories, including mysteries.  My novel Ghosting My Friend has just made the longlist for this year’s CLUE Book Awards for Suspense and Thriller Mysteries!  Congratulations to everybody else who is on the longlist– I see some familiar names, and it’s nice to be amongst such distinguished company!

 

Chris Chan’s sequel to Sherlock’s Secretary, Nessie’s Nemesis, was published on September 3rd by MX Publishing.  His novel Ghosting My Friend was released by Level Best Books on March 28th. His first novel, Sherlock’s Secretary, was released by MX Publishing, as was his anthology Of Course He Pushed Him and Other Sherlock Holmes Stories Volumes 1 & 2.  His Agatha-nominated book Murder Most Grotesque: The Comedic Crime Fiction of Joyce Porter was published by Level Best Books.  His first non-fiction book, Sherlock & Irene: The Secret Truth Behind “A Scandal in Bohemia” is available for sale at Amazon.com and the MX Publishing website, as well as at Book Depository (with free worldwide shipping there).  It is also available in a Kindle edition.

Thanks, Tanya!

Thanks, Tanya!

 

My friend Tanya has been promoting her friends and their businesses and other endeavors on social media.  This week, she profiled me and my books!  You can read her very kind Facebook post here.

 

Thanks so much, Tanya!  You can check out her YouTube channels “Autism, Fibromyalgia, and Food” and “Stepping Away From the Noise” here.  Also, here’s a link to buy her photography and prayer ebook!  

 

Chris Chan’s sequel to Sherlock’s Secretary, Nessie’s Nemesis, was published on September 3rd by MX Publishing.  His novel Ghosting My Friend was released by Level Best Books on March 28th. His first novel, Sherlock’s Secretary, was released by MX Publishing, as was his anthology Of Course He Pushed Him and Other Sherlock Holmes Stories Volumes 1 & 2.  His Agatha-nominated book Murder Most Grotesque: The Comedic Crime Fiction of Joyce Porter was published by Level Best Books.  His first non-fiction book, Sherlock & Irene: The Secret Truth Behind “A Scandal in Bohemia” is available for sale at Amazon.com and the MX Publishing website, as well as at Book Depository (with free worldwide shipping there).  It is also available in a Kindle edition.

 

 

 

The Role of Food in Sherlock’s Secretary and Nessie’s Nemesis

The Role of Food in Sherlock’s Secretary and Nessie’s Nemesis

 

More than one person has noted that meals play a prominent role in Sherlock’s Secretary and Nessie’s Nemesis.  This is deliberate.  Readers will see that a lot of scenes revolve around meals, often with comic overtones and featuring distinctive meals.  I did this for multiple reasons.  One was to create a distinctive scene– sometimes physical descriptions of settings help, but food creates a sensory connection as well.  A mental image the reader’s head may provide a visual picture, but food descriptions set up taste and smell images as well, and scent is an evocative sense, which, if the readers are willing to use their imaginations, it makes the settings come alive mentally to another level.

 

What do you think?  What are some instances when reading about food or watching a food scene on film and television provoked a response in you?  Please let me know what you think in the comments.

 

 

Chris Chan’s sequel to Sherlock’s Secretary, Nessie’s Nemesis, was published on September 3rd by MX Publishing.  His novel Ghosting My Friend was released by Level Best Books on March 28th. His first novel, Sherlock’s Secretary, was released by MX Publishing, as was his anthology Of Course He Pushed Him and Other Sherlock Holmes Stories Volumes 1 & 2.  His Agatha-nominated book Murder Most Grotesque: The Comedic Crime Fiction of Joyce Porter was published by Level Best Books.  His first non-fiction book, Sherlock & Irene: The Secret Truth Behind “A Scandal in Bohemia” is available for sale at Amazon.com and the MX Publishing website, as well as at Book Depository (with free worldwide shipping there).  It is also available in a Kindle edition.

 

Roald Dahl’s “The Great Automatic Grammatizator”: Predicting A.I.

Roald Dahl’s “The Great Automatic Grammatizator”: Predicting A.I.

 

There’s a lot of talk about A.I. these days, and how people are using it to write homework assignments, essays… and fiction.  Instead of taking their time to write out their ideas themselves, they pop a brief summary of the story premise into the artificial intelligence software, and allow it to produce the work for them.  Sometimes they punch up the stories themselves, sometimes they leave the work as-is, unchanged.  

 

Some short-story magazines have been swamped with submissions, and the editors claim that they can tell at a glance which stories have been carefully crafted by authors dedicated to their art, and which stories have been turned out by an A.I. program, without a scrap of the personal touch.

 

Part of the now-possibly-concluded writer’s strike was due to the potential use of A.I. in crafting screenplays. However, A.I. could possibly be used to write more books in series long after authors pass away or retire, though a little editing might be applied to these A.I.-written works.  

 

But long before A.I. was a reality, Roald Dahl predicted something like it could exist.  Many fans of his don’t realize that he didn’t just write children’s fiction.  He also wrote short stories for adults.  One of these stories was “The Great Automatic Grammatizator,” a machine that can produce books through a mechanical process.  Once the machine is perfected, the inventor gets an idea: what if he could corner the market on fiction?  If he could convince authors to promise never to write again, in exchange for a substantial fee, pretty soon he could create a monopoly on reading material.  I won’t spoil the end of the story, of course, but like most of Dahl’s work, it has a strong moral.

 

If you’re wondering about the effects of A.I. on creative writing, I suggest you find a copy of Dahl’s “The Great Automatic Grammatizator” and read it.  It may change the way you look at A.I.  And also, check out the four new short films on Netflix based on Dahl’s stories, directed by Wes Anderson.  I’ve seen two of them so far, and they’re great.  Very faithful to the books, and Anderson has managed to find a visual style that somehow captures the magic of Dahl’s writing.

 

 

 

Chris Chan’s sequel to Sherlock’s Secretary, Nessie’s Nemesis, was published on September 3rd by MX Publishing.  His novel Ghosting My Friend was released by Level Best Books on March 28th. His first novel, Sherlock’s Secretary, was released by MX Publishing, as was his anthology Of Course He Pushed Him and Other Sherlock Holmes Stories Volumes 1 & 2.  His Agatha-nominated book Murder Most Grotesque: The Comedic Crime Fiction of Joyce Porter was published by Level Best Books.  His first non-fiction book, Sherlock & Irene: The Secret Truth Behind “A Scandal in Bohemia” is available for sale at Amazon.com and the MX Publishing website, as well as at Book Depository (with free worldwide shipping there).  It is also available in a Kindle edition.

 

I’ve Never Been To Scotland…

I’ve Never Been To Scotland…

 

I suppose it’s time for a confession…  I’ve never been to Scotland.  

 

And that may lead to some questions regarding my book Nessie’s Nemesis.  As I don’t have any first-hand experience with Loch Ness, how good a job did I do recreating the setting of the book?  I tried to do a lot of research through reading, but was that enough?  Did I make any glaring mistakes?  Was I too generic?  Or did I do an acceptable job of setting the scene?

 

If anyone’s genuinely familiar with the Loch Ness area, please let me know…

 

Chris Chan’s sequel to Sherlock’s Secretary, Nessie’s Nemesis, was published on September 3rd by MX Publishing.  His novel Ghosting My Friend was released by Level Best Books on March 28th. His first novel, Sherlock’s Secretary, was released by MX Publishing, as was his anthology Of Course He Pushed Him and Other Sherlock Holmes Stories Volumes 1 & 2.  His Agatha-nominated book Murder Most Grotesque: The Comedic Crime Fiction of Joyce Porter was published by Level Best Books.  His first non-fiction book, Sherlock & Irene: The Secret Truth Behind “A Scandal in Bohemia” is available for sale at Amazon.com and the MX Publishing website, as well as at Book Depository (with free worldwide shipping there).  It is also available in a Kindle edition.

Baskerville at the Peninsula Players

Baskerville at the Peninsula Players

 

Last night, I gave a presentation on Sherlock Holmes for a pre-show seminar at the Peninsula Players’ production of Baskerville, an adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskerville, played comedically with a cast of five.  Two actors play Holmes and Watson, and three actors each take on multiple additional roles each.

 

My pre-show lecture covered numerous topics connected to Sherlock Holmes, ranging from real-life forensic science, to copyright issues, to famous portrayals of the Great Detective.  For more on the contentious relationship between Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his most famous creation, please check out my article “Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: The Man Who Couldn’t Kill Sherlock Holmes,” written for the Peninsula Players.

 

If you’re in the Door County area of Wisconsin before mid-October, please consider stopping by the Peninsula Players and seeing Baskerville!

 

 

Chris Chan’s sequel to Sherlock’s Secretary, Nessie’s Nemesis, was published on September 3rd by MX Publishing.  His novel Ghosting My Friend was released by Level Best Books on March 28th. His first novel, Sherlock’s Secretary, was released by MX Publishing, as was his anthology Of Course He Pushed Him and Other Sherlock Holmes Stories Volumes 1 & 2.  His Agatha-nominated book Murder Most Grotesque: The Comedic Crime Fiction of Joyce Porter was published by Level Best Books.  His first non-fiction book, Sherlock & Irene: The Secret Truth Behind “A Scandal in Bohemia” is available for sale at Amazon.com and the MX Publishing website, as well as at Book Depository (with free worldwide shipping there).  It is also available in a Kindle edition.

 

 

My Introduction to Nessie

My Introduction to Nessie

 

When I was rather small, my parents visited a special book sale and came back with a big box of educational books for young children.  There were lots of books on science, math, and culture, and also a trio of books covering the Egyptian Pyramids, Stonehenge, and the Loch Ness Monster.  

 

The Loch Ness Monster book was one of my favorites, and I loved a lot of the little details, including a hilarious picture of a group of adventurers who flew above the surface of the loch in a hot-air balloon, dragging a fifty-pound chunk of bacon below them on a rope, trying to get Nessie’s attention.  It also theorized about the possibility that Nessie was related to sea-dwelling dinosaurs.  Perhaps it was just as well, as the book was for a children’s audience, that they never dwelled very long on the possibility that dear old Nessie wasn’t real.

 

When I was little, I started writing a very silly story about my search for the Loch Ness Monster, drawing my own pictures for it.  I never dreamed that I’d actually write a novel about someone obsessed with Nessie over thirty years later.  

 

But I did.  And it was just published.

 

 

Chris Chan’s sequel to Sherlock’s Secretary, Nessie’s Nemesis, was published on September 3rd by MX Publishing.  His novel Ghosting My Friend was released by Level Best Books on March 28th. His first novel, Sherlock’s Secretary, was released by MX Publishing, as was his anthology Of Course He Pushed Him and Other Sherlock Holmes Stories Volumes 1 & 2.  His Agatha-nominated book Murder Most Grotesque: The Comedic Crime Fiction of Joyce Porter was published by Level Best Books.  His first non-fiction book, Sherlock & Irene: The Secret Truth Behind “A Scandal in Bohemia” is available for sale at Amazon.com and the MX Publishing website, as well as at Book Depository (with free worldwide shipping there).  It is also available in a Kindle edition.

The Real-Life Search for Nessie

The Real-Life Search for Nessie

 

I didn’t expect or time this.  How could I?

 

But just in time for the release of Nessie’s Nemesis, there’s a lot of news regarding the real-life hunt for the Loch Ness Monster.  And some of the participants are calling themselves “Monster Hunters,” much like the “Monster Hunterz” in my novel.

 

There are a lot of stories recently about people who have either claimed to have spotted Nessie, or have been participatingin the search for the LNM.  Nothing definitive has been found, but the news coverage makes for a fun read, much like Nessie’s Nemesis itself.  If you’re looking for an entertaining mystery that’s cheaper than an actual trip to Scotland and will hopefully leave you laughing as you read, then please take a look!

 

 

Chris Chan’s sequel to Sherlock’s Secretary, Nessie’s Nemesis, will be published on September 3rd by MX Publishing. His novel Ghosting My Friend was released by Level Best Books on March 28th. His first novel, Sherlock’s Secretary, was released by MX Publishing, as was his anthology Of Course He Pushed Him and Other Sherlock Holmes Stories Volumes 1 & 2.  His Agatha-nominated book Murder Most Grotesque: The Comedic Crime Fiction of Joyce Porter was published by Level Best Books.  His first non-fiction book, Sherlock & Irene: The Secret Truth Behind “A Scandal in Bohemia” is available for sale at Amazon.com and the MX Publishing website, as well as at Book Depository (with free worldwide shipping there).  It is also available in a Kindle edition.

 

 

 

My First Mystery, Crime, and Mayhem Work!

My First Mystery, Crime, and Mayhem Work!

 

If you’re looking for some really good short mysteries to read, please consider signing up for the quarterly magazine Mystery, Crime, and Mayhem.  Every issue has a general theme– this one is Library Cases, as each story has a link to a library.

 

My story is “Murder by Manga,” inspired by true events.  The terrific classic manga series Death Note has legions of fans, but it has also been banned in many school libraries, because authorities fear that young people are reading the manga and getting violent ideas.  In this entry in the Funderburke and Kaiming series, narrated by Nerissa, a similar push to have Death Note banned in the Cuthbertson Hall Middle School Library leads to a discovery that leaves a lot of parents nervous.

 

Not only is my short fiction featured here, but also, I’m writing a regular nonfiction crime column for MCM.  This one is called “CSI: Song Dynasty China,” profiling one of the world’s first known books on forensic science.

 

You can buy digital copies of the issues here, or you can buy Kindle or paperback copies on Amazon as well.

 

And don’t forget, Nessie’s Nemesis will be out in paperback and hardcover in a week and a half!

 

 

Chris Chan’s sequel to Sherlock’s Secretary, Nessie’s Nemesis, will be published on September 3rd by MX Publishing. His novel Ghosting My Friend was released by Level Best Books on March 28th. His first novel, Sherlock’s Secretary, was released by MX Publishing, as was his anthology Of Course He Pushed Him and Other Sherlock Holmes Stories Volumes 1 & 2.  His Agatha-nominated book Murder Most Grotesque: The Comedic Crime Fiction of Joyce Porter was published by Level Best Books.  His first non-fiction book, Sherlock & Irene: The Secret Truth Behind “A Scandal in Bohemia” is available for sale at Amazon.com and the MX Publishing website, as well as at Book Depository (with free worldwide shipping there).  It is also available in a Kindle edition.