Meg Perry's Blog, page 27

Stoned to Death is here!

Woo hoo! I had a busy day yesterday, getting both Stoned to Death published to Kindle and Researched to Death finalized on Smashwords. But Researched went live yesterday, and Stoned is available now! Here’s the link:��http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00T87D6OI

Stoned to Death won’t be available on Smashwords for a while; I’m getting the older books on there in order, and I have to wait until they come off the Kindle Select program. Next will be Encountered to Death, in March.

Thank you all so much for reading! I appreciate you more than you can know.

Researched to Death available through Smashwords!

Finally! Researched to Death, Jamie Brodie Mystery #4, is available through Smashwords. Here’s the link:��https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/517151��

“Was it National Old Boyfriends Week, and I’d missed the memo?”

Librarian Jamie Brodie is looking forward to a week of vacation in Oxford, England, his first trip back in seven years. Before he’s even packed, though, a couple of complications arise.

The first complication is Jamie’s ex, Ethan Williams, who shows up at Jamie’s office with his new boyfriend and a request. Ethan’s going to Oxford too, and he needs Jamie’s help to find a rare 15th century book in the Bodleian Library. When Jamie tells his boyfriend Pete that he and Ethan will be in Oxford at the same time, Pete doesn’t react well. To say the least.

The second complication is Pete’s ex, Luke Brenner, who shows up at Pete and Jamie’s house. He lets Jamie know that he’s in town to get Pete back – but Pete doesn’t think Luke will try anything.

He’s proven spectacularly wrong, in one horrible moment.

Jamie leaves for Oxford, not sure where he stands with Pete, not looking forward to seeing Ethan. When he requests the book that Ethan needs, he learns that it’s been missing for three weeks – and the man who likely stole it is dead.

Then two more men die, and Ethan goes missing as well. Is he in danger? Or is he a killer? And what could be in an obscure medieval manuscript that’s worth killing for?

Patience is a virtue…

And I am trying to be patient! My editor still hasn’t given me the final edited version of Stoned to Death. He does have another full-time job, so I’ll forgive him – but I’m as ready as you all are to get this book out there!

Hang in there. It’s coming soon. I’m sure it will be by the end of this week.

Here’s an excerpt to hold you over:

July 28

Oxford

Monday morning we made the brief walk from Niles���s semidetached on Woodstock Road to Wolfson College, where Pete���s cousin was a lecturer in art and archaeology. Stopping Pete from looking in the wrong direction when crossing the road was an ongoing challenge. When we were safely on campus I asked, ���Remind me who this cousin is?���

���Duncan Thomson. We���re fifth cousins, or something like that? Robert Thomson was his great-great-grandfather too.���

���Your great-grandfather and his were brothers.���

���Yes. Robert had three children ��� Donald, Elizabeth, and Adam. Donald was the oldest, and he���s the one who emigrated to the States and became my great-grandfather. Adam was Duncan���s great-grandfather.���

I nodded. ���Got it.���

Duncan Thomson���s office was a typical academic lair full of books, journals and papers. Duncan himself was behind his desk, and stood when we appeared at his door. ���Pete Ferguson?���

���Yes.��� They shook hands. ���This is my partner, Jamie Brodie.���

I shook Duncan���s hand. He was tall, slender, blond and blue-eyed, with a Scottish accent, wearing a collared shirt under a sweater. A bike helmet was on a side table. Duncan tipped his head at me. ���Brodie, eh? Of the Brodie Castle Brodies?���

���Back a few generations, yes.���

He nodded. ���You look like a Scotsman. Tea?���

We sat in the visitors��� chairs and accepted a cuppa. Duncan said, ���I was pleased to hear from you and your sister. We���ve always wondered what became of Donald���s descendants.���

Pete said, ���We weren���t close to our Thomson grandparents. We didn���t even know Donald���s name, much less that he���d been born in Scotland.���

���We knew Donald had two sons, but once Donald died, we never heard anything else from the family.���

Pete said, ���I know my grandfather���s brother was killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor.���

Duncan nodded. ���Yes. We did know that one of Donald���s sons died in the war.���

���I was seven when Donald died, but I only learned that when Christine gave me the family tree. I wish I���d met him. All we ever heard about was the family ���shame.������

Duncan���s eyebrow went up. ���Shame?���

Pete sighed. ���That���s how my grandmother – Donald���s daughter-in-law – described Robert���s disappearance and the family���s falling apart. My mother got pregnant in high school with my sister, and her mother always said she took after the Thomsons. Bringing shame to the family.���

Duncan gave me an inquiring glance. I said, ���A bloody Sassenach, his grandmother.���

He laughed. ���I see. But -��� He looked perplexed. ���The family didn���t fall apart. What did she mean by that?���

Pete said, ���We were told that after his father disappeared, Donald went to the States and the rest of the family went to Edinburgh.���

���Someone got it wrong, then. Rhona – Robert���s wife – never left Orkney. Donald did leave home, but to serve as ground crew for the RAF during World War One.��� Duncan cocked an eyebrow. ���Hardly the done thing, is it, a healthy young man deserting his country while it���s at war?���

Pete said, ���No. I did wonder about that.���

Duncan said, ���After the war, he���d saved money to help his mum and brother buy the croft they lived on. That���s when he went to the States. He���d met an American officer during the war who was impressed with his engineering skills, offered to pay for his education at the Colorado School of Mines.���

���No kidding.���

Duncan frowned at Pete. ���I wonder how that tale of yours got passed on?���

Pete shrugged. ���My family is a case study in miscommunication.���

I said, ���Your grandmother may have adjusted the story to suit her own purposes.���

Pete said, ���It sounds like it. She also told us that Donald never returned to Scotland. She left the impression that he was estranged from his relatives.���

Duncan shook his head. ���Not true. Donald came back several times, for his brother���s and sister���s weddings, and for Rhona���s funeral.���

Pete said, ���His brother was your great-grandfather.���

���Aye. Adam.��� Duncan smiled. ���He used to tell us tales of Robert and his archaeological pursuits.��� His expression sobered. ���He never believed Robert ran off. None of the family did. He wouldn���t have abandoned them.���

I said, ���We���d like to look into the mystery of his disappearance.���

Pete said. ���We���re mostly here on vacation. But Jamie���s a university librarian, terrific at research, and we thought we���d take the opportunity.���

Duncan was intrigued. ���Where do you plan to search?���

���I thought I���d start with the library in Kirkwall. Go back to the newspaper clippings of the time, see what was reported.���

Duncan nodded. ���My cousin Craig and his family still live and work on the farm. Their attic has a couple of trunks we���ve never opened. Maybe you could have a go at them.���

Pete said, surprised, ���You���ve never opened them?���

Duncan shrugged. ���They���re locked, and we���ve never found a key. One of those things we���ve meant to do when we had time.���

Pete said, ���I���ve picked a few locks. If it���s all right with Craig, maybe we could open them.���

���I���ll speak to him about it.��� Duncan smiled. ���How long will you be in Oxford?���

���We���re leaving Wednesday morning.���

���Come to dinner tomorrow evening. My children would enjoy meeting an American cousin. I���ll call Craig this evening about the trunks.���

Pete and I looked at each other and grinned. Pete said, ���We���ll be there.���

Blurbs are hard to write!

When one publishes a book, one must have a blurb. Of course. People want to get an idea of what the book is about. But man, are they hard to write! I usually forget until the last minute. This time, for Stoned to Death, I did remember before I actually began publishing the book.

A blurb needs to contain��a couple of hints, but no spoilers; be exciting enough to stimulate interest; and not be misleading. I remember reading a blurb on the cover of a Jonathan Kellerman book once. A bit over the top, to say the least! The book was actually good but not nearly as earth-shattering as the blurb had suggested.

Anyway, here’s the blurb for Stoned to Death.

In 1915, farmer and amateur archaeologist Robert Thomson disappeared from Scotland���s Orkney Islands with a priceless Stone Age artifact. A century later, his great-great-grandson, Pete Ferguson, is coming to Scotland with boyfriend Jamie Brodie to meet his distant cousins and investigate Robert���s disappearance. But the homophobia of the Thomson patriarch threatens to derail their quest – and a chance meeting in a pub in Oxford brings Pete and Jamie���s relationship to a turning point.

The cover for Stoned to Death

I know, I know, I promised you January! And you may still get it – but it may be the very last day. :) ��I’m still waiting for the final edits. But at least my NYC-based cover artist didn’t lose power in the snowstorm and was able to create my cover…and here it is.

Highland Games!

I’d never been to a Scottish Highland Games festival before yesterday. This weekend, the Central Florida version took place, and a couple of friends and I drove over. What a great time! It’s definitely going to be a yearly event for us.

Bagpipe competitions

Fish and chips for lunch

There was also a pipe and drum band competition, and a border collie demonstration. We couldn’t get close enough to see the caber toss, except for the top of the poles. I joined one of my clans – one that I’ve learned through genealogy that I can claim membership in – the Elliott clan.

It was a great day!

Forensics 101

Back in the fall I signed up for a course – a MOOC, which stands for Massive Open Online Course. I’ve taken several before. They are usually offered by a university, but hosted through a MOOC platform such as Coursera or EdX. They’re generally��free, as is the one I’m taking now.

The one I’m taking now is through FutureLearn, and is being taught by faculty from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. It’s Introduction to Forensic Science.

What better course for a mystery writer? I know that CSI is full of inaccuracies, but I don’t always know what they are. This six-week class is giving me the opportunity to get my facts straight.

I just finished the second week; this week concentrated on fingerprints. So interesting. I didn’t know that identical twins have non-identical fingerprints. I asked a friend who’s a biology professor about that. He has heard a theory that the fingerprints of twins form differently due to pressure from the flow of amniotic fluid. Hard to test that, I guess!

Not only am I learning a lot, but I have the opportunity to ask questions. My question for this week was, can fingerprints be lifted from human skin? I’m beginning to write some scenes for Played to Death, which involves a murder by bare-handed strangulation, and I need to know whether the CSIs could get fingerprints from the victim’s neck.

I’ve seen it done on the CSI shows but I have no idea if that’s correct! I’m looking forward to the answer.

Burdened to Death now available through Smashwords!

Here’s the link:��https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/508950

Burdened to Death, Jamie Brodie Mystery #3:

A phone call in the middle of the night is never good news. When Pete Ferguson���s phone rings, he learns that one of his childhood friends, Mark Jones, has committed suicide. Mark���s family is shocked, and wonders if Mark was abused by the same priest at whose hands Pete suffered. Pete and Mark���s family want answers, and they ask Jamie to find them. Pete is convinced the priest is connected to his friend���s suicide. Jamie isn���t so sure. When the evidence starts pulling them in different directions, will it tear them apart?

New Page: Character Timeline

I’ve added a new page to the blog, a Brodie-Ferguson family timeline. It’s as much for my own reference as for readers! I’m constantly having to refer back to old books to find out when something happened, so that I don’t mess up my continuity. It’s more time-consuming to a) remember in which book I referred to a date or event, and b) find the reference in the book. So I decided to make a timeline, with all the dates in one place, and share it with you.

If there’s an event that you are curious about but don’t see, let me know! :)

Hoarded to Death now available through Smashwords!

Hoarded to Death, Jamie Brodie Mystery #2, is now available through Smashwords, and should be available shortly through all the channels that Smashwords supplies – Nook, Kobo, epub, iTunes, etc.

Here’s the link:��https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/507955

Hoarded to Death:

When Jamie Brodie agrees to help his ex-sister-in-law Jennifer clean her hoarded apartment, the last thing he expects to find in the hoard is a dead body ��� and what the dead man was clutching in his hand might be the answer to a thousand-year-old mystery. As Jamie and the police investigate, they uncover a hoard of secrets ��� but the biggest secret of all belongs to Jamie���s boyfriend, Pete. Suddenly Jamie is searching for the answers to three questions: who killed the man in Jennifer���s apartment? Is the paper in his hand real? And can Jamie���s relationship with Pete survive?