Tag: cover reveal

1920s, Books, favorites, fiction, publishing, writing

Whitney & Davies Book 3 Cover Design

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going to need to update this header in a month

I was nervous about this cover, friends. My cover designer has, in the last nine years since producing the gorgeous cover for Magic Most Deadly, mostly moved on from such work (in fact, she’s busy writing her own books these days–check them out here: Amanda McCrina), and I thought I might have to do this one myself. I did the covers for Magic & Mayhem and While Shepherds Watch, as well as the entire Pauline Gray series, so it isn’t as though I have no experience with cover design, but for this, the long-awaited third novel in the Whitney & Davies series, I wanted it to be extra-special. Luckily for me, Amanda agreed to do another for me, and the result is spectacular.

Are you ready to see it? Because I am more than ready to show it!

Here we go!

The walls of Saint Dorothea’s College in Cambridge hide more secrets than simply the existence of magic …

Lennox Davies couldn’t be happier when the detective agency of Whitney and Davies receives a summons to investigate a missing secretary at the magical college of Saint Dorothea’s in Cambridge. He envisions a charming locked room puzzle, to be followed by strolling the streets of the ancient and beautiful university city with his friend and partner in detection Maia Whitney. What could be better?

But delight soon turns to dismay when a man is murdered. Not only that the missing secretary seems to have vanished into the morning mists off the River Cam. Will Maia and Len be able to catch the killer before the secretary’s dead body turns up as well? Or is it already too late? Before long even the bond between partners is strained as Len and Maia find themselves at odds over their values.

What began as a clever exercise in deduction turns into their most challenging mystery yet, and one that could result in the end of Whitney and Davies … forever.

Isn’t it stunning? I’m so thrilled to be able to finally share it with you all. And you know what else I am able to share with you today?

The release date!

Death by Disguise, the third novel in the Whitney & Davies series, will be released on November 8, 2022. Yes, that is only four weeks away! Just in time for your Christmas shopping–or buying for yourself to read while you relax on Thanksgiving weekend.

I started writing this book while living in Cambridge, and finished it after moving back to the States. It is in many ways my love letter to that beautiful and ancient university city, and to the friends I made there. I am so pleased to be able to share it with the rest of you soon.

Books, fiction, mystery, publishing, writing

Cover Reveal, Pauline Gray #3

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At long last, it is time to reveal the cover for the third (and most likely final) Pauline Gray novella. Are you excited? I am excited to show it to you!

This is the fifth book cover I’ve designed (I’ve done all the covers for the PG mysteries, as well as the cover for Magic & Mayhem and While Shepherds Watch), and while I’m not planning on taking up graphic design as a career any time soon, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed developing my skills in this area. I’m also indebted to my husband Carl and my editor A.M. Offenwanger, both of whom have a far better artistic eye than I do and who both always offer valuable input on the cover before I declare it ready.

So now, without further ado, here is the cover for Secrets of the Past.

Old Secrets Cast Long Shadows …
 
When newspaper columnist Pauline Gray agrees to help a retired schoolteacher write her memoirs, she has no idea it will lead to murder. Someone doesn’t want old memories stirred up … and they are willing to kill to keep the past a secret. Now it’s a race to uncover the truth that the murderer is so desperate to keep buried. It will take all Pauline’s ingenuity to solve this case before the killer strikes again—and this time Pauline herself might be the victim …  

This has been one of my most challenging stories to write, and I am looking forward to at last being able to share it with you all–soon! I don’t have a specific release date yet, but it should be sometime in February or, at the very latest, early March.

One more adventure for Pauline, and this one the most difficult yet! We can only hope she survives it …

mystery, publishing, writing

Diamonds to Dust Cover Reveal & Release Date

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It’s time! My editor A.M. Offenwanger has sent back the MS from its final proofread, and that means we are awfully close to publishing. Which means it’s time to celebrate by sharing the cover and back copy!

First, though, you all remember Pauline Gray, yes?

Picture borrowed from a vintage dress pattern

Journalist by day, secretly writing adventure novels by night, she dreams of the day she can turn her attention to “serious” academic work rather than these frivolous stories she has to churn out to pay the rent. In the meantime, her attention keeps getting distracted by mysteries no else cares enough to solve. Pauline would prefer a quiet life, but she can’t deny aid to people suffering from injustice, not if it’s within her power to help. Her first adventure was in Candles in the Dark, but it’s by no means her last …

Pauline’s second adventure begins with a plea for help from a local woman bemused by a strange inheritance. It takes her outside of Canton, NY, into the Thousand Islands region, about 60 miles away.

Vintage postcard from the Thousand Islands
Fox Island, still privately owned but alas, no longer by my family. Wouldn’t it be fun to have your own island? Maybe I’ll have to write a story about that someday.

This is the area my dad’s family comes from originally–when my sixth great-grandfather (Samuel Bates) came to the US from England, he eventually settled in Cape Vincent, buying a farm on the mainland as well as one of the smaller of the “thousand” islands on the river. My dad’s mother’s parents had a dairy farm in Clayton for years until they moved to Canton, and my dad was born in Clayton.

It was great fun for me to be able to explore beyond my own hometown and “visit” another area that has ties to my family roots in this story. One of the best parts of writing these novellas is getting to know all these places a bit better than I did before thanks to all the research I do! (And is there any better form of research than calling your dad and saying, “So, Dad, about that island our family used to own …”?)

But enough about the background, I know what you’re interested in is the story itself.

Introducing …

…

(Are you excited yet?)

…

(Is the anticipation building?)

…

Diamonds to Dust, the second Pauline Gray novella, coming August 14, 2020.

Horace Van Camp, of Clayton, NY, is dead, and his wealth has been divided among strangers. Arabella Warren cannot understand why she should have inherited a diamond necklace from a man she never met, and she asks Pauline Gray to look into the matter. Eager for a new challenge, Pauline takes the case. The deeper she explores, the more complicated matters become. Why was Van Camp’s great-nephew disinherited? Did the pompous lawyer have anything to do with it? How were the twelve beneficiaries chosen, and why?
 
When a dead body turns up on the Van Camp estate, the puzzle takes on a more sinister aspect. With the police dismissing it all as a series of coincidences and accidents, it is up to Pauline to set things right in the face of the greed, deception, and fear that lie at the heart of this disquieting case. It will take all of Pauline’s ingenuity to solve this case, but she is once again determined to see justice done for those who cannot seek it for themselves.

It will be available all the usual places–Barnes & Noble, iTunes, Kobo, Smashwords, Amazon, in the usual ebook and paperback formats. I can’t wait to share it with you all! My one regret in taking 2019 off from non-Patreon writing was putting this story on hold. It was worth it, though–the finished product you’ll be reading is much, much better than it would have been if I’d tried to push the book to be ready sooner.

Mark your calendars! August 14 is the day!

1920s, Books, publishing, writing

Glamours & Gunshots Cover Reveal

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Here it is, at long (really long) last!

You ready?

You sure?

Ok, here we go

……

The cover for Glamours & Gunshots, Book 2 of the Whitney & Davies series, is here!

…….

glamours_and_gunshots_final
Maia Whitney has held men as they died before, but never in peacetime, and never in her aunt’s front hall. But this death is only the beginning, and soon rumors spread among England’s magicians of a deadly Parasite on the loose. When Maia’s friend and fellow magician Lennox Davies becomes the Parasite’s next victim, Maia knows she cannot sit back and wait for others to bring about justice. Before long, Maia, Len, Becket, and their new friend Helen are embroiled in a case that has its roots buried in the shadows of the past … and could leave one of them magic-less forever. 

As with Magic Most Deadly and From the Shadows, the cover was designed by the brilliant Amanda McCrina, who is also an author and whose novel Blood Oath is coming out in June. Isn’t it stunning?

I don’t have a definite release date yet, but it will be either late summer or early fall. I’ve been working on this story for so long, and I can’t wait to share it with all of you!

Books, fiction, publishing, writing

Candles in the Dark Cover Reveal

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All kinds of exciting things happening at StarDance Press this summer … new logo, new projects … new book covers! Today I get to reveal the cover for my mystery novella, Candles in the Dark.

Pauline Gray, journalist and secret novelist, discovers anonymous letters are being sent to a young widow, insinuating that her husband did not die by accident. Pauline’s compassion and journalistic instincts combine to help her to seek an answer to who is sending these letters, and why. Was Bob Ferris really murdered, and if so, by whom? Before long, Pauline is stirring up secrets some people would remain buried along with the dead. Despite the danger, Pauline won’t stop until she has shone a light into the hidden places of the past and seen justice done for the grieving widow and her son. Even if it costs her everything …

Candles in the Dark is not necessarily a cozy mystery–it doesn’t have a quirk or a particular theme to carry each book along. It is closer to a cozy mystery than most other mystery sub-genres, however: no emphasis on gore or grimness, no “adult situations,” no spending any time in the killer’s twisted mind. It is, like many cozies, set in a small town, with an amateur detective, and if this turns into a series rather than a one-off, I hope many of the characters will be recurring.

In coming up with a cover for it, I wanted something to reflect the nature of the detective (a writer), the feel of the mystery (not too creepy but not exactly chipper either), and the idea behind the title (shining light into dark places). THIS is the end result:

CANDLES_final

I’m so pleased with it! I’m using “Louise Bates” as the byline for this one to help distinguish it from my speculative fiction, which is always published under E.L. Bates.

I still don’t have an official release date–the end of June is the best I can do right now–but once I know for certain, I will put that information on the site as well. I’m so excited to share this new venture with all of you!