Antiques Web, the latest adventure of Brandy Borne and her diva mother Vivian, will be published next week – on September 22 (an earlier date than we’d been told).
Pre-order the hardcover here:
Two of my series have distinctions relating to the length of their runs. Quarry, who will return in Quarry’s Reunion (available November 10), is (I’m told) the longest-running mystery series around, having begun in 1976 with Quarry (aka The Broker). It has suffered some stops and starts but has continued on throughout the decades for 17 novels and a short story collection. There’s also been a Quarry short film, a feature film and one-season TV series from HBO/Cinemax.
Other series of mine have had long runs, notably Nathan Heller, starting with True Detective in 1983. Nate’s delivered 19 novels, one short story collection and one novella collection.
But the real winner for durability is the Antiques series (aka the Trash ‘n’ Treasures mysteries) from Barbara Allan, the joint byline of my wife Barb and me. There are twenty novels, starting with Antiques Roadkill in 2006, and a three-novella collection (Antiques Ho-Ho-Homicides, in 2018, including Antiques Fruitcake, the basis of our micro-budget indie, Death by Fruitcake). Antiques also represents the most novels in the shortest span of time, basically one a year.
Nonetheless, because of its cozy nature – even though critics tend to call us a subversive cozy – some readers of my tough stuff have never tried Barbara Allan and the Antiques series. To be fair, some have and found it not to their taste, and that’s okay. I write to keep myself interested and that has seen me jumping around more than some writers of mystery fiction. Barb finds the Antiques novels are a handy way for her to explore numerous themes, motivated as she is by what’s currently of interest to her in what we laughingly refer to as real life.
It’s always puzzled me a bit when a reader loves Quarry but doesn’t go for Nate Heller. Some mystery fiction readers seem to be put off by the historical nature of the books, particularly those who haven’t tried one. Quarry novels are a quick read and the Hellers offer some heft, though they are first and foremost traditional hardboiled private eye stories and only secondarily historical. But doing all these historical cases has kept the books from blurring together, as is often the case with long-running series.
The Antiques series has a quirky, sometimes wacky sense of humor that isn’t for everybody. No apologies for that, because the traditional mystery field is cluttered as hell and being distinctive – even if it turns a few readers away – seems a positive to us. From the beginning Antiques has been a tongue-in-cheek affair.
If you haven’t tried one of the Antiques entries, here’s a brief introduction to Antiques Web.
Brandy Borne is hoping for a calm life – new marriage, new routines, and only the usual chaos courtesy of her mercurial, melodramatic mother, Vivian.
But when an antiques auction turns disastrous and Vivian’s close friend Evelyn dies in what looks like a freak fall, the Bornes sniff out something far more sinister.
Then another woman turns up dead – crushed beneath a massive Frank Lloyd Wright statue – and the pattern becomes impossible to ignore. Someone in Serenity is weaving an elaborate con, preying on the vulnerable with a too-good-to- be-true investment scheme…and eliminating anyone who gets in the way.
With a suspicious niece, a furious financial advisor, a cryptic message from a dying mob boss, and a fierce dog who can be bribed, Vivian and Brandy find themselves tangled in a web of secrets, scams, and deadly deceit.
To save their friends – and themselves – they’ll have to outsmart a killer, out bid a con artist, and maybe (just maybe) keep Vivian from getting arrested. Again.
This blog/update space is a politics-free zone.
It always has been, though I’ve slipped a few times. I don’t feel my readers should be subjected to my politics. For one thing, it’s bad business – it can unintentionally chase customers away. For another, it’s way too off point to be tolerated. This is just not the appropriate platform.
But away from here, on Facebook, I have started sharing occasional posts that make my political slant easily perceived. I am doing this because, with the November midterm election looming, I feel it’s my responsibility as an American citizen to express these views.
Nonetheless, I have no intention of alienating or insulting readers who (obviously) have every right to their own opinions. The hardcore followers of the President are not my intended target. It’s the independents and more traditional Republicans (I know them when I see them because I used to be one) who I would hope to reach. To provoke thought and even debate.
Years ago, when I first got on Facebook, I would comment about disagreements I had with friends who had posted political opinions. I damaged several such friendships – including several quite painful losses (miss you, Joe) – and I stopped posting any comments on their sites.
I don’t think it’s ever been hard to detect that I am left of center; but generally I’m not very far left of center, which frequently puts me in the middle of the road where I can be swiped by cars coming from either direction. (One of them driven by my son.)
I do this only because of this coming election, the importance of which is something I think we can all agree about. Interestingly, my sharing of these videos has been greeted mostly were smiley faces, but a few scowls are scattered in as well. What’s confusing is whether the scowling faces mean they agree or disagree.
Of course, if AI kills us all, I suppose the point is moot.
M.A.C.
