The Shaker Murders

After the events in A Devil’s Cold Dish, Rees and family return to the Shaker community of Zion seeking refuge. But Rees barely arrives when the body of a murdered Shaker Brother is found in the washtub. More murders quickly follow. Surely no Shaker could be the murderer!

I am happy to announce this sixth Will Rees mystery will be published by Severn House, coming out in the United States next spring (2019.) I just finished the edits on the ms and sent it off. The seventh book, working title Simply Dead, will be published the following spring (2020).

I am hard at work on the eighth.

When I have a finalized cover, I will post it.

Copy edits on The Devil’s Cold Dish

Copy edits on “The Devil’s Cold Dish ” have arrived. The finished manuscript is due back to Minotaur on January 5.

What are copy edits? Mainly spelling, grammar – those little things that slip through. It is also my last chance to review the finished manuscript. Line edits, which come first, detect problems with the plot or timeline. More substantive changes can be made during the line edit phase. Copy edits are not the creative part but they help make the manuscript a finished product. Everyone knows how annoying typos are and the copy edits are designed to prevent them as much as possible.

The timing proves something else: when one is a writer you are always on duty – even over the holidays.