What’s New?

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by Barb in lovely Key West

What’s new you ask? I am tempted to say this:

But really, getting to the writing, these two things are new.

Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody. As Mark Baker has correctly noted, I’ve teased this one before. Dru’s Book Musings even did a cover reveal, but I was waiting until it was available for pre-order before announcing it here. Jane Darrowfield is a non-Clambake book. It’s a part of the same program as Edith’s book Murder on Cape Cod–exclusive in paper from Barnes & Noble for the first year, then widely available in all formats after that. It’s a part of an experiment by B&N, Kensington and the authors. I’m grateful Edith is ahead of me in the program so I can follow in her footsteps. The cover of the book says, “First in a new series,” though I don’t have a contract for more, so that’s part of the experiment, too. Here’s the skinny on the book.

Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody

Jane Darrowfield is a year into her retirement, and she’s already traveled and planted a garden. She’s organized her photos, her recipes, and her spices.  The statistics suggest she has at least a few more decades ahead of her, so she better find something to do . . .

After Jane helps a friend with a sticky personal problem, word starts to spread around her bridge club—and then around all of West Cambridge, Massachusetts—that she’s the go-to person for situations that need discreet fixing. Soon she has her first paid assignment—the director of a 55-and-over condo community needs her to de-escalate hostilities among the residents. As Jane discovers after moving in for her undercover assignment, the mature set can be as immature as any high schoolers, and war is breaking out between cliques.

It seems she might make some progress—until one of the aging “popular kids” is bludgeoned to death with a golf club. And though the automatic sprinklers have washed away much of the evidence, Jane’s on course to find out whodunit.

It releases June 25, 2019 and is available for pre-order here.

Haunted House Murder: I’m also excited about Haunted House Murder, the new novella collection by Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis and me. I love writing these holiday-themed novellas and I hope you enjoy reading them. Here’s the description of this one.

Haunted House Murder

Tricks and treats keep the Halloween spirit alive in coastal Maine. But this year the haunted house theme is getting carried a little too far . . .

HAUNTED HOUSE MURDER by LESLIE MEIER
Newcomers to Tinker’s Cove, Ty and Heather Moon have moved into a dilapidated house reputed to be a haven for ghosts. Now strange noises and flickering lights erupt from the house at all hours and neighborly relations are on edge. And when a local boy goes missing near the house, it’s up to Lucy Stone to unravel the mystery of the eccentric couple and their increasingly frightful behavior.

DEATH BY HAUNTED HOUSE by LEE HOLLIS
For the past two years, the house next door to Hayley Powell has sat abandoned after the owner died under mysterious circumstances. The Salinger family has recently taken possession of the property, but the realtor behind the deal has vanished—after a very public and angry argument with Damien Salinger. If Bar Harbor’s newest neighbors are murderers, Hayley will haunt them until they confess.

HALLOWED OUT by BARBARA ROSS
With its history of hauntings and ghost sightings, Busman’s Harbor is the perfect setting for Halloween festivities. But when a reenactment of a Prohibition-era gangster’s murder ends with a literal bang and a dead actor from New Jersey, Julia Snowden must identify a killer before she ends up sleeping with the fishes.

There’s nothing like home sweet home in this trio of Halloween tales . . .

This book is currently available for pre-order from all major retailers in hardcover and ebook formats. There will also be an audiobook version. Amazon*Barnes & Noble

Readers: So that’s what’s up with me. What’s new with you?

Published by Barbara Ross

Barbara Ross is the author of twelve Maine Clambake Mystery novels and six novellas. Her books have been nominated for multiple Agatha Awards for Best Contemporary Novel and have won the Maine Literary Award for Crime Fiction. She lives in Portland, Maine. Readers can visit her website at www.maineclambakemysteries.com

31 Thoughts

  1. Taking a snow day. May not even dig out the car until later this afternoon. I’m 70 and it IS only 24*F/-4*C out!

  3. Sounds promising, Barb. Looking forward to reading it. And BTW – love a baby in a lobster outfit! My grandgirls have a set of pj’s I coudn’t resist.

  5. “Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody”sounds absolutely amazing. I can’t wait for the opportunity to read it. Love stories about “my” generation and can relate to the retirement years. 🙂

    Also love the holiday themed novella collections. Enjoyed immensely “Yule Log Murder”! Which means I can’t wait to read this one as well.

    From the look of that adorable little one, sounds like you have had some cuddlin’ and luvin’ going on to me. And who could blame you!

    As for me, enjoying retirement and the freedom to do what we want when we want. Working on planning our trip in June.

    2clowns at arkansas dot net

  8. These look absolutely terrific ! Can’t wait ! Jane Darrowfield book sounds great ! Will look forward to it ! Finishing up ” Steamed Open ” now, just love the Snowden clan ! Enjoy that sweet bundle of joy, love the lobster shirt ! 😄

  10. Congratulations! Looking forward to the release. Jane has taken better charge of her retirement than I have so far! Still have photos to sort, closets to clean. I love the holiday novellas, too.

  11. Can’t wait for both of these books!!

    What’s new with me is my test results from last week. A year after my surgery, and I am still cancer free!!

    It’s raining today. In fact, we are supposed to get a lot of rain between now and Thursday.

    And I’ll be playing ultimate Frisbee winter league tonight.

  12. Working on HEAVEN HAS NO RAGE, book #2 in The Laurel Highlands Mysteries.

    And trying to come to agreement with my husband on what kind of dog(!!!!) we should get.

  13. Both of these books look delightful!

    I have a son out as a missionary this year. He left home on New Year’s Day and flew to a missionary training center in Mexico. He will go from there to Bolivia next month to serve for nearly two years.

    We received our first letter and pictures from him Friday!

  14. Your granddaughter is so adorable! Congratulations on the new series! It’s definitely a book I want to read!

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