Here for the Long Haul

Someone once told me it takes about nine months for a book to dawn upon the consciousness of the reading public.

The Filey Connection was released on March 2nd 2012. That’s almost 11 months ago, so perhaps the advice I received wasn’t that far out.

I got up this morning to learn that it sits at number 16 in the Amazon UK Kindle British Detectives top 100. On the 6th of January, just 17 days ago, it was at number 80.

It had help. A part of the success was down to the rapid release of two seasonal titles: A Murder for Christmas, set quite obviously, at Christmas, and Murder at the Murder Mystery Weekend, which was set over the New Year. These titles made the public aware that the STAC Mysteries were not just a couple of hyped winter novels, but part of a growing series. They succeeded as expected, thanks to the millions of new e-readers/tablets bought as Christmas gifts, whose owners were eager to begin reading.

Filey, and to a lesser degree, The I-Spy Murders and A Halloween Homicide rode on the back of those two books.

The Filey Connection was the very first STAC Mystery. Written in the depths of a nasty British winter, it’s a summer title, all the events taking place over a weekend on the Yorkshire coast in the middle of a heat wave. It’s an area I’m very familiar with, and I could have chosen any of the major resorts there; Scarborough, Bridlington, Whitby. I chose Filey because I met my wife there 30-odd years ago, and it’s a place we’ve always had a particular fondness for.

As an introductory novel, Crooked Cat decided to keep the price lower than the rest of the series. It’s permanently on sale at 75p. How’s that for a bargain? A full length novel for less than the price of a loaf of bread.

When we put Filey out, we had no idea how successful the series would be, yet here we are a year later, and the 6th STAC Mystery, My Deadly Valentine, is due in two weeks.

Naturally, this has less to do with me than you, the wonderful readers. Without you, it couldn’t happen, and so my sincere thanks go to you. The STAC Mysteries will be there as long as you want them.