The Summer Wedding Murder, the eighth STAC Mystery, was released at midnight. I checked on its progress at 6:30 this morning and it had already entered the UK Kindle British Detectives Top 100 at number 85.

At the same time the other seven were placed here and there in the same chart, and the two volumes of Flatcap humour were also in their charts. This means that of the 12 books I have on sale, no less than ten were showing in their respective category top 100s.

As always, this has nothing to do with me. I don’t sell these books. I simply make people aware that they are there. Their popularity is done to you, the readers, and I thank you all.

The Summer Wedding Murder is only the latest in the STAC series, not the end. I’m currently working on STAC #9, Costa del Murder, and STACs 10 and 11 are already past the planning stage.

If this is the first time you’ve come across STAC, you may be wondering what they’re all about.

They are cozy British whodunits, in the tradition of Holmes, Poirot, Marple, Father Brown, etc. (although I’m not comparing STAC to such classics). They’re written with a good deal of humour, much of which stems from the grumpiness and tight-fistedness of the central character Joe Murray. There’s a lot of me in Joe. No man ever had a tighter grip on his wallet.

There is no violence, no really bad language and when it comes to sex, we always stop at the bedroom door. They are simply entertainment, with a puzzle at the core, and a satisfactory outcome.

You can follow the adventures of Joe & Co in any order. Some books refer back to other titles, but STAC is a series not a serial.

In the meantime, there’s a party on Facebook to celebrate the launch of The Summer Wedding Murder, which as well as being the eighth STAC Mystery is also the 50th book published by Crooked Cat.

You’re more than welcome to joins us but bring your wedding photographs and suggestions for the most useless wedding gift all all time.

***

The Summer Wedding Murder, STAC Mystery #8 is published by Crooked Cat Books and is available for download from:

Amazon UK

Amazon Worldwide

Smashwords

Crooked Cat Books  

And in paperback from:

Amazon UK

Amazon Worldwide

With two days to go to the launch of STAC #8, The Summer Wedding Murder, my old friend Flatcap has popped up wondering why he hasn’t had an invite.

Not that he would have gone. “I’ve no desire to watch another poor sod committing himself to penal servitude.” he said when I broached the matter with him.

As in most areas, Flatcap is an expert on marriage. “I should be,” he said. “I fell for it not once, but twice. I’ve had over forty years of conjugal confrontation and according to my calculations if I’d shot the pair of ’em I’d have been free a week last Tuesday.”

Flatcap’s current exposition, Flatcap’s Guide to UK Holidays, has just collected its sixth review.

Nothing escapes his cantankerously comic observations, no detail of vacation irritation gets away unscathed, making this Les Dawson-style rib-tickling rant a treat.

High praise from Iain Pattison, an acknowledged expert in the art of the short story, a man with an impressive record in writing humour, a blogger and competition judge for no lesser an organisation than the Writer’s Bureau. If you enjoy a good laugh, then take a look at his current title, the seriously rib-tickling Is That A Pun In Your Pocket.

Not that Flatcap is grateful for such praise. “It’s the natural order,” he told me.

Flatcap’s Guide to UK Holidays current sits at number 12 in the Amazon UK Kindle Humour/Parenting & Families top 100 and I think Flatcap is quite pleased about that, although you’d never get him to admit it.

Instead he will simply grumble on about the non-invitation to the Summer Wedding. “You’d think they’d want me there to cheer them up.”

***

Flatcap’s Guide to UK Holidays is exclusive to Amazon Kindle.

The Summer Wedding Murder, STAC Mystery #8, from Crooked Cat Books is released on Wednesday June 19th. Check out the launch party on Facebook.

We are running round like blue-arsed flies.

What a curious expression. Why would a blue-arsed fly be running anywhere?

I digress. Wednesday sees the launch of STAC #8, The Summer Wedding Murder, and with any e-book, things move a lot faster than they do with print and traditional publishing. You can be making adjustments right up until a minute or two before the official launch.

Course, you shouldn’t have to, but that’s the mark of my administrative qualities; a startling ability to drive Crooked Cat, my publisher, up the wall or over the edge. I worked as an administrator once, but I got fired cos my admin was crap.

There’s the usual launch party on Facebook, and everyone is welcome, but we’re going for something slightly different this time. We want to see pictures of you in your wedding finery and we want you to suggest gifts for the bride and groom. No boring ordinary gifts, please. The more unusual the better and there will be giveaways for the most useless item(s) offered. Clean, decent and suitable for younger readers, please.

So get yourself over to Facebook and find out what all the fuss is about.

And remember: if the bride is feeling nervous on her wedding day, think how the murder victim will be feeling.

To the launch of The Summer Wedding Murder, which will see Joe, Sheila and Brenda invited to a wedding in the summer. Bet you didn’t see that coming.

Summer Wedding is the eighth STAC Mystery, which is a surprise to me. When I set out on this road, I figured I had maybe two or three titles, five at best, yet here we are at number eight. Better yet, I’ve almost completed number nine, and numbers ten and eleven are already planned.

Summer Wedding sees a slight departure in that it doesn’t include the whole of the Sanford 3rd Age Club. The wedding in question is within the Staines family, and our three sleuths are invited because they are old friends of Alec and Julia Staines.

There are some other, interesting aspects to the tale, which I won’t go into here. Am I preaching or setting up the next book? Well, it’s a bit of both really, but you’ll find out when you read it.

As a bonus, this title also includes the opening chapter of the next STAC Mystery, Costa del Murder, which is due out early September-ish.

There’s been a bit of a kerfuffle about the title of STAC #9/ it was originally Costa del Murder, I changed it to Costa del Death, but then as the story progressed, the characters took over and it’s reverted to Costa del Murder. Bloody typical. Is it any wonder I can’t get my life under control when even my fictional creations take over?

You’ll noticed that the cover of Summer Wedding has been attached to the right hand sidebar, but it doesn’t go anywhere at the moment. That’s because I don’t yet have the Amazon Kindle link it’ll be there by Wednesday.

The Summer Wedding Murder, STAC Mystery #8 is launched about midnight Tuesday/Wednesday and as usual there’s a launch event on Facebook. If you want to come along, you’re more than welcome.

With two weeks and a bit to go before the release of STAC Mystery #8, The Summer Wedding Murder, the time is right to remind ourselves where we’re coming from, so I’ll spend the next few days recapping on the STAC Mysteries.

A year and some months ago, we were introduced to the Sanford 3rd Age Club with the death of Nicola, Knickers-off, Leach, the victim of a hit and run as she staggered out of the Foundry Inn two days before the club were due for a weekend outing to Filey.

Born with a suspicious mind, Joe did not believe it, and after visiting the scene of the accident, his suspicion are increased. Matters are made worse when one of the gang falls into the sea off Filey Brigg within twenty four hours of arrival, leaving Joe, Sheila and Brenda with a set of unanswered questions.

Who is the mystery woman who witnessed the hit and run which killed Nicola?

Why did Eddie’s basket contain no items of food or drink?

Who raided Joe’s room and what were they looking for?

Who attacked Brenda on the seafront at Scarborough?

Where do a couple of tough, Filey fishermen fit into the picture?

Set in the picturesque town on the Yorkshire coast, in the middle of a heatwave, doused in a the party atmosphere of a traditional weekend outing to the seaside, augmented by a visit to an Abba tribute show, The Filey Connection is a niggling problem for amateur sleuth Joe Murray and his companions, Sheila Riley and Brenda Jump.

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The Filey Connection, STAC Mystery #1 is available for download from:

Amazon UK (Kindle)

Amazon Worldwide (Kindle)

Smashwords (All formats)

Crooked Cat Books (MOBI, EPUB, PDF)

And in paperback from:

Amazon UK

Amazon Worldwide