THE SECRET IN THE WALL - Cover and copy (and a sea shanty, just because )

 Interrupting the usual slinging of slang to offer a preview of the cover and back-cover copy for the eighth book in my historical mystery series, THE SECRET IN THE WALL. And so, without further ado...

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(... well, maybe a little ado...)

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(...think of this as a stage curtain slowly drawing open...)
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... TA-DA!! 

Does this whet your curiosity? Look mysterious? Well, when you flip the book over, this is what you'll read:

Sometimes you can’t keep your gown out of the gutter… 

Inez Stannert has reinvented herself—again. Fleeing the comfort and wealth of her East Coast upbringing, she became a saloon owner and card sharp in the rough silver boomtown of Leadville, Colorado, always favoring the unconventional path—a difficult road for a woman in the late 1800s. 

Then the teenaged daughter of a local fortune teller is orphaned by her mother’s murder, and Inez steps up to raise the troubled girl as her own. Inez works hard to keep a respectable, loving home for Antonia, carefully crafting their new life in San Francisco. But risk is a seductive friend, difficult to resist. When a skeleton tumbles from the wall of her latest business investment, the police only seem interested in the bag of Civil War-era gold coins that fell out with it. With her trusty derringer tucked in the folds of her gown, Inez uses her street smarts and sheer will to unearth a secret that someone has already killed to keep buried. The more she digs, the muddier and more dangerous things become.

She enlists the help of Walter de Brujin, a local private investigator with whom she shares some history. Though she wants to trust him, she fears that his knowledge of her past, along with her growing attraction to him, may well blow her veneer of respectability to bits—that is, if her dogged pursuit of the truth doesn’t kill her first.

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Hats off and three cheers to the crew at Poisoned Pen Press/Sourcebooks for their tremendous job creating the lovely cover and back-cover text!

THE SECRET IN THE WALL is scheduled for release in February 2022, so there is a while yet before you can dive into Inez's next adventure. Meanwhile, if you haven't already, please consider signing up for my newsletter. To do so, click here and scroll to the bottom of the page. The newsletter comes out occasionally and at random intervals, so shouldn't overwhelm your inbox. I will say this: one is in the works right now, so do sign up soon! I'll be offering fun tidbits from my research and a random drawing for books from authors I admire.

Now, your reward, for reading all the way to the end of this lengthy post, is this delightful sea shanty, "Leave Her, Johnny." Enjoy!

Here is another rendition of "Leave Her, Johnny," WITH LYRICS, because one just can't have too many sea shanties: