MKC Books

My readers are no doubt accustomed, though perhaps not happily, to my...um...unpunctuality. Although I have managed to publish one book a year since Dead White first came out in 2011, the schedule has slipped from spring releases all the way to November (ebook) and December (print). 

When I retired three summers ago, I returned to my hometown on the prairie. Finally having writing as my "day job" gave me a bit more flexibility, but not a lot (eldercare). But I was determined to get my writing schedule back to the proper time slot: during the frigid stay-at-home (also known as cabin-fever) winter months in the Dakotas. Being cooped inside in front of my computer during the summers is a real drag.

Well, I finally made it happen! Though my brain grumbled and gnashed its exhausted synapses the whole time. (For some reason, my brain wanted a break between books.) As it is now hitting the 90s in the Dakotas, with 100s in the forecast, I hope you can all cool off (preferably by the pool or near a lake or ocean) with Dead Time. It is currently available in ebook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords. A paperback is forthcoming and will be announced here on the blog. 

Here's the blurb:

It's dead time...

With everything terminally frozen in the Dakotas, Sheriff Karen Okerlund Mehaffey gets called out on a subzero Saturday morning to the local funeral home to investigate the death of a financial consultant who lived by the mantra "time is money."

Just getting to town is a challenge for a sleep-deprived Karen, made more difficult by an unexpected stowaway. But at least she and her detective-uncle Marek Okerlund dodge hosting a distant Swedish cousin who crashes their still-healing family—a member of which is suddenly threatened with a very short time on earth.

As suspects look to bolt back to their far-flung homes, Karen and Marek try to balance the job and their personal lives, with a renewed sense of the precious and fleeting nature of time, while the clock ticks down on nabbing a killer.

The "tangible" version of Dead Erratics aka a trade paperback is now available at Amazon and can also be ordered through your local bookstore.

Exactly a year after my last book, I published Dead Erratics: A Dakota Mystery on November 15th.

​It took me into a realm that I had, on a personal level, never visited before, namely that of serious mental illness. It was a sobering journey. But one that leaves some glimmerings of hope.

Currently Dead Erratics is available as an ebook on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords. For some reason, Kobo has been hung up on publishing for a couple days now. (Now available here.) A trade paperback will be forthcoming, and I will announce it here on the blog.

Here's the blurb:

A crazy season...

With the holidays just around the corner, the last thing Sheriff Karen Okerlund Mehaffey wants under her tree is a murder investigation. So when she and her detective-uncle Marek Okerlund discover two bodies—one freshly dead and one a skeleton—in an abandoned insane asylum in Eda County, South Dakota, she hopes both were natural deaths.

The recent victim, a past administrator at the state mental hospital, had as many detractors as he held credentials—a man not even his psychoanalyst mother could love. The hundred-year-old female skeleton, on the other hand, may have ties to one of the most beloved families in the county—the very same who built the asylum and are now trying to reopen it as a community mental health center for struggling rural families.

If that wasn't enough, Karen gets blindsided when a relative suddenly exhibits signs of psychosis, throwing all her beliefs about mental illness into chaos. 

Ultimately, unraveling the history and stigma of mental illness may be the only way out and back into the season of hope.

Next book is currently in final edits! Barring the unforeseen, Dead Erratics will come out in ebook format sometime in November with print to follow.

As always, my cover artist (Glendon Haddix) did a bang-up job...

The trade paperback for Dead Rote is now out! You can get it on Amazon (USA) or through your local bookstore. 

Normally I do a cover reveal before I release an ebook. Maybe even give a teaser about the book. But as I only finalized the cover this past week, I figured I'd just announce both cover and ebook. A two-fer! And no wait...

Dead Rote is out in the wild in ebook format at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords. The last is a distributor to Apple, so it may be a while yet before it appears there.

A trade paperback version is forthcoming and I will announce it here on the blog.

Here is the blurb:

School is hell...

Art teacher Nikki Solberg is having a very bad day. Her job is on the chopping block, her estranged relatives are cheering her downfall, and someone trashed her art room. If that wasn't enough, a contentious school board meeting comes to a grinding halt when the new superintendent keels over from natural causes... or is it murder?

Nikki's boyfriend, Detective Marek Okerlund, has troubles of his own, as his third-grade daughter is threatened by a classmate. Not to mention going back to school reminds Marek of his own hellacious years with undiagnosed dyslexia.

Along with Sheriff Karen Okerlund Mehaffey, Marek has to put all that aside and concentrate on an investigation into one bad apple.

Who will get schooled... the good guys or a killer?

Cover blown!

You may possibly have noticed (or not) that I have kept a very low profile on this site. No pictures of me. Little to no biographical information. Instead, it was just about my books. You know, my writing. That was hard enough to put out there for everyone to see when I first released Dead White in 2011.

Why the secrecy? That's largely because I am of that rarely seen subspecies of homo sapiens known as Introvertus Extremus. But it's also because I happened to work for the government for my entire career. Which when you are a peon as I was, meant keeping off everyone's radar and keeping your mouth firmly shut, especially when working for elected officials whose views may or may not reflect your own.

To be clear, nothing I did was political. Nor was I anything fun like a spy or a Navy Seal. I was a technical writer for 10 years in New Mexico and an archivist in Missouri for 21 years. But I am now retired as of last summer and moved back to my hometown to be here for my mother, who is now in care. And I finally realized that I no longer have to keep a low profile unless I wanted to do so. 

Though still very publicity shy, I thought I might put a (little) toe in the public water... eventually. Maybe contact South Dakota Magazine to see if they wanted to mention my books in their writers and artists section or show up at a South Dakota book festival. That got blown completely out of the water (and into a swimsuit shot as it were) earlier this year when my mentor, friend, and fellow South Dakotan Linda M. Hasselstrom turned down an interview for a documentary called Books Across America. The idea was to interview 50 authors in 50 states in 50 days. Linda gave the documentarian (Mason Engel) a list of other South Dakota writers (which I wasn't privy to) that included my name.

For some utterly baffling reason, perhaps because my hometown wasn't too far of a drive from the Nebraska writer's, Mason chose me to represent South Dakota. And despite my best efforts to discourage him, he persisted. I kid you not, when I realized that this was actually going to happen, I completely lost my voice for several hours. For me, speaking in public ranks right up there with the Spanish Inquisition. I tried to prepare for what he might ask and even wrote up a cheat sheet. But I really fumbled on the questions I didn't expect. (I did warn him.) I just don't think well on my feet (or on my seat in this case). That's why I am a writer. I can often think of the perfect comeback... a week or two later.

What remains useable for the documentary, I can't say. Literally. I have only seen some stills (Mason and yours truly above) and the trailer that they recently sent ahead of the Kickstarter campaign to gain funding for full production. (They very wisely chose not to scare off potential sponsors by including me. They went for the money shots like James Patterson and Joyce Carol Oates.) Books Across America is meant to air on PBS eventually. Rumor has it, next year sometime. We'll see if I didn't tank the entire thing!

But my face is now out there. Eek! (When I was a kid, I actually jumped out of a canoe once just to avoid getting my picture taken.)

Yes, after years of playing coy by using my initials, I am now outed as a retired woman of a certain age who is about as photogenic as regurgitated sour milk. I grew up on a rural prairie bluff just outside (and now inside the city limits of) Vermillion, South Dakota, with a short stint in Minnesota, where I started school. I went to college in Illinois (B.A. in Literature) and Ohio (Master's in Technical and Scientific Communication) and later back in Illinois (Master's in Library and Information Science with Archival Emphasis).

There you have it, the story of my life. A life that has very little in the way of plot. Two parents (one deceased), three brothers, eight nieces and nephews. No kids, no pets (despite my first word being Dog). Just me and my writing. That's why this site is about my books. There was actually not much cover to blow.

In the end, I hope that it's what's between the covers of my books that keeps you here. Cheers!
​

This notification can only be understood to have come from MK's mother*:

I don't know how, I don't know why, but my always-has-her-nose-in-a-book daughter has somehow managed (despite her best efforts to stay out of the limelight) to actually win an award!

Of course, it's from a library group. Just more of those peculiar bookish people patting themselves on the back. I mean, who ever heard of the Mountain Plains Library Association's Literary Contribution Award**?

Maybe she'll get a plaque or something. Or the plague. It's downright embarrassing. I swear, they give kids awards for everything these days...

MK's Baffled Mom

*True Dakotans only brag on the kids or the sports team.
**There are 12 members states and nominations come from member librarians. Past South Dakota writers to win the award include Kathleen Norris and Linda Hasselstrom. Other mystery writers are Tony Hillerman and Craig Johnson.

A trade paperback of Dead Spirits is now available for purchase at Amazon. You can also obtain it by requesting it from your local bookstore.

Finally. It's here. I hope you enjoy Dead Spirits as much as I enjoy being done with it!

Dead Spirits is available in ebook format at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords. The last is a distributor to Apple, so it may be a while yet before it appears there. There's also a glitch at Barnes & Noble in populating the new book page, so if it's still wonky, wait a day or two. If it continues to glitch, let me know.

A trade paperback version will be available soon and I will announce it here on the blog.

Here is the blurb:

Instead of the Corps of Discovery...

A corpse is discovered at Spirit Mound, a Lewis and Clark exploration site in South Dakota reputed to harbor evil spirits. Sheriff Karen Okerlund Mehaffey, newly married and wanting nothing more than to jet off on her honeymoon, must deal with a clash of white and Native cultures over an archaeological dig at the mound. 

To further depress Karen's spirits, the victim was a childhood friend of her inscrutable Native American deputy. Her and Two Fingers's relationship has always been somewhat standoffish, but will this freeze it entirely despite the August heat? 

From dusty museums to colorful powwows to backstabbing academia, Karen and Marek must dig far into the past for a killer in the present who's stirred ancient spirits—evil or otherwise.