MKC Books

No, I am not dead!

Though it may seem like it of late. It's been very quiet here since Dead Quiet went out into the world in March.

I've started the next book (#5) in the Dakota Mystery series but it isn't going well. Until last week, I didn't even have a body, much less a killer, which kinds of makes it difficult to write, um, a murder mystery.

But I'm happy to report that I finally killed somebody! Whew.

My editing date is early November, so I've got a lot of writing to do between now and then. If it's like the previous book, it'll be out in March 2016 after revisions.

So, what's it about? Well, it starts off with some rather unique graffiti on a wind turbine. Also, Sheriff Karen Mehaffey is facing a nasty election campaign from a former deputy of her father's. One who knows too much about the mistakes she's made in the past.


Also in not-so-dead news, I got a very nice review of the previous four books from my friend and mentor, Linda M. Hasselstrom, a nationally known South Dakota poet and essayist. Without her, I doubt you'd be reading my mysteries.

When I first met her on a writing retreat, I was at a fork in the road (a very uncomfortable place to be), unsure whether I was kidding myself about being a writer. I wondered if I should chuck it all and go eat worms. Or rattlesnakes, in the case of Linda's very capable assistant, Tam.

Not bad, Linda told me, in Dakota-speak. She also said to use the same word in all the titles as a helpful mnemonic device for those (like me) who can't remember authors or titles. And so the Dakota Mystery series was born.

And, by the way, the tentative title for #5 is...

Dead News.

It's rarely truly quiet out on the plains, what with a wind blowing most of the time. But it's sure been quiet here on the blog!

Crickets, in fact.

That may be because there's little to report. Well, except the next book is now tentatively titled Dead Quiet. You all were waiting for that, right?

The above picture was taken on a beautiful but windy day in southeastern South Dakota earlier this month. Half the week I was there, it rained. And rained and rained. The usual rainfall was about 4 inches and it was already 14 inches!

Whatever it didn't drown, it grew. That included, unfortunately, the bugs, anything and everything from gnats to chiggers to mosquitoes. So that wind? It was a Godsend. But I still returned home well decorated with bites.

Now it's time to get serious about writing again. My editing date is November 1st and if I miss it this time, like I did (twice) on Dead Wrong, my editor will string me up by my lazy thumbs.

The trade paperback version of Dead Wrong is now available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and independent bookstore Powells. It can also be ordered from your local bookstore.

Sorry for the late arrival. Gremlins got into the pdf file and turned all the fonts to boxes. Oh, what fun! But my formatter got it fixed and all's well that ends well.

Now I can get serious about the next book, as yet untitled. Well, Dead...something! It takes place in springtime in Sheriff Karen Mehaffey's mother's reclusive German Anabaptist community. Sort of like the Amish. Only not.

Whew. This book was a bear!

I'm as glad to finally have Dead Wrong off my hands as I hope you're glad to have it in yours. It's now available in ebook form at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords. It'll take a bit longer to filter through to Apple, Diesel, and Sony.

The trade paperback should be done in a month or so. I'll announce it here when it's ready.

The third book in the Dakota Mystery series has an ebook cover! Once again, Glendon Haddix of Streetlight Graphics nailed it on the first try.

As for the book itself, I pulled two almost-all-nighters to finish the draft of Dead Wrong for my editor last weekend. I wish I could say I nailed it on the first try but I am expecting a sea of red.

I'm not sure exactly how long the editing process will take, as each book is different, but I hope to get Dead Wrong out to you by early next year. Fingers crossed!

If it weren't for a friend who'd just been to Rapid City, South Dakota, I probably wouldn't have heard about the massive loss of cattle in West River during a very early blizzard in the first week of October.

Oh, I'd seen the pretty pictures of the snow from Facebook friends who live there. But none were ranchers. The news is only now hitting the national media. Dakotans are used to being ignored and often like it that way, but not in this case.

Because the ranchers who lost their herds need help. If you have any spare change, please consider a donation.

In Dead White, set in the midst of winter, such blizzards are expected, or at least prepared for. And my fictional characters fret over the potential loss of livestock. But nothing like on this scale.

Not being a rancher myself, I know I don't truly understand what's been lost. Not just the animals, not just the livelihood, but bloodlines and lifelines. When the Indians lost the buffalo, killed off not by Mother Nature but human nature, it was even more devastating.

My own struggles with the next book in my mystery series pale in comparison. Dead Wrong is due at the editor's in mid-November. We'll see if I make it and how much work it will require if I do.

Fingers crossed that I get it out by the end of the year.

Just an update on where I'm at with the next book, tentatively titled Dead Wrong. I'm at the percolating stage, having finished most of my research but not having done much actual writing yet.

The story starts with a body found in front of an old pickup crashed up against the Wrong Way sign on the ramp off Interstate-29. The man's been shot in the head and the gun is still in his hand. Is it suicide or something more insidious?

That scene came to me several years ago, actually, as I was waiting on a ramp and glanced in my rear view and saw the sign. Wrong Way. That seemed like a neat title. Now that I've locked myself into titles with Dead as the start, I had to revise that a bit, but this story started on that momentary glance.

Such is the writer's life. Every little thing can be used.

The draft of Dead Wrong is due at my editor's on October 1st and should be out by the end of the year. If all goes as planned, that is!