Category: News of Note

As if dealing with a global pandemic wasn’t enough, here in Oregon we’re also suffering from a series of wildfires wreaking havoc across the state. While my hometown of Salem is not in any danger, the air for the last few days has been so toxic that it’s not safe to be outside without a mask for long. We’ve literally had some of the worst air quality in the entire world. (Fortunately, as my kids pointed out, we already have plenty of masks lying around!) The fires have blanketed the city in an ash-fog that’s lowered the temperature at least twenty degrees. But cooler temperatures, shifting winds, and a coming rainstorm should hopefully bring an end to the worst of this over the next few days. 

But despite what a crazy year 2020 has turned out to be, I go on writing. It’s now my full-time job, after all, but I also find it helps me not focus on everything in the world outside my control. Disappearing into a book as a reader also helps, of course, which brings me to my latest offering: A DEEP AND DEADLY UNDERTOW. This is the seventh book featuring Garrison Gage, and it’s a doozy, one that will leave both Gage and others in Barnacle Bluffs forever changed. More information about the book, including links to retailers, is below.

As usual, the book is available in paperback and ebook first. The audio version will hopefully follow before too long. Thanks for reading!

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A Deep and Deadly Undertow

A Garrison Gage Mystery

What kind of treasure is worth dying for?

Years after his wife dies in a mafia hit gone wrong, Garrison Gage finally pieces together a life for himself in the Oregon coastal town of Barnacle Bluffs. Some days the cranky private investigator with the bum knee and the caustic wit could even call himself content. Maybe even happy. But marrying again? Never.

Yet not long after quirky Rita Rodriguez enters the scene, Gage can’t imagine life without her. Unfortunately, when dark secrets violently emerge–involving first loves, tragic loss, and, strangest of all, a Spanish galleon that sunk in 1642 loaded with treasure–their relationship enters turbulent waters.

 Worse, the same deadly undertow that drags Gage into the darkness also threatens everyone around him. His friends. His enemies. Even the town itself . . .

Ebook: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | iBooks | Google Play 

Paperback: Amazon | Indiebound

Garrison Gage fans will be happy to know that the seventh book in the series, A Deep and Deadly Undertow, is now with the copy editor and should be out in early September. That’s the cover on the right. (You can click it for a larger version.) Book description will follow soon, but needless to say, this is probably the most consequential Gage book yet. Ghost ships, sunken treasure, dashed hopes and dark betrayals . . .  Even a marriage proposal. It’s got it all. 

If you want a tiny clue of some big changes in Gage’s life, be sure to read Throwaway Jane, the first Karen Pantelli adventure, which features a brief cameo from the curmudgeonly detective. And if you enjoy the book, please do write a review on Amazon or elsewhere. I get a lot of emails from readers who never write reviews, and while I do appreciate your kind words, online reader reviews are even more important these days than reviews from major trades, I think. It’s the new word of mouth. So if there’s one thing you can do to help an author (other than buying his or her books, of course), it’s to write a review of why you liked the book. It doesn’t have to be long. Just a sentence or two is perfectly fine.

More on the Gage book soon. I’d planned to write a few short stories between books, but I’m already hard at work on a new novel, an idea about a local amusement park I’ve been toying with for years. I often find that ideas I mull over too much often turn to mush, or become overly forced and stilted, as opposed to ones I come up with from scratch, but this one’s stayed fresh. I also think I might finally be ready to write it, which I think was the problem with the Big Epic I flamed out on a couple years ago. Just wasn’t ready to write it yet. Though I’m thinking I’m going to take another crack at that one, too. 

My plan right now is to alternate between series books and one-offs, but we’ll see how it goes. Other than that, life in the era of Covid-19 goes on here on Carter Hill (what I’ve taken to calling our 90-year-old Tudor-style house up on a little rise). Our Subaru Forester, which we bought almost 20 years ago, finally had to go, with so many repairs due that we couldn’t justify it for what the car was worth, despite how good the car has been to us (we brought our daughter home from the hospital in it, so it had lots of

sentimental value). We replaced it with a 2016 Nissan Juke, pictured there on the right. We already had a Nissan Pathfinder for bigger family trips, so this is a little town car that can hold four people in a pinch but I think is really intended for two. It has AWD, too, something I pretty much insist on these days, as well as a sunroof and a great sound system. While we bought our Subaru Forester new, I’m a big believer in buying slightly used cars, so someone else pays for the steep depreciation that cars see in those first few years. 

Kids are looking forward to going back to school in a few weeks, such as it is. It looks like it will be almost completely online. I’m typing this on the new flagstone patio I put in over the summer in the backyard. Rosie, our now fourteen-week-old Irish Setter, is sitting at my feet on a beautiful summer morning. The vet cautioned us not to take her off the property much until her series of shots are finished, so we’ve been settling for lots of backyard play, but I’m looking forward to the two of us getting out for some long walks (and eventually hikes!) in the months and years ahead. 

I’ll end this with a recent shot of Rosie. Back before too long. Stay safe out there.