That’s the title of my next book. I’m not sure if it will be Macaque! (2022) or Macaque! (2023) but it’s coming soon.
As usual, I have veered wildly from my plans. I had wanted to do short stories, but one of the outlines interested me so much that I can’t focus on much of anything else. It’s a Manory/Williams mystery which takes place in 1921. There is a locked-room murder involving the eponymous creature of the novel. Suspects include a back-alley doctor, a tight-lipped assistant, a cultured gangster, a preppy lawyer, a private security guard, and the eponymous creature of the novel, all of whom have the requisite shady past–especially the macaque. The alternate title was No Face and I still call it that from time to time, so the title might still change. It’s just that Macaque! describes it so well. The release date won’t be announced until the book is finished.
I hope you are all enjoying the emerging spring. Except for you weirdos in the Southern Hemisphere. Seriously, I don’t know how you handle a March Autumn.
James Scott Byrnside 
Reading through this, I was reminded of the Monk episode “Mr. Monk and the Panic Room” – another primate-oriented locked-room mystery. It delivers on the chimpanzee part; the locked room, not so much. So I’m excited to see how you will tackle this interesting sub-sub-genre of primate-themed impossible crime… hopefully with a better solution than the Monk episode!
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Can I request that you at least consider the title Macaque Attack!, or Macaque! Attack! if that works better…?
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“Macaque Attack!” is the late fifties novelty song I’ve been waiting to hear my whole life.
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We also enjoy Christmas in shorts and tanktops down south! Luckily, we weirdos only account for 10% of the world’s population,and I came from Europe, so, technically speaking, I’m a fucking phoney.
Macaque! sounds great. JJ’s variant reminded me of a conversation I had with a friend about the awesomeness of using the imperative in titles.
Anyway, the important thing about the novel is the monkey itself and how it is used (or not) . You see, every time a mystery writer puts an abnormal creature in a book (siamese twins, monkeys, guys with no legs, democrats) you know you’ll be thinking about the very fact all the time, so it’s a great method, either of misdirection or of coming up with a crazy never-seen-before mechanism of mayhem. Never forget that this genre started, and will end, with our simian friends. They are both the alpha and the omega, the Gordian knot and the sword which cuts it!
Am I overrating monkeys online because I had too much to drink tonight? Maybe, James, but the fact stands.
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Think of those poor people living at the equator!
I like the impertitive, but I’m leaning toward using a postpositive adjective. 𝘔𝘢𝘤𝘢𝘲𝘶𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘢𝘤𝘢𝘭 is sounding quite good at the moment.
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