August Update

I turn 46 today. As Dorothy Parker once said, “Time doth flit. Oh shit!” While I usually despair at my lack of progress, I now feel myself gradually accepting my flaws and limitations. Sometimes, I’ll sit down and write a thousand words. Sometimes, I’ll add an adjective and call it a day. Such is life.

I’ve been using the expanding outline method with this novel–e.g. writing an outline of the entire story and then going back to fill in a little more each time. While it doesn’t produce miracles, the process does feel more productive and it is an effective method of keeping some momentum going. No dates for publication yet.

Chicago, 1921–Private Detective Rowan Manory and his assistant Walter Williams specialize in solving impossible crimes, but even they have never seen anything like The Case of the Maniacal Macaque.

With a new girl by his side and a bright future ahead, smelting mogul Steven Morehart doesn’t have a care in the world. That is until the girl’s ex (a vicious gangster) puts a bounty on Steven’s head. During a trip to Malaysia, he is nearly killed by a crazed macaque. Surely it cannot be the gangster’s doing. The macaque attacks continue however when Steven arrives in Chicago. How? How can a monkey be trained to murder someone?

Rowan and Walter are on the case. To find out the answer, they’ll have to investigate the Chicago underworld along with the dark business of the American wildlife trade. The plot waiting for them is diabolically ingenious, culminating in a perfectly executed locked-room murder.