Best wishes and Update from Kim K

Hello all,

I promised to let you know when the correct version of my latest novel, Irregular Lives, is finally on line -- and IT IS ON-LINE NOW!

There is a shaggy dog story related to all this . . . actually something beyond shaggy dog, maybe hairless dog story . . . but I will spare you the sad drama.

So, if you have held off on purchasing the Kindle version of: Irregular Lives: The Untold Story of Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars, you can move forward. Of course, please remember to post a review on Amazon. I have received 9 reviews thus far and am hoping to get the “magic number” 12 soon. When I have twelve, my book begins to show up on Amazon’s “other recommendations,” so it’s an important benchmark.

I thank all of you for your support in purchasing my books - ebook and paperback. Your generosity of spirit and encouragement is appreciated, and highly valued.

Looking ahead to 2017 which promises to me an “Irregular Year.”

Why Write Sherlock Holmes Stories?

A friend recently asked me: “With all that is happening in the world, and now in the United States, how do you justify spending your time and talent writing Sherlock Holmes stories.”

A wonderful question that only a true friend might ask. Not surprisingly, I did not have a ready answer, but I promised to reply later . . . now.

First, writing is not the only thing I do. I give time to my local community foundation, protect the sacred land Sara and I live upon, help my neighbors, and the others things that “normal” people do. (All true, but it sounds like an excuse.)

Second, I endeavor, in my stories, to speak to the issues and problems that plague our world. In SherlockHolmes - The Golden Years, the “under-story”, or theme, is eugenics in all its various forms. The story is set in 1913, but every one of the eugenic efforts, and atrocities, that existed then (I am sad to say) still exist today. I don’t beat my readers over the head by preaching. I simply bring the issue, and the related need to act, into their consciousness -- or maybe into their subconscious.

In Irregular Lives:The Untold Story of Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars, the under-story is the widening gap between the rich and the poor, and the psychology and philosophy that facilitates our rationalization of this situation. Obviously, this subject is more appropriate today than it was a century ago.

Yesterday, I just wrote the first 500 words for my next Sherlock Holmes novel -- yet to be titled. The theme for my new novel will be the oppression of women in all its obvious, and not so obvious, forms.

I hope you would agree that these issues are relevant and worthy of my time and effort. I want to think that my stories may be making an difference . . . registering in awareness of my readers, possibly stimulating action. I do not know, but that is my intention.

I have no doubt that I will be more politically and socially active in the coming year. Standing in opposition to the things that Trump, and his surrogates, advocate and strive to achieve is something I am compelled to do. A “child of sixties,” I would hasten to add: I can’t believe I am still fighting this f- - - - - g shit.

Writing is important to me. “I’m a writer.” But, what does that mean?

A writer is someone who is (hopefully) good at telling stories that other people like to read or hear. Why? Because they get a satisfying emotional experience from reading. They (safely) feel their feelings. And, so it follows that a writer is someone who feels deeply, and endeavors to share those feelings through their stories.

What I am feeling now, as a citizen of the world and United States, is deep sadness and fear for my fellow human beings everywhere. At the moment, it feels as though the darker forces are dominating and winning. In light of this, Sherlock Holmes would seem to be today’s perfect hero -- tirelessly fighting the dark forces. In the canon, those forces were symbolized by Professor Moriarty. In my first two books, they are represented by Ciarán Malastier and Maeve Murtagh.

My hope is that, as people read Doyle’s stories, mine, or the stories of many other excellent “Holmes authors,” they can hear Sherlock is whispering in their ear: “Remember. We must fight for what is just, and best in human beings, even to the point of putting our lives down for that cause.”

OOOPS! Wrong KINDLE Posted on Amazon

I recently celebrated the launch of Irregular Lives on Kindle. Now I am sad to report that my publisher sent the wrong file to Kindle and the INCORRECT VERSION of Irregular Lives in on line.

If you were thinking of buying it, please wait until this mess gets straightened out.  I will let you know.

Kindle Version of Irregular Lives is Here!

Finally . . . Irregular Lives: The Untold Story of Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars has been released ON KINDLE!  The rush to the Christmas season had delayed the publication of my new novel as an e-book. But, it finally arrived!

So, if you are an e-book reader, go HERE!

to get your copy.

I see that five of you have purchased my book -- thank you, and several have posted reviews -- again, much appreciated.

PLEASE remember to review this book, and send any detailed feedback to me personally. Remember, you don’t need to provide a long review. It’s the number of stars that count in Amazon’s algorithm. Even if you cannot buy now, you can do a review it and read it later (bizarre as that seems, it’s the way things work on Amazon).

The audiobook will be out in a couple months, and I’ll let you know when it “hits the stands.” I have a new narrator, Dominic Lopez, who just signed the contract and will begin production next week.

Thanks for your patronage and support!

Irregular Lives -- Then and Now

My next novel -- Irregular Lives -- is set in the last century, it is most appropriate for our time given that the 1% are in control of my country.

Like many writer’s, I construct my stories around a central focus, or theme, that is artfully woven (hopefully) into the main story.  In Sherlock Holmes - The Golden Years, the theme was eugenics, is all its various forms.  Irregular Lives: The Untold Storyof Sherlock Holmes and Baker Street Irregulars has a another contemporary theme -- the growing economic gap between the rich and poor.

My novel is set in post-WWI London that, at that time, had a metro area population of almost 7 million.  In 1919, almost 30 % of the London’s inhabitants were poor and destitute. In one scene, Wiggins takes Holmes to his home in Spitalfields where Holmes’s eyes are opened, really for the first time, to the horrid neighborhood his soon to be gang of irregulars call home:

Sherlock Holmes was familiar with the dingier places in London, but his previous encounters had been in the context of a chase. His eyes and attention had been on the villains and clues. In this way, his mind had forged a correlation between the slums and criminals. It was black and white, like Charles Booth’s poverty map of London, where Spitalfields appeared as a blacked series of city blocks on London’s east side. That map had no shades of grey, no color, no faces or names. Holmes remembered filing this map away in his archives, along with the knowledge that one-third of Londoners lived in desperate need and squalor. It was but another scrap of information, like the number of cabs in London—4,142 currently.

But now, he stood in the middle of one of those blackened city blocks. There was a metamorphosis: information had transformed into flesh and blood. He needed to consider this. He would—but not now, and not here. He would walk out of this “blackened block” to his spotless rooms. However, he would never again be able to leave behind the people of Spitalfields.

As an interesting side-note, London’s population has grown to 8.6 million people, but almost the same percentage of the inhabitants, about 27%, live in poverty. Not a lot of progress there, or elsewhere in the world, in the last century. 17% of the world’s population lives in extreme poverty, and nearly half -- 3 billion people -- are considered poor by the World Bank -- defined as making less than $2.50 per day.

Although I am active in my community, more and more I feel as though I am not doing enough for my fellow man. I rationalize that my reader’s will be able to draw parallels between my stories and the current reality in their community. Maybe they’ll be stirred to reach out and help others. In Irregular Lives, Holmes and Watson have a conversation about how the well to do tend to reach out in their community:

“Holmes, who is the fellow to be examined, and on whose behalf are we conducting this examination?”

“It’s on behalf of Wiggins’ mate, a youth called Snape.”

“Is he that rather stout lad who waddles about?”

“No, that is Rumpty. Snape is the ham-fisted youth—fifteen stone, or so, of solid muscle.”

“Rumpty, Dumpty, Snape,” Watson muttered. “These names mean nothing to me. Why do you meddle in their affairs? Noblesse oblige, I suppose.”

“I should not use that expression,” Holmes shot back. “It carries a dreadful stigma. Those who use it seldom see their societal obligations extending beyond their pocketbooks. They offer the less fortunate a hand, while keeping a foot on their neck.”

While this blog post borders on preaching, I can promise you that if you read Irregular Lives, you will not be subjecting yourself to a sermon, or morale tirade. I believe I have written a darn good tale. I only wished to give you a peek at one of the elements contained in my new novel. For, in the end, reading should be a joyous experience. Check it out on Amazon!

New Holmes Adventures HERE NOW!

Irregular Lives: The Untold Story of Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars is now AVAILABLE!

This new book as been described as a “multi-layered mystorical novel” —a way of saying that, within the larger thriller plot, there are five short stories set within a historically accurate post-WWI setting in the U.K.

As the title promises, the novel centers on a gang of adolescent boys and girls whom Holmes recruited from the slums of London to become his investigative allies. Doyle only referenced three or four cases where he engaged the irregulars, but there were many others.

Wiggins you know, if you’re a Sherlock Holmes fan. But, until now, other members of Wiggins’ backstreet brigade were never mentioned by name. Now you can meet them: Ugly, Snape, Kate, Ruck, Rumpty, Archie, Benjie and little Tessa.

Some of Sherlock Holmes’s most bizarre cases involved the irregulars: a hideous execution of a man who had been strapped to the barrel of cannon, a fiend who hoped he could live forever on the blood of others, and the largest jewel robbery in Britain.

Irregular Lives shines light on a hidden side of an older and more compassionate Sherlock Holmes, and illuminates “darkest England” —the abysmal backstreets, slums, and tenements of Victorian London that the irregulars called home.

The tale begins with a cryptic invitation and note:

Photographer S.P. Fields

 invites you to the debut of THE collection:

Irregular Lives.

Saturday, March 15, 1919.

35, Russell Square, London.

A note was enclosed in the envelope:

The lives of the well-off have an arc, with significant achievements posed near the peak. The lives of the deprived hover barely off the ground. Their accomplishment lies at the bitter end—the fact that they survived at all.

Please help me honour and eulogize those that served us both so well.

— S. P. F.

A wave of recollections—of people, places, faces and voices from the past, swept over Holmes’s mind like a tidal wave: his many encounters with the band of juveniles that bore his appellation “the Baker-street irregulars.”

If you are curious about how Holmes shaped and changed the irregulars, and how they changed his life . . . this is the book for you!

Holmes’s Irregulars were very irregular!

Within the 60 Holmes stories in the original canon, the urban army known at the Baker Street irregulars appear only three times: In two novels and in The Adventure of the Crooked Man. In these stories the irregulars are led by Wiggins. It is clear that there were many boys within the irregulars, and at least one girl, but none of the others were distinguished in Doyle's writing. As an emerging Holmes scholar, it seemed likely to me that the irregulars played a larger role in Holmes's investigations and his life— particularly when he and Watson did not share a flat at 221B Baker Street.

Omnimystery News (a great mystery lover’s website) has just published an article of mine about the irregulars— which are the focus of my new novel: Irregular Lives: The Untold Story of Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars that comes out on November 16.

CHECKOUT the ARTICLE !!!

NEW BOOK PREVIEW: Introducing Benjie

As the newest Sherlock Holmes novel continues to work its way though the publishing process toward its debut November 16. I am posting previews from the book -- introducing you to some of the irregulars featured in the Irregular Lives: The Untold Story of Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars.

Irregular Lives tells the true story of Holmes’s relationship with the band of street-urchins who became is allies over two decades.  Benjie was among the youngest of the irregulars. He was the younger brother of Archie -- the lad who eventually took over leadership of the gang after Wiggins left.

This week, I’ll preview Benjie, an irregulars Doyle never mentioned by name. So, let me introduce you with a scene from the story:

BENJIE WAS MESMERIZED by the silver florin spinning in the gentleman’s fingers.

“My boy, this is yours for a few minutes’ work.”

“What d’you want?”

“A small thing really, Benjie. I’m . . . a doctor of sorts. I need a tiny vial of your blood for a patient.”

Benjie’s body recoiled.

“Just a thimbleful, is all.”

Benjie nodded, hesitantly. “For two bob, then.”

“Good boy. Let’s tell the dustman outside that he need not wait for you, shall we?”

The angular man put his arm around the ten-year-old boy’s shoulder and led him out to the street where Tux, a flying dustman, was waiting to collect the ash, rubbish and débris.

“What’s this then?” Tux asked, as Benjie approached, empty handed, toward the waiting horse and cart.

The doctor held out a shilling. “I have a small task for the lad. I’m sure you can do without him for the rest of the day.” He pressed the coin into Tux’s palm.

The ageing dustman looked askance at Benjie, who nodded.

“Very good, guv’ner,” Tux agreed. “You can find your way home, can’t you, Benjie?”

“Yes, Tux.”

The dirty refuse-collector shrugged his shoulders and, grumbling under his breath, grabbed the reins of his nag and urged it onward.

Benjie was led back into the doctor’s elegant home, and soon found himself lying on his back atop a narrow padded table.

“I’m going to prick your arm with a needle. Hold it still and steady. Close your eyes.”

Benjie shut his eyes; but they suddenly flew open when the doctor’s hand clamped his arm against the tabletop.

“Ow!” Benjie yelped, as the needle struck his vein.

“Quiet. This will only take a moment.”

The sting in Benjie’s arm lessened, and his body relaxed.

“There,” said the Doctor.

As the needle was pulled out, Benjie watched a bead of blood cut a scarlet track down his forearm.

I hope that you will continue to follow this blog as the countdown continues to November 16 -- when Irregular Lives: The Untold Story of Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars hits the bookstores.

For while these sneak previews may be fun, they are not a substitute for reading (or listening to) the entire adventure. You can PRE-ORDER NOW on Amazon!

NEW BOOK PREVIEW: Introducing Kate and Archie

As the newest Sherlock Holmes novel continues to work its way though the publishing process toward its debut in November 16, I am posting previews from the book -- introducing you to some of the irregulars featured in the Irregular Lives: The Untold Story of Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars.

Irregular Lives tells the true story of Holmes’s relationship with the band of street-urchins who became is allies over two decades. This week, I’ll preview Kate & Archie, two of the irregulars Doyle never mentioned by name. So, let me introduce you.

Kate was an orphan who came to the irregulars when she was an adolescent girl -- dressing as a boy to protect herself. Archie, one of the gang, eventually fell in love with her. Here’s a scene from the story:

As Kate ceremoniously dressed, Archie watched her from the bed. To Archie, she embodied the best of femininity without any hint of frailty or vulnerability. Her strength was apparent in her sure movements and piercing green eyes.

Uncomfortable and flattered at the same time, Kate chided Archie: “What you lookin’ at, boy?”

“The most beautiful gel in Clerkenwell.”

Archie laughed, which made Kate happy. She had been happy since the day they met. Prior to that, her family had consisted of a rag-tag gang of boys who had befriended her a dozen years ago.

She had been attracted to Wiggins, the leader of the gang, not with a grand passion, but with affection. She screwed up enough courage one day to kiss him. He looked hurt. “Aw-w, Kate! Don’t seem right, do it. You and me bein’ pals, an’ all.”

He was right, of course. Wiggins usually was. Her motivation, she realized then, was not to charm the man himself, but rather to ensure his continued care and protection. Spitalfields was a dangerous place for a girl coming of age. She was aware that, unless she snagged a fellow, she would likely find herself strolling the streets and alleys at the upper end of Haymarket. She had seen herself in the faces of the prostitutes who waited, bare-shouldered in daring décolletage, for a graceless young gentleman to buy them a drink and more. Kate knew that she teetered on the edge of that life, and was determined to maintain her balance. She even dreamed of finding herself in Mayfair, or some other posh neighborhood in London.

The last touch was a comb she placed in her auburn hair that pulled her curls to the side of her left ear. She did not have delicate features, but her eyes were large and fierce. Her body was thin and tanned, which gave her a sultry appearance.

She swung around to face Archie. “There, wot do you think?”

“You beauty! I pity the poor men of the city. ’Elpless they will be before the charms of lovely Kate, the Siren of Swinton Street.”

She laughed and walked to the bed, bent low, and kissed Archie. He reached up and pulled her closer.

“Stop it,” she scolded. “You’ll wrinkle mi dress.”

Archie swung around to place himself on the edge of the bed. He put his arms around Kate’s waist and pulled her between his legs. “I’ll wrinkle more than that, mi lovely.”

A knock came to the door at that moment.

I hope that you will follow this blog in the coming weeks as I introduce Benjie, and others. You can catch a glimpse of Wiggins, Ugly and Snape in previous posts.

While these sneak previews are fun, they are not a substitute for reading (or listening to) the entire adventure. I’ll let you know the moment it hits the bookstores in November 16 -- but you can PRE-ORDER NOW on Amazon.

MYSTORICAL FICTION - What is it?

CHECK OUT Geri Shear’s blog today that carries my article on Historical Fiction Mysteries -- some call it: Mystorical Fiction: HERE.

Geri is a widely acclaimed author. Her first novel, A Biased Judgement: The Sherlock Holmes Diaries 1897 topped Amazon’s Bestselling Sherlock Holmes novels’ list for months after its 2014 release. Put it on your list, if you haven’t already read it.

The “mystorical fiction” niche is one which Geri, I and others are endeavoring to grow. Both of my novels: Sherlock Holmes - The Golden Years, and Irregular Lives: Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars -- fit that genre.  Irregular Lives launches November 16 . . . counting down.

First Review of Irregular Lives!

While Irregular Lives will not be out until November 16, “review copies” have been sent out, as is the practice. The wonderful review by Elizabeth Varadan begins the launch on a good note.

If you want to read some else’s unbiased opinion of:  Irregular Lives: The Untold Story of Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars, then check it out.

BTW: Elizabeth’s blog: Victorian Scribbles is exceptional. So, add it to your list!

Behind the Screen of Irregular Lives

The Sherlock Holmes novel Irregular Lives, my newest novel, is my contribution to a growing niche of fiction called “historical fiction.” I wrote an article about this niche and the process used to by writers -- at least this writer. It was posted on a great UK website: The Crime Thriller Hound: http://www.crimethrillerhound.co.uk/kim-krisco

Check it out!

Amo lettori italiani!

I'm going to have to set my next Sherlock Holmes novel in Italy as I seem to have some fans there. Most of the stories in my first novel: Sherlock Holmes - The Golden Years, have been picked up my a publisher (Delos) who is publishing them in Italian. Lo adoro!

Check it out - click here!

NEW BOOK PREVIEW: Meet Snape one of Holme's irregulars

As the newest Sherlock Holmes novel continues to work its way though the publishing process toward its debut in November, I am posting previews from the book -- introducing you to some of the irregulars featured in the Irregular Lives: The Untold Story of Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars.

This week, I’ll preview Snape, one of the irregulars Doyle never mentioned by name. So, let me introduce you.

Irregular Lives tells the story of how Holmes met Snape -- a blacksmith’s son, who forged a life from the rubbish in the Thames. Snape was a soft-hearted bruiser who tried his luck in the rough and tumble sport of bare knuckles boxing. Here’s a scene for that story:

The bell clanged. The two pugilists cautiously approached the center of the ring.

Sambo’s arms and hands remained at his side. He put his chin up, inviting a blow. Snape knew better than to take a swing that would throw him off balance. Instead, he snapped a jab to the African’s gut.

Sambo sprang to life and moved toward Snape, throwing light punches, sizing up his opponent. His right arm was cocked as he continued to jab with his left. Snape easily deflected the punches, waiting for the big one. It came fast! Snape twisted his head and body away as Sambo’s fist grazed his left temple.

Sutton immediately closed in and grappled with Snape, delivering jabs to Snape’s kidneys. The boy pushed him off with both fists. As he did so Sambo swung another hard right. Snape ducked low and returned a punch to Sutton’s ribs.

Snape had been knocked off his feet twice in the preceding five rounds. Sutton delivered a crushing blow in the fifth, and then walked to his corner as if the fight were over. The crowd, whose mood had shifted slightly onto Snape’s side, let out a communal groan. A smattering of applause and table banging was hushed as Snape rolled over and got up on one knee.

Sutton sneered. He walked slowly toward the boy. Under the reformed regulations it was a foul to hit an opponent who was down, or had one knee and one glove on the mat. Snape looked at Wiggins who was waving from the corner. Wiggins held up his hand with his little finger and index fingers pointing upward—then sharply turned them down. Danger. Snape got the message. He placed his other glove on the canvas and, with one quick push, rose, shoving his body forward into Sutton who was unable to throw a punch.

The crowd cheered as Sutton became incensed and struggled to disengage himself from Snape’s hug. The referee pried the men apart. The two men locked eyes as they separated. Blood was trickling from the corner of Snape’s mouth. His knuckles were black, blue and bleeding.

“You’ve never been closer to hell,” Sambo Sutton growled.

“And I’m takin’ you with me,” Snape replied.

I hope that you will follow this blog in the coming weeks as I introduce Archie, Kate, Benjie, and others. You can cartch a glimpse of Wiggins and Ugly in previous posts.

While these sneak previews are fun, they are not a substitute for reading (or listening to) the entire adventure. I’ll let you know the moment it hits the bookstores in November -- but you can PRE-ORDER now on Amazon.

What did the Baker St. Irregulars Look Like

Love writing, and enjoy the publishing process -- where your months and years of work take form. Working on the cover for my next book now. Brian Belanger, the designer, and I decided that a vintage photo is the way to go. So, the question became, what did Holmes's Baker Street Irregulars look like?  I found two pix that might work. It's not as easy to find photos as you might think, as they have to be in the public domain, or the rights have to be very inexpensive.

So, check out these two and, if you are inclined, let me know what you think. It's likely one of these will be on my new novel: Irregular Lives: The Untold Story of Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars.

NEW BOOK PREVIEW: Meet Ugly one of Holme's irregulars

As the newest Sherlock Holmes novel works its way though the publishing process toward publication in November, Am posting previews from the book -- introducing you to some of the irregulars featured in the Irregular Lives: The Untold Story of Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars.

This week, I’ll preview Ugly, one of the irregulars Doyle never mentioned by name. So, let me introduce you.

Irregular Lives tells the story of how Holmes met Ugly. You may not have known that they met in the midst of the one of the most horrendous murder cases in Scotland Yard. Ugly adopted and raised by the costers of the Spitalfields Market. It’s exciting tale. Here’s a scene for that story:

As Holmes prepared to depart the barracks he noticed one of the guards at the gate had nabbed a small boy by the collar. The nipper, about nine or ten, was screaming bloody murder. His dog was yelping and biting at the heels of the guard.

“Hey, you bastard, let me be!” the lad bellowed.

His arms flailed about as he kicked furiously at the guard, who was clearly on the losing end. Holmes chuckled and walked on.

“I’m lookin for mi Da!” the boy yelled.

Holmes called: “Set him down Corporal. I’ll see to him.”

With that, the lad was dropped to the ground, and the dog ceased his caterwauling.

“What’s your name boy?” Holmes asked.

“Ugly,” was the nipper’s reply. And to be fair, the lad was that. Whether an affliction, or accident of birth, the youth had inordinately large facial features and hands. His lips protruded, framing a huge grin. His brows were bushy, and his ears jutted out. All of this combined to give him an otherworldly appearance. “And, this here is Nicki,” the lad added.

“Pleased to meet you both. Do you have a Christian name?”

“That’s the only name I’ve got. The truth’s the truth, sir. Accept it, is what I say.”

“I concur with your philosophy,” Holmes said.”

“You what?”

“I agree with you. So, you’re looking for your father?”

“Aye, he ’ad business ’ere, ’e did.”

“What does your father look like?”

“Just a bloke.”

“Where’s your mother?”

“She’s dead and buried. Just me and mi Da now.”

“Holmes glimpsed the lorry disappearing down Repository Road.

“Why don’t you come along with me?”

“Don’t think as I will,” the lad declared.

“Where will you go?” Holmes asked.

“I have mi mates. Good lads. All for one, an’ one for all, is our motter.

“Do you know who said that?

“Mi mates.”

“But, before that, it was the Three Musketeers who said those words. Brave fellows who fought for justice.”

“I like that,” Ugly said. He cocked his head. “How did these mustaters go on?”

Holmes peered into the dirty face of the boy. “They lived happy lives, full of adventure.”

The boy’s countenance lit up. “Aye—all for one, an’ one for all!” he shouted, sticking his fist the air. “Come on, Nicki!”

I hope that you will follow this blog in the coming weeks as I introduce Snape, Archie, Kate, Benjie, and others. And, while these sneak previews are fun, they are not a substitute for reading (or listening to) the entire adventure. I’ll let you know the moment it hits the bookstores in November.

BOOK GIVEAWAY!

I’m giving away a signed copy of the Sherlock Holmes - The Golden Years on Goodreads, beginning September 12, and continuing until September 20.

AND

I will also include an Audible promo code that will allow you to have a FREE download of the audiobook version of my book. It’s got a spectacular reader -- Richard Di Britiannia.

If you are interested in entering the giveaway, CLICK HERE!  And, tell your friends.

Good luck!

NEW BOOK PREVIEW: Meet Rory WIggins

As the newest Sherlock Holmes novel works its way though the publishing process toward publication in November, I’ll post some previews from the book -- introducing you to some of the irregulars featured in the Irregular Lives: The Untold Story of Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars.

This week, I’ll preview Wiggins, the only irregular mentioned, by name, in the Doyle canon. Despite this, we did not know much about him. So, let me introduce you.

Irregular Lives tells the story of how Holmes met Wiggins, and the other irregulars. You may not have known that they met in the midst of the largest jewel robbery in London. Wiggins meets Holmes as he dips into his pockets. It’s exciting tale. Here’s a scene for that story:

Holmes made his way, in a casual stroll, until he came to a stall selling leather goods set along the edge of the street. He began fingering a collection of belts hanging from the top of the stall. As he reached his arms upwards, his coat opened up, throwing both pockets behind him. Within moments the lad had closed the space between them and dipped both hands, simultaneously, into Holmes’s pockets.

Suddenly, Holmes swung around and gripped the lad’s hands—which were now holding a handkerchief and an inkwell.

“It’s a fair cop, sir,” the lad exclaimed in surrender.

Then, just as quickly, the boy swung a huge kick toward Holmes’s right leg, grazing his shin and rending his trousers.

“It seems you’re no better with your feet than you are with your hands,” Holmes remarked.

The lad smiled. But, the boy’s smile twisted into a look of confusion as he stared at his right hand. “Blimey! An inkwell. What’s all this then?”

“Not much value there,” Holmes said. “And, you might also note that the handkerchief has a hole it.”

“I made a right pig’s ear of it, di’n I, mister?”

I hope that you will follow this blog in the coming weeks as I introduce Snape, Ugly, Archie, Kate, and Benjie. And, while these sneak previews are fun, they are not a substitute for reading (or listening to) the entire adventure. I’ll let you know the moment it hits the bookstores in November.