A treasure hunt?
Come join the party! You know, those parties where the guests scoot around town to find clues and finally reach something worthwhile at the end. In this case, the treasure is five large gems (modesty aside), and the clues are a bit obscure.
I’m referring to the five novels in the “Esther Brookstone Art Detective” series. Unlike the related “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco” series, all novels published by Carrick Publishing (#1 even has a paper version), the novels in Esther’s series have been published in three different ways, mostly because of circumstances beyond my control.
The first two novels, Rembrandt’s Angel and Son of Thunder, were published by Penmore Press; the third. Death on the Danube, by Carrick Publishing; and the last two, Palettes, Patriots, and Prats and Leonardo and the Quantum Code, by Draft2Digital (D2D). As far as the publishing history goes, the only commonality for all five books is that I’m their author!
I apologize. This treasure hunt won’t be easy for readers. Penmore and I parted ways on friendly terms; I suppose they had good business reasons for making the changes they made, and I certainly had mine for finally deciding I could do without them. Carrick Publishing has published many of my books and done a bang-up job doing it, but I was impatient to get my Covid backlog of manuscripts published, so I turned to D2D for the last two novels to avoid their queue. (Apologies are in order for Carrick Publishing too.)
The first three novels all have print versions; the last two don’t because (1) my attendance at live book events has diminished (where I “exhibit” print versions), and (2) I firmly believe that print versions’ days are numbered (the only publishers that are sustaining them are the Big Five, and only because they come out with print versions long before ebooks to make more money, which makes no sense because they charge almost as much for the ebooks!)
The last two novels aren’t on Amazon. I’ve explained in this blog why that’s so in several posts, and you can find part of that explanation on my website too, but I’m boycotting that retail giant for now. (There are also reasons beyond how they treat publishers and authors.)
In any case, there you have the treasure hunt, whether you believe the treasure is worthwhile or not. It’s not that difficult, though. Most online retailers sell all the ebooks. Exceptions are Amazon and Smashwords for the last two novels, but all can be found at iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc. Print versions are only available on Amazon and at your favorite local brick-and-mortar bookstore (if they don’t have them, ask for them); you’ll have to be satisfied with novels one through three, though. You could consider those novels a trilogy, I suppose, but you won’t know what happens to Esther and Bastiann beyond their honeymoon trip down the Danube!
While you might not think so, I really do consider these five novels my gems. They represent the pinnacle of my storytelling, in particular, the last novel, Leonardo and the Quantum Code, which combines all my genres in one novel in a way. (You’ll have to read it to see why.)
Like all my series, though, you can sample these gems in any order. While I refer to previous events in each successive novel (especially #5, which depends a lot on #3 and #4), I always provide a short explanation of each event so each novel can stand alone. (In all my series, I mention those previous events primarily as a reward for those readers who read the series in order. They’re not that necessary because everyone knows a series exists because an author is reusing some of his previous characters.)
However, rest assured, I never intended to create a treasure hunt for you to follow the adventures of Esther and Bastiann, only to create more stories about that Christie-like duo, Esther (Miss Marple) and Bastiann (Hercule Poirot), for your enjoyment. Again, I apologize.
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Comments are always welcome.
Leonardo and the Quantum Code. Trouble again finds Esther Brookstone on her home turf. An old friend from her Oxford days is developing encoding and decoding algorithms that involve entangled quantum states and quantum computers, all motivated by some of Leonardo Da Vinci’s ideas found in a newly discovered notebook of the artist. His project is financed by MI5, but both the Americans and Russians want his results…and so does a mysterious stranger. Cloak-and-dagger suspense abound in this fifth novel of the “Esther Brookstone Art Detective” series. Soon available wherever quality ebooks are sold (but not on Amazon).
Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!
