The suspense is killing me. I hope it lasts.

Extra points for the movie this post's title is from.

I've been a busy bunny these past many months, trying desperately to finish the 5th Peri mystery, give it a name, and prepare for its debut. At times, I thought it would never happen. At times, I was willing to "half-ass" it, throw it all together, shrug, and release it without much fanfare. 

But reason prevailed.

I can't release a book I'm not proud to have written. There are a couple of books among the ones I've published that are not my favorites, but I'm not ashamed to have my name on the covers.  The more I edited this novel, the more I fell in love with it, and the more justice I wanted to do to the story.

The current status is:
1. It's in its final phase with my lovely and talented editor, Jennifer Silva Redmond.
2. It has a title.
3. It has a jacket teaser (that probably still needs tweaking).
4. I have four strong contenders for the cover art. This is where you come in. Take a gander at the cover options I'm considering and let me know your preference. BTW, we can mix and match fonts and colors if you think there's a better combo.

People of Earth, I give you:

MURDER BYTES

P.I. Peri Min­neopa has had enough. She’s clos­ing her busi­ness, mar­ry­ing her detec­tive boyfriend, and set­tling down to a life of ease–until her brother shows up, accused of a mur­der he swears he didn’t com­mit. Now she’s back in the thick of things, inves­ti­gat­ing the death of an engi­neer who may have been steal­ing techno-secrets from other com­pa­nies. Her rela­tion­ship with her brother is an icy one, at best, and she strug­gles with her ambiva­lence, as well as her desire to leave inves­tiga­tive work behind. Dig­ging around in people’s lives is rea­son­ably easy, but when the bul­lets start fly­ing, will Peri be able to keep her promise?

Cover Option 1

Cover Option 2

Cover Option 3

Cover Option 4

Look for one of these covers, and more Peri Minneopa to come your way February 2020!