Mystery Ahead 12 Dec 2021 😎 Cold Case | Long Road

Mystery Ahead 12 Dec 2021 😎 Cold Case | Long Road | GIFT GUIDE

Published: Sun, 12/12/21

Welcome to another edition of the Mystery Ahead newsletter, delivered fresh to you every other Sunday, with #booknews, exclusive #excerpts, and #reviews of must-read mysteries.

#booknews

1. Holidays and fiestas

THE INSIDER’S GUIDE TO THE BEST OF MEXICAN HOLIDAYS is a Kindle collection of essays by 22 authors that captures the excitement and traditions of Mexican holiday celebrations including the Day of the Dead, Mexican Independence Day, and unique local festivals.

The release date is 17 December, but it is available for pre-order now for just $1.99. Proceeds go to charity.

Pre-order the GUIDE TO MEXICAN HOLIDAYS on Amazon

2. A family affair

Mystery Readers Journal, the journal of Mystery Readers International, just published an edition dedicated to cold cases and my essay is in it!

The Amato Family Murder Mystery is all about my great grandfather, who murdered two people in 1912, one of whom was his wife. He escaped a police dragnet and was never seen again.

Is it any wonder I love a good mystery?

You can order a copy here: https://mysteryreaders.org/journal-index/cold-case-mysteries/

3. Update on the Galliano Club

We’re aiming for a late Spring 2022 release for the prequel, which has been renamed ROAD TO THE GALLIANO CLUB. The three full-length thrillers will be released in Summer/Fall 2022.

“Meet me at the Galliano Club” will be the main promotional slogan, along with “In 1926, it’s hard to find a beer but murder, blackmail, and revenge are always on tap. Free refills.”

Snappy, right?

4. Thank you

The next edition of Mystery Ahead will hit inboxes on Sunday, 2 January 2022!

I can’t believe how fast 2021 went. I made the mistake of looking at the goals I’d written at the end of 2020 and had to laugh. Either I need to clone myself or stop cleaning the house.

Either way, sharing this newsletter and virtually meeting so many wonderful and supportive readers continues to be a joy. I’m very grateful when you take the time to introduce yourself in an email and/or offer comments on Facebook and Instagram (@authorcarmenamato).

All my best to you and yours this holiday season. May you find peace and fulfillment in 2022—and a good book or two.

#excerpt

ROAD TO THE GALLIANO CLUB

This is an excerpt from my current work-in-progress.

ROAD TO THE GALLIANO CLUB is the prequel to the Galliano Club thriller series and tells the backstories of bartender Luca Lombardo and dancer Ruth Cross.

With the moon to guide him and his pockets heavy with the money from the sale of his father’s gun, Luca slipped through the lemon and orange groves of the Benedetto family. A chorus of dogs met him as he approached the farm. The lamps were still lit in the kitchen.

Everyone was at home, which meant that Luca had to ask Rafaella’s father for her hand in marriage in front of her mother and five brothers, as well as a beaming Rafaella.

He’d give her a good home in America, Luca promised, a good life. He and Rafaella would join his cousin Enzo, who had a wife and a farm of his own now.

Rafaella’s mother sobbed openly as the father grudgingly consented. Yes, Luca could marry his daughter. Take her away to the land of opportunity, where so many others went.

They knew Luca would inherit nothing that would allow him to support a family. Nor could the Benedetto’s support another mouth to feed and the children sure to follow. They were already among the poorest in Serra San Bruno, with too many sons and so little land.

“My cousin Enzo’s farm is in a place called Lido, in New York.” Luca told them about Enzo’s letters describing land that was so rich it was black with minerals and watered by the heavens every week. This wasn’t the dry dusty land of Calabria where only olives grew, but land for cows to graze on and bordered by a river called Mohawk. Anything would grow there. Garlic, onions, tomatoes the size of a man’s head. Again and again, Luca reassured Rafaella’s parents of the good life their daughter would have.

Luca and Rafaella got married six weeks later. They were both 17 years old, excited and terrified at the same time.

She was pregnant when they left Genoa aboard the ship that would take them to America.

ABOUT THE UPCOMING GALLIANO CLUB THRILLERS

#review

My 2021 Gift Guide features everything a mystery lover needs for the year ahead, including reader favorites from the Mystery Ahead newsletter, non-fiction reads that go inside the Detective Emilia Cruz mystery series and the Galliano Club thriller series, books I’m gifting this year, plus an Amazon list of ideas for even the fussiest on your list.

Based on reader clicks, the following were the top Mystery Ahead reader favorites in 2021.

Scroll through to see them, then find the entire gift guide at https://carmenamato.net/2021-gift-guide-mystery-ahead-newsletter/ .

Mystery Ahead reader favorites in 2021

SNOW by John Banville

Irish whodunit SNOW has the same vibe as the tv series Endeavour, about the young Inspector Morse. If SNOW is ever made into a movie, actor Shaun Evans would make the perfect detective St. John Strafford. The writing is moody and brilliant, but the ending left me cold. (pun intended)

TRUE FICTION by Lee Goldberg

This outrageously campy thriller was pure escapism. Prepare to suspend disbelief as nerdy writer Ian Ludlow saves the world with the help of a dog walker and a zany ex-actor. The two sequels were equally wonderful, with eerily believable plots with laugh-out-loud comedic chops. Prolific TV and fiction author Lee Goldberg (the Monk series, Diagnosis Murder, etc) keeps us rooting for Ian and company.

DEL RIO by Jane Rosenthal

Award-winning novel DEL RIO confronts the issues of human trafficking and migrant labor and delivers a compelling story rooted in empathy and authenticity. I "met" Jane virtually several years ago and loved her first book, PALACE OF THE BLUE BUTTERFLY, but in DEL RIO she really emerges as an important voice in contemporary fiction.

THURSDAY MURDER CLUB by Richard Osman

What happens when the residents of a bucolic senior living community in England get together to investigate a murder? For starters, one murder becomes . . . many. This was a HUGE best seller on both sides of the Atlantic with a brilliant cast of characters and many tangled plot skeins.

ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE by Louise Penny

Armand Gamache solves a crime with historical roots in Paris, in a return to the moody atmosphere and family subplots that made the series such a success. Penny takes the reader into the innermost thoughts of multiple characters for a deeply emotional style. And then there's Paris . . .

GET THE FULL GIFT GUIDE

"The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are." - J. P. Morgan

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All the best,

#essentials

Carmenamato.net

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