New novel!

So here at last is the big announcement you all (most? some? one?) have been waiting for:

The NEW FRED BOOK!

<harpsichords, flutes, fife and drum, brass band playing Stars and Stripes Forever>

Thank you.

It actually hits tomorrow, because new books always come out on Tuesdays. No, I don't know why. It's been that way since I started in the business and I'm not going to change it now.

Enough of this jibber-jabber! you say (and well you should). What's the book about? 

Well, it's called Dwindle, Peak and Pine, a line from Macbeth. Here's the cover.

And here's what it says on the back cover:

Rick Drail and his widowed father, Craig, own a small cabin camp in the town of Hunker Lake. Things are normally very quiet for them after Halloween ... but then, people aren't normally murdered in Hunker Lake, and never in one of their cabins. Sue Milkins is the most beautiful woman Rick has ever seen in person, the kind of woman that can set a small town like Hunker Lake on fire. Where has she come from? What has brought her to this small town, past the end of the season? And why would anyone want to kill her? When Sue is found murdered one morning, Rick's life spirals into chaos. The police suspect everyone of the crime, even Rick’s father. Rick suddenly sees everyone around him, including their other paying guests, even his closest friends, as potential murderers. As police tighten their focus on Craig, Rick tries to find information to save him--but maybe his father does have some secrets of his own.

It's not the first mystery novel I've written; Faster & Closer has a mystery at the heart of the plot. It is, however, the first book I've written that is intended for teens as well as adults: The story is told from the point of view of high-schooler Rick. It's also a brisk read -- the book weighs in at 60,000 words. (For comparison purposes, Fahrenheit 451 was 46,000 words, but The Grapes of Wrath is about 170,000, per ServiceScape.)

I think it's an enjoyable story, whatever the reader's age. I certainly enjoyed writing it. It will be available tomorrow, March 24, as book as eBook. Naturally I'll post the links in the morning. If you consider it, and even choose to purchase it, I hope you will find much to like in it. And I thank you for your interest.