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I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Robbie Haigh on her community TV show “Downtown” in Sandwich, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod. Robbie has been conducting local interviews for years, and upon learning that I’ve been publishing novels as an indie author, she insisted on interviewing me. So, here you go!

Greetings! We received just the slightest embrace from the edge of hurricane Henri, whose landfall was forecasted to include our world, but, as Mother Nature determined, the storm veered west of us and hit my former home of Narragansett Bay and next door in Connecticut. I do wish those folks well.

I passed along the news last time of publication of the third book in my Peter MacAlister mystery series, which was a joyful exercise for me. To celebrate that, and to introduce the series to newcomers to it, I am offering the first book in the series for FREE (e-book only) this week, Monday – Friday, from my author’s page on amazon.com.

You can find that page here. Your ratings and reviews help significantly in marketing the books and are greatly appreciated.

“Edie, A Peter MacAlister Mystery” kicks off the three-book series about a wisecracking reporter from the Massachusetts South Coast who sidelines helping people who need a special hand. He puts his investigative skills to work taking on difficult challenges, and with the assistance of his partner, oddball aging attorney Mory Wilbur, dives headfirst into the case at hand. For a percentage of the recovery, of course.

The series is New England based. “Edie” takes Peter – who’s pretty much a loner, 35 in ’85, which any Boomer knows was about ten minutes ago yesterday – into dark places in Rhode Island, where trigger-happy, drug-peddling gang members, nouveau mobsters, and holed up society dropouts are among the characters they encounter. Books 2 and 3, “Monique” and “Margot,” find him in New Hampshire and Vermont.

The cool retro cover is designed by John Cardinal, who also made my LGBT SUPERHEROES! series covers. And for fans of that series, Peter MacAlister is the reporter in those books, too. Only about three decades later.

My recommended read this month: “Blacktop Wasteland,” by S.A. Cosby This is a wowza of an explosive standalone novel. I heard of him listening to one of my favorite author interview podcasts, “The Writer Files,” by Kelton Reid. Turns out “Blacktop Wasteland” was Amazon’s #1 mystery and thriller of the year for 2020. He’s a throwback to older mystery writers, noir masters, akin to Walter Mosley. Highly recommended.

Want to have some fun? Try out Philip Craig’s Martha’s Vineyard Mysteries. Easy reads set in one of our local marvels. I met Phil at a book reading years back, and we had a great conversation and stayed in touch. And then he was ravaged by cancer and passed at 73. A truly lovely guy who wrote lots of fun books.

Next up, going to try out a writer from down under, Kevin Berry and his New Zealand based noir novels. His PI character and Peter seem to have something in common, so going to check him out.

That’s my news. What’s yours? What reads are you recommending? Happy to pass them along.

The main thing is Margot, A Peter MacAlister Mystery, is published! Phew! I had hoped for a June pub, but you know when stuff just happens? Not the least of it, life reemerging from COVID? What a PITA that was, for all of us, and for many far more so than for my family. Leigh and I came out of it unscathed, for which we are forever thankful. We opted to get become vaccinated and understand that many people still aren’t ready for that. All I know is that we’re okay, and we hope you are too.

So – Margot’s e-book was published on July 16, but I couldn’t get the paperback pubbed until this past weekend. My cover illustrator was out of town when I sent him the dimensions, and then he got back just as Leigh and I took off to Nantucket for a week for a lovely getaway. Blah blah blah. Bottom line, the paperback is now pubbed, and all is right with my world.

So, speaking of the cover, here it is! Like it?

My cover illustrations are designed by John Cardinal, of Tryptic Press. I love the older, retro look and feel he created for this series. A perfect fit with the theme of my good guy, Peter MacAlister, being a Boomer and his novels taking place in the ’80s, when he’s in his 30s.

Part of the challenge to make that work is in researching the locales back then, to depict them as accurately as possible. I put a lot of time in researching Margot’s setting of Manchester, Vermont, including taking a trip there in April for some first hand observations. Leigh lived there for a short time in the ’70s and gave me a lot of insight. We stayed with an old friend, who has lived here and there in Vermont, finally settling in that area, so he also gave me good takes on life there back in the day.

That’s great fun for me, taking deep dives into areas around New England where Peter’s tales take place. He’s based in Fall River, Massachusetts, on New England’s South Coast, where he lives his day job as a small city reporter, but his adventures take him all over the six-state region. While my LGBT Superheroes novels take place in The City, my Peter MacAlister Mysteries are focused right here in the place I call home.

If you are new to my series, I have dropped the e-book price of the first novel in each to just 99 cents. I only make pennies on those sales – that pricing is designed to introduce my characters for cheap, in the hope that readers will enjoy them and choose to get the other books. I am seriously grateful for the sales of my novels so far. You can see them here.

If you enjoy my books, please leave reviews and ratings on their book pages. Those help wonderfully in marketing the books and my indie author brand.

So, my fun reads while writing Margot? A couple of old friends. I read a couple of early Spenser novels by Robert B. Parker. I see a certain metaphysical kinship between Spenser and Peter. I also re-read early Travis McGee stories by John D. MacDonald. Trav is definitely another distant cousin of Peter’s, in that he’s a resourceful fellow who helps people who need a hand dealing with special challenges. For a piece of the pie, of course.

What are you reading? I’d love to hear. Email me at scott@scottcsmithauthor.com. And if you’d like to subscribe to my free occasional email newsletter, just sign up at my website, https://scottcsmithauthor.com. If you do, you can get a free copy of my growing collection of short stories based on my series characters. Your email address will never be sold or given away, and you can easily unsubscribe. I email no more than once a month, so I won’t bombard you. My newsletters are updates on what I’m up to, takes on things going on, notices of book progress, and such. All good!

Thanks for reading – enjoy!

Quick note, then a free offer.

Finishing Peter MacAlister’s third mystery has taken longer than planned, but we’re close! Much of it pertained to all the research I’ve had to do of the setting, Manchester, Vermont, in early summer 1986. I want the details right. Leigh and I took a trip to Manchester to study locales and note landmarks, etc., which was great fun. We love the area, and I want to do it justice in my Peter MacAlister Mystery, Book 3. So, it’s wrapping up and I expect it to publish in June.

I also want to note that June is LGBT Pride Month. You know that Leigh and I are LGBTQ allies, with several friends and family members among its community. I was delighted to celebrate my pride with my three book series of THE LGBT SUPERHEROES! The books are fun, farcical adventures about our foursome of queer vigilantes fighting crime as they try to reclaim their city from criminal and political thugs.

To celebrate LGBT Pride Month, I am offering Book I of my Superheroes series as a FREE download. The offer is good from June 7 to June 11. If you follow my author blog, you may have already read it. Please feel free to pass the word to your friends. Click here for the free book! And thanks for checking out my other novels.

I will never stop loving this cover of THE LGBT SUPERHEROES! BOOK I: A genteel exercise of vigilante justice.

Thank you for celebrating acceptance, equality and universal love!

We’ve been on the quiet side the past few weeks, busy, busy getting book two of our Peter MacAlister Mystery Series, “Monique,” published. She is indeed published! Take a look! Is the cover awesome or what! Look at “Edie” and “Monique” together and you can’t help but see the extended series. Here they are, along with our original series: Amazon.com: Scott C. Smith: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle

“Edie” – book one in the series – takes us on an adventure based in Peter’s hometown of Fall River, Massachusetts, a small city plopped on the New England South Coast, and roaming deeply into Rhode Island, as our protagonist helps his client recover a swindled inheritance. Trigger-happy, drug-peddling gang members, nouveau mobsters, and holed up society dropouts are among the characters they encounter and contend with on their mission to claim what’s rightfully hers. And his piece of the pie.

Now “Monique” launches from Eddy’s Cafe in Fall River and heads north, to Manchester, New Hampshire, where Peter goes to help his former girlfriend find her brother Charlie, who has gone missing. A survivalist club. A biker bar called Axe Max. A yuppie bar called Rue Appetit. A girlfriend called Pudding. A kinky party crowd. Cops, reporters, and a social-climbing nemesis. Oh, and a brutal murder. Just some of what Peter encounters as he dedicates himself to finding Monique’s brother, who has disappeared in the middle of New Hampshire.

As our son Mark said upon reading Monique: “Dad, you’ve really got this down. Now write 50!” Well, not sure we’ll get to 50, but I am on #3, and loving where this story is taking us. “Margot, a Peter MacAlister Mystery” is based in the beautiful region of southern Vermont, where Peter is trying to recover a bundle of dough and quash an investment scam for his boss’s ultra-spoiled much younger sister-in-law. Watch for “Margot” coming this spring. In the meantime, please check out “Monique” and if you’d like to give “Edie” a whirl, the ebook is in a special this week, March 8-12, for a mere 99 cents. On March 13 she’ll return to her regular price of 3.99.

Thank you, dear readers, oh, so very much for your kind words, encouragement and continued interest in this deliriously happy indie author’s creative mission. He is totally tickled!

You know what they say about timing – it seems it’s never right. What with all the election stuff, the pandemic news, we were all knocked back a bit with never ending distractions. I know I was. But that’s over!

Time to move on to the new year, and to kick it off I am delighted to announce the publication of Edie, A Peter MacAlister Mystery. The e-book and paperback are published on Amazon.com.

Edie is the first novel of my new mystery series (do you love the cover, or what!). Monique will be the next up, coming next month. More Peter MacAlister Mysteries are in the works.

Peter is a loner, 35 in ’85, which any Boomer knows was about ten minutes ago yesterday. One thing he has, besides a penchant for bad habits and intoxicating women, is time, and he’s inclined to invest it in others. Especially if there’s a return on investment.

And so begins Peter MacAlister’s adventure with Edie, who seeks his help recovering a lost inheritance. Hop into Peter’s old Volvo 240 with him and Edie as they steer off into an adventure they never expected toward a fate neither could have imagined. Trigger-happy, drug-peddling gang members, nouveau mobsters, and holed up society dropouts are among the characters they encounter and contend with on their mission to claim what’s rightfully hers. And his piece of the pie.

I hope you’ll take a look and give Edie a whirl – you can find her here.

Thanks for the lovely support. Please feel free to leave a rating and review on the book page – that’s a big marketing assist. You’ll have the sincere thanks of a grateful author!

Happy February! Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit!