Looking Back at a Wonderful Year

With most of 2017 now in my rear view mirror, I'm looking back with much gratitude on a year in which I was able to realize so many long-held dreams.

In January, Ann (my supportive spouse) and I attended the Baker Street Irregulars & Friends Weekend in New York City for the first time. It was fun from beginning to end as we hung out with friends old and new. We book-ended that in November by finally attending a meeting of Watson's Tin Box of Ellicott City, Maryland, where I spoke on plot tropes in Sherlock Holmes.

As you can see above, a few months ago I received copies of the Italian translations for two of the three Enoch Hale - Sherlock Holmes novels I wrote with my friend Kieran McMullen. Since I read Italian, I can assure you that translator Marco Bertoli did a fine job. Bravo, Marco!

My 65th birthday, September 28, was the official publication date for my seventh Sebastian McCabe - Jeff Cody mystery novel, Queen City Corpse. (There is also a book of shorter stories.) I finished the first draft of the next novel last week; it should be published next fall.

As rewarding as it continues to be to follow the McCabe-Cody saga, there's a special thrill for a writer to embark on something new, and I had several of those experiences this year:

• My first appearance in The Baker Street Journal, the premier publication for Sherlockian scholarship, was in the Spring 2017 issue. I wrote on "Gothic Holmes: Dark Shadows in the Canon."

• Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine and Black Cat Mystery Magazine both put my name on their covers as the author of mystery short stories within. The characters in the Black Cat story, "Murder at Madame Tussaud's," are ones I hope to build a new series around. 

• Earlier this year I finished my own Sherlock Holmes novel, House of the Doomed, which will be published by Gasogene Books/ Wessex Press in January. 

• And just this month, I was asked to contribute a chapter to a book of Holmes essays from the Baker Street Irregulars. I have a year to write it -- which is good because a lot of research is in order!

It looks like another great year ahead for me, one of the highlights of which will be the Holmes, Doyle, & Friends Five symposium in Dayton, on which I've also spent some time this year. I hope to see you there - or maybe in New York in January.