Blogs

I am in Virginia, working on various projects, attached to the Waynesboro Police Department and the Office for Youth. My visa, "alien with extraordinary talent" was approved and I hopped onto the plane, from the U.K., ready to make a meaningful contribution to literacy and the promotion of education for young people at risk of delinquency and gang membership.

Finally, after three books, I received my first review in a national publication and it was a good one. Yea! “Library Journal” said of “Page One: Whiteout”: “Nicely plotted with good characterization, this Midwestern mystery will appeal to Steve Hamilton fans.” While this certainly isn’t my first good review, it means a lot that a national publication recognized little ol’ me from the Great White North!

My new thriller, TRAFFYCK, has just been released. While researching this serious topic, terrorized victims and families became real, especially because my family roots are in Eastern Europe. If one person with compassion and vigilance helps save one victim after meeting the brave rescuers I have portrayed, this will be enough.

I have a blog at:
http://michaelberes.blogs...

My webpage is:
michaelberes.com

Book #2 in the Sweet Justice series is available - THE WRONG SIDE OF DEAD (Nov 09)

And check out the book trailer at this link: http://www.youtube.com/wa...

Facing the nightmare of their past is the only way out...
Mysterious computer wizard Seth Harper awakens in a bloody motel room to find he's not alone. The vacant eyes of a grisly corpse stare accusingly at him—the body of a young woman. Seth becomes the prime suspect for a heinous murder. If only he could remember what happened.

My new mystery, The Fall of Augustus, is now published. It is the third in my Lisa Donahue series.

This is the second book set in a creepy fourth floor attic museum (very similar to one where I used to work) right in the middle of a move to a new building. Lisa becomes Director of the museum after a falling statue crushes her boss, Victor Fitzgerald. Suddenly she's juggling demands from architects and deans while trying to mount an exhibit, find a murderer, and figure out why her stepson hates school.

Just discovered that Black Out (French version "Memoire Trouble") has been shortlisted for the French award, Le Prix Polar International. Previous winners include Elmore Leonard, Ian Rankin and Peter James.

Word from the Road

"Page One: Whiteout" is finally ready to hit the stores and I will be hitting the road for a few personal appearances across the Upper Peninsula in November. Unfortunately, travel time is limited due to a hectic work/graduate school schedule and an ailing feline companion (unclassified cardiomyopathy that led to congestive heart failure).

I have been posting regularly to a new blog site maintained by my publisher (http://blogs.ohioswallow....). There I write P.L. Gaus's Ohio Amish Journal, with comments and musings (with photographs sometimes) about life in Holmes County, Ohio. Lately, I have given considerable attention to the very real Amish murder trial taking place in our area, one formerly-Amish lady having been convicted of the murder of an Amish lady married to Eli Weaver, in Maysville, Ohio, because the murderer wanted the husband for herself. I think you'll find my postings on this quite interesting.

I am looking for a new agent for my two mystery series: The Sydney Lockhart Series. The first book, Murder at the Arlington was published by Salvo Press in June. It is a cozy set in 1952. My second series, The Kate Caraway Series is also a cozy. Kate is an animal right's activist and each story deals with an animal right's issue.