Today we’re sharing news of upcoming publications and works in progress so you can keep up with the writers and characters you love.

Kate Flora: It’s kind of a mystery to me, since the fate of my stories lies in the hands of my publisher, but according to Amazon, the next installment in my Joe Burgess police procedural series, Book 7, A World of Deceit, will be available on April 20th. In this book, after the horrific events in A Child Shall Lead Them, Burgess takes his family on vacation, trying to get away from police work. The world won’t let him, though. As he snoozes in a hammock, a small girl appears, asking for his help. They’re renting the cottage next door, and she can’t wake her father up.

Susan Vaughan: I’m coming close to the end of the first draft of my current project. Tentatively titled “Genuine Fake,” this is an addition to my Devlin Security Force  series. DSF’s mission is to protect and retrieve art and artifacts. Gemma Bellini is the executive director of her grandfather’s estate. He was a famous painter (think Andrew Wyeth). When she calls on DSF operative Boyd Kirby to help find an artist friend, he uncovers a larger plot involving murder and forged Bellini paintings. Past experiences have led Gemma to find it hard to trust men, and Boyd not to trust himself to keep anyone safe, especially her. The research for this book has been challenging, fascinating, and fun—art forgery and authentication, the work of FBI Art Crime, art gallery openings, and more.

John Clark: A novella Don’t Say It which was intended to be the final piece in my short story anthology Hardscrabble Kids, has decided to be a longer piece, maybe even a book. In its place I shanghaied one of the six characters I wrote about in an earlier blog, Subah Rioux and am halfway through her entry which is called Lie Down With Dogs.

Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson: I’m still working on that collection of essays I wrote about here, and also on a print-on-demand edition of a YA novel, Someday, that has been available as an e-book for awhile now. The story takes place in Maine in 1992 and has mystery and romance as well as being a coming-of-age story. Here’s a look at the updated cover.

I have no idea if anyone will want to buy it, but the idea with all the self-publishing I’ve been doing this past year is to get the stories out there and find out. So far, in addition to these two projects, I’ve created POD and/or e-book versions of two works of non-fiction for grownups, one biography for young readers, and five novels aimed at ages 8-12. Someday was written for ages twelve and up, but given how fast kids grow up these days, some younger readers might enjoy it too.

Sandra Neily: I’ve started work on the third novel in my “Mystery in Maine,” series. I’m calling it “The Deadly Line” … for now.  I’m deep into some lynx research as they’ll either show up or be hard to find. Or both. Again, narrator Patton finds herself again in hot water, called upon to be an outlaw in service to a world she loves but not before she lands in very cold water. Literally. Here’s first lines.

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Up to my waist in broken ice, snowshoes scrambling for good footing in the melting marsh and lake bottom muck, I struggled for breath. Even though the water was chest high, I couldn’t seem to get air with my seized-up lungs. Ice-water saturated my clothing and found skin.

I saw Pock sinking into a happy crouch. My dog was a Lab. Water—any water— was heaven-sent. “Nooooooo,” I yelled. “Don’t jump! Not fun in here. Not FUN!”

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And I’ve started taking notes on a non-fiction something I call right now, “When Do Deer Grow Moose Antlers and Do We End Up Where We Started.” Bits of guest insanity and anecdotes both  fun and dramatic from my river guiding days.