Announcing the Big Holiday Sale!

The holidays draw nigh and everyone is in a dither about what to buy their family and friends. If you’re reading this blog, there’s an excellent chance your family and friends would like a book. Not just any book; a Kindle book. Less clutter, it won’t clog up their bookshelves, and the chances of a paper cut are nil. And not just any Kindle books, either. What they’d really enjoy is one—or more—books from the double Shamus award nominated Nick Forte series.

I’m your friend and I’m here for you. To aid in this endeavor, I‘m having a special on all four Forte novels between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but timely action is key. All four books will be on sale for the better part of a week, one book at a time, in a series of Kindle Countdown promotions.

Here’s how it works: starting Monday, November 28, Book One of the Forte series, A Small Sacrifice, will go on sale for 99 cents. Tuesday it goes up to $1.49. Wednesday it’s $1,99, Thursday is $2.49 day, and by Friday you’re paying full freight. Here’s the schedule:

November 28 – December 1: A Small Sacrifice.

December 5 – 8: The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of.

December 12 – 15: The Man in the Window

December 19 – 22: A Dangerous Lesson.

“But wait,” you say. (You must have said it pretty loud for me to hear it all the way over here.) “How do we give a Kindle book as a gift?” It’s simple. How simple? It’s so simple even I have done it, both pitching and catching. Here’s how it works:

1. From the Kindle Store, select the book you want to purchase as a gift.
2. On the product detail page, click the Give as a Gift button.
3. Enter the personal email address of your gift recipient.
4. Enter a delivery date and an optional gift message.
5. Click “Place your order” to finish your gift purchase using your Amazon 1-Click payment method.
6. The lucky recipient receives an e-mail with download instructions and the warm feeling that comes with knowing they are loved.

Everyone is busy this time of year, Lots of stuff going on. Lots of things on your minds. Don’t worry. I’ll post reminders in Facebook and on the blog margins. You don’t have to thank me. It’s just how I am.

But wait!! There’s more!!

You may well receive an Amazon gift card as part of your personal holiday gelt. Do not feel left out. You may not be able to get the Forte books for dirt cheap—and 99 cents is as down and dirty as it gets—but our Hanukkah/After Christmas sale runs December 27 – 30. Same .99/1.49/1.99/2.49 deal as before, but on Wild Bill, my standalone novel about how an FBI agent’s case of a lifetime is jeopardized by a mob war.

If my stuff is not to your taste and you have gift cards burning holes in your pockets, that’s okay. Stop back here on January 5 for my list of the best books I read during 2016. Not necessarily books released in 2016, though some will be, but the best books I read during the year. Not that my opinion outweighs anyone else’s, but that’s all I do here is give opinions, and you’re still here. Do the math.

The Friends of Nick Forte

Among the nicest compliments my writing has ever received came from the redoubtable Charlie

Stella, via Facebook, re The Man in the Window:

“[Character’s name redacted]? You killed [same character]? YOU PRICK!”

(I can’t very well tell you which character prompted this, can I? It being the prime turning point in Nick Forte’s descent from well-meaning Everyman to remorseless administrator of justice as he sees it. Buy the book, you cheap bastard. It’s only $9.95 in paper, $2.99 for Kindle. Skip Starbucks for a day, for Christ’s sake.)

Charlie went on to say, “I went back to the start and saw the epigraph and it all made perfect sense.” (Bless that man.) I stole borrowed it from Joseph Roux:

“We call that person who has lost his father an orphan; and a widower that man who has lost his wife. But that man who has known the immense unhappiness of losing a friend, by what name do we call him? Here every language is silent and holds its peace in impotence.”

So it’s no spoiler to say one of Nick’s friends dies. The question is, “Which one?” Here are the candidates, listed alphabetically to leave all conjecture to the book itself:

Vanessa Jordan – Divorced mother of two, works in the Chicago Symphony offices. Beautiful, smart, funny, and a quick enough wit to keep Nick interested. The attraction between them is clear from their first meeting.

Delbert McCrae – Former Texas Ranger, badly wounded when executing a fugitive warrant and the escapee’s partners tried to take him back. Delbert met a nurse while recuperating and works for Nick part-time while looking for more regular work, the nurse’s continued affection having made Chicago winters preferable to Texas summers.

Tom McManus – Principal trumpet of the Chicago Symphony and Nick’s best friend from his trumpet playing days. Tom is a brilliant musician and inveterate hound who meets Nick once a month for wings and female appreciation at Hooters.

Sonny Ng – Nick’s Field Training Officer when he started on the Chicago police. Now a respected lieutenant running the Violent Crimes unit in the area that includes Nick’s office.

Eddie Riefsnyder – Retired Chicago cop now working as a security guard at Symphony Center. Eddie drove a patrol unit in the Second District when Nick and Sonny worked there. Nick rode with him when Sonny was off duty, and the friendship extended beyond both Eddie and Nick leaving the force.

Jan Rusiewicz – A detective working under Sonny; Nick’s former girlfriend. Most of the resentment of a love gone sour is past and they’ve reached a level of friendship they’re both comfortable with.

Walter Alston “Goose” Satterwhite – Goose is Hawk to Nick’s Spenser. Also a bit of a mentor, helping to steer Nick through the minefields his cases tend to become. Largely responsible for setting up the situation whereby Nick would have been able to get the drop on a mobster who wanted him dead, had not Nick’s own reticence almost screwed the pooch.

Sharon Summers – Nick’s secretary/office manager/conscience. An eye-catching beauty, she occupies a position in Nick’s life he can’t quite describe, more than either friend or lover.

(At least) one of them dies. Why Charlie’s comments meant so much to me has to do with the effect of that death on Nick. As I’ve noted before, I always viewed Forte as an Everyman with skills sufficient to keep himself alive, though inadequate to make things to come out as he’d like. The loss he suffers must make the beginning of his conversion believable as more than just an excuse for an author who wants to make his series protagonist more of a badass. Straight-up badasses are fun; they’re not particularly interesting. I hoped to make Forte both. Did I succeed? You tell me.