Identity Withheld

I’m happy to announce that my latest novel, Identity Withheld, is now available as a pre-order, with a launch date of October 15. It is $1.99 during the pre-order period, after which it moves to $4.99. For the time being, only Kobo offers the preview feature.

AFTER A LIFETIME OF RUNNING FROM A MYSTERIOUS PAST, CLEO MUST NOW CONFRONT SECRETS THAT MIGHT KILL HER.

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Fredericton, New Brunswick: The sleepy town in Atlantic Canada is only the latest stop for Cleo Brennan’s nomad parents.

But Cleo’s tired of drifting from town to town. At 23, she wants a permanent home. She plans to settle in Vancouver once she finishes university. Let her parents keep wandering if they want. She’s done.

While she’s long suspected that her parents are running from something—or someone—suspicion only becomes fact when someone rams her parents’ car into the Saint John River.

Now Cleo must discover the identity of the shadowy individual threatening her parents’ lives… all while keeping an inquisitive detective at bay.

Then someone attacks Cleo and she must figure out, finally, what sent her parents running so long ago—before those behind the secret kill her.

Readers who enjoy strong characters who overcome overwhelming odds will love Cleo’s story.  Don’t miss out on Identity Withheld, a standalone novel by the author of the Mendenhall Mystery series.

BUY LINKS: Kobo | Barnes and Noble | Apple | Amazon

Getting Justice Storybundle

I’m thrilled to report that my “women’s thriller” novel, Shelter, is featured in the Getting Justice Storybundle for the next three weeks. I’m in excellent company, with seven other novels plus two short story collections, all featuring mysteries that deal with justice. Here’s what Curator Dean Smith has to say, in part, about the bundle:

JUSTICE: A GREAT WORD: by Dean Wesley Smith

I learned that if you ask a writer for a story about justice, you get all kinds of books and genres. But mostly when you say the word “Justice” you get mystery and crime fiction.

And that was fine by me. To be honest, that’s what I thought of when I started putting together a bundle of books with the theme “Getting Justice.”

Turns out the concept of justice isn’t so easy to define. I know, I ended up looking it up. The most common term in the many definitions is “fair.” For example, the best definition in my mind for the idea of justice is “the quality of being just, impartial, or fair…”

But when you add the word “Getting” in front of the word “Justice” it brings up an entirely different form of story.

For StoryBundle, you decide what price you want to pay. For $5 (or more, if you’re feeling generous), you’ll get the basic bundle of four books in any ebook format—WORLDWIDE.

  • Unexpected Good Guys by Annie Reed
  • Independent by Means of Magic by Kari Kilgore
  • Shelter by Marcelle Dubé
  • Justice by Fiction River

If you pay at least the bonus price of just $15, you get all four of the regular books, plus six more books, for a total of 10!

  • The Meter’s Always Running by C.A. Rowland
  • Help Me Nora by Diana Deverell
  • Beyond the Grave by R.W. Wallace
  • Death by Polka by Robert Jeschonek
  • Ace High by Dean Wesley Smith
  • Street Justice by Kris Nelscott

This bundle is available only for a limited time via http://www.storybundle.com. It allows easy reading on computers, smartphones, and tablets as well as Kindle and other ereaders via file transfer, email, and other methods. You get multiple DRM-free formats (epub, mobi) for all books!

For Dean’s complete essay, visit storybundle.com.

Holy cow. I won.

I guess it’s official. They announced it on YouTube and everything. I won the Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence for my short story, “Cold Wave.”

Forgive me for bragging a little. The judges called “Cold Wave” a “mini masterpiece,” and said the story had “pitch-perfect pacing” and that “the humour is delightful.”

To say I’m pleased is an understatement.

The best part is that the story was published in Sisters in Crime – Canada West’s inaugural anthology, Crime Wave. And not only that, one of my chapter sisters, Winona Kent, was also nominated for her novella, “Salty Dog Blues.” Now that’s a feather in our cap.

Thank you all for your kind congratulations. It’s much appreciated. I would like to congratulate the winners in the other categories. You will find them all listed in the Crime Writers of Canada news release.

BUY LINKS: Amazon | Kobo | Barnes and Noble | Apple

Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence

Holy cow. I’m a finalist for the 2021 Canadian Crime Writers Awards of Excellence in the short story category:

Best Crime Short Story sponsored by Mystery Weekly with a $300 prize

• Marcelle Dubé, Cold Wave, Sisters in Crime – Canada West

• Twist Phelan, Used to Be, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine

• Zandra Renwick, Killer Biznez, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine

• Sylvia Maultash Warsh, Days Without Name, Carrick Publishing

• Sarah Weinman, Limited Liability, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine

I am in excellent company. The best part? The nomination is for Cold Wave, a story that appeared in the Sisters in Crime Canada West inaugural anthology, Crime Wave. My sister in crime, Winona Kent, is nominated in the novella category, for her Salty Dog Blues, which also appeared in Crime Wave.

You can find the complete list here: https://www.crimewriterscanada.com/awards/annual-awards/current-contest/shortlists

The winners in each category will be announced on Thursday, May 27, 2021. Wish me luck!

My first podcast!

The wonderful Joanna Vander Vlugt, host of the From the Dressing Room podcast, is featuring the authors of the Sisters in Crime Canada West Crime Wave anthology, which includes my own “Cold Wave.” It was my very first podcast and it was a lot of fun to meet the other authors in the anthology: K.L. Abrahamson, J.E. Barnard, Alice Bienia, Debra Henry, Winona Kent, Charlotte Morganti and Merrilee Robson.

Pop in and listen, if you have a moment.

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Does that mean I’m a tourist attraction now?

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Travel Yukon, the Government of Yukon’s official tourism arm, started the Yukon Book Club for people who can’t physically travel to the Yukon because of Covid-19. It features fiction and non-fiction books, classics and new releases, all of which connect to the Yukon in one way or another.

And now they’re featuring The Shoeless Kid, the first of my Mendenhall Mystery series. While Shoeless is set in the fictional town of Mendenhall, Manitoba, it was born in the Yukon—from the inspiration for the book to the name of the town, all Yukon.

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I’m thrilled that they wanted to include Shoeless, and I’m honored to be among these top Yukon writers! Here are the other books featured so far:

Cold Spell: Cocktails and Savouries for a Northern Winder by Michele Genest and Jennifer Tyldesley

From the Klondike to Berlin: The Yukon in World War I by Michael Gates

Gold Diggers: Striking it rich in the Klondike by Charlotte Gray

Nerve by Eva Holland

Strange Things Done by Elle Wild

The Call of the Wild by Jack London

The Caribou Hotel: Hauntings, hospitality, a hunter and the parrot by John Firth

Christmas readings

I love Christmas, even this year. I love it so much that I’ve actually written a few romantic Christmas short stories over the years. If you’re in the mood for some light (mostly light) reading, here are some short stories that might warm your heart.

A Yukon Christmas

Christmas Magic

McKell’s Christmas (A short Mendenhall mystery)

Running Away from Christmas

Trepalli’s Christmas (A short Mendenhall mystery)

The Cold Time

Issue #114 of On Spec: The Canadian Magazine of the Fantastic is out and it contains one of my stories! The Cold Time is about the People, who live in the Arctic Ocean and who are being driven to dangerous depths to escape new predators. I just received my copies and am happily making my way through the issue. I particularly love the cover, by Nikolina Petolas. Too cool.

And now for something spooky…

I’m the original scaredy-cat. I don’t watch scary movies or read scary books. Those stories bury themselves in my psyche and come out to play in the middle of the night. Every once in a while, however, an idea sticks its creepy hooks in me and I have no choice but to write it out. So, in honour of Halloween, I present a novel that may put a tingle up your spine. It did for me.

SHELTER

After six long months on the run from her abusive husband, Ash Gantry finally finds a place to call home in Albans, Ontario. It doesn’t take long for her to fall for the small town with the big heart. But more than the town itself, more than its inhabitants, it’s the house on Hawk Street she falls in love with.

But while her heart wants to stay, her head tells her to keep moving. If she keeps moving, her husband will never find her. Only, she’s tired of hiding. Tired of running. Tired of being afraid.

Let him come. She’s staying.

Then she discovers that her new home hides a dark secret, one even more dangerous than the man hunting for her. By the time he finds her, she may already be dead…

Praise for Shelter:

“Ms Dube likes to get a bit of the paranormal into many of her mysteries and in this case the ghost is pretty prevalent and plays quite a large role in the present-day story, especially it’s spectacular and quite satisfactory ending, and is what really ties the two stories together.” –Amazon reviewer

“Gripping from beginning to end. Loved it.” –Goodreads reviewer

“Hard to put down and a great read for Halloween! Or any other time of the year when you want a tingle in your spine and your breath to speed up with anticipation.” –Goodreads reviewer

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Trolls, anyone?

If you like trolls—and who doesn’t?—you might want to check out another BundleRabbit bundle I’m in, Here be Trolls. Curator A.L. Butcher has assembled six novels and four short stories featuring trolls, including my own short story, “Troll Country.” It’s set in the Yukon because, really, where else would trolls live? I can’t wait to read the other stories in this bundle!

Here’s the write-up:

From nightmare monsters who enjoy dining on children to spiritual mystics in tune with the natural world, from gritty champions to peculiar cooks, from shy hermits to paladin mages—greenskins, trolls, and orcs feature as heroes or as villains in these 10 tales of magic, myth, and mayhem.

And here’s the table of contents:

Leah R. Cutter                   The Changeling Troll

Kristine Kathryn Rusch   Renn and the Little men

J.M. Ney-Grimm               The Tally Master

A.L. Butcher                       The Stolen Tower

Marcelle Dubé                   Troll Country

Charlotte E. English          The Road to Farringale

Blaze Ward                         Meat Shield

Stefon Mears                      The Great Orc Cook-Off

J.M. Ney-Grimm               A Knot of Trolls

Leah R. Cutter                   The Troll-Troll War

Enjoy!