This month sees the publication by Five Star of Bill’s and my collection, CRUCIFIXION RIVER. Although it’s billed as a western, the stories are also tales of crime and detection. Five have been previously published, but there are three new ones: a novella by the two of us, a John Quincannon story by Bill, and a Sabina Carpenter story by me. None have been collected in the same volume before, and we’re very excited about it.

November, of course, is the beginning of the holidays. Special gatherings with friends and family, leading up to Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s. This year is a bittersweet one for me: in May I lost a beloved brother, but the gains have been great, too. My closest sister and her husband (to say nothing of their 28-pound cat) moved from Michigan to live five minutes away from us, and dear friends from the Sacramento area, who have stood by us through thick and thin, bought a home here. The key word for this year’s holidays is change, but they will be good ones.

Similarly, Sharon McCone has been going through changes in BURN OUT, to be published by Grand Central Books (formerly Warner Books) next October.  In it, you’ll see a McCone you’ve never glimpsed before: doubting her desire to go on with her profession and deeply mired in depression. But, as with her creator, doubts are resolved, depression lifts and, as the holidays descend upon her, her life takes a new and satisfying direction.

I hope you all have very happy holidays.  Back to you in the spring!

Sharon McCone is hired by her husband's security firm to track down "the ever-running man," a shadowy figure who has been leaving explosive devices at their various offices. She doesn't have to search for long. When McCone narrowly escapes an explosion at the security firm's San Francisco offices, she catches a glimpse of his retreating figure. The ever-running man is dangerously close -- and anyone connected to the firm seems to be within his deadly range. To complicate matters, McCone is forced to question her intensely private husband, Hy, about his involvement in some of the firm's dark secrets. The history of corruption may jeopardize their marriage, but uncovering the secrets of the firm may be the only way she can save her husband's life, and her own.

Read an excerpt here.

Subscribers who sign up for Marcia Muller's newsletter by December 31, 2007 will be entered in a contest to win a paperback of VANISHING POINT. 

Sharon McCone is hired by her husband's security firm to track down "the ever-running man," a shadowy figure who has been leaving explosive devices at their various offices. She doesn't have to search for long. When McCone narrowly escapes an explosion at the security firm's San Francisco offices, she catches a glimpse of his retreating figure. The ever-running man is dangerously close -- and anyone connected to the firm seems to be within his deadly range. To complicate matters, McCone is forced to question her intensely private husband, Hy, about his involvement in some of the firm's dark secrets. The history of corruption may jeopardize their marriage, but uncovering the secrets of the firm may be the only way she can save her husband's life, and her own.

Read an excerpt here.

VANISHING POINT, McCone's 24th adventure, begins just after she and her longtime lover Hy Ripinsky have finally tied the knot. But there isn't much time for celebration. At a family reception she agrees to investigate the disappearance, 22 years before, of Laurel Greenwood, an artist and housewife who inexplicably vanished leaving behind two young daughters and a husband. New evidence suggests that the woman may have led a strange double life. But before McCone can penetrate that tangled web she must first solve a second disappearance that of her client --- Laurel Greenwood's grown daughter. From the central California coast, to the gold-mining area, to the lush hills of south central Oregon, Sharon follows the chilling evidence. It is one of her most complex cases, bringing her up against two truly dysfunctional marriages --- just as she embarks on her own.

Marcia Muller, bestselling author of the acclaimed series starring San Francisco P.I. Sharon McCone, returns to the remote northern California coast of Point Deception and Cyanide Wells with an exciting new novel. A riveting mystery full of atmosphere and suspense, this tale explores the dark heart of a small town where passion --- and murder --- runs as deep as the river that flows through it... CAPE PERDIDO.

Amid ancient redwoods and sun-dappled reeds, the Perdido River runs clear and cold from the mountains of Soledad County to the blue Pacific. A wildlife refuge and a pristine recreational area, the river brings tourists to the old lumber town of Cape Perdido...and flows through the memories and hearts of the rugged people who have settled there since the Gold Rush days.

Now that is about to change. An out-of-state corporation wants to pump the river nearly dry and float the water to southern California's thirsty cities in huge rubber rafts. With lobbyists, lawyers, and dirty tricks, the company intends to get what it wants --- any way it can.

Against this corporate Goliath, a community protest group and four unusual individuals are drawing a line in the sand. Flying in from New York City, ecologist Jessie Domingo hopes to grab headlines for her cause. Environmentalist Joseph Openshaw has come back to the home, and the secrets, he left behind decades ago. His former lover, local restaurateur Steph Pace, fears both the emotions and the ghosts arriving to haunt her. And old man Timothy McNear, owner of the defunct mill that once employed most of the town, silently broods about the sins he has hidden for too long.

But no one envisions what will happen when the crack of a sniper's bullet sets off a chain of desperate acts. As the peace of this small town is shattered, murder stains Cape Perdido, and one by one, those who stand tall for a cause may be swept away by the current of a town's ugly truths --- and a killer's revenge.

-Click here to read an excerpt from CAPE PERDIDO.

VANISHING POINT, McCone's 24th adventure, begins just after she and her longtime lover Hy Ripinsky have finally tied the knot. But there isn't much time for celebration. At a family reception she agrees to investigate the disappearance, 22 years before, of Laurel Greenwood, an artist and housewife who inexplicably vanished leaving behind two young daughters and a husband. New evidence suggests that the woman may have led a strange double life. But before McCone can penetrate that tangled web she must first solve a second disappearance that of her client --- Laurel Greenwood's grown daughter. From the central California coast, to the gold-mining area, to the lush hills of south central Oregon, Sharon follows the chilling evidence. It is one of her most complex cases, bringing her up against two truly dysfunctional marriages --- just as she embarks on her own.

Marcia Muller, bestselling author of the acclaimed series starring San Francisco P.I. Sharon McCone, returns to the remote northern California coast of Point Deception and Cyanide Wells with an exciting new novel. A riveting mystery full of atmosphere and suspense, this tale explores the dark heart of a small town where passion --- and murder --- runs as deep as the river that flows through it... CAPE PERDIDO.

Amid ancient redwoods and sun-dappled reeds, the Perdido River runs clear and cold from the mountains of Soledad County to the blue Pacific. A wildlife refuge and a pristine recreational area, the river brings tourists to the old lumber town of Cape Perdido...and flows through the memories and hearts of the rugged people who have settled there since the Gold Rush days.

Now that is about to change. An out-of-state corporation wants to pump the river nearly dry and float the water to southern California's thirsty cities in huge rubber rafts. With lobbyists, lawyers, and dirty tricks, the company intends to get what it wants --- any way it can.

Against this corporate Goliath, a community protest group and four unusual individuals are drawing a line in the sand. Flying in from New York City, ecologist Jessie Domingo hopes to grab headlines for her cause. Environmentalist Joseph Openshaw has come back to the home, and the secrets, he left behind decades ago. His former lover, local restaurateur Steph Pace, fears both the emotions and the ghosts arriving to haunt her. And old man Timothy McNear, owner of the defunct mill that once employed most of the town, silently broods about the sins he has hidden for too long.

But no one envisions what will happen when the crack of a sniper's bullet sets off a chain of desperate acts. As the peace of this small town is shattered, murder stains Cape Perdido, and one by one, those who stand tall for a cause may be swept away by the current of a town's ugly truths --- and a killer's revenge.

-Click here to read an excerpt from CAPE PERDIDO.

VANISHING POINT, McCone's 24th adventure, begins just after she and her longtime lover Hy Ripinsky have finally tied the knot. But there isn't much time for celebration. At a family reception she agrees to investigate the disappearance, 22 years before, of Laurel Greenwood, an artist and housewife who inexplicably vanished leaving behind two young daughters and a husband. New evidence suggests that the woman may have led a strange double life. But before McCone can penetrate that tangled web she must first solve a second disappearance that of her client-Laurel Greenwood's grown daughter. From the central California coast, to the gold-mining area, to the lush hills of south central Oregon, Sharon follows the chilling evidence. It is one of her most complex cases, bringing her up against two truly dysfunctional marriages-just as she embarks on her own.