Mark McNease Mysteries

Fatal Mistake opens in a dying, collapsed world — a ruined island city divided between the fortified enclave of Eastward, where the privileged few cling to order, and the brutal wastelands outside its walls: the Ruins and the Slopes, where survival is the only law. Two storylines run in parallel. In the present, we meet Harry Hell — a former elite assassin who has spent five years hunting the most dangerous woman alive: a killer known only as Nectar. The story begins with her turning the tables on two of his men sent to find her, slitting one's throat and sending the other back with a message. Harry is cold, purposeful, and consumed by a single obsession — avenging the death of Raul, his partner and the only person he ever loved, who Nectar killed. Running alongside that is the origin story of both characters. Harry was born Harold Hellerman, the privileged twin son of a ruthless banker, handed over to Control — the island's iron governing body — as a teenager to be trained as an Eliminator, their word for assassin. His twin Elliot went with him. They were the best of the best, shaped from childhood into something barely human. Harry is cold and questioning; Elliot is eager and thrilled by the violence in a way that quietly disturbs his brother. Nectar's story is the mirror image. Born on a factory floor to a mother who disappeared and left her to fend for herself in the Ruins, she was found by an old seer called Witch Woman, who recognized something extraordinary and terrifying in the child and trained her into a legend. By the time she was a teenager she was already feared. By adulthood she was untouchable. By the end of chapter ten, the two worlds are on a collision course neither can escape — and we understand that what's coming isn't just a fight to the death. It's the only ending two people like this were ever going to have.

In addition to my weekly 3-chapter installments of 'Night Flight to Murder Town: A Marshall James Thriller,' I'm offering up three extra-long listens of 'Fatal Mistake: A Harry Hell Novella.' It's the first of three novellas planned that take us on the wild journey that is Harry Hell's life. Queer, dystopian, fearsome. Fatal Mistake opens in a dying, collapsed world — a ruined island city divided between the fortified enclave of Eastward, where the privileged few cling to order, and the brutal wastelands outside its walls: the Ruins and the Slopes, where survival is the only law. Two storylines run in parallel. In the present, we meet Harry Hell — a former elite assassin who has spent five years hunting the most dangerous woman alive: a killer known only as Nectar. The story begins with her turning the tables on two of his men sent to find her, slitting one's throat and sending the other back with a message. Harry is cold, purposeful, and consumed by a single obsession — avenging the death of Raul, his partner and the only person he ever loved, who Nectar killed.

Welcome back to Fearsome Fiction, and to Night Flight to Murder Town: A Marshall James Thriller. When we last left Marshall, he was stepping into a world he wasn't sure he could step back out of. Now in New York City he's about to find out just how deep the rabbit hole goes. Chapter Thirteen drops Marshall into Trent's world with all its chrome and white leather and carefully curated secrets. The apartment on the Upper East Side tells you everything you need to know about how far Trent has come, and how far he's willing to go to stay there. Chapter Fourteen takes us downtown to the Village in all its complicated glory. The AIDS crisis hangs over everything like bad weather. The neighborhood is changing, the gays are moving north to Chelsea, and the yuppies are moving in behind them. Trent walks him through his little empire , a bar called Tipsy's, a gym called Muscles, and the growing sense that whoever Trent is laundering money for is not someone you want to disappoint. Chapter Fifteen brings us forward in time to Lambertville, New Jersey where Marshall and Boo arrive at Passion House Bed and Breakfast. A man named Kyle Callahan tends flowers on the porch. His handyman Justin helps. His husband Danny waits inside. It appears a new day may be at hand.

In addition to my weekly 3-chapter installments of 'Night Flight to Murder Town: A Marshall James Thriller,' I'm offering up three extra-long listens of 'Fatal Mistake: A Harry Hell Novella.' It's the first of three novellas planned that take us on the wild journey that is Harry Hell's life. Queer, dystopian, fearsome. Fatal Mistake opens in a dying, collapsed world — a ruined island city divided between the fortified enclave of Eastward, where the privileged few cling to order, and the brutal wastelands outside its walls: the Ruins and the Slopes, where survival is the only law. Two storylines run in parallel. In the present, we meet Harry Hell — a former elite assassin who has spent five years hunting the most dangerous woman alive: a killer known only as Nectar. The story begins with her turning the tables on two of his men sent to find her, slitting one's throat and sending the other back with a message. Harry is cold, purposeful, and consumed by a single obsession — avenging the death of Raul, his partner and the only person he ever loved, who Nectar killed. By the end of chapter ten, the two worlds are on a collision course neither can escape — and we understand that what's coming isn't just a fight to the death. It's the only ending two people like this were ever going to have.

Welcome back to Fearsome Fiction, and to Night Flight to Murder Town: A Marshall James Thriller. In the next three chapters, Marshall's fresh start in New York takes a sharp, unsettling turn. What begins as a nostalgic breakfast in a familiar Manhattan diner becomes something far more dangerous when Trent finally hints at the truth behind his sudden wealth. Laundromats? Not exactly. And the "job" he has in mind for Marshall may come with consequences neither of them can fully control . As the charm of Trent's polished world gives way to whispers, bodyguards, locked lobbies, and carefully managed secrets, Marshall realizes he may have stepped into something darker than he imagined. And just when the walls begin to close in, we shift—back to Lambertville. Back to Boo. Back to the choices that will define what kind of man Marshall becomes. A new city. A dangerous offer. And a past that refuses to stay in the rearview mirror. Settle in… the flight's about to get turbulent.

Welcome back to the Fearsome Fiction Podcast. One of my offerings is the weekly serialization of Night Flight to Murder Town: A Marshall James Thriller, book 4. This week, we dive into Chapters Seven through Nine of Night Flight to Murder Town: A Marshall James Thriller. Marshall leaves behind Hollywood—and a heartbreaking goodbye—to chase a new life in New York City. But from a turbulent red-eye flight to a sunrise over Manhattan, it's clear this isn't just a fresh start. With Trent waiting at the gate, a mysterious chauffeur, and whispers of danger already in the air, Marshall's arrival in the City may be the beginning of something far more complicated—and far more dangerous—than he ever imagined. Let's step into the night flight… and what's waiting on the other side.

Welcome back to the Fearsome Fiction Podcast. One of my offerings is the weekly serialization of Night Flight to Murder Town: A Marshall James Thriller, book 4. This week Chapters Four through Six take us from the fading shadows of Los Angeles to the restless pulse of New York—and toward a future neither Marshall nor Boo can quite see coming. Marshall says goodbye to a dying friend and the ghosts of his Hollywood past, turns down one last temptation on a city bus, and boards a flight east with more regret than luggage. Years later, settled into marriage and New York life, he finds himself facing a different kind of fear: leaving behind the city that became his identity. Love, loss, survival, and the uneasy sense that life is about to shift again—these chapters mark the end of one era and the trembling beginning of another.

Mysteries. Thrillers. Rare Finds. I've renewed, refreshed, and rebranded my fiction podcast, and I'm thrilled to welcome you to the new Mark McNease's Fearsome Fiction Podcast. Each week I'll be sharing several chapters of my own harrowing fiction, the kind of stories that creep under your skin and refuse to leave, along with rare and forgotten gems, and select works from other authors whose voices deserve to be heard in the dark. This week: Night Flight to Murder Town: A Marshall James Thriller (Chapters 1 - 3) Marshall James returns in Night Flight to Murder Town, Book 4 in the series. He's thinking about leaving New York City with his husband for a quieter life, away from the relentless pace of the nation's largest city. But how did he get here in the first place? After three stories detailing his harrowing Hollywood past — where lovers, losers, and more than one serial killer nearly ended his life before he could make something of it — Marshall finally tells us how and why he left LaLa Land for Gotham. This is the origin story beneath the scars. The turning point. The night everything changed.  

I've written in several genres, formats and mediums over the years. Each has its own requirements, expectations and parameters: short stories, novellas (generally under 40,000 words), novels, poetry, screenplays, television scripts, and stage plays. For now let's focus on some working definitions for genre fiction, nonfiction, and biography/autobiography. For that past 15 years I've written primarily mysteries, thrillers, and some horror/supernatural fiction. I've also written countless blog posts, columns and articles, but that's for another day and would require more words than most people want to read on this, so let's narrow it down. Note that a lot of these apply to the genres in any form: movies, stories, TV shows, books  and more.

Today's episode continues ‘A House in the Woods 2: The Devil's Due.' This story was inspired by an old house along the road where we live. It's since been torn down—too many ghosts hanging around, possibly—but every time we walked by it when it was empty I kept imagining something evil behind the old faded door. It helped that we live in the woods, providing a read-made title. We called it the spooky house. It soon became the center of two books: A House in the Woods, and A House in Woods 2. A House in the Woods 2 picks up where A House in the Woods left off. Laurel Calloway is still in the mysterious town of Strickland, New Jersey, where nothing is as it appears to be. Two years have gone by, and they've been good to the Calloways. Laurel and her husband Jeremy have a new house, and a new family with baby Isabel about to celebrate her first birthday. Everything seems perfect, until Laurel begins to have dreams. Bad dreams. Something tells her these dreams could really be memories. But of what? Of whom, and of when? Did she really run over a woman in the road at night? Had they once had a dog? Why are these things trying so hard to surface, swimming slowly up from her subconscious? The more she begins to tell the people around her about these dreams, the more convinced she is that they're part of it, and that these nightmares aren't really dreams at all. Page after page, the pace escalates as Laurel begins to learn the truth and plot her escape. But will she succeed? The Devil is in the details. Narration provided by Wondervox.

Today's episode continues ‘A House in the Woods 2: The Devil's Due.' This story was inspired by an old house along the road where we live. It's since been torn down—too many ghosts hanging around, possibly—but every time we walked by it when it was empty I kept imagining something evil behind the old faded door. It helped that we live in the woods, providing a read-made title. We called it the spooky house. It soon became the center of two books: A House in the Woods, and A House in Woods 2. A House in the Woods 2 picks up where A House in the Woods left off. Laurel Calloway is still in the mysterious town of Strickland, New Jersey, where nothing is as it appears to be. Two years have gone by, and they've been good to the Calloways. Laurel and her husband Jeremy have a new house, and a new family with baby Isabel about to celebrate her first birthday. Everything seems perfect, until Laurel begins to have dreams. Bad dreams. Something tells her these dreams could really be memories. But of what? Of whom, and of when? Did she really run over a woman in the road at night? Had they once had a dog? Why are these things trying so hard to surface, swimming slowly up from her subconscious? The more she begins to tell the people around her about these dreams, the more convinced she is that they're part of it, and that these nightmares aren't really dreams at all. Page after page, the pace escalates as Laurel begins to learn the truth and plot her escape. But will she succeed? The Devil is in the details.

Today's episode continues ‘A House in the Woods 2: The Devil's Due.' This story was inspired by an old house along the road where we live. It's since been torn down—too many ghosts hanging around, possibly—but every time we walked by it when it was empty I kept imagining something evil behind the old faded door. It helped that we live in the woods, providing a read-made title. We called it the spooky house. It soon became the center of two books: A House in the Woods, and A House in Woods 2. A House in the Woods 2 picks up where A House in the Woods left off. Laurel Calloway is still in the mysterious town of Strickland, New Jersey, where nothing is as it appears to be. Two years have gone by, and they've been good to the Calloways. Laurel and her husband Jeremy have a new house, and a new family with baby Isabel about to celebrate her first birthday. Everything seems perfect, until Laurel begins to have dreams. Bad dreams. Something tells her these dreams could really be memories. But of what? Of whom, and of when? Did she really run over a woman in the road at night? Had they once had a dog? Why are these things trying so hard to surface, swimming slowly up from her subconscious? The more she begins to tell the people around her about these dreams, the more convinced she is that they're part of it, and that these nightmares aren't really dreams at all. Page after page, the pace escalates as Laurel begins to learn the truth and plot her escape. But will she succeed? The Devil is in the details.

Welcome to my newest recommendation. I won't call these reviews, at least not technically, because I won't be offering anything I didn't like! These are books I've read and think you'll enjoy, too. We're starting out with a brand new series and character from Michael Connelly, a maestro in the detective genre whose crime novels I've been devouring for thirty years. I couldn't put this one down, which is almost always true for me with a new Michael Connelly. Listen in and see what I think of the author, his writing, and his new must-read 'Nightshade.'

Today's episode continues ‘A House in the Woods 2: The Devil's Due.' This story was inspired by an old house along the road where we live. It's since been torn down—too many ghosts hanging around, possibly—but every time we walked by it when it was empty I kept imagining something evil behind the old faded door. It helped that we live in the woods, providing a read-made title. We called it the spooky house. It soon became the center of two books: A House in the Woods, and A House in Woods 2.  A House in the Woods 2 picks up where A House in the Woods left off. Laurel Calloway is still in the mysterious town of Strickland, New Jersey, where nothing is as it appears to be. Two years have gone by, and they've been good to the Calloways. Laurel and her husband Jeremy have a new house, and a new family with baby Isabel about to celebrate her first birthday. Everything seems perfect, until Laurel begins to have dreams. Bad dreams. Something tells her these dreams could really be memories. But of what? Of whom, and of when? Did she really run over a woman in the road at night? Had they once had a dog? Why are these things trying so hard to surface, swimming slowly up from her subconscious? The more she begins to tell the people around her about these dreams, the more convinced she is that they're part of it, and that these nightmares aren't really dreams at all. Page after page, the pace escalates as Laurel begins to learn the truth and plot her escape. But will she succeed? The Devil is in the details.

Welcome to the episodic audio edition of A House in the Woods 2: The Devil's Due. Fasten your headphones and enjoy one new chapter each week. This is not an audiobook in the conventional sense, and no audiobook narrators living or dead were harmed in its production. This is a way for me to share some of my writing in an audio format. So settle back and enjoy the screams. About A House in the Woods 2 A House in the Woods 2: The Devil's Due picks up where A House in the Woods left off. Laurel Calloway is still in the mysterious town of Strickland, New Jersey, where nothing is as it appears to be. Two years have gone by, and they've been good to the Calloways. Laurel and her husband Jeremy have a new house, and a new family with baby Isabel about to celebrate her first birthday. Everything seems perfect, until Laurel begins to have dreams. Bad dreams. Something tells her these dreams could really be memories. But of what? Of whom, and of when? Did she really run over a woman in the road at night? Had they once had a dog? Why are these things trying so hard to surface, swimming slowly up from her subconscious? The more she begins to tell the people around her about these dreams, the more convinced she is that they're part of it, and that these nightmares aren't really dreams at all. Page after page, the pace escalates as Laurel begins to learn the truth and plot her escape. But will she succeed? The Devil is in the details.

I am so excited to bring back the Mark McNease Mysteries Podcast with one of my favorite stories ... a novella, actually, that had an incredibly long gestation in the recesses of my imagination. I'd put it off as an audio option because the voice technology I use wasn't quite good enough. Now I think it sounds terrific. Yes, it's AI/synthetic voice. I would never pretend otherwise. So fasten your headphones, and let's get this dark, dark party started. The year is closer than you think. The world has collapsed under the weight of its own insatiable needs, leaving shattered cities where those who still have anything fight to keep it that way, and those who don't are a constant threat. It's a danger that must be contained through a tightly controlled society where everyone is observed and everything is kept in its place. Harry Hellerman and his twin brother, Elliot, enter this world three minutes apart. By the time they're teenagers, they've been surrendered to Control to be molded into the perfect assassins. A boy named Harry Hellerman enters, and a man named Harry Hell emerges: a killing machine of the highest order.

Spring has sprung into action with something brand new. Fatal Mistake: A Harry Hell Novella just released, and I'm offering four chapters each week for your listening pleasure. This is not intended as an audiobook and no professional narrators were harmed in the making of this clip.

New year, new exciting announcements! The audiobook for 'I, Warlock: The Warlock Wars Book I' is now out. Narrated by the terrific Sean Rhead (our third book together), this first book in the series introduces us to Julius Tide, reluctant warlock with vampire blood in his veins that has cursed him with an extraordinarily long life. He meets his beloved Charlotte at a fair in Vermont, and soon their destinies become one. This is the first book in a projected 3-book series, and it lays the groundwork for an epic battle between good and evil, with their surival hanging in the balance.

Paper Hearts, a short story.

Enjoy another three chapters of my newest book as a Mark McNease Mysteries podcast exclusive! This week it's chapters seven, eight and nine of  'A House in the Woods 2: The Devil's Due.' I'll be offering three chapters every week, narrated by my very own Wondervox. No audiobook narrators were harmed in the production of this podcast! Fasten your headphones for weekly commentary, updates, and serialized fiction from yours truly.

Enjoy another three chapters of my newest book as a Mark McNease Mysteries podcast exclusive! This week it's chapters four, five and six of  'A House in the Woods 2: The Devil's Due.' I'll be offering three chapters every week, narrated by my very own Wondervox. No audiobook narrators were harmed in the production of this podcast! Fasten your headphones for weekly commentary, updates, and serialized fiction from yours truly. 

How exciting is this! I'm revving up the Mysteries podcast again, with all new audio offerings of my mysteries, thrillers and fiction. This week it's the launch of my newest book, 'A House in the Woods 2: The Devil's Due.' I'll be offering three chapters every week, narrated by my very own Wondervox. No audiobook narrators were harmed in the production of this podcast! Fasten your headphones for weekly commentary, updates, and serialized fiction from yours truly. And now ... we begin. Comments and encouragement are welcome! You can leave a voice message for me here. I'm listning!

Welcome to the new and expanded Mark McNease Mysteries Podcast! I'll be bringing you interviews, book and series recommendations, and a regular audio small plate from my writing. This week I chat with author Bruce W. Bishop, who I had the pleasure of meeting in person when we were in Halifax two weeks ago on a cruise. Then I talk about Ann Cleeves' Matthew Venn series, and finish up with a two-chapter sample from 'I, Warlock,' my upcoming audiobook narrated by Sean Rhead. Fasten your headphones, and stay tuned for more in the coming weeks.

I've taken the Mark McNease Mysteries Podcast out of cryo-storage. It was never dead, just taking a long nap. And now it's back! More audio mysteries and fiction, announcements and giveaways, and this time with guest interviews, book and audiobook recommendations, and more! Listen to this archive gem with Halloween expert and author Lisa Norton. About Lisa Morton Lisa Morton is a screenwriter, author of non-fiction books, and award-winning prose writer whose work was described by the American Library Association's Readers' Advisory Guide to Horror as “consistently dark, unsettling, and frightening”.  She is the author of four novels and 150 short stories, a six-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award®, and a world-class Halloween expert. She co-edited (with Leslie S. Klinger) the anthology Weird Women: Classic Supernatural Fiction by Groundbreaking Female Writers 1852-1923; forthcoming in 2020 is Calling the Spirits: A History of Seances. She is a six-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award®, a recipient of the Black Quill Award, and winner of the 2012 Grand Prize from the Halloween Book Festival. A life long Californian, she lives in Los Angeles.

Harry Hell has lived in my head for several years now, and he's finally found a way out! Intended as a three-book series, the Harry Hell Novellas have begun as a Kindle Vella serial, with a new chapter coming out every Sunday. The first three chapters of every Vella story are free to read, then subsequent chapters are accessed with token you can purchase for the stories. HEAD  ON OVER TO AMAZON (Dead Eyes McNease) and read the first, intense three chapters of Dead Eyes: A Harry Hell Novella. RCStTxhXebBVUvLc0LPx

Fasten your headphones for a 6 chapter sample of the just-released 'I, Warlock: The Warlock Wars Book I.' It's a great new adventure for me, and I can't wait to get started on Book II. You can get 'I, Warlock' on Amazon, eBook or paperback editions, starting NOW! About 'I, Warlock' When the world's survival depends on the struggle between good and evil, only one can triumph. The victor will preserve for humankind what makes life worth living, or he will rule atop a mound of skulls, served by the souls he defeated. I, Warlock tells the story of Julius Tide, born part-vampire, destined to be all warlock. Follow his journey from a near-innocent, living quietly in the Vermont countryside, to a man whose decisions will determine the fate of the world. Every step of the way he has his beloved Charlotte, whose beauty first stuns him one spring day at a local fair, and continues to comfort him as he undertakes a battle against monumental evil that can have only one winner. Grief, joy, ecstasy, tragedy--it all comes into play as Julius, Charlotte, and a dizzying cast of characters march to their destinies in I, Warlock, The Warlock Wars Book I.

Fasten your headphones for the final ten chapters of Kill Switch: A Kyle Callahan Mystery. This was perhaps the darkest book in the series, in terms of its psychology. Kyle and his friend, retired homicide detective Linda Sikorsky, solve the cold case of a murdered teenage girl. As they reveal the truth, they bring answers to her grieving father, even as they bring down the New York City District Attorney. The shock waves will reverberate in the city for years to come. About Kill Switch: A Kyle Callahan Mystery In the 5th installment of the Kyle Callahan Mysteries, Kyle finds himself in therapy after ending the life of the Pride Killer, the most successful serial killer New York City has ever known. Putting an end to evil was the right thing to do, but it left Kyle in need of the services of psychotherapist Peter Benoit. Kyle decides the best way to re-engage with life is to do what he can't stop doing: solving murders. Joined once again by his friend Detective Linda Sikorsky, Kyle takes on his first cold case, the murder of a teenager three years ago. Corinne Copley was killed on a Manhattan side street for nothing more than her cell phone. Or was that really the reason? Come along as Kyle delves into the murky undercurrent of New York City politics, pursues a crime boss who kills as easily as she breathes, and seeks justice for the father of a murdered child.

Fasten your headphones for another three chapters of Kill Switch: A Kyle Callahan Mystery. This was perhaps the darkest book in the series, in terms of its psychology. We have Kyle traumatized and seeing a therapist. We have a cold case involving the brutal, seemingly random murder of a teenage girl. But was it random? Follow along as Kyle and his friend, retired detective Linda Sikorsky, try to solve the case, for Kyle's own well-being, and to provide answers to a grieving father. The shock waves from what they discover will reverberate all the way to the New York City District Attorney's office and beyond. About Kill Switch: A Kyle Callahan Mystery In the 5th installment of the Kyle Callahan Mysteries, Kyle finds himself in therapy after ending the life of the Pride Killer, the most successful serial killer New York City has ever known. Putting an end to evil was the right thing to do, but it left Kyle in need of the services of psychotherapist Peter Benoit. Kyle decides the best way to re-engage with life is to do what he can't stop doing: solving murders. Joined once again by his friend Detective Linda Sikorsky, Kyle takes on his first cold case, the murder of a teenager three years ago. Corinne Copley was killed on a Manhattan side street for nothing more than her cell phone. Or was that really the reason? Come along as Kyle delves into the murky undercurrent of New York City politics, pursues a crime boss who kills as easily as she breathes, and seeks justice for the father of a murdered child.

Fasten your headphones for another three chapters of Kill Switch: A Kyle Callahan Mystery. This was perhaps the darkest book in the series, in terms of its psychology. We have Kyle traumatized and seeing a therapist. We have a cold case involving the brutal, seemingly random murder of a teenage girl. But was it random? Follow along as Kyle and his friend, retired detective Linda Sikorsky, try to solve the case, for Kyle's own well-being, and to provide answers to a grieving father. The shock waves from what they discover will reverberate all the way to the New York City District Attorney's office and beyond. About Kill Switch: A Kyle Callahan Mystery In the 5th installment of the Kyle Callahan Mysteries, Kyle finds himself in therapy after ending the life of the Pride Killer, the most successful serial killer New York City has ever known. Putting an end to evil was the right thing to do, but it left Kyle in need of the services of psychotherapist Peter Benoit. Kyle decides the best way to re-engage with life is to do what he can't stop doing: solving murders. Joined once again by his friend Detective Linda Sikorsky, Kyle takes on his first cold case, the murder of a teenager three years ago. Corinne Copley was killed on a Manhattan side street for nothing more than her cell phone. Or was that really the reason? Come along as Kyle delves into the murky undercurrent of New York City politics, pursues a crime boss who kills as easily as she breathes, and seeks justice for the father of a murdered child.  

Fasten your headphones for another three chapters of Kill Switch: A Kyle Callahan Mystery. This was perhaps the darkest book in the series, in terms of its psychology. We have Kyle traumatized and seeing a therapist. We have a cold case involving the brutal, seemingly random murder of a teenage girl. But was it random? Follow along as Kyle and his friend, retired detective Linda Sikorsky, try to solve the case, for Kyle's own well-being, and to provide answers to a grieving father. The shock waves from what they discover will reverberate all the way to the New York City District Attorney's office and beyond.

Fasten your headphones for another three chapters of Kill Switch: A Kyle Callahan Mystery. This was perhaps the darkest book in the series, in terms of its psychology. We have Kyle traumatized and seeing a therapist. We have a cold case involving the brutal, seemingly random murder of a teenage girl. But was it random? Follow along as Kyle and his friend, retired detective Linda Sikorsky, try to solve the case, for Kyle's own well-being, and to provide answer to a grieving father. The shock waves from what they discover will reverberate all the way to the Los Angeles District Attorney's office and beyond.  

I'll be bringing you the audiobook edition of Kill Swtich: A Kylle Callahan Mystery, in three-chapters released over the next 12+ weeks! The narration is provided by my own WondervoxAI. Kill Swtich is the 5th installment in the Kyle Callahan Series, and it finds Kyle dealing with the trauma of having ended the life of a vicious serial killer. Fasten your headphones, and check in every week for the next three chapters. About Kill Switch: A Kyle Callahan Mystery In the 5th installment of the Kyle Callahan Mysteries, Kyle finds himself in therapy after ending the life of the Pride Killer, the most successful serial killer New York City has ever known. Putting an end to evil was the right thing to do, but it left Kyle in need of the services of psychotherapist Peter Benoit. Kyle decides the best way to re-engage with life is to do what he can't stop doing: solving murders. Joined once again by his friend Detective Linda Sikorsky, Kyle takes on his first cold case, the murder of a teenager three years ago. Corinne Copley was killed on a Manhattan side street for nothing more than her cell phone. Or was that really the reason? Come along as Kyle delves into the murky undercurrent of New York City politics, pursues a crime boss who kills as easily as she breathes, and seeks justice for the father of a murdered child.  

I'll be bringing you the audiobook edition of Kill Swtich: A Kylle Callahan Mystery, in three-chapters released over the next 12+ weeks! The narration is provided by my own WondervoxAI. Kill Swtich is the 5th installment in the Kyle Callahan Series, and it finds Kyle dealing with the trauma of having ended the life of a vicious serial killer. Fasten your headphones, and check in every week for the next three chapters. About Kill Switch: A Kyle Callahan Mystery In the 5th installment of the Kyle Callahan Mysteries, Kyle finds himself in therapy after ending the life of the Pride Killer, the most successful serial killer New York City has ever known. Putting an end to evil was the right thing to do, but it left Kyle in need of the services of psychotherapist Peter Benoit. Kyle decides the best way to re-engage with life is to do what he can't stop doing: solving murders. Joined once again by his friend Detective Linda Sikorsky, Kyle takes on his first cold case, the murder of a teenager three years ago. Corinne Copley was killed on a Manhattan side street for nothing more than her cell phone. Or was that really the reason? Come along as Kyle delves into the murky undercurrent of New York City politics, pursues a crime boss who kills as easily as she breathes, and seeks justice for the father of a murdered child.

I'll be bringing you the audiobook edition of Kill Swtich: A Kylle Callahan Mystery, in three-chapters released over the next 12+ weeks! The narration is provided by my own WondervoxAI, using the voice of someone I call Android Josh. Kill Swtich is the 5th installment in the Kyle Callahan Series, and it finds Kyle dealing with the trauma of having ended the life of a vicious serial killer. Fasten your headphones, and check in every week for the next three chapters.

I'll be bringing you the audiobook edition of Kill Swtich: A Kylle Callahan Mystery, in three-chapters released over the next 12+ weeks! The narration is provided by my own WondervoxAI, using the voice of someone I call Android Josh. The best thing about putting this out on audio is remembering how much I like the story! Poor Skate Copley, his life ruined by his daughter's unsolved murder. And Kyle struggling with the psychological after-effects of killing an evil, evil man. Can their brokenness help repair them both? Fasten your headphones for another three chapters. Kill Swtich is the 5th installment in the Kyle Callahan Series, and it finds Kyle dealing with the trauma of having ended the life of a vicious serial killer. Fasten your headphones, and check in every week for the next three chapters.

Welcome back to the podcast post-vacation. I'll be bringing you the audiobook edition of Kill Swtich: A Kylle Callahan Mystery, in three-chapters released over the next 12+ weeks! The narration is provided by my own WondervoxAI, using the voice of someone I call Android Josh. The best thing about putting this out on audio is remembering how much I like the story! Poor Skate Copley, his life ruined by his daughter's unsolved murder. And Kyle struggling with the psychological after-effects of killing an evil, evil man. Can their brokenness help repair them both? Fasten your headphones for another three chapters. Kill Swtich is the 5th installment in the Kyle Callahan Series, and it finds Kyle dealing with the trauma of having ended the life of a vicious serial killer. Fasten your headphones, and check in every week for the next three chapters.  

Welcome back to the podcast post-vacation. I'll be bringing you the audiobook edition of Kill Swtich: A Kylle Callahan Mystery, in three-chapters released over the next 12+ weeks! The narration is provided by my own WondervoxAI, using the voice of someone I call Android Josh. You can find out a little more about my thoughts on AI narration and my embrace of the technology in the introduction. Kill Swtich is the 5th installment in the Kyle Callahan Series, and it finds Kyle dealing with the trauma of having ended the life of a vicious serial killer. Fasten your headphones, and check in every week for the next three chapters. About Kill Switch: A Kyle Callahan Mystery In the 5th installment of the Kyle Callahan Mysteries, Kyle finds himself in therapy after ending the life of the Pride Killer, the most successful serial killer New York City has ever known. Putting an end to evil was the right thing to do, but it left Kyle in need of the services of psychotherapist Peter Benoit. Kyle decides the best way to re-engage with life is to do what he can't stop doing: solving murders. Joined once again by his friend Detective Linda Sikorsky, Kyle takes on his first cold case, the murder of a teenager three years ago. Corinne Copley was killed on a Manhattan side street for nothing more than her cell phone. Or was that really the reason? Come along as Kyle delves into the murky undercurrent of New York City politics, pursues a crime boss who kills as easily as she breathes, and seeks justice for the father of a murdered child.

The future has arrived! The audiobook for Final Audition: A Marshall James Thriller is now available on Kobo. Produced and narrated by my very own WondervoxAI, synthetic narration. The sound is amazing. You may even find yourself with a crush on the voice I call Android Anthony. That also happens to be my middle name. Cosmic? You can listen to a two-chapter sample, and purchase the entire audiobook for a mere $8.99 on Kobo. About Final Audition: A Marshall James Thriller In the third installment of the Marshall James Thrillers, Marshall has one more tale to tell, one last journey to take, back into a past that is inextricably connected to his present. Marshall decides to search for the man who had once been the center of his life: LAPD Homicide Detective Mac McElroy. Mac had told him all those years ago, when Marshall had his last showdown with death and the men who traffic in it, that he never wanted to speak to him again, and he hasn't. But is Mac still alive? Can Marshall find him? And what will be the end of their story if he does? Find out in Final Audition, as Marshall returns once more to a life he'd abandoned, only to find out it had never abandoned him. Along the way he introduces us to a Los Angeles long gone, a theater group where some dreams are nightmares, an innocent man whose life will hang in the balance, and evil determined to destroy him if it can.

Fasten your headphones for another short story from my collection, Tundra (Short Fiction 2000 - 2022). This one is called Jawbone, and it tells the story of a young man forever changed by an accident one night on a snowy Michigan road. He learns in the most difficult ways possible about people's true motives, their fears, their judgements, and ultimately their abandonment. His name was Richard, but everybody called him Jawbone ...

The adventures in AI continue, with this WondervoxAI produced audio edition of my short story, Memory Box. It's one of the selected stories in my recent collection, Tundra (2000 - 2022). Memory Box tells the story of Risa, a young girl whose father dies suddenly, and how she grapples with that loss. We're introduced to the colorful and sometimes unsavory characters in her life, as she navigates a world that can often seem merciless. We experience her resilience, determination and spirit as she comes to terms with a young life forever changed. Fasten you headphones! If you'd like to purchase it as an MP3 file, you can find it at my Payhip storefront for $2.99.

This episode brings you another AI-narrated special, 'The Cat in the Window.' It's a short story that has pleased a lot of readers, and one of my better ones. You can find all my best stories collected in Tundra (2000 - 2022). For now, enjoy this short audio edition narrated by Android Bella. You can purchase it as an MP3 file, available only at my Payhip storefront.

Something special again for this episode: My short story, 'Rough and Tumble: A Dystopian Love Tragedy,' produced and narrated by WondervoxAI. It's my new venture, as well as an adventure into the world of AI narration. Fasten your headphones! - Mark About 'Rough and Tumble' "Rough and Tumble were not their names by birth." Boy meets boy at the end of civilization in this extended short story. The year is distant, the reality of those living appears dark and harsh. Among them, surviving by wit and easy violence, are Rough and Tumble, two young men whose lives became entwined so long ago neither of them remembers exactly when, only that it was love at first sight. Now, as Rough imagines an escape from the Slopes, the area they live and expect to die in, he yearns to take Tumble with him. But is it possible? Does Tumble want to go across the murky water, too, or are dreams for the foolish and the dying? Join them as they go on a last nightly prowl, looking for loot and any way out.

Just ... wow. I had no intention of using AI to narrate my writing, but I tried it with ElevenLabs, and I love it. I'll be able to use this for my blog posts, my fiction and non-fiction writing, you name it. Will it replace working narrators? I hope not. But I would otherwise have narrated this myself. It saves an enormous amount of time, and the technology is stunning. The glitches are very few, and only with tone and emphasis, not on the words themselves. So ... enjoy this three-chapter sample of Final Audition: A Marshall James Thriller, narrated by the robot Josh.

Welcome back to the Mark McNease Mysteries Podcast! In this episode, I'm narrating the first three chapters of my Kindle Vella serial, 'I, Warlock.' I'm uploading new chapters every Wednesday and Saturday, so please be sure to check them out. Follow the story, and give it a thumbs-up when you have a chance. It's a new platform for me, a new genre, and an exciting adventure in creativity. Happy holidays! - Mark

Welcome to a new Mark McNease Mysteries Podcast. It's been awhile, and it's good to be back at the mic, with a new book. In today's podcast I'm narrating a three chapter sample of Open Secrets: A Maggie Dahl Mystery. It's the second book in the series, and it has Maggie pursuing another killer in Lambertville, NJ, a not-so-idyllic river town where murder has a way of showing up when Maggie's around. She's also faced with the possibility of new love, or at least new like, after grieving the sudden death of her husband for the past year. Will she date again? Will it be more than that? Read Open Secrets to find out.

Who killed Teddy the handyman - if anyone killed him at all? Was it Sid, one of the new owners of Pride Lodge whose past gets darker the closer you look? Was it the woman whose name was once Emily, when she witnessed the murder of her parents in a burglary gone terribly wrong, and who has waited 30 years for vengeance? Was it young Happy Corcoran, promoted to bartender only to vanish three days before Teddy was found dead at the bottom of the empty pool? Find out as Kyle Callahan refuses to believe it was an accident, doggedly pursues the truth in his friend's death, and does his best not to join him.

The Katherine Pride Gallery is the center of high art and low death in Pride and Perilous, book two of the Pride Trilogy and the second of the Kyle Callahan Mysteries. Kyle, an amateur photographer, is about to have his first exhibit at the gallery, located in Manhattan's Meatpacking District. As time ticks away, bodies begin to fall, and Kyle realizes somebody wants this gallery closed forever.

It's Gay Pride weekend, the most festive weekend of the year in New York City. Hundreds of thousands of partygoers arrive to show the world how to have a good time. Stalking the party is the most successful serial killer the city has ever seen. Detective Linda Sikorsky comes to town to visit Kyle Callahan and his husband Danny Durban. It's her first Pride Parade and may well be her last. Harmless fun turns to terror in a frantic effort to stop the killer once the first body floats to the river's edge. 

It's been six months since the Pride Gallery murders in Manhattan. Kyle Callahan and his partner Danny Durban head to rural New Jersey for a relaxing week with their dear friend, Detective Linda Sikorsky, recently retired and newly in love. Driving back from dinner with Linda and her fiancée Kirsten, they discover the body of Abigail Creek, run off the road on a bicycle wearing only her nightgown and slippers. Kyle and Linda quickly find themselves learning more than they want to know about the Creek family and the home they call CrossCreek Farm.

Retired homicide detective Linda Sikorsky and her wife Kirsten McClellan head to Maine from their home in the New Jersey woods for a weekend of rest, relaxation and rewrites as Kirsten finishes drafting her first novel. Bad weather alters their plans, forcing them to stop for the night at the Cliff's Edge, a roadside motel known for secrecy and indiscretion. Something murderous goes bump in the night, sending the women on a search for justice when a young reporter's body is found violated and dumped on a back road. A road Linda must now go down, no matter where it takes her, or what it reveals.

It's been several years since Kyle Callahan sought the help of a New York City therapist to overcome the trauma of his encounter with a serial killer. He and his husband, Danny Durban, have decided to move away, to start a new life in the idyllic river city of Lambertville, New Jersey. They open a bed-and-breakfast, and soon discover that murder and mayhem are waiting to check in.