The Masked Man of Cairo Book Eight is out Now!

 

The eighth volume of the Masked Man of Cairo series, The Case of the Poisonous Papyrus, is out now in ebook and print! Now I'm hard at work on book nine. . .

 

A fatal delivery. An unspeakable crime.
Moustafa Ghani El Souwaim has always trod a fine line between supporting Egyptian independence and being a law-abiding citizen. When a frame-up job lands him in trouble with the law, he finds that he can no longer keep silent, and that only lands him in greater danger.
Sir Augustus Wall and his adopted son Faisal rush in to help, but Faisal finds he has his own choices to make, and that he cannot escape his past of living on the street.
Will their crime-fighting team split up for good? Find out in the latest adventure of the acclaimed Masked Man of Cairo historical mystery series, which takes you from the sordid back streets of Cairo to the grim fastness of the Citadel!

 

You can get it on all Amazon stores. 

The Case of the Disappearing Dervish Now Available As An Audiobook!

 

Tantor Media just came out with Book Six of my Masked Man of Cairo series, narrated by the talented Curtis Michael Holland!

The Case of the Disappearing Dervish sees Sir Augustus, Moustafa, and Faisal head south to the Sudan. A blurb is below.

 

A religious scandal. A deadly homecoming.

Moustafa Ghani El Souwaim has come far in life. Raised illiterate in a remote village in the Soudan, he set out at sixteen to better himself. His journey took him to the great archaeological sites of Africa, where he became a leading researcher versed in several ancient and modern languages. His life took an even stranger turn when he teamed up with Sir Augustus Wall and his street boy sidekick Faisal to solve murders.

Now there's been a murder in his village. A local religious mendicant has been found bludgeoned to death and Moustafa's cousin, who is in the same religious order, has vanished and is assumed to be the killer. Moustafa must return to his roots to clear his cousin's name and reunite with the family he left behind.

But can Moustafa really go home again after having changed so much, and does that home even want him? 

 

Available wherever audiobooks can be purchased or rented. 

My Latest Historical Mystery is Out!

 

My latest historical mystery, Cordelia Catches A Count, is out now. It's the second book in Cordelia's Cairo Case Files, following the adventures of an English nurse in Cairo right after World War One. Fans who like amateur female sleuths will like this one. A blurb is below.

 

A drowned scholar. A count with secrets. A treasure worth killing for.
When a Hungarian Egyptologist disappears from his hospital bed in the middle of the night, Nurse Cordelia Russell is certain something is amiss. Feverish and weak only hours before, he could not possibly have slipped out unnoticed—yet by dawn his body is found in the Nile.
The police, including Cordelia’s own brother, are satisfied with a verdict of tragic accident. Cordelia is not. She spots clues that point to something far more sinister.
Cordelia follows a trail that leads from hospital wards to grand hotels, from ancient tombs to glittering cafés—and into the orbit of the enigmatic Count János von Hohenstat, a charming aristocrat whose interest in the dead man may not be entirely innocent.
As secrets surface and loyalties blur, Cordelia must decide whom she can trust before the killer turns his attention on her.
Join Cordelia in the thrilling second installment of her Cairo mysteries!

 

 

You can get it here! 

 

 

 

My Latest Audiobook is Out!

 

Tantor Media has just released Book Three of my Masked Man of Cairo series as an audiobook. The Case of the Golden Greeks has our heroes journey to Bahariya Oasis, where I went myself to research the book. I love the narrator, Curtis Michael Holland. He speaks fluent Arabic and has an amazing voice.

Book Four comes out March 10! 

Purloined Pyramid is now out as an Audiobook!

 

The first volume in my Masked Man of Cairo series, The Case of the Purloined Pyramid, is now out as an audiobook. Further volumes will follow once a month. A lot of you having been asking about the audio editions, and they're finally here! It's available through Amazon, Audible, Google Play, and more.

The narration is done by award-winning voice actor Curtis Michael Holland, who lives in Dubai and is fluent in Arabic. I couldn't have asked for anyone better!

My Latest Mystery Novel Out Now!

I've just released Book 7 of the Masked Man of Cairo series.
The Case of the Cackling Crocodile sees Augustus and friends solving a mysterious death in the Fayoum Oasis, along with a few complicating factors . . .

A mysterious death. A troubling promise.
When an eccentric scholar is mauled by a crocodile in the Fayoum, Sir Augustus Wall, antiquities dealer and amateur sleuth, immediately suspects foul play. There haven’t been crocodiles in the lake for a generation.
He sets off for the remote region with his fellow investigators, Sudanese scholar Moustafa Ghani and Faisal, a fiercely loyal former street urchin who has been at his side since his very first case. The investigation is complicated further by the presence of not one but both women in Sir Augustus’s life, rivals whose simmering dislike for each other threatens to set the oasis on fire!
All this is eclipsed by a more personal decision: Sir Augustus has resolved to adopt Faisal. The only problem? No one—not even his friends—believes he’s capable of raising a child. To solve the case and keep his chosen family intact, Sir Augustus must prove that even the most reluctant guardian can rise to the challenge.

It's available on Amazon US, Amazon UK, and all the other Amazons. Thanks to all of you who pre-ordered it. That's help me a lot!

March Writing Update

As I mentioned in my last post, I quit my ghostwriting job to free up time for my own projects. It's been a month now and I've gotten a huge amount done! It feels very liberating working only for myself. You can track my progress on the sidebar.

Mostly I've been working on book seven of my Cairo mystery series, The Case of the Cackling Crocodile. I've also been editing the prequel for my Moroccan Mysteries series and working on a couple of other projects I'll reveal at a later date.

To keep up with me, you can also subscribe to my monthly newsletter via the left-hand sidebar, and also check out my Facebook page and Instagram feed. 

Enjoy!

Book Six of The Masked Man of Cairo Out Now!!!

 

It's been a while since I posted, and that's because I've been busy traveling and writing. I have just released The Case of the Disappearing Dervish in ebook and paperback. A blurb is below.

A religious scandal. A deadly homecoming.
Moustafa Ghani El Souwaim has come far in life. Raised illiterate in a remote village in the Soudan, he set out at sixteen to better himself. His journey took him to the great archaeological sites of Africa, where he became a leading researcher versed in several ancient and modern languages. His life took an even stranger turn when he teamed up with Sir Augustus Wall and his street boy sidekick Faisal to solve murders.
Now there’s been a murder in his village. A local religious mendicant has been found bludgeoned to death and Moustafa’s cousin, who is in the same religious order, has vanished and is assumed to be the killer. Moustafa must return to his roots to clear his cousin’s name and reunite with the family he left behind.
But can Moustafa really go home again after having changed so much, and does that home even want him?

 

You can get it here. Kindle Unlimited members get to read it for free! 

Cordelia Cracks the Case out Now!

 

My latest Cairo mystery is out now. Many of you wanted to hear more about Cordelia, the chief of police's younger sister. She gets a bit overlooked by the guys in the series, even though she's literally been a life saver, so I've given her a case of her own. Cordelia Cracks the Case! If it does well, I'll write more of her adventures. A blurb is below.

Proving yourself can prove deadly
Cordelia Russell hates living life in the shadows. After the Great War, the soldiers got victory parades while the nurses got forgotten. Moving to Cairo to live life on her own terms, Cordelia finds herself overshadowed by her older brother, the chief of the colonial police.
So when she uncovers evidence of a murder at her hospital and no one believes her, Cordelia sets out to solve the case herself. As the Egyptian streets convulse with independence demonstrations and the murderer seeks to silence her, Cordelia finds herself in more danger than she’s seen since the war.
A favorite character from the award-winning Masked Man of Cairo series gets her own series of cases! Join the adventure today!

 

Click here to check it out 

Writing Update!

Hello everyone!

I just got back from southern Egypt, where I was researching Book Six in my Masked Man of Cairo series, called The Case of the Disappearing Dervish. Moustafa has to go back home to the Sudan in order to solve a mystery, and of course Sir Augustus and Faisal come along. It will be out later this year.

I'm also launching a parallel series starring Cordelia, who doesn't get as much page time as she deserves in the main series. Tentatively called Cordelia's Cairo Casebook, it starts with Cordelia Cracks the Case. That's in production and will be out in a couple of months.

I'll soon be diving back into the The Berlin Murders with book three, A Summertime Murder in Berlin. Katherine and friends get tangled up in some pretty nasty business! I'm also (slowly) working on the Tech Scavengers science fiction series.

You can watch the progress of all these projects on the sidebar to the right. You can also follow along by subscribing to my monthly newsletter.

If you want to see more photos of my travels, check out my Instagram!

My Travel Year: A Look Back and a Look Forward

 

My 2023 was a busy one for travel, with lots of trips to familiar and not-so-familiar spots.

I went twice to Tangier, my favorite North African city, to show my nephew around. We did some day trips to Asilah and Tetouan and some short hikes. Now he loves Morocco as much as I do! I also went to Egypt for research and my usual Oxford summer stay.

The big trip, however, was living for almost three months in Victoria, British Columbia. I'm Canadian but moved out of the country when I was eight and this was the first time I'd gone back for a significant period. While the town itself was only OK (little culture, too many junkies) the surrounding nature was fantastic. The temperate rainforest of the Pacific Northwest has to be seen to be believed. I never knew there were that many shades of green!

 

 

 

So what's on the agenda for 2024? Next week I'm off to Egypt again to write Book Six of The Masked Man of Cairo series. The Case of the Disappearing Dervish sees Moustafa having to go back to his village in Nubia to find a lost relative. Sir Augustus and Faisal come along to help. Much of my trip I'll be studying the Nubian villages along the border. Sadly, I can't get into the Sudan given the current situation. I hope it improves soon. The Sudanese people have endured way too much war in recent decades.

There will also be a return trip to Canada, Morocco, Oxford, and maybe a new country. It's been a while since I've gone to a country I've never visited before. My wife and I are thinking Hungary. I've heard Budapest is beautiful. Have any of you been there?

I'll post occasionally here on the blog, but for travel photos the best place to follow me is on my Instagram account. I also include travel articles in my newsletter. You get two free ebooks just for signing up!

Hope you have a great travel year! What do you have planned?

My Latest Cairo Mystery Novel Now Available in Print!

 

 

My latest book, The Case of the Dastardly Djinn, prequel to the Masked Man of Cairo historical mystery series, is now available in print. While the bulk of my sales are in ebooks, some readers do prefer print so I try to serve these readers as well. You can get in on Amazon US, Amazon UK, and all the other Amazons.

The first in my Weimar mystery series, A Winter Murder in Berlin, should be out soon. I'm just waiting for the cover artist. Later in the year I'll come out with book two in that series and another Cairo novel. Stay tuned!

My Adventure Travel Year, A Look Back and a Look Forward

Medieval city gate, Cairo

With the threat of Covid dwindling, and my own immune system bolstered by vaccinations and a contracting a mild case, travel picked up for me in 2022. It started with a trip to Essaouira, an old pirate port on Morocco's Atlantic coast. I later returned to Morocco to go to two other ports, Asilah and my old haunt of Tangier. I hadn't been to Tangier for more than three years so it was great to see my Moroccan friends again.

Essaouira

I also popped over to Berlin in the dead of winter for some book research. Berlin is not at its best in winter--cold, damp, and often foggy--but that's when my character shows up and so I had to method act that part. The first thing I discovered is I wasn't describing the weather as bad as it really was! Still, I enjoyed my trip.

And of course I went to Egypt. Only one trip this year, sadly, but it was a nice long one that was very fruitful for my book research and filled with good times with all my Egyptian friends.

So what's on deck for 2023? I'm thinking of going to the old walled Moroccan city of Taroudant south of the Atlas mountains. In the spring I'll revisit Berlin to work on book two of my Berlin series. There will also be a trip to Egypt, although I don't know when I'll slip that in.

The big news, however, is that I will be spending the last four months of the year in Victoria, British Columbia. Canada's west coast is rich in wildlife, nature, and several enduring First Nations cultures. I'll be exploring all of that.

To keep up with my travels, you can subscribe to my monthly newsletter (and get two free books to boot), or follow me on Instagram or Tiktok.

Essaouira

Asilah

Asilah is famous for its street murals

The Masked Man of Cairo Gets a Sequel!

 

The next book of my Masked Man of Cairo historic mystery/adventure series is out, and it's a prequel! The Case of the Dastardly Djinn is set in 1917, two years before The Case of the Purloined Pyramid. Faisal has to solve a mystery without the help of Sir Augustus and Moustafa, but he doesn't have to face danger alone. A blurb is below.

 

A homeless boy. A hunted girl.

Cairo, 1917. In a city plagued by poverty and war, ten-year-old Faisal begs and steals to survive, hiding at night from the things that prowl after dark. The nimblest and most clever of the street boys, he’s terrified of the unseen spirits he’s convinced haunt the ancient city.

But when he discovers a girl his age left homeless by a terrible tragedy, Faisal decides to do what no one ever did for him—help. With no shelter and facing the many dangers of Cairo’s darkened streets, Faisal’s loyalties are tested when together they uncover a criminal ring more sinister than his worst superstitions. 

This prequel to the Masked Man of Cairo mystery adventure series will thrill new readers and long-time fans alike!

A portion of the proceeds from this book will go to help Egyptian street children.    

Available now in ebook. Print edition coming soon!

My Travel Year: A Look Back and a Look Forward

Cat and cat, Cairo

 

This past year wasn't the best for travel, as you all know. Despite all the restrictions, I did manage to make it to Egypt twice. I have a private flat where I can safely stay in the center of Cairo, and the travel restrictions are light to get into the country. You just need to show a negative PCR test and proof of vaccination.

The main destinations for these trips have been the northern parts of the country, taking in the early medieval monasteries at Wadi Natrun, the famous port of Alexandria, and the battlefield at El Alamein. I also briefly went south to Asyut to arrange a donation for someone to the Lilian Trasher orphanage, which briefly appeared in The Case of the Karnak Killer.

I also went to Oxford for my usual summer working vacation. English beer, country walks, and work in a medieval library. Not a bad life!

The South African variant put the spanner in the works of a couple of planned trips. I wanted to go to Berlin to research my Weimar mystery series, but they were going into partial shutdown so I cancelled those plans. I also had to cancel a trip to Essaouira in Morocco. The country decided to close its borders again to avoid the latest wave. I haven't been back to Morocco since this whole thing began and I'm missing it!

Tomb of a Mamluk ruler, Cairo

 

As I write this I'm recovering from a mild case of covid. Did I get it on one of my trips? Nope, I got it while supposedly staying safe at home in Madrid. Oh well!

Here's hoping 2022 will be better than 2021. If the latest variant subsides, and isn't replaced with another one, then I will go to Berlin and Essaouira this year. I also will be returning to Egypt sometime in the first half of the year. No set plans yet. I'm adopting a wait and see attitude.

If you want to hear more about my travels, you might enjoy my newsletter.

Commonwealth cemetery, El Alamein

Fancy turn-of-the-century buildings like this are a common sight in Alexandria

Faisal is Growing!

Everyone's favorite street urchin has been slowly growing up through the Masked Man of Cairo historical mystery series. Now he's growing in a different way. As I mentioned in a previous post, my plans for book 6 were put on hold thanks to a coup in the Sudan, so I'm working on a set of prequel novellas about each character before they met.

The Case of the Dastardly Djinn, in which a younger Faisal has to solve a case without the help of Moustafa or Sir Augustus, was supposed to be a 30,000 word novella, but now it looks like it will be a short novel coming in at about 40,000 words. I figured that since the average Masked Man of Cairo book comes out to about 90,000 words and each of the three characters gets an equal share, that 30,000 words would do. Now I realize that since they are in lots of the chapters starring one of the other characters, that their page time is much greater.

Live and learn!

The Case of the Dastardly Djinn will come out some time in the first quarter of 2022.

Now Available: The Case of the Asphyxiated Alexandrian!

 

Book Five of my Masked Man of Cairo historical mystery series is now available. The Case of the Asphyxiated Alexandrian takes our heroes to Egypt's fabled port.

So what's Book Six going to be? We'll see. I'm thinking of heading either to the isolated Coptic monasteries of Wadi Natrun or heading south all the way to the Sudan. I'll keep you posted.

A mysterious murder. A lost pharaoh.
Sir Augustus Wall came to Egypt to escape his old life, but when a comrade from the trenches is found murdered in a Cairo hotel, Augustus realizes his past has finally caught up.
Now he must discover the reason for the baffling murder, leading him and his friends Moustafa and Faisal on a dangerous hunt for the most sought-after treasure in Egypt.
The long-awaited fifth book in the Masked Man of Cairo series sees the trio on their greatest adventure yet!

My next Cairo book is finished and in edits!

I've finally finished The Case of the Asphyxiated Alexandrian (Masked Man of Cairo Book 5). I started it nearly a year ago after visiting Alexandria, but with various distractions including lockdown and a pile of ghostwriting assignments, I only managed to finish it yesterday. Now I'm busy editing it and consulting with my cover designer. Then it will go to my wonderful beta reading team before going up on preorder in July for an August release date.

Thanks to everyone who has been bugging me about when they can read the further adventures of Sir Augustus, Moustafa, and Faisal. You don't have long to wait!

My Latest Historical Mystery Novel is out Now!

The fourth in my Masked Man of Cairo series, The Case of the Karnak Killer, is out now as an ebook. The print edition is coming in July. A blurb is belo.

A scandal in America. A murder in Cairo.
Sir Augustus Wall, antiquities dealer and amateur sleuth, is hired to track down a blackmailer who threatens the reputation of an American millionaire. When blackmail turns to murder, he must travel up the Nile by steamboat to find the killer.
Joining him are Faisal, a street urchin who makes himself equally useful and troublesome; Heinrich Schäfer, a leading Egyptologist; and Jocelyn Montjoy, an adventurous woman who has captured his heart.
But complications set in before the hunt even begins. Unwelcome fellow passengers threaten to derail the investigation, and Augustus has fallen out with his right-hand man, Moustafa Ghani. Can a new team of investigators help him solve his most challenging case yet?

You can get the book here.

Writing During Lockdown

Hello from lockdown!

No, I'm not locked down in the hypostele hallway of Karnak temple like the photo suggests, I'm locked down in my apartment in Madrid, the hardest-hit city of one of the hardest-hit countries in the world. I'm only going out for essential shopping trips these days. My Easter trip to England has been canceled, as has a planned spring trip to Tunisia.

At least that gives me plenty of time to write. In addition to work for my usual clients, I'm hard at work on the fourth book of my Masked Man of Cairo series, The Case of the Karnak Killer. I should be done with it in a couple of weeks and then it will go into edits. After that I'll finish up the third in the Interzone Mystery series, Flight to Fez. After that I'll be working on a couple of new projects that I'll announce later in April.

My word count has definitely gone up in the last two weeks of total lockdown. Writing is keeping me sane, so I'll just keep doing more and more of it. What are you doing to keep sane?

Stay safe!