What's Coming Up in the Rest of 2026?

We're three-quarters of the way through the year and the autumn is well and truly here. So what do I have planned for my writing before we crack open the champagne and cheer in 2027?

In late November, I plan to release The Case of the Terrible Tomb, book 9 in my Masked Man of Cairo historical mystery series. I left book 8 on a bit of a cliffhanger, and I've gotten a lot of emails asking when the followup will appear. You don't have much longer to wait and I promise book 9 isn't another cliffhanger!

In other news, I'm also working on a discounted boxed set of the first three books of the Cairo series that will contain a bonus short story. Binge readers like box sets, so that might bring some more people to my little world, plus the set will be in Kindle Unlimited, so KU readers can get the bonus short story for nothing! I'm hoping to have that out in November or December.

Sometime in December, Vinci Books will come out with audiobooks of my Toxic World and Moroccan Mystery series. More on that when I know myself!

That's all that will be published in 2026, but it isn't all that's in the works. For Vinci, I'm working on Book 3 of my Bunker series, due out in the spring of 2027. I'm also working on An Autumn Murder in Berlin, book 4 of my Berlin Murders series. Yes, that was supposed to come out this year, but other projects, and a move to Morocco, got in the way. Sorry, folks. I promise you'll have it by early 2027!

So what else is coming up in 2027? That will remain a mystery for now. . . 

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 Poisonous Papyrus available for preorder!

 

Book 8 of my Masked Man of Cairo historical mystery series, The Case of the Poisonous Papyrus, is available for pre-order and will be published July 29!

Pre-orders really help us authors, because it gets the ball rolling with those all-important algorithms. And it gets delivered straight to your device on publication day!

A blurb is below: 

 

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 order the ebook here. Print edition coming this month, it's just taking a little time with the layout folks! 

A Free Historical Mystery!

 

From now through Sunday, July 19, my award-winning historical mystery, The Case of the Purloined Pyramid, is a free ebook on Amazon. A blurb is below.

 

An ancient mystery. A modern murder.

Cairo, 1919. As Egypt struggles for independence and fortune hunters scour the desert for ancient treasures, Sir Augustus Wall hopes to leave the horrors of the Great War behind him.

Scarred beyond recognition, he hides behind a prosthetic mask and moves to the native quarter of Cairo to open an antiquities shop. But Europe’s troubles follow him as a priceless inscription is stolen and those who know its secrets start turning up dead.

Teaming up with brilliant Egyptologist Moustafa Ghani, and Faisal, a mischievous street urchin he just can't shake, Sir Augustus must unravel an ancient secret and face his own dark past.

Kindle Scout Winner in 2017 

 

Download it now on Amazon! 

The Case of the Dastardly Djinn is now out in Audio!

 

The prequel to my Masked Man of Cairo series, The Case of the Dastardly Djinn, is now out as an audiobook, narrated as always by the talented Curtis Michael Holland. 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 listeners and long-time fans alike! 

 

You can get it on Amazon and everywhere audiobooks are sold or rented. 

June Writing Update

It's summer already???

Where has the time gone? So far, I've only published one book this year, Cordelia Catches A Count, which was well enough received that there will be a book three in that series. Even so, I need to get cracking!

The Case of the Poisoned Papyrus, Book 8 of The Masked Man of Cairo series, will come out later this summer. Watch this space for pre-order info. An Autumn Murder in Berlin, book four of The Berlin Murders, will, appropriately enough, come out in the autumn.

Also, Vinci Books will release the first two volumes in a new series titled Bunker, mysteries set in a network of billionaire bunkers after World War Three. That's right, post-apocalyptic mystery. After eight billion people die, does one murder more really matter? It does if you're stuck in a bunker with the murderer! They haven't given me a set date yet. I'll share it when I get it.

Besides this blog, the best way to follow my progress is by subscribing to my newsletter, Sean's Travels and Tales, which gets your two free ebooks as well as a monthly magazine with coupons, updates, and travel articles. 

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. 

The Case of the Asphyxiated Alexandrian is now available as an audiobook!

 

Book 5 of my Masked Man of Cairo series is now out as an audio book, and book 6 comes out next month! These are all narrated by the talented Curtis Michael Holland, who has won several awards for his work and is also fluent in Arabic! You can find the audiobooks on Amazon, Audible, and anywhere else audiobooks are sold.

April Writing Update

Spring has sprung, and I'm busy writing!

I just finished the first draft of The Case of the Poisonous Papyrus, book 8 of the Masked Man of Cairo series. It's now in edits and will soon go to the beta readers. I'm also working on a new series called Bunker, murder mysteries set in a network of billionaires' bunkers after World War Three. Locked room mysteries on another level! Those will start coming out this summer.

Vinci Books has now made new covers for my Moroccan Mystery and Toxic World series. You can see a couple here.

My next project is to finish book four of The Berlin Murders. It's time to get back to Katherine's adventures, but I have to warn you, as 1933 draws closer, it's getting a bit darker.

(How couldn't it?)

Plenty more to come, and you can follow it all by checking this blog every month or signing up to my newsletter. That bags you two free ebooks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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! 

My Writing Year: A Look Back and a Look Forward

It's been a busy year for me when it comes to writing and publishing.

It may not seem like it to my readers, because I only released two books in 2026: The Case of the Cackling Crocodile (Masked Man of Cairo Book 7) and A Summertime Murder in Berlin (Berlin Murders Book 3), yet behind the scenes I've been working on much more.

To wit, two new science fiction series! Tech Scavengers is a lighthearted space opera, and Bunker is a grim post-apocalyptic thriller. Both will see the light in 2026. I'm also hard at work on more of the historical mysteries I'm best known for, including another Cordelia book, book 8 of the Masked Man of Cairo, and more!

In other news, Tantor Media is releasing my Masked Man of Cairo books as audiobooks. The Case of the Purloined Pyramid is already available wherever audiobooks are sold, and book two comes out in January.

In other news, I've sold the rights to my Toxic World and Moroccan Mysteries series to Vinci Books, a UK publisher that plans to redo the covers, get them in bookshops, and also as audiobooks and foreign language translations. If these two older series do well, I'll be adding to both of them.

You can see the progress of all these projects on the wordcount sidebar to the right as well as via my newsletter. 

Have a great new year and thanks for joining me on this journey!

 

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!

July Writing update

Hello again!

It's summer, and up in Oxford on my annual research trip. I'm delving into the archives of the famous Bodleian Library to research the 1930 election in Germany and the independence movement in Egypt. I love doing research for my historical novels.

New books in both the Masked Man of Cairo series and The Berlin Murders will be out by the end of the year. I also intend on having a sequel to Cordelia Cracks the Case. Currently I'm working on a post-apocalyptic thriller called Bunker. Those should be out by the end of the year too More on that soon!

In the meantime, Radio Hope, book one of my post-apocalyptic series Toxic World, is only 99 cents through July 16, so if you might want to give it a try.

See you next month!

June Writing Update

Hello from Italy! Here's a photo of a lovely old house I came across on the Appian Way. I'm here doing some initial research for an upcoming historical mystery series. I won't say more because it will be a while before I publish anything. I have to finish five-book series The Berlin Murders first!

Speaking of, I'm nearly finished writing book three of that series, A Summertime Murder in Berlin. Also, book seven of my Cairo mystery series, The Case of the Cackling Crocodile is about to head off to the beta readers. If you want to be one, hit me up. 

To keep up with my progress, check the word count meters on the sidebar. You can also subscribe to my monthly newsletter via the left-hand sidebar, and also check out my Facebook page and Instagram feed. Plenty of travel photos on there lately!

May Writing Update

 

 

Hello again! I've been powering ahead on writing now that I can devote my full time to it.

Early this month I finished book seven of my Cairo mystery series, The Case of the Cackling Crocodile. That's going through edits before heading off to the beta readers. If you want to be one, hit me up.

Now I'm focusing on A Summertime Murder in Berlin, book three of The Berlin Murders. The photo this month dates to the Weimar period like the series, and is of the "Mordauto", literally "murder wagon"! This was one of the first mobile crime labs in history and brought a new scientific approach to crime scene investigation. The Germans were leaders in this field, perhaps because they had such scientific expertise as well as a high murder rate. That's something poor Katherine has certainly learned!

To keep up with my progress, check the word count meters on the sidebar. You can also subscribe to my monthly newsletter via the left-hand sidebar, and also check out my Facebook page and Instagram feed.

April Writing Update

 

As I mentioned in a previous post, I quit my ghostwriting job to free up time for my own projects and I've been loving every minute of it. It's sooooo nice to only work on my own stuff!

Mostly I've been working on book seven of my Cairo mystery series, The Case of the Cackling Crocodile. That should be done by the end of the month and then it will go through edits before heading off to the beta readers. If you want to be one, hit me up.

Once that book is in edits, I'll be working on A Summertime Murder in Berlin, book three of The Berlin Murders.

To keep up with my progress, check the word count meters on the sidebar. You can also subscribe to my monthly newsletter via the left-hand sidebar, and also check out my Facebook page and Instagram feed.

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!

Expect Lots More Books From Me In 2025!

 

Hi everyone! Big news!

I just quit my day job and will devote all my writing time to my own books. For the past five years, I've been ghostwriting novels for a New York publisher. The money was good, although the production schedule was grueling. I've decided that this is the point in my life to strike out on my own.

That means you'll be seeing a lot of new books from me from now on. First up will be book 7 of the Cairo series, followed by book 3 of the Berlin series, and then probably Cordelia book 2. Then there will be some more mystery novels and a brand-new science fiction series!

I'm heading into uncertain waters and I could use your help. You're already buying my books and for that I'm deeply grateful. What would also help me is if you left a review on Amazon or Goodreads. Mentioning my books on your page would also be a big boost. If you know a podcaster or blogger who covers the kind of topics I do, I'd love to be introduced.

To keep up to date on what's happening, you might want to join my newsletter and Facebook page. There I give regular updates plus photos of my travels and articles about places I've been.

Thanks for coming along with me on this crazy ride, and I hope you'll like all the books I'll be coming out with in 2025!

My Writing Year: A Look Back and a Look Forward

The year 2024 was a busy one for me. In addition to a heavy workload of ghostwriting, I came out with three books under my own name. 

The first was A Springtime Murder in Berlin, book two of The Berlin Murders. Katherine and her friends are faced with another murder, this time on the set of a movie.

Next I published Cordelia Cracks the Case, the first in Cordelia's Cairo Case Files, a new spinoff series from my Masked Man of Cairo books. A lot of you told me you wanted to see more of Cordelia Russell because the male characters underestimate and overlook her. Hey, it's 1919! So now she's getting her own series of cases.

 

I also kept my most popular series going with Book 6, The Case of the Disappearing Dervish, which sees Moustafa having to return to his village in the Soudan to solve a case implicating his cousin. Sir Augustus and Faisal come along too, of course!

 

So now it's 2025, and later this month I'll be heading to Egypt to write book 7, The Case of the Cackling Crocodile. Our heroes are off to the Fayoum this time, and Cordelia is coming along. I'll also be working on the next Cordelia book.

 

In the summer I plan to release A Summertime Murder in Berlin, followed closely by An Autumn Murder in Berlin, which will round out The Berlin Murders except for an epilogue that I plan to release in 2026.

 

There will be a big change in 2025 as I take fewer ghostwriting assignments and eventually stop before the end of the year. Hopefully that will free up time to come out with some more titles. Stay tuned!

A big thank you to all of you who bought my books in 2024, and a special thank you to all those who reviewed them. As a working writer, that helps a lot!

 

Happy 2025!!!

 

 

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!