ONE DAY MORE before A Pretender's Murder officially releases into the wild!

Writing a mixed-race main character in a Golden Age mystery means researching racial tensions in post-WW1 Britain. (Most of the images used here come from The Mixed Museum, which is well worth the look: mixedmuseum.org.uk)

Writing Beyond the Fields You Know: Guest Post #ChristopherHuang #crimefiction mysteryreadersinc.blogspot.com/2026/02/writ...

I must admit, I will be a little sad if Mountbatten-Windsor's prison isn't the Tower of London. It's TRADITION, dammit.

As a Canadian, I find myself unreasonably pleased with this one little detail about the upcoming book. (24 FEBRUARY, GUYS! Less than a week to go!)

Today I learned that, in Italian, "winter" is "inverno" while "hell" is "inferno". Which means that faulty Italian pronunciation could potentially make hell freeze over.

Silly numbers through history ...

ONE WEEK TO GO! We see a lot of front covers, but how about this back cover for A PRETENDER'S MURDER? Many thanks to Martin Edwards (@martinedwardsbooks.bsky.social) and S.A. Cosby (@blacktopkid.bsky.social) for the kind words. (go read their books)

I'm not sure if I will ever understand people who can crack an egg and throw away the shell without first running a finger around the inside of the shell to extract all the egg still stuck there.

Look what the postman dropped off today. Also: TWO MORE WEEKS TO LAUNCH! Tell your friendly neighbourhood bookstore!

Americans, please tell me: does your government issue picture ID to ALL eligible voters? For free, and not just to those who can drive?

Three weeks to go! A PRETENDER'S MURDER releases on 24 February 2026! March 1925: Colonel Hadrian Russell, father-in-law to four war widows, is charming and popular ... and when he's shot and thrown through a club window one night, Eric Peterkin is once again called to investigate.

I think that Luis Gustavo Nunez Caceres looks like the most respectable gentleman to have ever respectably gentlemanned.

Thoughts on watching "Dept. Q": 1) Matthew Goode? I thought this was a David Tennant vehicle. 2) I am NOT used to seeing Matthew Goode with a beard. 3) ... are we sure this isn't David Tennant?

I just want to point out that abolition is a perfectly valid means of reform.

Why was the nanny-cam focussed on Superman? Because he had super-vision.

When you successfully skirt around a hole in the ground, you avoid a void.

A tip I picked up from National Service in Singapore thirty years ago.

Idea: a shop called The Steel Toad that makes/sells boots.

Does anyone remember that time when the KKK clashed with Westboro Baptist? Just thinking about it again for no reason.

"Dr Jeckyll & Mr Hyde" is actually a werewolf story in which Dr Jeckyll, instead of using a magic wolf pelt to turn into a wolf so he can indulge his basest desires, uses a "totally scientific" potion to turn into a different man so he can indulge his basest desires. He's a wereman.

While her attributes as described seem to track as feminine, nothing in the song actually says that Jolene is a woman. Maybe they're a guy named Joe Lane.

10 days left on the GoodReads Giveaway for my upcoming book, A PRETENDER'S MURDER! (US/Canada only, unfortunately.)

"My wife and my daughters" can also be written as "the Missus and the Misses".

#SweeneyTodd headcanon: Judge Turpin never actually assaulted Lucy. Mrs Lovett tried to kill Lucy with poison and threw her out, and ALL of "Poor Thing" was a lie.

Why was the potato field so noisy? Because of all the tubers.

I keep reading "MTG" as "Magic: The Gathering" and wondering what collectible card games have to do with right-wing politics.

I kinda feel like the best thing for the Andrew formerly known as Prince to do right now is to say, "Okay, yes, I was there ... AND SO WAS T----!"

"The Netherlands" ... sounds like a cute euphemism for "The Underworld".

I'm not sure what to make of this, but the Facebook algorithm just gave me an ad for shirts with clerical collars.

Probably my favourite Tom B. Wild song (yes, even more than "No More F***s To Give"). Posting for no reason other than I like it and for some UNKNOWN reason it's kind of earworming me today.

You can fold your arms crossly but you can't cross your arms foldedly.

Causal: doing things for a specific reason. Casual: doing things for no specific reason.

Way back when the Saxons first got into Britain, they had Wessex for the West Saxons, Essex for the East Saxons, and Sussex for the South Saxons. See the pattern? Took me a moment to realise why the North Saxons went with "Northumberland" instead ...

My editor sometimes tells me to "make a meal out of it" but I didn't think he meant it literally ...

100 years later, we still love it... crimereads.com/the-enduring...

Geeks are the hardest sort of characters to write, unless you yourself happen to be the same variety of geek. Because then you have to research up on whatever obscure interest your character's geeking out on, just to make them work.

Thanks, @msemilyedwards.bsky.social!

Why is A Pretender's Murder ranking as "science fiction crime & mystery" at Amazon? I mean, I guess historical fiction is technically time travel, but really ...

If we said "Estimated Arrival Time" instead of "Estimated Time of Arrival", we would eliminate the one word missing from the acronym and it would be delicious.

Did you hear about the private cinema at the Tower of London that only screens second-rate Hollywood flicks? It's just there for the "B" features ...

I know this isn't real and that it goes beyond tinfoil hat territory, but ... I keep thinking that some sort of flu virus is being electronically transmitted to me through my earphones.

From the upcoming book: "This was what the Working Lads Institute really offered, Eric realised: legitimacy, always preferable because it was easier than the uncertainty of chaos. A single public library probably did more good than a dozen policemen."

Thought: What would a crossover between "Murder on the Orient Express" and "Twelve Angry Men" look like?

A- #BookReview: A Gentleman's Murder by Christopher Huang @misericordius.bsky.social #Inkshares #EricPeterkin #mystery #HistoricalMystery #HistoricalFiction #WW1

As a ruler in the Chronicles of Narnia, Peter is called "the Magnificent" because of both his robust health and his deep understanding of his kingdom. These things come naturally when one is always hi king.

A GENTLEMAN'S MURDER is also in Italian now!

Galleys! Time to get picky! (I print these double-sided, two pages per side. Physical copies just seem to make it easier to spot and note issues.) (reposted to add alt text to image.)