Michael P. King

First off, thanks for your reviews on Amazon. They really do help other readers find these books.

I’ve been trying to think of something special to share with those of you who’ve been reading right along without creating spoilers for newer readers. Here goes—

In each of the Travelers books, there is always a main plot—a crime that turns complicated. That’s the main event of each book. For example:

Book 1: the land swindle and the money laundry

Book 2: the theft of the computer program

Book 3: the blackmail of the wannabe congressman

But, usually, there is also a subplot that moves along from one book to the next, with more or less emphasis. For the first three books, the subplot is, for lack of a better word, the Travelers’ shared mid-life crisis. Is he still up to the task of taking care of business? Does she still believe in him? Can they trust each other? Can they re-cement their relationship? Should they each go their own way?

If you’ve read the prequel, The Double Cross, you’ve got their starting point as a comparison—how they met and started grifting together, and how their relationship developed into a trust that enables them to take on all comers.

Now in book 1, The Traveling Man, the mid-life crisis subplot is very important to the action in the first half (Have they assumed the wrong things about each other? What are the dangerous repercussions of those assumptions?), then slips to the back burner for the second half and for book 2, The Computer Heist, as they try to feel their way back to their old comfortable pattern.

But the issue jumps to the front again in book 3, The Blackmail Photos, where previously unknown hopes and dreams collide with a treacherous reality and where, by the end, the mid-life crisis issue has been transmuted into a different sort of concern, which get explored in books 4 through 6.

My hope is that the subplots make the books more fun to read by making the characters more complex and more realistic. But that’s for you to judge.

If you haven’t read the first three books, you can pick them up as a discounted eBook boxed set here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FWC9BFK

And if you’ve read The Traveling Man, but not books 2 and 3, you can pick them up as a discounted eBook boxed set here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0788QZRQ8

Finally, if you’re into free eBook promos, the Page Turning Mystery/Thriller Giveaway, a free book in exchange for an email list signup, is live now. There are 64 eBooks in the promo, with enough new ones to make it worth a look. And even though the link says “cozyreaders,” this list contains eBooks that cover the spectrum from cozy to hardboiled. Here’s the link: https://books.bookfunnel.com/cozyreaders/1wet1az9hk

Happy reading!

We had a full house over the holidays. Watched a few holiday classics—Bad Santa and A Christmas Story this year, played some board games, managed to cage that extra piece of pecan pie before my son gobbled it up. But now it’s back to work. It’s going to be a busy January.

The Murder Run: The Travelers Book Six will be released later this month. To say Thank You to all of you, the eBook will be $0.99 from January 16-25. Then it will go up to $4.99, so this is the time to grab it. I’ll send a reminder on January 16.

As part of The Murder Run release, The Traveling Man: The Travelers Book One, will be free January 23-25, so if you know someone who might like this series, this is their time to give it a try. I’ll also send a reminder on January 23.

And finally, if you’re into free eBook promos, the Ring in the New Year eBook promo, a free book in exchange for an email list signup, is live now. There are 65 eBooks in the promo, with enough new ones to make it worth a look. Here’s the link:

https://books.bookfunnel.com/free_mystery/uwh7z0fvuv

Happy New Year!

First off, and most importantly, I want to wish you and yours a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year.

For Thanksgiving, we went out to Los Angeles to visit our daughter. Ate the usual amount of too much Thanksgiving dinner. Plus we got a chance to visit the Huntington Library and Gardens. Famous old books and beautiful gardens—something fun for every member of the family.

The Murder Run: The Travelers Book Six will be released in January. Finally. To say Thank You to all of you, the eBook will be $0.99 for the first week, then it will go up to its usual price of $3.99. I’ll let you know all the details next month. Here’s the tentative description:

Never cheat a partner. Always get revenge. . .

The Traveling Man takes on a quick and easy safecracking job…easy until his partners are murdered and he’s on the run.

His wife is away playing a rich man’s girlfriend, so she doesn’t have his back.

 Who are these killers who are after him? And how are they connected to the government agency that wants the envelope he took from the safe?

With the help of a new associate, he tracks the killers until he’s steered into a trap. They think he’s cornered, but he’s still got one ace up his sleeve. . . 

The Murder Run is a gritty, hard-boiled crime thriller. If you like criminal intrigue, surprising plot twists, and high-speed action, you love the sixth novel in the Travelers series.

 

Two final items:

While searching for free eBook promotions, I found two for the end of this month: Free Thrillers to Stuff that New Kindle and Darkest Days. I’ll send out a short note with the links as soon as I have all the info.

Also, while doing research about hotel room safes, I found info about how to gain access without the passcode.

How to open Hotel room safes: https://www.corporatetravelsafety.com/safety-tips/hotel-room-safes-they-may-not-be-as-safe-as-you-thought-they-were/

https://www.thesun.co.uk/travel/5409619/how-to-check-a-hotel-safe-is-secure-always-do-this-trick-before-leaving-valuables-inside/

Happy holidays

It’s hard to believe that it’s the start of the fall/winter holiday season. We had a good number of Trick-or-Treaters on Halloween this year, the leaves are off the trees, and Thanksgiving is only two weeks away. Lot’s of fun family time ahead.

I’m still working feverishly on finishing up The Murder Run: The Travelers Book 6. (All the details have to be just right!) So this month, I’d like to share a little bit of my thinking about the writing of the third book, The Blackmail Photos.

The Blackmail Photos concerns the classic honey pot, where a mark is seduced to be blackmailed. This is straightforward business for the Travelers. No man is going to be able to resist her charms or stand up to his closing of the trap. But I wondered…just how many ways could this plan go wrong? What would be some interesting or surprising problems to propel the plot? And how could this plot expand on what we know about the Travelers’ relationship from the first and second books? So that’s how we end up with the horndog would-be congressman, the scheming wife, and the sheriff brother in-law. And from there, well, it’s off to the races. Just how will their motivations and desires clash with the Travelers’? And how will the Travelers gain the upper hand?

Finally, right now The Traveling Man is $0.99, and The Computer Heist is currently $0.99 on a countdown deal until November 14. So if you’re new, or you know someone who would enjoy the series, here’s the link to the series page: Click here

Happy Thanksgiving to all my US friends! Until next month…

I just got back from my son’s wedding in northern California. He and his now wife put together a beautiful ceremony in the redwoods. As you can imagine, we had a wonderful time visiting with family and friends, which we never get to do enough of. And I got a chance to enjoy the ocean, which is a big treat for a Midwesterner like me. But now it’s back to work.

In July, I wrote a little bit about how the Travelers series got started. This month, I want to focus on The Computer Heist: The Travelers Book Two.

Always, in every book, one of the key concerns is how to make it different from what has gone on before, while still being part of the Travelers universe. Each book needs to be exciting and suspenseful and not easy to figure out. That’s why we’re reading, right? For the pure escape. And that’s the value I want to deliver to you.

So here the crime involves the theft of a computer program and the machinations of everyone who has something at stake at the software company. Instead of the Travelers being completely on the inside of the con, and having to hold off competitors, (as they are in The Traveling Man) they find themselves having to discover what the con is really about if they are, in the end, going to get paid for their efforts and stay out of jail.

And part of what they have to figure out is who the other players are and what their level of criminality is, because they don’t want to harm anyone who’s not in the game, or as they would say, anyone who’s a civilian. And they want to gain the advantage over the other players by knowing what their limits are, which will increase their ability to manipulate them.

If you haven’t yet read The Computer Heist, The Blackmail Photos, or The Freeport Robbery, the eBooks are all on Amazon Countdown Deals until Tuesday September 18. So if you want to catch up on the series, now’s the time. Here’s the link to my author page with all the listings: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00W81SHBI

And if you know someone who would like to read The Traveling Man: The Travelers Book 1, the eBook is free on Amazon today through Friday 14 September so that new readers can find out about the series. Here’s the link: http://amzn.to/1Nnd373

All of you who are caught up with the series (Thank you!), rest assured that I’m hard at work on the new book, tentatively titled The Murder Run, and hope to have something more to say about it next month.