Duke City summer

Temperatures are in the 90s in Albuquerque this week, perfect for staying indoors and writing.

Seems as if every time I update this blog, I'm coming up for air between projects. The latest one to be wrapped up is the third book in my Duke City series, written as Max Austin. DUKE CITY DESPERADO is at Alibi/Random House now, in the pipeline for a June 2015 release.

The first in the series, DUKE CITY SPLIT, is selling briskly as an e-book original from Alibi. Reviewers have given nice notices to the crime novel, which features two bank robbers who are forced to fend off other crooks who want the loot. The second one, DUKE CITY HIT, about a hitman and his son, is slated to be published in December.

I'm really proud of these Duke City novels, which are tight, fast-paced books about crooks and their lives. Now I'm working on the outline and research for a fourth one, which will bring together characters from the first three novels. A complicated project, and it likely will take all summer to write the first draft.

Meanwhile, work continues at the fixer-upper we bought in February. Most of the work on the house itself is done, we've got new solar panels on the roof and the new flowerbeds out front are in bloom. But lots of work remains to be done to the long-neglected back yard.

Good thing my wife and son enjoy working outdoors, or those landscaping projects might never get done. I'd certainly never get to them. I'll be indoors all summer, writing.