Guest Post: TIMES TWO: When the Publishing Gods Smile – and Slap by Kathleen Marple Kalb

 

Please welcome Kathleen back to the blog today. She is in a bit of an odd position as she has not just one, but two books coming out this Tuesday. Two reads in two series.

 

 

 

 

TIMES TWO:

When the Publishing Gods Smile – and Slap

 

It’s either every writer’s dream – or nightmare: having two traditionally published books released in one day. And it’s my March 25^th.

You can either lead the parade or let it run over you.

And I’ve never been a fan of getting run over.

So here we go.

First, neither I, nor anyone else involved in this hot mess planned it.

Two years ago, March 25^th was just another day on my calendar. Originally, the Nikki Knight book, Hound of the Bonnevilles, the second Grace the Hit Mom mystery, was due last July. Shortly after I turned in the manuscript, though, the original publisher, a small and very good startup, Charade Media, was bought by Turner Publishing. The sale ended up being great news for everyone – Turner’s Keylight Books imprint has done very well by me. But the pub date had to slide. Not really a surprise.

As for the book under my own name, The Stuff of Mayhem, the second Old Stuff Mystery, was supposed to come out in November from Level Best Books. Some production glitches and delays – neither my fault nor theirs – delayed it six months.

Welcome to March 25^th.

Two books, two publishers, two pen names…one day.

Two-Fer Day.

Where I can, I’ve been promoting them together. Where I can’t – I’ve tried to be strategic. Careful not to be too greedy with friends who blurb and give me guest post spaces.

And honestly, sometimes just sitting here staring at my computer reminding myself that this is the best kind of problem to have. A once-in-a-career moment –and I’d better enjoy it!

The books? Nikki Knight’s Hound of the Bonnevilles stars Grace the Hit Mom is a part-time lawyer, full-time parent…and secret assassin. This time, she’s defending a woman accused of killing her second husband, Nicky the Used Car Czar, and Grace is pretty sure she killed Nicky because Grace killed husband #1. Of course, with that title, there’s a hound, and a Bonneville, plus plenty of holiday-season craziness.

In The Stuff of Mayhem, historian Christian Shaw uses her knowledge of old things to catch the killer after her town’s Independence Day cannon firing ends in a fatal explosion. Christian, her “two dads,” and her young son, who has a photographic memory and Type-1 Diabetes – not to mention hot Assistant State’s Attorney Joe Poli – end up uncovering a nefarious plot that unravels at a 90-something lady’s bat mitzvah.

Both available March 25^th, otherwise known as Two-Fer Day, wherever you get your books!

 

 

 

                                       Excerpts from both books…..

 

 

The Stuff ofMayhem: 3/25/25, Level Best Books

The 90-something Bat Mitzvah girl catches a killer:

 

Our suspect poured champagne into the four glasses on the tray and started by taking a quick sip from one.

Clever. She would know how to do a good misdirect.

Ed, Garrett, and Joe exchanged glances. They got it too.

I kept moving, now near the open French door as I worked closer.

Henry, with all the seriousness of an eight-year-old who suddenly understands his photographic memory matters, studied the glasses.

Our suspect had no idea what she was up against.

She carefully handed a flute to Amy, who took it with a sunshiny elderly-lady smile that would have fooled almost anyone.

Henry studied the glass. I had to stare for a moment to realize it was slightly different in color and not as bubbly as the other champagne flutes. Not Henry. He recognized the difference immediately and nodded to me.

I met Amy’s gaze.

She raised the glass to the killer. Smiled. “GOTCHA!”

 

 

Hound of the Bonnevilles: 3/25/25, Keylight Books/Turner Publishing

Defense attorney and secret assassin Grace Adair has a problem with her new client:

 

“You can handle it better than I can.”

Always a dangerous comment from your partner. But it doesn’t usually mean you’re about to be dragged into a murder case, and it certainly doesn’t mean your own life could be on the line.

Since my husband, Michael Adair, is the lawyer you call when you’re really in trouble in New Haven County, Connecticut, and I recently offered to second-chair (or guest-star) when he needed me, the murder case wasn’t such a big surprise.

The issue was the defendant and what she might have done—or had done—before the charges brought her to Michael…

…the problem wasn’t Sherri’s second husband.

It was her first.

I was reasonably certain she’d had him killed.

Because I’d killed him.

 

 

 

Kathleen Marple Kalb ©2025

Kathleen Marple Kalb, aka Nikki Knight, describes herself as an Author/Anchor/Mom…not in that order. An award-winning weekend anchor at New York’s 1010 WINS Radio, she writes short stories and novels including A Fatal Reception and the Old Stuff series, both from Level Best Books. As Nikki Knight, she writes the Grace the Hit Mom and Vermont Radio mysteries. Her stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Weekly, and others, and been short-listed for Derringer and Black Orchid Novella Awards. She’s currently the Vice President of the Short Mystery Fiction Society and a co-VP of the New York/Tri-State Chapter of Sisters in Crime. She, her husband, and son live in a Connecticut house owned by their cat. Website: https://kathleenmarplekalb.com/