I hope everyone had a wonderful, happy, and safe holiday. A couple days before Christmas Kim, Dakota, and I enjoyed a night of mini-golf surrounded by Christmas lights. Christmas Eve was spent with family and Christmas Day with the three of us. And the dogs of course. For New Year’s Eve, we took it easy, which is normal for us. The days of staying up until the ball drops have long since passed. A quiet night of relaxation watching a movie. And on New Year’s Day, we pulled out the fondue pot for Linner. All in all, it was a wonderful time for the Weir family. If you have a holiday story to share, please send it along.

Looking back on the year, Kim and I traveled in our motorhome to South Dakota for 10 days and then spent 16 days in Nashville for two author events. We bought a Spyder Motorcycle, plus a trailer to pull behind it, and sold our Toyota Corolla. I am mostly retired from work, though I will take a few IT jobs here and there to make a little extra cash. Kim is heavily involved in a two-year work project which may prevent her from traveling on vacation in 2025. However, she’ll be traveling nearly every month to Salt Lake City for the project. Dakota continued her job at Motorola Solutions and working on her IT Degree which she vows to complete this year. She may join me on a few of my travels, though much of that is still in flux. And our energetic dogs Abby and Nuka have been keeping us busy.

Looking back on the year for myself as an author, it was a lot of ups and downs. I did release one book, Murder by a Hundred Cuts, which received great reviews, but not a lot of sales. Book one, in my new series which I hoped to release in 2024, will now come out in February or March of 2025. I did 27 events, which is the same as in 2023, the most successful one being Bear Creek High School. Overall, my sales were down 30% from the previous year and 42% from my best sales year in 2022. This has caused me to take a long hard look at the events I’ll be doing in 2025. My thoughts are, I won’t do as many spring or summer events, and stick to the Fall and Holiday events where I get most of my sales. It’s simply a cost issue, for many of these events are getting too expensive. And with little to no sales, it doesn’t make financial sense. Though I have at least two author events planned, with the possibility of at least one more, all of them providing me great networking opportunities with other authors and readers. I will keep you up-to-date on which events I’ll be attending, including ones coming up in March, April, and May. These can always be found on the Events page of the website and at the bottom of the newsletter.

My focus is to work harder on marketing, with more promos and advertising to get eyes on my books and expanding this newsletter to reach more readers. I will continue to do my video podcast, Bringing Life to Characters, with many great guests lined up. I will work to get out my new book, which I’ll talk about later in the newsletter, and continue writing the next Jarvis Mann PI book, which will mostly take place in Nashville. And then I’ll begin book two in the new series, with the plotline for that story already forming in my head. My plan is to release two books in 2025.

Here are a few other pictures of those who bought books at the last events in 2024. And I had two $10 Amazon Gift Card winners, Rick and Joan.

In March I’ll be attending a big author event, Left Coast Crime which is coming to Denver. I’m thrilled I’ve been able to line up the two Guests of Honor for Left Coast Crime to interview on my podcast, Sara Paretsky and Manual Ramos. Watch for more news on those interviews in next month’s newsletter.

I’ve recorded more episodes of Bringing Life to Characters. I hope everyone has had a chance to watch some of the wonderful authors I’ve been interviewing, as they tell the story of their lives and the books they’ve written. Check out my interviews with T.O. Paine, Kathleen Donnelly, and Mary Keliikoa. For January I’ll have Barbara Nickless on Jan 6th at 6PM Mountain time and the sister writing team of Blythe Hudson and Carter Fielding on February 3rd at 8PM Mountain. And likely one other interview squeezed in between, the guest still to be determined. You can find all my interviews and sign up as a subscriber to my YouTube Channel.

As promised, I have news about my new book, the first in a new series. The story is in the final editing stages. The release date has not been set, for I’m still waiting on the final cover design and logo. I’ll reach out to my early readers in the next few weeks to send out ARC’s (Advanced Reader Copy). I’ve included a link to the Prologue and Chapter 1, for you to preview. I have the title and the synopsis of the book below.

Justice for the Forgotten: A Steel Wheels Cold Mystery:
For widower Donnie Steel
Grief is a powerful emotion and a dynamic motivator
The retired police officer crafting an online blog
Therapy to ease the anguish of his lost soulmate
Readers reaching out, requesting his help

While traveling in his RV, with his faithful K-9 companion, Kogel
He learns of a three-year-old cold case in Southern Colorado
The victim’s parents in search of answers to their son’s death
Upon further investigation, he discovers the case was purposely botched
Those in power doing all they can for the solution to remain buried

With relentless determination to go the extra mile
Heart and soul worn on his sleeve
And his highly trained K-9, fighting by his side
Donnie digs deep to go beyond his emotional and physical pain
To find Justice For The Forgotten

This month’s featured author is Mary Keliikova who was a guest recently on Bringing Life to Characters. Eighteen years in the legal field, and an over-active imagination, led Mary to write murder and suspense novels. A Pacific Northwest native, she is the author of the domestic thriller DON’T ASK, DON’T FOLLOW. Her third book in the Misty Pines Mystery Series, which is an IPPY Silver and Bronze Award winner, a Silver Falchion finalist, and a Foreword Indies awards finalist, will be forthcoming in September 2025 (KILLER TRACKS). Her debut series featuring PI Kelly Pruett was a Shamus and CLUE Finalist, and received a Lefty, Agatha, and Anthony nomination for Best First Novel. Her short stories have appeared in Woman’s World and the anthology Peace, Love, and Crime. When not in Washington, you can find Mary on the beach in Hawaii. But even under the palm trees and blazing sun, she’s plotting her next murder—novel that is. Follow Mary on her website, sign up for her newsletter to receive a free mini-mystery, and you can find her books on Amazon.

I will wrap up the year in review, thanking everyone who bought a book from me and stopped by any of my events to chat. I appreciate all of you and thank you for sharing my work with others you know who love to read. Your help is priceless in growing my fanbase. And don’t forget, I give away a free eBook of my best-selling Jarvis Mann PI book, Tracking A Shadow for anyone who signs up for my newsletter via the website. And you can order signed paperback copies of all my books through my website order form.

All the best!!

R Weir