Author: A.M. Potter

Author of North Noir Detective Fiction.

Advance Kudos for Silver Moon Rising

A.M. Potter4 Comments

Kudos are coming in for Silver Moon Rising, Book Two in the Detective Bourque series.

Release Date: September 4, 2024 | Publisher: Stark House Press, USA

Lieutenant Ivy Bourque of the Cape & Islands Detective Unit is called to a Martha’s Vineyard ferry at midnight. The estranged son of Massachusetts’ most famous political family is dead. A tangled web leads to Cuttyhunk Island off Cape Cod.

What critics and advance readers are saying:

“Silver Moon Rising, Potter’s sequel to The Color Red (2023), portrays Bourque as an increasingly confident, intuitive detective … giving plenty of room for this burgeoning series to grow.” – Booklist, the best book reviews for libraries, the best books for book clubs, published by the American Library Association

“A.M. Potter continues to redefine murder mysteries. Silver Moon Rising pulls readers deeper into Cape Cod with pepper-paced dialogue and richly relatable characters. The new Bourque novel is another engaging read I couldn’t put down.” – Bill Arnott, author of the Gone Viking travelogues and A Perfect Day for a Walk

“Silver Moon Rising is beautifully-written, a whodunit infused with intrigue, hubris, and loss. Put the Detective Bourque series on your watchlist.” – Mystery Maven Reviews

“If you haven’t read the first novel in the Detective Bourque series (The Color Red), you’ll want to after reading the second (Silver Moon Rising). Silver Moon Rising is well-plotted, set in inviting East Coast outports and hideaways, and with truly exceptional writing chops that leave a great many other formulaic bestsellers in the dust. Or the salty wake, more appropriately.” – Caroline Woodward, Author of Light Years: Memoir of a Modern Lighthouse Keeper

“Detective Ivy Bourque shines again. Silver Moon Rising is a compelling and thought-provoking sequel to The Color Red. Don’t miss this series.” – P.W. Tilley, former RCMP Detective

“Silver Moon Rising’s gripping narrative carries you compulsively forward as it delivers intriguing details of detective procedures and Cape Cod history. Potter’s rich descriptions make me want to go there.” – Jane Bwye, author of Breath of Africa

“Silver Moon Rising is a smart, action-packed police procedural whodunit that ranks among the best in this genre. The story grabs you at the outset, immersing you in the life and trials of Det. Bourque as she methodically tracks down the killer. This is a great read!” – David Hoath, PhD, X-Cop & Police Psychologist (Ret.)

Publishing News: Release Date for Bourque #2, Silver Moon Rising

A.M. Potter9 Comments

SILVER MOON RISING, the second novel in the Detective Bourque series set in contemporary New England, will be released by Stark House Press on SEPTEMBER 4, 2024.

Lieutenant Ivy Bourque of the Cape & Islands Detective Unit is called to a Martha’s Vineyard ferry at midnight. The estranged son of Massachusetts’ most famous political family is dead.

Was the victim, Daniel John Fitzgerald, murdered, or was he assassinated? Dan-Dan Fitzgerald was a preeminent eco-activist and whale advocate. His death triggers more deaths. Numerous suspects arise, among them the ferry crew, a megalomaniacal State governor, former Marines, a federal political lobbyist, and anti-whale shipping companies.

The investigation falters until Bourque realizes the key lies below the surface of Vineyard Sound, which leads to a tangled web centered on Cuttyhunk Island off Cape Cod.

“Impressive series launch. Fans of intelligent procedurals will hope for a long series run.” – Publishers Weekly on The Color Red, Detective Bourque Book One

“Silver Moon Rising, Potter’s sequel to The Color Red (2023), portrays Bourque as an increasingly confident, intuitive detective, giving plenty of room for this burgeoning series to grow.” – Booklist, the best book reviews for libraries, the best books for book clubs, published by the American Library Association (ALA)

2042 or Orwell, Didion, and The Writing Why

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In Joan Didion’s last published work, Let Me Tell You What I Mean, she describes a talk she gave on writing, saying she stole the title of her talk from George Orwell’s essay Why I Write (1946). [Not into the writing game? You may want to skip ahead to the last paragraph.]

In Orwell’s essay, he argued that a writer writes from a desire to seem clever and be talked about. In addition to egoism, Orwell put pen to paper for political purposes. Hence we have, among other classics, Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Back to Didion. She relates that one reason she stole the title from Orwell was that she liked its cadence: “Three short unambiguous words that share a sound and the sound they share is this: I, I, I.”

“In many ways,” Didion claims, “writing is the act of saying I, of imposing oneself upon other people, of saying listen to me, see it my way, change your mind. It’s an aggressive, even a hostile act.”

Which brings me to today’s novelists. Why do they write? Orwell published his most famous novel (Nineteen Eighty-Four) in 1949; Didion, her final novel (The Last Thing He Wanted) in 1996. In 2024, few fiction authors write to impose anything on anybody, or admit to it. They don’t try to politicize readers. In my case, I aim to entertain them, which is not to say that I avoid topics like politics, ethics, or egoism.

Hmm, politics and egoism? Brings to mind a certain ex-president/wannabe dictator. ‘Hey, AMP,’ you say, ‘it could be fun to fictionalize him.’ True. How about an updated version of Orwell’s Big Brother, a double-speaking oaf with the attention span of a gnat? We’ll call it 2042.

Book Two in the Detective Ivy Bourque Series

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PUBLISHING NEWS: The second novel in the DETECTIVE IVY BOURQUE series will be published by Stark House Press, CA, USA. RELEASE DATE: September 2024. Title/cover reveal in Summer 2024.

BOURQUE NUMBER TWO: Another son of Massachusetts’ most famous political family is dead: Daniel John Fitzgerald. Enter Lieutenant Bourque of the Cape & Islands Detective Unit. Was Fitzgerald murdered, or was he assassinated? The victim was a preeminent eco-activist and whale advocate. His death triggers more deaths. In Bourque’s domain, most homicides are personal; assassinations, on the other hand, are political. Her team unravels a tangled web which leads to Cuttyhunk Island, Cape Cod.

“Impressive series launch. Fans of intelligent procedurals will hope for a long series run.” ~ Publishers Weekly

Click here for information on the series opener, The Color Red.

Stark House has optioned the third book in the series.

Three Favourite Reads of 2023

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Recently, Shepherd.com asked for my three favourite reads of 2023. Shepherd is a site created to link readers to books highlighted by authors as opposed to algorithms.

1. The Wolf and the Watchman by Niklas Natt Och Dag.

A captivating whodunit written with literary flare. The descriptions are lyrical yet on point. You get a heartrending page-turner peopled by characters you won’t forget, driven by motivations as dark as a Stockholm winter night.

2. The Sweet Goodbye by Ron Corbett.

What’s a crime thriller without complex perpetrators and victims, powerful descriptive passages that pull me into the action, and subterfuge that keeps me guessing until the end? A book I put down. No danger of that with The Sweet Goodbye.

3. The Tao of Travel: Enlightenments from Lives on the Road by Paul Theroux.

For years, I’ve been rereading my favourite travel writers, such as Robert Macfarlane, Pico Iyer, Jan Morris, and Paul Theroux. In 2023, I reread The Tao of Travel, a compendium of pithy quotes that spans the globe. You can open it at any page and instantly enjoy the banquet you encounter. When you’re hungry again, simply turn the page.

Click the link below to see the full post on Shepherd:

https://shepherd.com/bboy/2023/f/am-potter