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“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
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.
To preview SILVER MOON RISING, download the free teaser below.
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.)
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.
To give a book is to give a window into another world. Here are five gift ideas for the 2023 Holidays.
First, two mystery/detective suggestions:
The Wolf and the Watchman by Niklas Natt och Dag, English translation from the Swedish, 2019. The Wolf and the Watchman should please any fan of historical crime/mystery fiction. The novel (set in 1793, in Sweden) presents a captivating tale, beautifully told. The whodunit angle alternates between darkness and light, judiciously balancing good and evil. The Wolf and the Watchman is the first book in the Jean Mickel Cardell trilogy, which includes The City Between the Bridges and The Order of the Furies.
Muskie Falls by Ron Corbett, 2023. The first novel in Corbett’s Detective Yakabuski series, Ragged Lake, revealed that Corbett (from Ottawa, Canada) was a born storyteller. With Muskie Falls, the fourth novel in the series, his story-telling virtuosity becomes even clearer. Muskie Falls is equal parts riveting mystery and stylistic tour-de-force. The plot unfolds on the fictionalized Northern Divide, an unforgettable locale, perfectly rendered. The story is delivered with nuanced authenticity and the rip-roaring drive of a northern river.
All The Colour In The World by C.S. Richardson, 2023. All The Colour In The World is lean, fast-paced, and atmospheric, more prose poem than traditional novel. If your giftee prefers expansive, detailed novels, this won’t likely be their cup of cheer. On the other hand, if they like reading outside the box, this could be their cuppa, a spare yet powerful story, anchored in Toronto but displaying all the colours of the world.
Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton, 2023. Birnam Wood is both a beguiling story and a novel of ideas, a crucible of eco-idealism, survivalism, and human striving. The novel transports the reader to NZ’s South Island. Catton, a previous Booker Prize winner, knows how to hook an audience. The plot unfolds slowly (perhaps too slowly for some) but cleverly, reaching a thriller-type crescendo.
The Tao of Travel by Paul Theroux, 2011. Some travel books are timeless. Theroux’s The Tao of Travel is one of them. It contains a collection of evocative quotes whose origins span the globe. The reader can open itat any page. They’ll be instantly transported to the quote’s location. When they’re ready to venture off again, they can simply turn the page.
“The Color Red is a first-class mystery that will keep you guessing until the final pages …. Potter’s vivid and memorable descriptions of Cape Cod will leave you smelling salt air and thinking of the Kennedys.”
~ Ron Corbett, Author of the Frank Yakabuski and Danny Barrett Series (reviewed in the New York Times), Edgar Award and Arthur Ellis Award Nominee
North Noir 