Announcing A Major Upcoming Release

Okay, guys, you’re going to have to forgive me for keeping things dark, but having been bitten by presses-other-than-Baen before, I let this one go all the way through page proofs and cover before I fully believed it.

But it is indeed coming out, and they’ve done a superb job of promotion and all, so now I can announce it.

Yes, it is a Elise Hyatt mystery.  No, it’s not (yet) orphan kittens.

I’m fairly sure you’ll see, once you see the cover, why this book and why it was important to announce it today of all days.

It is a craft mystery, set in the cutthroat world of artisanal sauces.

Anthon Dextra and his girlfriend Kitty are about ready to take that world by storm, until they find a dead man in their barrel of shark dip.

Will their highly trained palates allow them to distinguish the flavors of murder, greed and thievery, before their dreams fall into the sauce?

Don’t miss this year’s big mystery release of…

Shark Dip Thieves.

It starts with the dip, but it ends in foul play!

sharkdipfinalcover

165 thoughts on “Announcing A Major Upcoming Release

    1. I’m blaming baby-induced sleep deprivation on not connecting the dots on April 1st until several minutes after I posted.

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  1. You are truly a bad person, young Portagee.
    And may I wish a most joyous April First to you and yours.
    Temp hit 80 yesterday here in Huntspatch, and should remain at or near that all this week. Just perhaps this damnable winter may actually be over, at least here in the sunny South.

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    1. Sharknado recipe
      1 cups fresh shark, about 16 ounces
      2 cups cider vinegar
      2 cups granulated sugar
      cold water
      ice

      Preparation:
      Place shark in a non-metal bowl or pitcher; add vinegar. Cover with plastic wrap or lid; refrigerate for 3 to 4 days. Strain mixture into a saucepan, pressing shark to extract all liquid. Discard solids then stir in sugar. Boil 2 to 3 minutes; remove from heat and let cool. Don’t go into the ocean after drinking.

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    1. Oddly enough, I immediately caught onto the book promoted as a joke… and then looked at the cover, which says “Author of Dead and Hammered” and had to go look on BN.com to see if THAT book actually existed.

      *SIGH*

      It’s sad when you KNOW its a joke and still get sucked in.

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          1. He’s got you that well fooled, huh?

            Eh, Machiavelli was a thinker. A Vetinari, on the other hand … actually, I’d vote for him, all things considered.

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              1. I dunno. I mean, most of your major triumphs were a matter of paying off one gaulish chieftain and crushing his slightly weaker rival. I mean, what have you done for us lately?

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        1. Off topic, did you see archaeologists have unearthed a first century AD grave at King’s Cross of a red haired woman with a possibly spike-wheeled chariot?

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  2. “In related news, it seems the contingent of ne’er-do-wells and perpetual curmudgeons also known as Hoyt’s Huns have decided en masse to quit writing and become community organizers, class warfare activists and civil service union representatives. May Bob have mercy on our souls.”

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    1. A bit of good clean fun on April First is one thing, but you Sir, words fail me. What you have described is an abomination beyond the pale! An outrage! What next? Cats and dogs cohabitating? Writers taking publishers to lunch? And picking up the check? Politicians making promises… and keeping them?

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      1. Politicians making promises… and keeping them?

        Are you trying to undermine the foundations of the universe!?!

        Catastrophe! Calamity! Calumny!

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  3. There’s sumpin’ fishy ’bout this whole thread, original post and all comments included.

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  4. Next in the series, the happy couple have will be pitted against a couple of local ecoterrorist wannabees who are working against them due to the fact they use an (maybe…) endangered fish in their dip.

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  5. And here I thought your April Fool’s would be the announcement of Marxship Thieves, your future Hugo-winner.

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  6. I know it’s April 1st and all, but given that I enjoy cooking and am interested in Roman history (including what little of Roman cooking comes down to us from Apicius), a mystery that centers on some sort of garum-like sauce would have actually been pretty damned interesting.

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    1. Now, Jasini, that was a sheep shot…

      (Umm, should I advertise myself with the appropriate vest-button? “Incorrigible Punster — Do Not Incorrige!”)

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    2. Sort of, while it doesn’t work as well on the multilegged parasites as sheep dip, it is an excellent deterrent for such two-legged parasites as wives and girlfriends.

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  7. On a non-jokey level, I do like how the pink, blue, and yellow work together. I’d have tried greyscaling the background to see how it looked and run with it if I liked it. 8D

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      1. While you’re thinking shame on yourself, I’m thinking awesome, dude!‘s your way.

        But don’t tell Sarah.

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  8. -Groan-

    See… that’s why I’ve been quiet or usually stay quiet. Ya just can’t compete with such punnage.

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      1. I’m… not good at making at puns. The occassional wisecrack, yes. I’m not even a padawan yet.

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        1. Don’t worry, some of us aren’t good at it either. :-D

          SPQR would say nobody’s good at it, and everybody should stop, but the undead are grumpy like that.

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                  1. *Scratches head* Who would bother with castrating a rooster, wouldn’t you need like tweezers and stuff?

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                    1. Why is for the same reason you castrate a bull to make a steer– you get better and more meat.

                      For how, from the pictures, it looks like it’s not THAT much harder than castrating a lamb, or young calves. It’s a matter of knowing where to cut, push, and cut again.

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                    1. I own one of those tools. I’ve never actually used it on a lamb – back when I was apprentice shepherdess that process involved a very sharp knife and a quick pull. The tool is for balloons :)

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                    2. There are two morals to this story:
                      1. Don’t trust the Humane Society
                      2. You know Mike Rowe is a good guy because he admits when he’s wrong. Better still he actually changes his mind and actions after admitting he was wrong. Plus I love the fact that tells the truth and doesn’t buy into fashionable shibboleths.

                      Anyone know the origin of “Shibboleth:?.

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                    3. I know it’s use (pronunciation-based security due to accents), but I’m uncertain of the date of origin. Was that in the conflict between the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, or is it older?

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                    4. From the King James Version of the book of Judges:
                      “Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim: and the men of Gilead smote Ephraim, because they said, Ye Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites, and among the Manassites.
                      “And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites: and it was so, that when those Ephraimites which were escaped said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said unto him, Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay;
                      “Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.”

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                    5. Whatever you do, when banding calves (or lambs, but I’ve never dealt with sheep) make sure you get ONLY the testes in the band. Also make sure you get BOTH of the testes, it only takes one bullet to make the gun operable.

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                    1. Bales, the thrill of the itch. But you’ve got me beat on diapers, I didn’t do any of that as a kid.

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                    2. Postholes, bales, bottle feeding calves, but no diapers. Shoveled plenty of… diaper filler, though.

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                    3. Never fed a calf with a bottle, but I’ve fed babies and changed diapers. Plus the post holes, hay bales, shoveling, and all that fun stuff. Never milked a cow, either. Kind of always wanted to see what that was like, but I know I wouldn’t want to do it every day.

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                    4. Planted potatoes, weeded onions (NASTIEST job in the world), mucked out chicken houses, fed chickens, picked grapes (most fun, because in Portugal grapevines grow on high, so I got the places that wouldn’t take a higher weight, like the top of shed roofs), scythed thigh-high fields in preparation for turning over and digging. Plus all that other stuff, though I never fed a calf either — but I DID feed a baby lion a bottle. So, there. :-P

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