Dan Decker Books

Hey everybody! The transcript for my writing update is below but here are the highlights: I’m working on The Company Man and I’m almost done with the first draft. This features a brand new character. Vince Hunter. I can’t wait for you to meet him! The next Kirk Hoffman novel, The Shooter, is still going through the copyediting process but I expect to publish it in the near future. The Rat’s Nest Audiobook is done and I’m in the process of reviewing it now. The cover art for Malcom Braxton and the Dragon War is done! I’ll publish this book after The Shooter. I’ve been thinking about what Mitch Turner is going to be up to next. I’ll work on that book after finishing The Company Man. That’s it! I hope everybody has a great 4th of July! —Dan Decker Transcript: Hello, this is Dan Decker, back with another writing update. It has been a very busy month for me since my last writing update. I actually should have published it last week, if not the week before, but we’re here now. Anyhow, I have been heads down working really hard on my new novel. It’s called The Company Man. This features a character who’s never been seen before. He’s very fun character. I think people are going to enjoy reading about him. I certainly think that he will fit in very well with the likes of Mitch Turner, Audrey Spencer, Kirk Kaufman, Burke Wyatt and Jason Maxfield. I think this is going to be a very good book. I’ve been having a lot of fun writing it. So anyhow, more to come on that. The first round of copy edits for the next Kirk Hoffman novel is are done. That’s for the shooter. And I’m going to be sending that over to the next copy editor here in a little bit. I just finished reviewing them today, actually. In fact, I’m very pleased with how that’s coming, and I’m hoping they get that book out here sometime in the relatively near future. We’ll see. There’s always things that seem to come up when I’m working on getting a project out, and it’s always a little bit more complicated than I remembered from the last time. There’s always one little tiny thing that I’m missing or that I forgot to do that I have to go back and get done anyhow. So those are the two big legal thrillers I’m working on right now. Also the Rat’s Nest audiobook. I just got the files from Eric Dove, and I am now going to be reviewing them and be getting back to him with some of my edits. And that’s coming down the pipe here pretty quickly as well. While we’re on the topic of audiobooks, instead of releasing audiobook chapters on the podcast, the way I have been doing recently, what I think I’m going to do is put all the files together into one file that I’m allowed to release under my exclusivity agreement with audible X audible and put those up on YouTube so I can release up to something like ten percent of the book for free as a sample. So I think I’m just going to start putting them all together and putting those up on YouTube. So when the rat’s nest becomes available, I will do that and put all the chapters together. And that’s what I’m going to be doing from now on. Finally, the last update I have is on Malcolm Braxton and the Dragon War. This is my Ya fantasy novel. I commissioned some artwork within the last couple months and that is now done and it looks really good. I have just finished putting the cover together just this week, and I’m really pleased with how that’s coming along. And so right now what I’m going to do is I’m going to be putting that into the copy editing process next. So the rat’s nest is going to be coming through it first, and then Malcolm Braxton is going to be going through it next. So anyhow, that’s pretty much it for writing updates. I hope everybody has a happy Fourth of July.  

Hey everybody! At the play button above you can find my updates but here are the quick hit updates: The Shooter, the next Kirk Hoffman legal thriller, is finally done!! I’m now working on The Company Man, starring a brand new lawyer never seen before! Malcom Braxton is getting closer. I’m working with an artist for the cover. Black Brick, a thriller featuring Jake Ramsey is now available in French, Spanish, and German, courtesy of Amazon’s Translate feature. The Rat’s Nest, an Audrey Spencer Legal Thriller, is scheduled to become an audiobook! — Dan Decker And here is the Dan Decker Books podcast transcript: I just wanted to let everybody know that the shooter, the next Kirk Hoffman legal thriller, is finally done, and I am currently putting it through the beta reading and copy editing process. I could not be happier with how this project has come out. It’s been a very fun ride. Kirk Hoffman is back in the saddle and the whole team is back with him. I think everybody’s going to really enjoy, uh, this, uh, particular novel. It’s one that I was thinking about all through, all through the year, last year. And, uh, I kind of, uh, played around with the idea a little bit. And so now I’m really happy to see that it’s finally coming to fruition. I very excited to be getting it out there. So that is coming down the pipe here pretty quickly. I would imagine in the next month or so, depending on how quickly I get through all the copy edits and all that other stuff. And in the meantime, I’ve actually been also very busy as well with, um, the new novel that I’m working on. This one is a completely brand new legal thriller. I actually have the title for it already, and I’m going to go ahead and let you guys know it today. It is called The Company Man, and it features a brand new, uh, an attorney who’s in a very interesting situation. And so far it’s going pretty well. Uh, I’m probably about just right around ten percent of the way through the novel and, um, having a blast writing it. Can’t wait for, uh, to finish it and to get it all out there to everybody. So that’s coming along really well. On the Malcolm Braxton front, I have a map, I think I’ve mentioned that before. That is all done and ready to go. And in addition to the map, I am now, uh, uh, working with an artist to come up with, uh, the cover, the cover art. And so that’s going to be kind of a fun process. It’s a very different skill set to sit down and work with an artist over, uh, how to put some sort of conceptual images in with the, uh, the story. And so we just looked at a concept today and I go ahead and gave him the go ahead and the green light to get started on that. So we’ll see how that comes along. So that’s pretty much it for now. I do not have a new audiobook chapter to share with you this week or this month. I guess I’m doing this as a monthly update podcast now, I think, uh, but hopefully, uh, I, oh, I guess that is one more update. I have, uh, just, uh, contracted with Eric dove to get the next audiobook out. And that’s going to be The Rat’s Nest featuring Audrey Spencer. Wow. There’s a lot of different updates, uh, to put out there. So anyhow, yes, that one’s, uh, in, in process as well. And finally, I guess I can think of a couple more other updates. I’m experimenting around with the Amazon Translate feature to translate novels into various languages. So right now I’m just keeping it kind of small and kind of playing around with it. To do an actual translation outside of Amazon is fairly expensive. And so I it’s not something I’ve dabbled in, but we do have this feature that Amazon is now offering up, which makes it really kind of easy. And so currently I have black brick available in Spanish, French, and German. Uh, so if there’s anybody out there that’s a Spanish, French, German speaker and they want to read a thriller novel and let me know what they think, uh, please feel free to do so. Anyhow, that is it for this week and I hope everybody has a great, great week. And, uh, I’ll be back soon with more updates.

Hey everybody! The Wild Card (Mitch Turner), The Rat’s Nest (Audrey Spencer), and Hard Lines (Jason Maxfield) have been very well received! On Wild Card, one of my favorite reviews said: “Lost sleep several nights, because I couldn’t put the book down.” Another one said: “Decker does it again. Excellent plotting and a novel that’s difficult to put down. Very worth a read, you won’t be sorry.” Thank you all for reading! I just wanted to give you an update about what I’m working on right now. Note: If you want to hear me talk about it, check out the link to the podcast above which also includes Chapter 4 of the audiobook for Only the Guilty. Also, the picture above is a tiny clue as to what The Shooter will be about! Update on The Shooter, the next Kirk Hoffman Novel! I am getting close on The Shooter. Things have been going very well on this Kirk Hoffman novel. I’ve been having a ton of fun writing it. It’s always exciting at this point because the whole picture starts to come together and it’s just a delightful to see the interlocking pieces start to fit with one another. That’s been coming along very well, and I’m very pleased with the progress over the last month. I’ve done various drafts. Right now I’m probably technically on draft six or seven. The most recent couple drafts I did were more about taking stuff away than really putting stuff in, but there was definitely some of that too. There’s always different things that I put into a story, thinking that they might work and then I end up pulling them out and that’s what I’m doing right now. I’m fine tuning the story, making sure everything all works. Don’t really know how many more drafts I’m going to do of this, but I’m definitely getting very close. The way I know I’m getting close is because each draft gets subsequently faster. When I start an initial draft, it can take upwards of a month to a month and a half for that very first draft. By the time I’m done, I can usually get through a draft or a pass of the novel in about two or three days, depending on how long it is. Update on Malcom Braxton and the Dragon War, a YA fantasy Novel! On Malcolm Braxton, I haven’t done much with that during this last month, but I was working with an artist to get a map done for the book and that has just recently been finished. That’s been very exciting to see. I think I’ll probably publish the map before I actually publish the book, but we’ll have to see how that goes. So, what comes after The Shooter? A brand new Legal Thriller and the next Mitch Turner Novel! I’m getting very excited for the next two projects I’ll be working on after I finish up with The Shooter. I’ve been planning this first one for quite some time now and think it will be very thrilling. I already know the name of the book going into it which isn’t always the case. I anticipate being able to get this next novel done before I start on the next Mitch Turner novel which I plan to release in December 2026! —Dan Decker

It’s been a very exciting month. Things have been going very well over here at Grim Archer Media. I think I say that every time, but it’s actually true. I’m just very glad that the projects I’m working on are progressing. First off, I can tell you that I now have two title names to reveal to you. The first one is I have decided on a name for the sequel to The Fixer and it’s going to be called The Shooter. It’s a really fun, exciting book. I’m working on it right now and I’m going to start the fourth draft here in a few minutes. I’m very pleased with how this story has come together. It’s really been just kind of gluing together for me. And so I should hopefully have more updates on that soon. Kirk Hoffman is returning and you will also see the most of the—all the characters on his team as well. They’re all returning. And I’m not going to say much more about it than that, but very exciting. I’m really liking the title. It’s a very simple title, but I think it’s really going to fit the book quite well. So more on that to come. The next thing I have to announce to you is the title of the YA fantasy novel that I worked on for a little bit last year and I’m finishing up this year. It’s going to be called Malcolm Braxton and the Dragon War. Very excited about this as well. I have an artist right now who’s working on a map for the novel to put together some geography. And so that’s coming along really well. I hope to have that novel out here in the next few months. Those two project are really what’s been taking the majority of my time. Thank you all for reading and supporting! The Wild Card has been doing great. The Rat’s Nest, that’s also been doing awesome and Hard Lines that’s also been doing very well as well. Thank you all for reading and tuning in and I hope everybody has a great week!

It has been a busy month, but it’s also been a very good month. I’ve got a lot of things done I just finished the first draft of the next Kirk Hoffman novel. I’m really pleased with how it’s come coming along. It’s going to be a fun ride. I think it’s one that everybody will enjoy. Kirk Hoffman is back, and the story picks up when he is in southern Utah. So anyhow, more to come on that. Things have been going very well otherwise. I’m going to step away from the Kirk Hoffman novel here for a couple of days to work on the fantasy novel that I’ve been talking about now for over a year. It was just a year ago that I finished it. And I’ve been distracted writing thrillers and legal thrillers so that I’ve been too distracted to get back to it anyhow. I should be hopefully finishing that and getting it sent off for copyediting here in the next few days I don’t know an exact time frame, but it should go pretty quick. That is pretty much all I have by way of updates. And today I have chapter two now of Only The Guilty.

Things have been going very well over here at Grim Archer Media. December was a very busy month for me, so I was unable to put a writing update out last month, but I was actually doing mostly publishing last month, so there wasn’t a lot to report about last month. Last month I did publish three novels, I published Hard Lines, the next Jason Maxfield novel, and then after that, The Rat’s Nest, the next Audrey Spencer novel, and then finally the Wild Card, the next Mitch Turner novel. So that’s pretty much a full year’s worth of writing dropping all at once. Part of the reason why I did that was because I kind of got a little bit behind on hard lines. It was my intention to publish it last summer, and that didn’t quite work out. I kind of ran out of time and events overcame me. Now, I did have one other novel I wrote early last year, a short Ya fantasy novel. I did a revision of that last week. I’m hoping to get that out here in the next little bit. I have a title for the novel, but I’m not yet ready to announce that. I’m going to mull it over and make sure I’m really happy with the title. I am currently working on a sequel to The Fixer, the next Kirk Hoffman novel. It’s going really well. I’m about four to eight percent of the way through the first draft. I anticipate finishing the first draft here over the next month to month and a half, and then after that, the subsequent revisions usually go a lot faster. Finally, the audiobook for Only the Guilty. It’s done. Eric Dove is back, and he’s done a fantastic job with the narration. I’m looking forward to, that being out here in officially, it should be done. It’s my side of it is all done. It’s just now audible, taking its time to review the technical requirements, make sure it fits all that, and then it should be published here within the next few days or the next week or two. that’s pretty much it for writing updates. But I do have another chapter of the second option audiobook.

It has certainly been a very busy month, and I can’t believe I’m sitting down here again to record another podcast with a writing update and the first chapter of The Second Option, Mitch Turner #6. It’s just been a very crazy time period for me. Anyhow, a couple of brief updates. The Second Option Audiobook is now out and it’s available on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes. So if you haven’t had a chance to check it out, now is a good opportunity. I will have the first chapter of The Second Option here on the podcast at the end of my writing update. So if you’re interested for a little taste of what it’s like, you can get it here. Also, I am working very hard right now on Mitch Turner #7, that has been taking almost all of my time. It’s been going very well. I’m very pleased with the progress. I don’t have a firm release date yet, but it will either be in December or early January, so that tells you I’m pretty far along in the process. I’m feeling really good about it. I’m closing in here on the final few drafts, and so hopefully more to come on that very soon. I have two books that for sure are going to be published in December: Hard Line and The Rat’s Nest. Hard Line has been done now for actually quite a few months, and it’s just taken me a while to push it through the copyediting process. I’m happy to finally be releasing Jason Maxfield #4 or Hard Line. That should be a very fun book. I’ve got some really good, positive beta reader feedback, so we will have to see what everybody thinks about it when I release it here. That will be coming out very soon in December. Also, Audrey Spencer #2, The Rat’s Nest, is pretty much done, so that is going to be coming out here in December as well. December is certainly shaping up to be a very busy month for me. Anyhow, that’s all I have for writing updates this week. So now we have chapter one of The Second Option, Mitch Turner #6. —Dan Decker

It’s time for another writing update. Things have been going very well over here. I have just recently finished Audrey Spencer #2 , and that is going to be titled The Rat’s Nest. So the first book in the series is called The Killers Club, and I thought The Rat’s Nest would be a good title for the second book, and that’s going to be coming out here within the next month or two. I am currently doing beta reading on that, and after that’s done, it’s going to go to copyediting. So more to come on that very soon. Also, Jason Maxfield #4, and I can’t remember if I’ve announced the title for this yet or not. It is titled Hard Line. Hard Line will be coming out here very soon. It’s done, pretty much done with the copyediting process. And so I will be getting that released here shortly, sometime in November, so stay tuned for that. Work is going great on Mitch Turner #7. I’m really pleased with the storyline and how it’s coming along, and that will be coming down the pipe as well. And if that wasn’t enough for writing updates, I can also announce that the second option audiobook will soon be out. And I also contracted with Eric to begin work on Only the Guilty. He will also be doing the audiobook version of that. So a lot is going on here. Lots of fun, exciting things. I’ve been very busy with everything I’ve been working on, but I have a lot of different things coming down the pipe here. So without any further ado, here is the next chapter of The Good Client. By the way, you can purchase the full audiobook here on Audible.

Just checking in with a writing update and another chapter of the Good Client. Things are going very well for me over here at Grim Archer Media. It's been a while since my last writing update, so I have actually quite a bit to talk about. First thing is the second option. Audiobook is nearly done. I don't have a firm date on when it will be available on Audible and iTunes and Amazon, but that will be coming here probably within the next two weeks, if not even a little bit sooner. So be on the lookout for that. Book two of the Audrey Spencer series is now almost done. I've made incredible headway on that, and I am putting the finishing touches on that now, and will hopefully be sending that over for copy editing soon. I don't think I've announced yet, but the title for the new Jason Maxfield book is Hard Line, and it is going to be released here probably within the next month. Copyediting is almost done on that. I've kind of been a little bit slow getting that one out, because I've been so focused on Audrey Spencer, but that one is coming. And finally, Mitch Turner, number seven. Yes. I can't believe we're already up to book seven. I'm going to be starting on that full time here very soon. I've already done work on that, and I am looking forward to turning my full time attention to that. Anyhow, that is all I have today for the writing update. Today I also have for you chapter four of The Good Client. This book is available on Audible, Amazon, iTunes, and, uh, here is chapter four.

Over here at Grimm Mature Media, we are still celebrating 10,000 ratings and reviews on The Good Client, the first book that really kicked off my career here. And today I am going to be sharing with you chapter three. 

As I mentioned last week on the podcast, we are currently celebrating the Good client hitting 10,000 ratings and reviews on Amazon, and as such, I have been sharing audible samples of the audiobook. This week we're continuing with Chapter 2 of The Good Client!

Well sometime within the last month or two. I don't remember exactly when, I don't remember the exact date. The Good Client, which is really the book that kicked off my career as an author, crossed over 10,000 ratings and reviews on Amazon, which is just astonishing to me.

This week I'm going to be reading to you from the upcoming forthcoming Jason Maxfield thriller. book number four. I believe I have finally decided on a title. I'm not yet willing to share it, but I will be sharing it here as time goes on. for those of you that are not aware, Jason Maxfield is my primary thriller series at the moment. I have been really having a lot of time writing this book. It starts off with Max damage, and that story starts off with kind of a bang, and it just doesn't let up through the whole the whole book. So here is a work in progress update from Jason Maxfield. Number four title forthcoming.

Well, we are finally coming to the end of the number of minutes I can release from the Fixer audio book before I start to run into problems with my exclusivity agreement on Audible. So today, I'm happy to present you with chapter eight, which will be the last free chapter I can post. There are now eight total chapters out there available various places on YouTube, on my website, on Substack, and some of them even made it onto some social media platforms as well. So if you somehow missed those, definitely go and check those out today before we get into chapter eight of The Fixer. I did want to share a couple of recent reviews that came in from some readers that I really enjoyed that I thought were kind of fun. And so I will go ahead and read them for you now. One person said, this is a real thriller and I didn't want to put this one down. It kept me. He kept me guessing for sure. A must read and very suspenseful. I really like to hear that. That's always what I'm trying to go for, is to make it so it's difficult to put it down, and you just want to keep tearing through the pages. Another one said it's easy to get into many plot twists. You never know who the good guys are. This lawyer goes above and beyond for his client. And, uh, the way that he titled his review, there was never know who done it. Anyhow, a couple of really good reviews there that came in within the last, uh, little bit here, and I thought I'd share those with you. So today, here is chapter eight of The Fixer.

Last week, I gave a writing update talking about both Audrey Spencer #2 and Jason Maxfield #4. But I neglected to mention that I am also now working on Mitch Turner #7! Yes, I have started the preliminary work on that novel, and I am excited so far about what the story is going to entail. I'm not going to say much more about it than that, but just wanted to make sure I also got that out there. Today we have chapters six and seven from The Fixer audiobook.

I am happy to report that Jason Maxfield number four was finished earlier this week! It was definitely a lot of fun, and I can't wait to get it out here in a few months for everybody to read.  This is one of Jason's most interesting adventures so far. In this story, he returns back to Chicago in search of the truth about what happened to him in the fateful events of the first book, Max Damage. I'm very pleased with how the series is progressing, and I am excited to get this book done!  Right now, it's going through beta readers. After that, I will probably make some minor adjustments and then send it over for copyediting and proofreading. So, great news on that front. Also, this week, Audrey Spencer #2 has my full attention! I already have a title in mind for this book because it has come to me much earlier in the process than normal. I think I actually came up with that when searching for a title for Jason Maxfield #4, which is still untitled.  I need to get on that.  Anyhow, I'm not ready to announce the title Audrey Spencer #2 yet, but I will be announcing it as I get closer to finishing the book. The good news is that before I went heads down on Jason Maxfield #4, I got a big chunk of this book done, so I'm already off to a running start. There's not a lot I'm gonna say about Audrey Spencer #2 yet. I will tell you, though, that both Detective Michaels and Detective Ramirez are back in the saddle too. Finally, I should mention that Amazon is running a sale this month on three of my novels. The first two Jason Maxfield books: Max Damage and Bad Blood. Also, The Killer's Club is on sale.  So, if you haven't yet checked out any of those books, now is an opportunity to do so at a discount!  You might've noticed that I've been posting chapters from my latest audiobook, The Fixer, and I think I still have at least one more chapter of the audiobook that I'm going to be putting up. If you have missed those, they are on my website, YouTube, Substack, Podcast, etc. Have a great weekend, everybody!

This week I’m releasing Chapter 5 of my latest legal thriller audiobook The Fixer. The first four chapters are already available in a variety of places so check them out! A recent reader review of the ebook has this to say: “A plot twister! Riveting. Great characters. A wonderfully twisted plot that keeps you second guessing "whodunnit" all through the book. Really well written. A great length..not too short or too long. Looking forward to reading more from this author!” Anyhow, at this point in the story, Kirk Hoffman has now heard Dwayne Sachs’s version of events and is still very concerned that Sachs is lying about what happened to his girlfriend.  The full book is on Audible. And now, Chapter 5!

I am continuing to work through my sample chapters for The Fixer, a legal Thriller. The first three sample chapters have already been released in a variety of places. The full book, of course, is already available on Audible. https://www.audible.com/pd/B0F6DGG85F/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-447610&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_447610_rh_us In the previous chapters, we've been introduced to Kirk Hoffman and the rest of his team, and we are now getting to know the client and hear his side of the story. So now on to Chapter 4.

This week is Chapter Three! The full audiobook is available on Audible. AN INTERNET BULLY AND MILLIONAIRE IS CHARGED WITH MURDER. Attorney Kirk Hoffman only represents the innocent and works behind the scenes to help his clients. But when Dwayne Sachs, a contentious online influencer and the son of a former client, comes to Hoffman on a murder charge, he can’t say no, even though it seems like a simple case and there is little doubt Dwayne is guilty. He just seems the type. BUT KIRK HOFFMAN IS CONVINCED DWAYNE SACHS IS INNOCENT. Dwayne was caught on camera visiting Rebecca Shuffield in her hotel room shortly before she was found brutally stabbed to death and there are no other suspects, but Hoffman sees something others don’t and signs Dwayne as a client. His investigation isn’t even a day old, and everybody on Hoffman’s team is convinced Dwayne is the killer, but he stubbornly pushes forward, soon discovering outside pressures trying to coerce a resolution. EXTERNAL FORCES COMPLICATE MATTERS. Hounded by the media, chased by people hidden in shadows, and dogged by those intent on Dwayne’s destruction--both friend and foe alike--it isn’t long before Hoffman, his team, and even Hoffman’s family are all endangered because of Hoffman’s dogged determination to see this through to the bitter end regardless of the personal cost to him. Can Hoffman identify the murderer in time to stop him from killing again? Can he prove his instincts are correct without it costing everything he holds dear? Can he discover the truth when it seems everybody around him is determined to hide it? If you enjoy fast-paced legal thrillers that keep you guessing until the very end, this book is a must-read! Buy yours today!

Last week featured Chapter One, and this week is Chapter Two! The full audiobook is available on Audible. AN INTERNET BULLY AND MILLIONAIRE IS CHARGED WITH MURDER. Attorney Kirk Hoffman only represents the innocent and works behind the scenes to help his clients. But when Dwayne Sachs, a contentious online influencer and the son of a former client, comes to Hoffman on a murder charge, he can’t say no, even though it seems like a simple case and there is little doubt Dwayne is guilty. He just seems the type. BUT KIRK HOFFMAN IS CONVINCED DWAYNE SACHS IS INNOCENT. Dwayne was caught on camera visiting Rebecca Shuffield in her hotel room shortly before she was found brutally stabbed to death and there are no other suspects, but Hoffman sees something others don’t and signs Dwayne as a client. His investigation isn’t even a day old, and everybody on Hoffman’s team is convinced Dwayne is the killer, but he stubbornly pushes forward, soon discovering outside pressures trying to coerce a resolution. EXTERNAL FORCES COMPLICATE MATTERS. Hounded by the media, chased by people hidden in shadows, and dogged by those intent on Dwayne’s destruction--both friend and foe alike--it isn’t long before Hoffman, his team, and even Hoffman’s family are all endangered because of Hoffman’s dogged determination to see this through to the bitter end regardless of the personal cost to him. Can Hoffman identify the murderer in time to stop him from killing again? Can he prove his instincts are correct without it costing everything he holds dear? Can he discover the truth when it seems everybody around him is determined to hide it? If you enjoy fast-paced legal thrillers that keep you guessing until the very end, this book is a must-read! Buy yours today!

I have a number of updates this week and here is the first chapter from The Fixer audiobook! The book is available on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes. Here is the Audible link: https://www.audible.com/pd/B0F6DGG85F/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-447610&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_447610_rh_us

The Fixer Audiobook should soon be available and other updates.

I'm very pleased with how its coming, listen for details!

I’m pleased to report that I finished with my review of the Fixer Audiobook this week and other updates, watch for the details!

Only The Guilty is on sale this month, courtesy of Amazon, and other updates, listen for details!

Just started another draft of JM #4, Audrey Spencer #2 is going strong, and The Victim's Wife is still on sale but ends soon. Listen for details!

 Jason Maxfield #4 and Audrey Spencer are both moving forward. A new cover for The Second Option and The Fixer Audiobook. Listen for details! 

The Good Client is on sale for $2.49, today only! Jason Maxfield #4 is done with a big revision, Audrey Spencer #2 continues to move forward, listen to the podcast for details!

Jason Maxfield #4 and Audrey Spencer #2 are both picking up some steam. I'm also working on The Fixer audiobook, listen for details!

Jason Maxfield #4 is going very well and working on Audrey Spencer #2 as well, listen for details!

The YA Fantasy is done and going out to beta readers. I’m now turning full time to Jason Maxfield #4. And of course, I’ll be working on Audrey Spencer as well. Listen for the details!

The YA Fantasy is almost done, working on Audrey Spencer, and I’m excited to pick up Jason Maxfield #4!

Max Damage & Blood Games are on Sale on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca. I believe it lasts through the month of February. Check out the podcast for the writing update!

It's been a good week, I'm making progress on an outline for Audrey Spencer #2!

 I had some inspiration yesterday, and I started working on Audrey Spencer Number Two, that is the sequel to The Killer's Club. Listen to the podcast for details!

Things are going well! Still working on the fantasy thriller project and gearing up for Jason Maxfield #4 and Audrey Spencer #2. Listen for more details.

Hope everybody's having a good week and a good day. Things over here at Grim Archer Media are going pretty dang well.

 Crazy to think that we're already in the new year. Hope everybody out there had a great holiday season and that you're buckling down for what the new year is going to bring to us. Anyhow, uh, just a couple of quick updates for you. If you missed it, The Second Option is now out and also The Fixer is out as well. Both of them came out in December and both of them are doing very well. So go ahead and check them out!

 Hello, everybody. It's almost Christmas time. It's so crazy that we're basically just five or six days away from it now. Anyhow, thought I would just do a quick update here today. Things have been going very well. I got The Fixer out last week and now all versions are available except for the audiobook, which will come later. Of course, but the paperback, the hardback and the ebook are now all available on Amazon. So if you haven't yet taken a look, you might want to consider it. I consider this to be one of the most fast-paced stories I've written in recent times. An unusual legal thriller, kind of different than the ones I've done in the past, but I think it's a great ride, and I hope that any of you who choose to read it will certainly enjoy it. Anyhow, I am now, neck-deep in the final edits for The Second Option. I usually do a paper review right before I finally publish, and that's what I'm working on right now. I have the paper copy sitting in front of me on my desk, and I am currently on page 52, I will be starting that up here again once I'm done with this update. The Second Option has been coming along really well. I couldn't be more pleased with it. Shout out to editors and other people who have helped me push it through the process here to get it ready for publishing. As I've mentioned in the past, The Second Option deals primarily with Frank Ward, Mitch Turner's nemesis in past cases, specifically The Verdict where he convicted Barbara Sampson, Mitch's ex-girlfriend at the time. And of course, if you «spoiler alert» if you have read The Last Mile, then you'll also know that Mitch gets back together with her at the end of that book. But anyhow, so this book starts out with Mitch Turner outside the county attorney's office, and he is on his way from a meeting, and some cops show up and he sticks around to see what's going on. And it turns out that somebody has been stabbed in the basement of the county building, and they have arrested Frank Ward for it. Frank and Mitch look at each other, and Mitch knows who Frank's going to call. And Mitch is, of course, very conflicted about this because of what happened in the events of The Verdict. Anyhow, so Mitch decides to take on Frank Ward as a client, even though he does have some personal conflict of interest there. And it's a rip-roaring story. It goes through a couple good twists and I can't wait to get it out for everybody to check out. So anyhow, that should be coming out here in the next few business days. So hopefully, I get it published right before Christmas. I'm now close enough and far enough in the process that I feel very comfortable saying that that's my goal and my self-imposed deadline. So I should hit that. Barring some world changing events, which hopefully won't happen. Very excited for this book. I think you guys are all going to have a great ride. And it's always good to get another Mitch Turner book done and out. Like I said before, it's a visit from an old friend. A good friend, somebody who I've come to know very well and will come to know very well over the years as I continue to write regular stories about Mitch Turner. Anyhow, this one ends with a very fun ending. I think you're going to enjoy it. So better get back to my review so I can hit my deadline. Thank you everybody! Have a great day and a great week.

 It's been a long time in coming, but The Fixer is finally out and is now available on Amazon. I am so happy to finally have it out in the wild. Both the ebook is available as well as the hardcover. The paperback will be coming online here in a little bit as well. Kirk Hoffman is a great character and I think you guys are going to have a good time with this story. Here is the book description: AN INTERNET BULLY AND MILLIONAIRE IS CHARGED WITH MURDER. Attorney Kirk Hoffman only represents the innocent and works behind the scenes to help his clients. But when Dwayne Sachs, a contentious online influencer and the son of a former client, comes to Hoffman on a murder charge, he can’t say no, even though it seems like a simple case and there is little doubt Dwayne is guilty. He just seems the type. BUT KIRK HOFFMAN IS CONVINCED DWAYNE SACHS IS INNOCENT. Dwayne was caught on camera visiting Rebecca Shuffield in her hotel room shortly before she was found brutally stabbed to death and there are no other suspects, but Hoffman sees something others don’t and signs Dwayne as a client. His investigation isn’t even a day old, and everybody on Hoffman’s team is convinced Dwayne is the killer, but he stubbornly pushes forward, soon discovering outside pressures trying to coerce a resolution. EXTERNAL FORCES COMPLICATE MATTERS. Hounded by the media, chased by people hidden in shadows, and dogged by those intent on Dwayne’s destruction--both friend and foe alike--it isn’t long before Hoffman, his team, and even Hoffman’s family are all endangered because of Hoffman’s dogged determination to see this through to the bitter end regardless of the personal cost to him. Can Hoffman identify the murderer in time to stop him from killing again? Can he prove his instincts are correct without it costing everything he holds dear? Can he discover the truth when it seems everybody around him is determined to hide it? If you enjoy fast-paced legal thrillers that keep you guessing until the very end, this book is a must-read! Buy yours today!

I am happy to report that The Second Option, Mitch Turner book #6, is done and that copy editing and beta reading is underway! I can now safely say that I should be publishing this book in December.  It's always interesting for me to get to the end of another book. In some ways, I'm always glad to be done with the project because I've read through it so many times that I feel like if I have to do it one more time, I'm going to go crazy. On the other hand, it feels like I'm letting go of something that I've spent months on, and there's a little bit of nostalgia as well.  With each new Mitch Turner novel, it's always interesting because it feels like a visit from an old friend. It's amazing to me how distinct Mitch Turner is of a character. Earlier today, I was working on edits for The Fixer, which is written in first person as well, similar to the Mitch Turner novels, and I thought how curious it was how instantly when I switched over to working on The Fixer from The Second Option. I immediately slid into the different character even though it was also written in first person.  Kind of fun how that works.  Anyhow, I am finally in a place where I am now going to be publishing The Fixer, I know I've been teasing this book for many months, but it's finally coming, and I anticipate that I should have it out next week!  And then, it'll be time to turn my attention back to the final edits from The Second Option. More to come on that very soon. Hope everybody out there is having a great week!

At long last I’m ready to reveal the title of the next Mitch Turner novel. I’ve previously just been referring to it as Mitch Turner #6, but I can now announce that it will be titled The Second Option.  I'm really excited about this title, and I think you will be too, when you read the book. One of the things I wanted to highlight this week was the George W Dunne Cook County Office Building, which plays a big part in this story. It’s interesting sometimes because I hear other authors talking about how cities can be a character in their stories. In The Second Option, I almost feel like the Dunne building is a character in the story because of how often it comes up. One of the interesting things I found during my research for this novel was a video taken from the inside of the elevator at the Dunne building. It was actually useful to the story. Here is a link. I don't have a lot of things I'm going to say today because I'm heads down still working on The Second Option, hoping to get it done here soon. I'm very close, so that's all I'm going to say. Just a reminder to be looking for The Fixer, coming soon in December! Anyhow, hope everybody's having a great week!

Mitch Turner #6 continues to move along. I am somewhere between 84 and 89% done. The story is really coming together. I just had a conversation with one of my primary editors and let him know that I should be getting it to him in the near future for copyediting.  This week I wanted to talk a little bit about Barbara. She has been Mitch's love interest on and off since the second book. And was even the subject of a full book in The Verdict. She does make an appearance again in this book. One of the things that's very curious to me is just how distinct her personality is in my own mind. I have a very clear mental image of her and her personality, and feel like I know her about as well as I know Mitch. The Barbara storyline has always been fun and interesting because I has never gone how I anticipated. Barbara goes her own way, perhaps this is why Mitch's so attracted to her. Anyhow just thought I would let you know that there will be more of Barbara in this book, not nearly as much as there was in The Verdict, she probably won't ever be the full subject of another book like she was in that one, but she does make an appearance, and I guess I will leave it at that!  Anyhow, I have lots more I could say, or I could get back to writing on Mitch Turner #6, so I think I will go do that.  Be on the lookout for The Fixer coming soon!

Well, here we are in a new month! November 2024. The end of the year is just right around the corner. While things have been very busy, I have been spending a lot of time here at Grim Archer Media headquarters working on Mitch Turner #6. Today I was looking at a note for a potential title for this book, and it struck me that the note that I made might be the actual title. It's still not a final decision, so I won't say anything about it here, but I think I have a title that will fit nicely with the book as a whole. More to come on that in the next few weeks. Anyhow, it has been another great week of incredible progress on Mitch Turner #6. Just the other day, I added in a few paragraphs at a key place that slightly adjusted the whole story. I’d peg it at about 80 - 85% done. I figured today that I would talk about the victim in Mitch's most recent case to give you an idea about what the story is going to involve. Ainsley Karsten is found dead in the basement of the state's attorney's office building. She’s smart and dedicated and always wanted to be a prosecuting attorney, and she accomplished that dream when she came to work at the state's attorney's office, even after receiving considerable resistance from her parents, who would have preferred that she'd gone in a different direction. In her spare time Ainsley liked to help people who were having legal problems, but were having difficulty getting other officials to pay attention and help meet their needs. So why did she wind up stabbed in the basement of the State’s Attorney’s office building? And why was Frank Ward charged with her murder?  One of the interesting things about being an author is the emotions you sometimes feel about the things that happen in your book. I really like Ainsley's character, and find myself wishing it would have been somebody else so I could write a story about her one day. So that's a little bit about the victim in this case.  Last week in talking about The Fixer, I spoke about Kirk Hoffman, telling you about his approach to practicing law. Even though his law practice is based in Salt Lake City, he takes clients from all over, and in future cases, we can expect to see him popping up in interesting places. Kirk Hoffman is an avid outdoorsman, whose favorite vehicle is a Jeep, so unlike Mitch Turner, who likes fast cars and city life, Hoffman enjoys four wheelers, and spending time out on the middle of a trail in the middle of nowhere, getting lost and trying to find his way back. It’s kind of how he lives his life. Anyhow, I'm starting to feel really good about where everything is on Mitch Turner #6, so I will definitely be turning my attention to publishing The Fixer here in the next couple weeks. That's it for this week I hope everybody has a great week!  

Happy Halloween! It’s been another week and another draft of Mitch Turner Book 6 is done! I've had a couple more ideas come to me on the title of the novel but still nothing has solidified yet. Things are coming together, and with every passing day, I become more comfortable that I will hit my self-imposed deadline. There is not a lot to say about this part of the process as I fine-tune the story and the writing.  Book Six introduces a number of new characters that haven't been mentioned in previous books, characters that might show up again in future books.  A new character I want to highlight today is Cook County State's Attorney Patrick Rebane. He has a huge ego and has had mixed interactions with Mitch Turner in the past, though they haven't ever had a case facing off against one another. The Patrick Rebane character is fun to write because he doesn't see the world in the same way Mitch Turner does, which brings them into inherent conflict. I'm hoping everybody has an entertaining time meeting this character and seeing him has he interacts with Mitch Turner and the rest of the cast in this particular novel.  I also just wanted to take a moment as well to talk about Kirk Hoffman, the main character in my upcoming novel The Fixer. As I've mentioned in other places, Kirk Hoffman is a brand new character that's never been seen before anywhere else, but I am planning to have him appear in other books in at least one other series. No, it's not Mitch Turner, but another one. I'm not going to reveal anything more about that yet. Hoffman is in his mid forties and has dedicated his life to making sure that he protects innocent people, refusing to take clients that he believes are guilty. His approach to practicing law is all about staying out of the courtroom as much as possible and proving beyond a shadow of a doubt his clients are innocent by finding the actual criminals.  As I look at my schedule, I'm currently thinking of trying to get The Fixer out in the middle of November, we will have to see how it goes, though. I've been making enough progress with Mitch Turner Book Six, and I've had enough momentum that I think I’ll be able to do that.  Since it's Halloween, I thought I’d highlight Grizzly Wolf, one of my Halloween short stories that I published several years back. Here is the description: Jim Cannon and his coworker Melanie have been called in to rescue an injured hiker and his girlfriend. They get out of the car at the trailhead and immediately hear a wolf howling. They don't know what to make of this because wolves disappeared from this section of the forest over a hundred years ago. Armed with a tranquilizer gun and a pistol, and hoping that these weapons will be sufficient should they run into any trouble, they don't make it far before they find the torn up body of a hiker. Fearing the worst, but knowing they still have one hiker to rescue, they push forward at considerable personal risk. Minutes later they come face to face with a wolf-like creature. Jim and Melanie are forced to run for their lives. This story has many twists and turns while they fight for survival. Fans of monster stories will find this exciting and chilling, while also enjoying the wild ride. Pick up your copy today!  

Mitch Turner #6 is inching forward along with increasing momentum, even though I did have a few days out of the office during the last week. I’m somewhere between 72% to 77% percent done with the manuscript. At this point I’m fine-tuning storylines, fixing problems, looking for continuity errors, and refining the story as a whole. It’s always interesting how at this stage of the writing process, just a few words in the right place can shift the whole story. It’s always fascinating when that happens. I have a couple of different titles that I’ve come up with over the last few weeks but, nothing’s stuck out to me as being the right title yet though so I still don’t have anything to announce on that front. Since I’m gearing up to release The Fixer in November, here’s a little more about it: Kirk Hoffman is about to have a blast from the past when the son of a former client is charged with murder and comes to Kirk for representation. Kirk initially doesn’t want to take the case for a variety of reasons, the primary one being that he thinks the guy probably did it, but he agrees to take a look at the case over the objections of his team. That’s when things get interesting and he becomes concerned there’s a possibility that this guy who seems likely to have committed the crime could be innocent.

I have made great progress this week on Mitch Turner #6! The story is coming together as a whole. At this stage, I’m usually focused on what I can cut out. Many times, when I am writing, I will have various ideas that make their way into the manuscript. Many make it through into the final pass, but a lot of them don’t because they don’t fit, and because of that, I always have to be careful to look at what’s there, decide if it makes sense for it to stay, and if it does, how is it going to work into the overarching plot.   Mitch Turner #6 features Frank Ward as the defendant. It starts out with Turner coming out of a meeting at the State’s Attorney’s office in downtown Chicago. He becomes curious when emergency responders pull up to the building, and he sticks around to see what’s happening. He soon sees a woman rushed out on a stretcher and a few minutes after that, Frank Ward is brought out in handcuffs.   Ward looks dazed and confused, and when he sees Turner, his eyes light up and Turner knows exactly who Frank Ward is going to call for representation.   The problem is Turner still hasn’t forgiven Ward for what he did to Barbara.   This story has been on my mind for a while now. I knew Frank Ward would be Mitch’s defendant at some point and that it would be an uphill battle for Turner every step of the way. Things are moving very well on this project. I’m technically at the end of draft four and will start draft five soon. At this point in my process, I am usually trying to do a draft a week for a book that’s this long because I like to work on the book as a cohesive whole, and doing rapid iterations through it allows me to see the pieces that need to be brought together or massaged or edited or deleted.   Also, don’t forget that The Fixer is on the horizon and will be coming out in November! I am super excited about this book. It features Kirk Hoffman. This is the first novel in which Kirk Hoffman appears. He’s an attorney who works with a dedicated team that he has collected together over the years. His express goal is to find justice, and he’s usually interested in making it happen outside the courtroom rather than within. So be on the lookout for The Fixer! Just a reminder, The Killers Club is now out as an audiobook. Anyhow, that’s how everything is going over here. Have a great week everybody!

Hello and welcome back to the Dan Decker Books podcast. I hope everybody out there is having a great week this week. Over here at Grim Archer Media, things couldn't be going any better. Things have been going very well. As you probably know, I released the Killers Club audiobook last week and that has been off to a 0:25 fantastic start. Thank you for all of you out there who are supporting that particular book. I know that there's a substantial portion of my readers that prefer audiobooks, and so I'm glad that I'm able to get that out there for them. I'm hoping to get more audio books out soon within the next six months or so. 0:45 For me, it's always kind of a bit of a decision to if I'm going to do an audio book or not, because even though it takes, I'm not the one doing the narration or anything like that, it does take a substantial chunk of my time to review the audio book and make sure 1:02 that I'm happy with how everything's been done. That usually takes somewhere between a couple days to almost a full week, depending on the length of the audiobook. The Killer's Club was a much longer book, so that took a lot more of my time. And it left me a little bit drained, 1:20 but I'm hoping to do some other audio books here in the near future. One of the audio books that I'd like to see done is Only the Guilty. And then I also want to start working on the Jason Maxfield books and getting those all turned to audio. So we'll see how that goes. 1:36 At some point, I am definitely planning to do those books. Anyhow, the big thing I've been working on now that the Killers Club audio book is out is Mitch Turner No. 6. 1:47 I've been thinking about it today, just wondering how long it is that I've actively been working on this project. And I started doing it clear back in June. It looks like the first day I narrated a file was June 12th. If you don't know, I actually do narration. I've found that narration works really well for me. 2:08 And I kind of have a little bit of an unusual process, I think. Well, a lot of authors don't use narration, but for me, what I do is I actually pull out a voice recorder and I pace around my office while I dictate a chapter, usually about 10 minutes or so. Sometimes that's a full chapter. 2:26 Sometimes it's part of a chapter. I will dictate that. And then I will run that audio through Dragon Dictation. I have the most recent Dragon Dictation software, and then it will transcribe that for me. And then what I will do after that is then I will do a couple passes. Usually I can't remember. Sometimes I won't. 2:46 Sometimes I'll just move on to the next chapter and we'll see how it goes. So back in June, I was still working full time on Jason Maxfield number four. I was hoping to get it done before I needed to start working full time on Mitch Turner number six, but I didn't, 3:02 it didn't quite work out the way I wanted. Uh, Anyhow, so I started working on it on June 12th, and that's when I would start just doing a 10-minute, maybe 15 or 20-minute amount of narration every day, and then going and working full-time on Jason Maxfield. Well, somewhere in August, 3:20 I think that first or second week in August, I finished with the present draft I was working on with Jason Maxfield, number four. I'm not sure if that was draft three or four, something like that. After I was done with that, setting it aside, 3:36 then I went and I have started working full time on Mitch Turner number six. There was some of the narration that I needed to finish. I was probably at least 50 or 60,000 words into it by that time. 3:48 And so I went and I finished narrating the rest of the book before I started going back and revising it. Usually for me, it works better to have kind of the whole book finished. or a whole outline in place. I say I'm a discovery writer, 4:03 but really what I am doing that first draft is making an outline of the book. And it's always surprising to me that there are sometimes things I put in that I'm like, oh, I think I'm probably gonna delete this later, where I actually come back and I find a way to make it work. 4:18 It's always kind of interesting how that works out. But anyhow, so back in August, I started working full time on Mitch Turner. Number six, I got to the end of draft one or the outline as you want. It could also be referred to. And, 4:35 About that time, it was just over 100,000 words, which was what I was shooting for. Most of the Mitch Turner books are all about 100,000 words. The Good Client's a little shorter, the Presumption is a little bit longer, but they usually fall within that general range. 4:49 And then I go through and then I flesh out a lot of the things that haven't been fleshed out or or what have you. So by the time I was done with that process, really draft two, I was up in the 140,000 word range, which is a lot more than I wanted the book to be. 5:08 Luckily though, as I was working here and I'd actually just finished draft four, Ray. So draft four is done and I'm now starting, just started today on draft five. But now that I have that But during the middle of draft four, it swelled up almost up to 145,000 words. 5:25 But I found some chapters that weren't really adding anything into it. So I've been able now to get it down 10,000 words to about 135,000 words. which is a lot more comfortable for me for this particular book. The Mitch Turner books usually move along at a pretty good rate. 5:41 There isn't a lot of filler or fluff to them. And so I'm happy where that's at right now. And I'm thinking that by the time I'm done, I'll probably get it down to about 130,000 words. We'll have to see. But I'm feeling really good at the end of draft four. 5:58 The story is pretty much solidified and the book is all the main points are there. Now it's just going back and reworking the details, making sure transitions are working, making sure I have appropriate foreshadowing, making sure I have all sorts of little details like that. So that's where I'm at, feeling really good about it. 6:21 I have had some projects in the past that took me a lot more effort to get to that point. There was one project I was working on where I would go home and I'd tell my wife, not quite sure who did it yet. And I would tell her that for a month or two even on that project. 6:39 That project took me a lot longer to kind of figure out the details. Since that time, I've been a lot more detailed about the way I kind of approach a particular project. And what I will often do is I will make notes actually in the document as I go. 6:55 Word has a comment feature that allows me to just make a comment and then I'll go back and revise it. So when I was done with draft three of Mitch Turner, number six, and still don't have a title yet. have a couple of things I'm still mulling over, probably will be for a few more weeks here, 7:12 if not another month or so. But I had like about 150 comments and I went through and I got most of them removed and I think I got it down to about 40. So at the end of draft for today, I was looking and I had just over 200 comments of little kind of task list items I 7:29 needed to go back and rework and revise and edit and kind of look at. Anyhow, so, uh, draft four is off to a great start and it's just going really well. Uh, I haven't yet said when I am targeting to release this, uh, primarily cause I like to give myself some wiggle room, 7:46 but I am hoping to release this in the December, January timeframe. We'll have to see a lot of the Mitch Turner books have come out, uh, about that time. The good client, if I remember correctly, was released in January. Then the victim's wife was released in December of that same year. The presumption, 8:08 I actually think I got out in August, but then I know the verdict came out in November and then the last mile came out last year in December. And so I'm starting, I'm targeting that same general timeframe. And I'm feeling really comfortable that I'm going to be able to hit that. So that's really good. 8:24 So everything is on track with Mitch Turner, number six. And yeah, I think that's pretty much all I have to say about that. Been very happy with how it's going. I was hoping, and initially I was planning to stop at this point and take kind of a break and work on the fixer to get that done. 8:46 And like I said, the fixer is pretty much ready to go. I just have a couple... Edits from a couple different people I need to go through and revise and see if I'm going to put them in or not. 8:56 And then I need to print it out and read it through myself, which is something I always do now. I always print out the book and read it through one final time on paper just to make sure I'm happy with how the final product, how the final art piece has turned out. 9:14 Anyhow, so I was hoping to do that with the fixer, but I just have enough momentum going right now. on this particular Mitch Turner book and I'm feeling really good about it that I think at this point I'm planning to just power through all the way until I am done 9:30 completely with Mitch Turner number six to the point that I turn it over to my editors and copy editors and start that process, and then get the fixer out. So unless something changes, which it always could, but unless something changes, that means that I am targeting to release the fixer in November. 9:52 originally I was planning to release it much earlier than that, but time just had a way of slipping away from me this year. Uh, I hope not that everybody doesn't start to expect two legal thrillers from me every November and December, because that's what I did last year is I released only the guilty in November and 10:08 then last mile in December, but that's what I'm doing again this year. So hooray, it'll be, it should be a fun time. Anyhow, that's pretty much all I have along the lines of updates and, uh, Thoughts for this week. 10:22 I kind of wanted to go over my process on Mitch Turner number six and talk a little bit about that. I feel like I've covered that pretty well. Haven't given away a lot of spoilers other than that it's about Frank Ward. I will say, though, that I... 10:38 I've been planning to do a book where Frank Ward was the defendant for a while now. I think I knew going into it, and I think it's pretty obvious from the first chapter I was just looking at, the first dictated chapter that I did clear back in June, 10:53 that I was definitely planning that this was going to be Frank Ward's book for a while. And I couldn't be more pleased with how it's coming along. Anyhow, have a great week. And, oh, just a reminder, if there's anybody listening to this who has not yet signed up for my email newsletter, if you do that, 11:10 you get a free e-book and a free audio book copy of the short story, The Arraignment, which features Mitch Turner and is read by Eric G. Dove. Have a great week, everybody. The text, audio, and music for this show are all copyrighted by Dan Decker. All rights reserved.

Here is a partial transcript of the show, for a full transcript, go to DanDeckerBooks.com! Welcome to the Dan Decker Books Podcast. I'm Dan Decker, the author of The Good Client, Max Damage, and a bunch of other thrillers and legal thrillers, as well as a little bit of science fiction and fantasy. Thank you for joining me today. 0:24 On this podcast, I give a writing update and usually share a thought or two about something else. This week's thought is about my legal thriller influences. Hello and welcome back. I hope everybody is having a great week out there. It's been a great week for me over here at Grim Archer Media. 0:46 I've been accomplishing a lot of things. The first thing is I finally submitted the Killers Club over to ACX for review. Part of the reason why I'm late at getting to do that is because I have been heads down working on Mitch Turner number six. 1:01 It's really important for me to be able to have momentum and this is why I have not been able to get the killer's club audio book submitted until now, but good news. I finally submitted it. It's in review. I saw earlier that it was done with the first step of the review. 1:17 Hopefully it will be done here pretty quickly and I will be able to get it out for everybody to check out. Anyhow, Mitch Turner six is going really well. I finished with the third draft and now I'm starting on the fourth draft and At this stage, I usually do a number of quick drafts. For me, 1:37 it's really helpful to get into the story and see the whole story at once or as close to as once as possible. When you're working on a novel, oftentimes you'll write a piece and then you won't come back to it for days or maybe even weeks. Not for months for me usually in my circumstances, 1:56 but there are some authors who won't return to a piece of writing for months. And so it can be difficult to Make sure that you're keeping all of that in your mind. And for me, I like to try to work on the story cohesively as a whole. 2:09 And by doing that, I hope that it turns out to a better story. So Mitch Turner's number six is just coming along great. I still don't have a title. I've been thinking about it. I've written down a couple of potential titles. I'm not crazy about any of them, but certainly my juices are flowing there. 2:28 It's funny to me that sometimes the titles will just come to me and I'll know them right away. And other times I won't know the title for a long time. So just kind of interesting how that works. The other project that I'm working on, and this is just a side project, 2:44 is I have a little fantasy project I work on every day, usually in the morning, right as I get in. And sometimes throughout and I try to work on it as a break throughout the rest of the day. But basically, I just work on that to keep me writing in general, 3:00 because a lot of times I'll get stuck in revisions and revisions can go on for a very long time. And I like to be writing something new every day. And so writing on a side project really helps me do that. And I've mentioned that before on this podcast that I have some of these other side 3:16 projects that I've put out that I've put down to paper that are probably never going to be seen anywhere just because I don't have the time to go back and work on them and make them any more polished than they already are.

On this week’s show: The Killers Club audiobook is now done and other updates! Show Transcript: Welcome to the Dan Decker Books Podcast. Hello and welcome back to the Dan Decker Books Podcast. I'm Dan Decker, the author of The Good Client, Max Damage, and a bunch of other thrillers and legal thrillers, as well as a little bit of science fiction and fantasy. Thank you for joining me today. 0:24 On this podcast, I pretty much just give a writing update and maybe share a The Killers Club audiobook is now done. I just need to get it submitted to Audible. After I have submitted it to Audible, they take a day or two, sometimes a week or two, 0:43 to review an audiobook before they go ahead and publish it and get it all put out there. So that is coming forward here pretty quickly. I will make sure to notify everybody once the audiobook is finally available. For anybody out there who's been waiting for... The audiobook now is your opportunity. 1:04 I'm so glad that it's turned out so well. Eric G. Dove has done a great job with the narration, and I really couldn't be happier with how the whole thing has gone and how the project has come to fruition here. Eric G. Dove is just a great narrator, and it's a pleasure to work with him. 1:21 Once the audio book is officially published, I will make sure to get it out there and get word out there so everybody can go ahead and download it. It did make me think this last couple of weeks going through the Killer Club, a little bit about Audrey Spencer and how she came to be. 1:37 I came up with her as a character after I'd done a number of legal thrillers with Mitch Turner because I wanted to write another legal thriller, but I wanted a break. I like to take breaks in my writing and work on other different projects. 1:51 So that way I feel like I'm staying fresh and trying new things and trying to keep it fun, et cetera, things like that. Anyhow, I knew for sure I'd be writing from the prosecution's perspective. And I just sat down and I started writing it. 2:05 I am generally speaking a pantser, which means I just write my story as I go, making it up as I go. The times I've tried to do outlines, it usually doesn't work very well for me because I never follow the outline. 2:18 And so what I try to do is I try to make an outline as I go or after the fact and then try to look at it and then analyze the story from there. So The Killer's Club is one of the longest books that I've actually written and published. 2:31 I've probably written longer books, but I never ended up publishing them. The first book I ever wrote was War of the Fathers and The first draft of that was almost 200,000 words. Put that in perspective, Audrey Spencer's novel is 145,000 words finished, out the door and ready to go. 2:47 And most Mitch Turner books are somewhere between 90 to 120,000 words. The Audrey Spencer novel ended up being a little bit longer than some of my other novels. But I really had a good time writing that one. It was fun writing that from the prosecution's perspective and to just get in there 3:05 and look at it from that side of things. The other great character in that book is Gregory Pope. And I feel like it's his daughter who's killed and starts the story off. And so... It gives him a lot of interesting scenes where he is trying to come to terms with 3:22 his grief as well as trying to let Audrey Spencer handle the prosecution. And it's not an easy thing for him to do by any stretch. And Audrey is coming from a perspective of having really not had a full-time regular job. She's been working full-time hours, but she's also been trying to maintain and balance her family. 3:41 And she's finally getting back into the workforce. And it's been her dream to be a prosecuting attorney for many years. And now it's finally her opportunity. And she feels like Gregory Pope has selected her to do this because he probably thinks that she's going to bow to his will and let him backseat drive the case, which, 4:00 of course, she has to set him straight on himself. numerous times. So yeah, The Killers Club is one of my favorite books. Of course, all my books are my favorite books, but I had a really good time writing that. The other big character in The Killers Club is Barry Michaels, and I really like Barry Michaels. 4:17 He definitely is OCD. I think you get that sense as you read through the book. I think that's going to be a theme for him as he tries to deal with that and how to figure out how to live his life with obsessive compulsive disorder. I think he recognizes it on some conscious level, 4:35 but he isn't yet willing to fully acknowledge it and deal with. So those are the three main characters. We also have Mary Ramirez. We don't see a lot from her in this book. I do have plans to develop and further flush her character out in other books. So we'll see how that goes. But yeah, 4:52 the story just starts off with in the middle of what she thinks is plea negotiation with a very unsavory defendant and an attorney who's just an attorney who is hassled and just trying to do his job and doesn't know exactly where things are going to go and things like that. 5:12 So yeah, The Killers Club, it's going to be out soon as an audio book. You can obviously get it as an e-book or I believe a paperback or even a hardback at this point. But yeah, go ahead and check that out. Mitch Turner No. 6 is moving forward. It's going pretty dang well. 5:29 I've been pretty pleased with the story. At this point, the manuscript is a little bit longer than my other Mitch Turner manuscripts tend to be. I usually turn those in at about 100,000 words. The fixer... Not, sorry, not The Fixer. That's a different book. The Last Smile, the most recent Mitch Turner book, 5:46 I believe was about 105,000 words, something like that. It wasn't 120 or 130. I believe the longest book in the Mitch Turner series was The Presumption, which was 120,000 words. Anyhow, Mitch Turner is going along very well. I've been very pleased with the story. As I've mentioned in other places, 6:07 Frank Ward is the defendant and he has a situation where he loses consciousness. He wakes up, he's on the floor of the file room at the state's attorney's office where he works. and there's a dead body several rows down, and everybody thinks he did it because he's there. And so he goes to Mitch Turner, 6:25 and of course Mitch isn't happy about taking the case, considering his ill will from other things Frank Ward has done in the past, but eventually Mitch overcomes it and takes him on as a client. It's really turning out to be a very fun and thrilling story. 6:40 I can't wait to get it all out there for everybody to read. I just think it's going pretty well. I'm pretty comfortable with how it's going. I think it's going to be worthy of the predecessors and the other Mitch Turner thrillers in the series. I want to be very careful to not say too much more about it. 6:57 I feel like I've already looked the lid a little bit on what the story's about and how it's going to go. I like for people to be surprised and it's always a dance. There was part of me that didn't want to even say what the story was about just 7:09 because it's shocking that Frank Ward is going to be Mitch Turner's client for this next book. but I obviously have to tell people what it's about to some degree. So anybody that's listening to the podcast is getting the inside scoop on what's 7:21 going to be coming down here as I get that story ready and get it out to get it published. So the fixer is grinding away towards publication. And it's getting really close. I've been letting this story move a little slower. The process for this story move a little slower for a variety of reasons. 7:41 One, I wanted to get the Last Mile audiobook out. Two, I wanted to get the Killers Club audiobook out. And also... Releasing new books in the fall is a thing, and last year I released Only the Guilty and The Last Mile within a month of each other, even though they were written further apart than that for sure. 7:58 But anyhow, the fixture is getting very close towards publication. The last step for me is to go through a few revisions, get those revisions put into the the story, and then I actually print it out and I read it through one final time myself just to make sure I'm happy with it, 8:15 try to catch any of the last typos and things like that. So that will be coming out here hopefully within the next month or so. We'll have to see. The other big issue is the fact that it's a presidential election and people's attention are turned more towards politics than reading books at this point. But 8:34 I think I'm just going to publish it regardless of what's going on with the presidential election and just get it out there so it's available for anybody who wants a distraction from politics. Okay. So that's pretty much the big writing updates. We have The Killers Club. I mentioned that. We have Mitch Turner. I talked about that. 8:52 I have The Fixer and I talked about that. I do have the Jason Maxfield book four kind of sitting on the floor at the moment. I was working on that over the summer and then hit pause on that to go work on Mitch Turner. 9:05 I'd set myself a deadline for, regardless of where the book was at, I was going to make sure that I Went and started working on Mitch Turner because I like to get him out towards the end of the year. We'll see how it goes. 9:18 The fact the story is going long might mean that I have to take an extra couple months on this. We'll see how it goes. My instincts tell me I can probably get it out in the timeframe I want, but we'll have to see. But I was reminded this week about... Kind of how I started writing. 9:34 I've been writing now for many years. But when I started writing, it was just me sitting at my parents' computer. It was in the kitchen at the desk, in the kitchen. And I was just trying to write, pound out stories. And I remember that ever since, as long as I can remember, I've wanted to be a writer. 9:53 And so I was always sitting down and pounding out these stories. Most of them obviously didn't go anywhere. I do remember a story I had to write for an English class. I believe it was in junior high. I think that was when I was at Taylorview Junior High, actually, in Idaho Falls. 10:09 And yeah, I'm from Idaho, grew up in Idaho. That's why the Only the Guilty story is based in Idaho Falls. I wanted to base something in my hometown. It's fun doing that, by the way. I'll have to talk about Only the Guilty some other time. But anyhow, 10:21 I remember writing the story for an English class where I was talking about, or the story was basically, the city that was on a mountain and there was a dragon that lived underneath it that was keeping them safe or something. I don't remember much more about the story other than I think there was an 10:37 altercation with another dragon or something cheesy like that. It's fun to look back and think about that story. And I was thinking also about another story that I was writing. I think it was in high school, my first year of college. And I have pages for this somewhere. It's out there. 10:51 I'm never going to see the light of day, and I probably never would turn it into a story. Probably just too derivative, more fan fiction kind of writing at that time. But yeah, another story back from the day. for me to stop and think about where I started and how it's come and where I'm at today. 11:09 It's fun to be a professional author publishing legal thrillers and thrillers. And I do have science fiction and fantasy, other stories I will try to be putting out at some point as well. Anyhow, I think that's all for this week. That's the writing update. I hope you all have a great week. 11:26 One last thing I want to mention, if you are new to me or new to my work, and even if you aren't, you can go to my website and sign up for my newsletter where you can get a free ebook short story of The Arraignment or get a free audio book of The Arraignment narrated by Eric G. 11:46 Dove. This is something provided to everybody who signs up for my email news list. So go ahead and go over there, go sign up. It's dandeckerbooks.com. And if you go right there, you'll see it right there, or you can go to dandeckerbooks.com slash newsletter. 12:01 The text, audio, and music for this show are all copyrighted by Dan Decker, all rights reserved.