In bookbinding this week we have, an A6-sized, 45-ish page mystery novel completed for a friend who also corrected my Spanish as the mystery takes place in Madrid.

This is the second time I made the same book because I totally screwed up the first one; cover was wonky, endpapers didn’t set straight, signatures were loose. I didn’t like it so I remade it. 

The first version was B6 in size. This one is better at A6 because at the larger size, there were too few signatures for a case-bound book. At A6, the number of signatures was just right. Also, to indicate which was the front, I added a triangle of red (which was a scrap left over from another book). 

I’m working on two pieces of fiction this week. The first one, Dmitry the Scavenger, is progressing nicely with Dmitry in Odessa having evaded or bribed his way past both Russian and Ukranian military guards. It is more action-plot oriented with, of course, strong characterization of the people involved.

After Odessa I have to get him to Japan by ship. It’s about a 40-day trip and I don’t feel like recreating a sea voyage ala Joseph Conrad. Perhaps he can be drugged? For 40 days? Ah, yes, a connection with a Mideast religious leader who disappeared for 40 days and 40 nights. Or a flood. Hmm.

The second is about a famous author who dies but refuses to leave Kanazawa. He befriends a café owner and they hash out life’s little problems, including his writing about women. This one is titled The Dead of Winter with the subtitle of A Novel of a Kanazawa Afterlife. Maybe I should change it to: A Kanazawa Afterlife? or A Novelist’s Kanazawa Afterlife? (without the question marks.)

This is definitely character driven. The café owner is a very strong and opinionated woman in her early 20s and the polar opposite of the male author’s descriptions of female characters in his books. 

For your audio and visual pleasure, you have an ten-minute flick about the making of the second edition of The Madrid Mariposa Murder Mystery just discussed in your Bookbinding section.

Also, other videos pertaining to bookbinding are up on my YouTube channel. Please enjoy.

Available for your reading pleasure (and some Spanish lessons included) is The Madrid Mariposa Murder Mystery. This is book 3 of the Marsh Mysteries.

Joe and Carmen investigate another murder. Carmen’s brother, Símon. runs a successful and expensive restaurant. One of his employees is accused of killing her husband. Her defense: he was abusive.  

Because Símon’s pistol was used in the killing, he is under investigation, too. 

What Carmen and Joe discover saves Símon but his restaurant is tainted; customers dry up. They also throw the police’s case against the employee into a complete freefall. Is she innocent, though?

The Madrid Mariposa Murder Mystery is available at these fine online locations.