A Mermaid, a Detective, and a Cruise That Will Not Go According to Plan
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I have a cover to share—and a book that is getting very close to being finished.
Vegas Siren, the fourth book in Brothers of Odin, is taking shape, and I’m aiming to have it out before Christmas.
I’m not calling that a firm release date just yet. There is still work to do. But I’m close enough to be excited, and I wanted to give you a first look.
This time, we’re leaving the lights of Las Vegas for a cruise from Los Angeles to Mexico.
There will be ocean views. There will be romance.
There will also be murder.
Apparently, I cannot send these people on vacation without giving them something to investigate.
Readers who have met Calliope in the earlier books already know she can make an impression. In Vegas Siren, the mermaid gets a story of her own—and a detective who has rather a lot to adjust to.
Zach Wolfe is experienced at investigating people. Understanding an ancient mermaid is another matter entirely.
He boards the ship responsible for Sophia and her friend Cub, expecting to keep an eye on his young charges. Then a passenger is discovered drowned in a locked cabin.
Being surrounded by ocean does not explain how that happened.
And it certainly does not make Zach inclined to stop asking questions.
Calliope has questions of her own. She also has an ancient pearl that is behaving in ways she cannot simply ignore.
Working together would be complicated enough if the investigation were the only thing between them.
It isn’t.
Zach is still finding his footing in his second life among the Brethren. He brings a detective’s instincts, a human perspective he hasn’t left behind, and an attraction he doesn’t fully understand.
Calliope has lived long enough to recognize possibilities he hasn’t learned to consider.
Recognizing something, however, is not the same as being ready to deal with it.
I’ve had such a good time bringing these two together. Their differences give me room for tension, humor, and the kind of heat that makes a working partnership considerably less straightforward.
Of course, the ship has other passengers. Sophia has opinions. Cub is not an ordinary little boy. And the adults do not have the luxury of concentrating only on each other.
There are lives at stake.
One of the pleasures of returning to Vegas Siren has been discovering how much more this story could become.
The original ingredients were simple: Calliope is a mermaid, I had been on a cruise, and I wanted to put a mystery at sea.
Then the universe grew.
Coming back to the book with more of that universe established opened connections I hadn’t imagined when I first began. The story became richer, the characters became clearer, and the cruise became considerably more troublesome.
I’m keeping those discoveries to myself for now.
A mystery deserves a few secrets before you open the book.
For today, I’m sharing the cover and the promise of what’s coming: a detective, a mermaid, an unsettling death at sea, and an attraction neither can conveniently set aside.
Vegas Siren is an adult paranormal romance and supernatural mystery, written under my D.L. Beechinor name.
And there is another story waiting in the wings. Vegas Warrior, the next Brothers of Odin book, is already in development. I have the synopsis and outline worked out, along with a tentative cover, and manuscript writing begins with my November challenge. I’m not announcing a release date for that one yet, but Kat and Kalap will have their turn.
I’ll share more as release approaches. In the meantime, I’m heading back aboard.
Someone has to find out what happened in that cabin.