Dear person who has some kind of electronic reading device:
If you are reading this, I am already dead. Sorry, I was just trying to grab your attention. As far as I know, I’m not dead.
However, if you are reading this, you are alive (congratulations!) and have purchased (congratulations again!) or are considering purchasing the Spellman series eBook box set. I am here to convince you that you have a) not made a mistake and b) have invested wisely. But, before you crack the spine—er, press the on switch, I thought you might want a quick introduction to the Spellmans.
While the Spellman books may be shelved in the mystery section, they aren’t your typical crime novels. If you’re expecting a corpse to show up, you’ll be waiting a long time. As of yet, there have been no murders or violent crimes or human trafficking in the Spellman novels. I consider them comedies first, mysteries second, and crime novels a distant third. In fact, a more appropriate label for them might be “misdemeanor fiction.”
Or maybe we should forget about placing the Spellmans in any one genre. I certainly never thought about that when I was writing the books. All I cared about was making the reader want to keep turning the page. I hope that’s the case for you.
Here’s all you need to know about the Spellmans: They’re a family just like any other, only they happen to be private investigators. One side effect of their occupation is that they have no regard for privacy even when they’re off the job. And they focus far more of their attention on solving their domestic mysteries than on any of the cases on their roster.
The books are narrated by Isabel Spellman, who is twenty-eight when we first meet her. Her parents, Albert and Olivia Spellman, run Spellman Investigations. Her older brother, David, is a lawyer, making him the only Spellman to escape the family business. Isabel also has a much younger sister, Rae (fourteen when she is first introduced)—not to be confused with their uncle Ray, a booze-soaked, lecherous sweetheart. I’ll let Isabel fill you in on the details.
You’ll notice that this eBook sampler includes dossiers on some of the characters from the first book and a list of Isabel’s ex-boyfriends. But I hope you hold off on the added material until later and simply start with page one. That’s where I first met Isabel Spellman, and I think she’d like you to meet her there, too. Not that I can read her mind.
The eBook box set contains the first four novels in the Spellman series: The Spellman Files, Curse of the Spellmans, Revenge of the Spellmans, and The Spellmans Strike Again. If you managed to make it through all four, have no fear, another is on the way. Trail of the Spellmans (document #5) will be on shelves or available for download on February 28, 2012.
Hope you enjoy. If not, feel free to write me a letter of complaint; I may not read it, but at least you’ll get it off your chest.
Best,
Lisa