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Take a look, chirren. Soon. Very soon.

Big news, chirren. HUUUUUUUGE. Just slapped a -30- on the final chapter of the next Ed Earl Burch hard-boiled Texas crime thriller � THE DEAD CERTAIN DOUBT.

That’s old-school, ink-stained-wretch talk for The End. Finito. Done.

Gonna let it marinate a bit overnight before cranking up the chainsaw for the miserable chore of editing, rewriting, chopping and reshuffling. Then all the other editing, formatting and cover design logistics that go into putting out the best book your ol� pal Honest Jim can manage with his stalwart crew of beta readers, designers, editors and other irregulars and old contemptibles.

Stay tuned for more developments. To pick up a copy of my first three Ed Earl Burch novels, go to

In his latest Clare Carlson mystery, Beyond The Headlines, all the hallmarks of Dick Belsky’s robust storytelling skills are on display � snappy patter, an unsinkable main character, an insider’s knowledge of newsrooms, a fast pace and more twists and turns than a corkscrew in a wine bar at happy hour.

Center stage is Belsky’s marvelous character, Clare Carlson, a pro’s pro at digging up the truth but blessed with a personal life as tidy as a train wreck. Like the author himself, Carlson is an award-winning newspaper reporter � ink-stained wretch is another term for it � turned TV news director. Local news, maybe, but playing in that giant fishbowl of a city that never sleeps.

Unlike most real-life news directors, Clare repeatedly lets loose the hard-wired reflex of most reporters, chasing the Big Story herself and doggedly digging up scoops when most of the pack has wandered�

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Out there beyond the suburbs and exurbs of big-city sprawl, there’s hard-luck country where the money is scarce, the grind never lets up and your luck can turn lethal in the milliseconds of a rattlesnake strike.

It’s a land of pitted two-lane blacktop, trailer parks, gas n� go’s, meth labs and biker bars. And lots and lots of churches of the hard gospel holiness kind because life has its violent ups and downs and all you’ve got is the sweet, eternal grace of Jesus. Or a gun.

Author S.A. Cosby knows well this forgotten country and its people and has created a powerful sense of place in his first two award-winning novels, My Darkest Prayer and Blacktop Wasteland. He does it again in his latest tour de force, Razorblade Tears, a novel packed with violent action, indelible characters, dialogue that ranges from the raunchy to the transcendent and the darker�

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See what all the fuss is about at:

“Ed Earl Burch is coarse and crude and strung out on opioids and whiskey, with or without the ‘e.� He’s a mess of the first order, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t one of the best protagonists in all of West Texas.� � Ruthie Jones, Texas book blogger and reviewer

See what all the fuss is about at:

Big fun with fellow author Rick Outzen on his podcast, And The Murders Began.

Catch your ol� pal Honest Jim’s interview by fellow author Rick Outzen on his podcast And The Murders Began at:

And his blog:

Rick and I chew the fat about dialogue, character development and the importance of setting a keen sense of place to add depth and context to a story. Had a lot of fun chatting with Rick, a very simpatico guy.