Letter to Readers

August, 2025

Hello, dear readers!

I do hope this finds you all well. Here in the southern part of the world, it’s a bit cold a blustery, and we’ve finally received some nice rain over our dry, drought affected lands. It is so nice to see the water catchments fill and the trees and plants benefiting from it.

Last month, my next novel, THE MURDER OF THOMAS CARDWELL - next in The Casebook of Barnaby Adair Series - was released into the world! In the 11th volume in the series, we catch up with Jordan Draper.

Dispatched by Roscoe, London’s gambling king, to learn what “nefarious activity” an upstanding man-of-business has stumbled upon, Jordan Draper—Roscoe’s own man-of-business—arrives at Thomas Cardwell’s office to discover Cardwell very recently murdered.

Soon, Jordan finds himself working alongside the Adairs and Inspector Stokes as they search for clues as to why anyone would kill a man as unthreatening as Cardwell. Unexpectedly, Jordan finds himself drawn to Cardwell’s family, especially Thomas’s sister, Ruth, and as the investigation progresses, the greater Jordan’s compulsion to find the murderer and bring the family resolution and respite grows.

Clue by clue, motive by surprising motive, the investigators seek to identify Cardwell’s murderer and, along the way, uncover the “nefarious activity” he’d sought to bring to the authorities’ attention. But in a case cluttered with intertwined motives and a web of potential suspects related to each other as well as the victim, finding the kernel of truth amid the chaff is no easy matter. Only through enlisting the help of the investigators’ wider circle of supporters do they make any headway, and on the heels of uncovering a cascade of crimes, they finally—finally—close in on the man who murdered Thomas Cardwell.

THE MURDER OF THOMAS CARDWELL was released on July 17, 2025, and is available in all formats. If you’d like some more information on the novel and where to purchase it, click on the cover for full details.

We also finished off our latest competition to celebrate the release of THE MURDER OF THOMAS CARDWELL. Below are our lucky winners -

Lesley H - Australia

Katherine W - USA

Geraldine P - UK

Melissa W - Australia

Gillian T - Singapore

What a wide range of countries represented here, which I think is fantastic. 

Now that Thomas is on the shelves, I have one last novel to release this year - THE CURSE OF THE ILL-GOTTEN GAINS, Volume 12 in The Casebook of Barnaby Adair. This novel will be released on October 16, 2025. 

Richard Percival has bowed to familial pressure and agreed to attend a tonnish house party at Patchcote Grange, where the gathering’s unabashed aim is to introduce eligible gentlemen to suitable young ladies. Two of Richard’s elderly aunts assure him that Miss Rosalind Hemmings will make him the perfect wife, and after meeting Miss Hemmings over dinner on the first evening of the party, Richard is sufficiently intrigued to be willing to learn—indeed, he’s even looking forward to learning—more of the unusually direct young lady. But on coming downstairs the following morning, he hears an anguished scream for help. On racing outside to the orchard from whence the scream came, he finds his possibly-intended standing over the very dead body of their universally well-regarded host. This is clearly a matter for Scotland Yard, and Richard wastes no time in summoning Barnaby and Penelope Adair and Inspector Stokes to the company’s aid. For very soon, it’s blatantly clear that the murderer is one of those presently residing at Patchcote Grange.

THE CURSE OF THE ILL-GOTTEN GAINS will be available for pre-order in the coming weeks, with information updated on the website too. 

As always, stay safe, and if all else fails, sit down and read a good book!

Looking Ahead:

July 17, 2025 - THE MURDER OF THOMAS CARDWELL, Volume 11 in the Casebook of Barnaby Adair series.

October 16, 2025 - THE CURSE OF THE ILL-GOTTEN GAINS, Volume 12 in the Casebook of Barnaby Adair series.

As ever, I truly appreciate your wonderful support. As long as you are there, wanting to read my stories, I'm happy to keep writing them!

Stephanie