What am I working on?
That’s a loaded question. I usually have several things going at once.
Today, (April 7th, 2026), I’m working on the first book of the Larry Tanner series. I’m calling it MISSING PIECES and my cover artist Josh came up with a brilliant way to structure the title.
If you’ve read the Jack Randall series you’re already familiar with Larry. I painted him as the veteran cop who helps Jack pursue whatever bad guy he’s after. He was what we authors call a “Watson” character. He was there to ask Jack (Holmes) questions and when Jack answered them, he educated the readers out there about something I needed them to know before I could move on with the story. There were other Watsons of course, and Larry was often Holmes to Jack, but you get the point.
I modeled him after several characters from various cop shows. Andy Sipowitz of NYPD Blue was one of my favorites. There’s some Harry Bosch, some Elliot Stabler, even a little Jim Rockford.
Larry was always on the edge of retirement. I couldn’t leave him there forever, so when he got shot at the end of the Twelve Shepherds saga I felt it was a good time to give him his own series.
So he’s now retired and living in St. Petersburg Florida. I have him looking up an old partner and getting drawn into the world of missing children. Its ugly. Its raw. Its unfortunately very real. Research material was not hard to come by. The more I dive into it the more I want to write. I think this series is going to be a good one.
What else?
I’m also outlining the next Dayton Knox adventure.
It has such a large cast of interesting characters it’s hard to pick the best beginning. There’s a starting formula that’s already established: Jack gets a call, he calls Dayton, Dayton summons the team, mayhem commences.
It’s what kind of mayhem that’s the fun part.
The first book was centered on Iran. I swear I don’t have a crystal ball or anything, but as I write this the US is launching a war on the country. I’ll bite my tongue on that for now and focus on the next book, but the timing is a little freaky. My books keep predicting the future. I may have to write one about me winning the lottery next. Just know that Dayton and the team will be wheels-up on another mission soon.
What about Jack?
I have an idea for him as well. Since he’s back to being on his own and operating under the radar, I need to find something for him to do that fits in that world. There’s still plenty of bad guys out there for Jack to do battle with. It’s with who and where I need to work on. Something that doesn’t mirror what’s happening in the real world, which has gone off the rails lately. One of my ideas involves Danny Drake getting himself in trouble, but I’m not sure if Jack is the guy to bail him out, or if he’ll send Dayton to do it. Maybe both?
We’ll see.
Anyway, that’s where I’m at right now. Stay tuned for further developments. Or, if you’re military, hurry up and wait. 🙂