May 2026

Dear Reader,

Time, that ceaseless lackey to eternity, has brought us to within days of the May 7 publication of A RIVER RED WITH BLOOD in Ireland, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand — and barely a month from June 2, its on-sale date in the US and Canada.



In this 23rd Charlie Parker novel, dangerous men have been stalking and killing young women for years in what they call The Game — a game with only two rules: no killing close to home, and no killing outside The Game. Meanwhile, Parker searches for answers about the death of Scott Theriault, a teenager who died while running away from the Spero School, an institution for troubled youth in the woods of Maine, and the disappearance of the girl who loved him.



A RIVER RED WITH BLOOD brings back some characters who will be familiar to longtime readers of the series, and hints at answers to some of the bigger questions about Parker’s identity and destiny. Early reviews have been enthusiastic, with Bookpage calling it "an unsettling book and one of the best of the series to date," and the Express praising it as "another absolute corker . . . utterly gripping." You can read an excerpt on the website here.



Because events for this books will be limited — and I won’t be touring the US at all, sad to say — I asked artist Rob Ryan to create a map of Charlie Parker’s Maine, which I have signed and distributed to several independent bookstores in the US, as well as making sure they’re included with preordered books from my “home stores” in Ireland and the UK.
 


You can get the map with signed books ordered, while supplies last, from: