Why commit murder? And why in Montague Falls?

That’s what Sawney Hatton, Patrick Thomas, and yours truly discussed as we thought about ways to do dastardly things to our protagonists — teenagers all — who, as far as we knew, never did anything to us. But hey, that’s just how we roll.

For a bit of history, Sawney and I (Sawney is a pen name) went to high school together, and shared a love of movies, dark tales, and other mischievous musings, including a student film Sawney wrote and directed and I starred in (no, seriously), which, if you want a very good laugh, is available somewhere on YouTube under the title “Light Chasm.” 

Meanwhile, Pat has been a pal for at least a decade out on book tour, he and I known to each other as PT! and RC! We’ve collaborated before, and decided it was time to do it again.

Which brings us to MURDER IN MONTAGUE FALLS. Our new project, published through Crazy 8 Press, is a collection of three noir-inspired novellas (no sci-fi or fantasy here, all straight crime fiction) set in the fictional American suburb of Montague Falls, wherein our teen protagonists went to the same high school — Martin Van Buren High, to be precise — albeit during different decades.

My story, “Red Ink”, takes place in the 1980s, smack in the middle of the Reagan-era Cold War years; Sawney’s tale, “The Devil’s Delinquents” in the 1990s, at a time when Satan worship was gruesomely chic; and finally, Pat’s tale, “A Many Splendid Thing”, which goes back to the 1950s, when watching Uncle Miltie while eating first-generation microwave dinners and beating your kid in public were considered solid “parenting” techniques.

Each novella — averaging about 25,000 words apiece — has a different vibe, mine more of a thriller, Sawney’s dark fiction, and Pat’s probably the closest of the three to classic noir. For a synopsis on each, here’s what we got:

In Colchamiro’s RED INK, a paperboy with an overactive imagination witnesses a brutal killing on his route — or has he taken his fantasy spy games a step too far?

In Hatton’s THE DEVIL’S DELINQUENTS, a trio of teenage misfits in pursuit of success, power, and revenge practice amateurish occult rituals… with deadly consequences.

In Thomas’s A MANY SPLENDID THING, a sultry high school teacher enrolls one of her students to get rid of her husband. But will the young man really graduate to murder?  

And if you want to hear something noirishly cool, check out the original song “You Kill Me”, written, performed, and produced by my pals The Turnback to accompany our new book! End credits, baby! 

So come on in and join the murderous fun. Because once you visit Montague Falls, there’s no turning back.

MURDER IN MONTAGUE FALLS is available in e-book and print formats here.

About the Authors:

RUSS COLCHAMIRO is a member of Crazy 8 Press and author of the rollicking space adventure, Crossline, the zany sci-fi backpacking series Finders Keepers, Genius de Milo, and Astropalooza, editor of the sci-fi mystery anthology, Love, Murder & Mayhem, and contributing author for his newest project, Murder in Montague Falls, a noir novella collection, all with Crazy 8 Press.

Russ has contributed to several other anthologies, and is now finalizing the first in an ongoing SFF mystery series featuring his hard-boiled private eye Angela Hardwicke. 

Russ lives in New Jersey with his wife, their twin ninjas, and their crazy dog, Simon.

For more on Russ’s works, visit www.russcolchamiro.com, and follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @AuthorDudeRuss.

SAWNEY HATTON is an author, editor, and screenwriter who has long loved playing in the dark. His published works include the Dark Comedy novel Dead Size, the YA Noir novella Uglyville, and the Dark Fiction short story collection Everyone Is a Moon. He also edited the Sci-Fi Horror anthology What Has Two Heads, Ten Eyes, and Terrifying Table Manners?

Other incarnations of Sawney have produced marketing videos, attended chili cook-offs, and played the banjo and sousaphone (not at the same time). As of this writing, he is still very much alive.

For more semi-unseemly insights into Sawney, visit www.SawneyHatton.com or find him on Twitter and Facebook.

PATRICK THOMAS is the award-winning author of the beloved Murphy’s Lore series and the darkly hilarious Dear Cthulhu advice empire. 

His 40+ books include Fairy with a Gun, By Darkness Cursed, Lore & Dysorder, Dead to Rites, Startenders, As the Gears Turn, Cthulhu Explains It All, and Exile and Entrance. His is the co-author of the Mystic Investigators series, The Santa Heist, and the Jack Gardner mysteries, and has had more than 150 short stories published in magazines and anthologies. 

Visit him online at www.patthomas.net and www.patricktfibbs.com