Sunday, October 24, 2010

Celebrating William R. Potter's First Jack Staal Mystery

Today we're celebrating the first book in William Potter's Jack Staal Mystery Series, DEAD OF KNIGHT.

William was bitten by the writing bug at an early age. Shortly after watching the first remake of King Kong, around the age of ten or eleven, he scribbled a few pages about a mutant crab and called it a book.

He discovered poetry in his teens and continues to write verse today. However, that kid's dream of writing a book never went away. In 2001 he decided to get serious about fiction and dabbled in short stories with some success. With his budding confidence, he attempted greater and greater word counts. Before long he had a collection of shorts and a novella that approached novel length. It was time, after waiting twenty-five years since that monstrous crustacean of his childhood; he attempted another novel in 2003 and finished the first draft just before Christmas 2004.

After he finished the first draft of his first novel, he decided to let the manuscript sit and cool. He wrote another novella and several shorts and then sat down to write a second novel in 2006. The novellas and shorts became his first book, the award winning collection, LIGHTING THE DARK SIDE - SIX MODERN TALES. DEAD OF KNIGHT is his first published novel.

When he's not writing he's reviewing books. William lives in New Westminster, Canada with his wife and two children.

WEBSITE *** BLOG *** FACEBOOK *** AUTHORS DEN *** TWITTER

Your next birthday could be murder.

DEAD OF NIGHT - A Jack Staal Mystery by William R. Potter

Believing he is a soldier of justice, a young man begins a callous campaign of terror, murdering women on their birthdays. Convinced of his righteousness, he continues his brutal crusade forcing the citizens of Hanson, B.C. to acknowledge a serial killer is active in their rural community. Detective Constable Jack Staal is anxious to work the biggest case of his career. Staal is forced to the outside when the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's Integrated Homicide Teams are assigned to the case. Not one to sit on the sidelines, Staal convinces his colleagues to follow his lead and pursue a serial killer who the media has dubbed “Birthday Boy.”

Told from the perspective of both killer and cop, DEAD of KNIGHT is a cat and mouse thriller sure to delight fans of Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta or Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch.

Available in print, e-book, and Kindle.

BUY THE BOOK *** READ THE EXCERPT *** WATCH THE TRAILER



WIN - Leave a comment or question today for William at his Cyber Launch Party and your name goes in the hat for an autographed copy of DEAD OF KNIGHT - to be included in the drawing, please leave your email address so we can contact you if you are today's winner - Good Luck!

24 comments:

  1. William! Welcome and congrats on the release of DEAD OF KNIGHT and kicking off your Jack Staal Mystery series!

    I told you this before, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE that cover - it so catches the eye and makes you want to pick that book up!

    Tell us all about this new series of yours and how Jack came to be.

    Wishing you the very best with the new book - hope it's a huge seller for you and hope to see many more Jack Staal Mysteries to come!

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  2. Hi William,

    Congratulations on the release of DEAD OF KNIGHT. It sounds like a very good story. You are new-to-me author so I am checking out all of your work.

    kkhaas at bellsouth dot net

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  3. Sounds like a winner!

    Sal Buttaci at sambpoet@yahoo.com

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  4. Hi Denita,

    Thank you for having me on Cyber Book Launch. I’m excited to be here!

    I designed the cover myself and am thrilled when readers let me know they love it.

    Some of my earliest television memories are of gritty 70’s cop shows like Starsky and Hutch, The Streets of San Francisco, and SWAT. As an adult, I couldn’t read fast enough the work of Michael Connelly, Patricia Cornwell and John Sanford. My first attempt in the genre was a Jack Staal short story. Readers and reviewers of Prominent Couple Slain enjoyed the piece and encouraged me to write a Staal novel. It took 4 years from first draft to published…so I hope readers enjoy it. I am working on a sequel with at least three more Staal novels to come.

    William

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  5. Hi Karen and Salvatore,

    Thank you for your comments and good luck winning a signed copy!

    William

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  6. Congrats on your book release. Intriguing cover and trailer - looking forward to reading Dead of Knight.

    kpbarnett1941[at]aol[dot]com

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  7. Congratulations on the new release. I've never read any of your books but this sounds really good. It seems to have a lot of my favorite things in it.

    sstrode@scrtc.com

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  8. Hi Karen and Sherry,

    Thank you for your comments. Good luck with winning the contest.

    Thanks

    William

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  9. I'm looking forward to reading this series and finding out how Jack Stall ticks. The connection with the birthdays adds another layer of suspense and the trailer worked well with the topic.

    lenikaye@yahoo.com

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  10. Hi William. This story sounds amazing! Congrats on the new book.

    Jason

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  11. I love mysteries! Dead of Knight looks very good!

    Congrats on the new release!!


    Judy
    magnolias_1@msn.com

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  12. Hi Judy and Jason,

    Thank you for visiting the Cyber Launch for my book and for the nice comments.

    Good luck winning the free signed copy.

    Have a good day.

    William

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  13. I enjoy mysteries!

    This series sounds like a lot of good reading.

    kissinoak at frontier dot com

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  14. Congrats William on your release!!!

    Sandy B.
    sandyevebutler@yahoo.com

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  15. Glad I caught the party announcement on Twitter. Congratulations on the new release. I just started the novel the other day and it's taut, well-written and heading in the right direction so far. Good job!

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  16. The book looks fabulous. I work with children & encourage them to write. Who knows???

    marypres@gmail.com

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  17. Hi Estella, Sandy, and Marybelle,

    Thanks for visiting the party and thank you for your comments. Good luck winning the contest.

    Hi John,

    Glad you are enjoying the book so far. I thought I sent you a message on the BookMarketingNetwork about the party, perhaps not.

    Thanks for topping in with you comments.

    William

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  18. Best of luck with your first novel. It looks and sounds fantastic.

    Does Jack have any romantic subplots in the story? And did you find it mentally difficult to write from the killer's point of view?

    I'm always amazed how writers can put themselves in that mindframe and not get a little crazy...lol.

    Wish you well with the book and have added it to my must try list!

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  19. Hi Sharon,

    Jack is in a relationship with a detective in his squad, however it isn't a major plot line.

    I actually enjoy writing from the killers POV. Very challenging to draw on ones darker side to write. Not sure that my wife likes that side of me...nor does my mother-in-law...

    But I think all authors are a bit crazy spending countless hours away from family and friends to write a book with no guarantee of success.

    Thank for you comments and questions.

    Have a good day.

    William

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  20. Hello,

    Thank you to everyone who checked out my Launch Party. And a special thanks to those who took time from their Sunday to comment here.

    And thank you to Denita for having me on Cyber launch Party.

    Thanks again to all and have a good week.

    William R. Potter

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  21. A little late to the party but wanted to wish you the best with the new book William. Great cover and trailer, I watched it twice!

    I love serial killer/cop stories like from James Patterson and love the birthday angle you put in your book.

    Is it available in bookstores or is it best to order on line?

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  22. Congrats on the book release. Looks like a great read, just the kind I like. Thanks for the excerpt.

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  23. Hi Lauri and Jo Ann,

    Thanks for the comments. Much appreciated.

    Lauri, Dead of Knight is on sale at both Amazon and B&N. It is available in Kindle at Amazon as well.

    thanks

    William

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  24. Thanks :)
    --
    http://www.miriadafilms.ru/ купить фильмы
    для сайта cyberlaunchparty.blogspot.com

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