I realized this summer that my publisher has scheduled the Below Stairs Mysteries books quite far apart (next one, A Silence in Belgrave Square, is August 2025), so I decided to write two new novellas to fill in the gap.

The first one: A Measure of Menace, is finished and ready for release over the next two weeks.

E-books ordered directly from my web store drop on September 23: https://geni.us/QUfeS9B

Print books (signed or unsigned) can also be ordered on my site (same link), but I can only ship those out as soon as they are shipped to me.

The book is out at all other vendors on September 30:

Amazon: https://geni.us/PX44WA (print and ebook)

Apple: https://geni.us/s5TZXl3

Google: https://geni.us/wQcSQ

Kobo: https://geni.us/Zmt8

B&N: https://geni.us/MD7F2 (print and ebook)

More about the book plus an excerpt on my website:

https://jenniferashley.com/jennifer-ashley-books/below-stairs-mysteries/a-measure-of-menace/

A Measure of Menace takes a closer look at Lady Cynthia and her family (mostly her father), when Lord Clifford is in danger of being framed for murder. A few nice Kat and Daniel moments as well.

The second novella will be A Moveable Feast, out in spring (probably April). As the name suggests, the story revolves around a disastrous Easter dinner.

Side note: I have to thank my husband for the title A Measure of Menace. I thought of A Moveable Feast first, but I couldn’t announce the two novellas until I had a title for the first one. I was considering all kinds of things cooking / measuring related, and my husband, standing in the hall outside the kitchen just says, “A Measure of Menace?”

“That’s brilliant!” I cry. “Do you mind if I use it?”

He shrugs in his typical, stoic manner, a bit bewildered by my enthusiasm. “Sure. Why not?”

So, he gets all the credit for the title, for better or worse.

I’ve decided to do a deeper dive into selling directly from my site, which is much easier these days, thanks to BookFunnel. When you buy any e-book, BookFunnel sends an email with a link that takes you right to the book. You can either read on the BookFunnel phone app (which I am loving! it’s a great app!), or sideload to your Kindle / Kobo / Nook. Or, you can read on the BookFunnel site under your (free) account. Any problems? Bookfunnel has a help email and a help page, and they are great at walking your though how to access the book

The pre-order of Wing Dancer on my site worked well, so I am going to offer pre-orders of all my books (except my Berkley ones) via my own site, having them drop a week earlier than on the other vendors.

The print pre-orders still have kinks on my end, but I am researching better shipping options, that won’t be too expensive either for me or you.

Why are authors suddenly obsessed with selling direct? Because all vendors take a chunk of the book’s price for hosting / selling / delivering the e-books. While better than the still more massive chunk traditional publishing takes, still we lose some, plus we can do things on our sites that vendors don’t allow (large book bundles, free books whenever we wish, pre-orders without penalties). There are fees involved in selling directly, but far lower ones (at least right now) than we deal with at vendors.

Now you know.

If you read this far, thank you! That’s the story of how A Measure of Menace came to be. If you choose to partake, I hope you enjoy it.

(BTW, I’m working on having all the Kat Holloway novellas put into audio, maybe as a collection. More on that when things progress.)