New book! New series! New main character who is commandeering my laptop and making me write all the books …
I’m excited to announce publication of Slips of Yew, A Dez Duchiene Mystery.
“Where were you last Tuesday?”
Dez Duchiene moved to New York City two years ago, married Stevie Langford, the man of his dreams, and buried his upper Midwest roots. When a homicide detective appears at his door, that past resurfaces quickly.
Whitney Travers, a conservative politician in liberal Madison, Wisconsin, and also a friend and mentor, dies unexpectedly. While Dez struggles with the man’s political stance, he goes home for the funeral. Kelsey Travers asks Dez to investigate her father’s death using his connections from his activist days. He can’t say no to his childhood friend.
After the funeral, Stevie, mortified by what he sees as a red state, returns to New York. As Dez delves into interviews with colleagues, friends, rivals, and an attractive distraction he met at the funeral, he worries Stevie may have left him for good. Dez’s journey takes him back to the Madison he loved, and uncovers changes that break his heart.
Can he solve the murder and save his marriage before he loses everything?
I’m still not certain exactly where Desmond Dayton Duchiene came from, but I’ve had a blast the last couple of years seeing the world through his eyes. While LGBTQ representation in media has been increasing, characters are still mostly supporting roles or comic relief, and in literature their existence is expressed in tragedy and self-loathing.
Dez does not fall into any of those categories. He’s the main character, a hero, with passions and flaws (he has a bit of an ego and doesn’t always play well with others). He’s an out-of-work hospitality professional, an extrovert, and a newlywed working through the learning curve with his husband on how to be a good spouse and how to function in a world that’s still strongly entrenched in heterosexual norms.
He came of age during the Act 10 protests in Madison and tries to bridge the gap between conservative and liberal thought, though that’s becoming more and more difficult. When I first started writing this story a little over two years ago, I thought some of my political narrative was on the extreme side – and then 2020 happened. Some of it is positively tame, now.
I still have faith in a unified reality, and want to mainstream Dez and his stories as much as possible. I think he’s a vital voice in a world that needs more diversity and I’m doing my best to serve him well.
Slips of Yew is available via special order through your favorite local bookstore, and on Amazon.com in both print and Kindle editions. The best way to support an indie author is by leaving a review on Amazon – thank you! Click here to purchase: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08WL9QVG8?pf_rd_r=86Z7KB0JKWX22PQVD3J2&pf_rd_p=5ae2c7f8-e0c6-4f35-9071-dc3240e894a8&pd_rd_r=dca2bdcb-ce4f-4d31-b5d1-d89e4fecb08d&pd_rd_w=BYVVY&pd_rd_wg=MnXHR&ref_=pd_gw_unk
Carol Shay Hornung, Author 