A Yearlong Journey

I started Book 4 of the Hannah True Series in January 2024. As a pantser (seat of the pants writer), I have done a lot of revising and checking to make sure I haven’t changed a crucial detail, or even a minor one, about Hannah and her band of detectives. That is an ongoing process.

Titles

I have changed is the title. I went from False Fronts to Buried Truths to Reputation. I settled on Reputation because previous books in the series have one-word titles and my main character, Hannah True, is concerned about hers

The Cover: A Work in Progress

Now I need a cover. When I was playing with Buried Truths as a title, I had a cover image in a cave. I’m not sure about that image for Reputation, but I’m hoping the book description will make it work.

Reputation Book Description

Reputation is everything to a woman and her team of detectives in 1861 St. Louis.

From the top floor of the Gates Hotel to the caves beneath it, the search to find a murderer takes Hannah True and her team into situations that compromise their reputations as women and as novice detectives. Meeting a man alone might be enough to ruin a reputation and meeting him in a saloon would definitely destroy it. Besides, they have the reputation of their employer, the Hollandar Detective Agency, to think about.

When Frank Gates, the owner of the Gates Hotel, hires the Agency to find the person who has been stealing from guests, it appears to be a low danger job suitable for training three new female investigators. But upon discovering the man who hired them has been murdered, the stakes rise.

When the widow of the hotel owner reveals her lack of faith in the Hollandar Agency and hires a Pinkerton to crack the case, Hannah and her team rise to the challenge, vowing to outshine the Pinkerton and solve the murder. Can Hannah and her team prove their skills, outwit the Pinkerton investigator and reveal the truth behind the murder of Frank Gates?

Publication Date

Publication of the eBook version of Reputation is scheduled for August 1, 2025. The paperback version will follow shortly after. At least, that’s the plan.

In the Meantime:

Overcoming: The Adventures of Hannah True, Book 3 is on a free promo from June 26-30, 2025.

Check out Hannah’s stay in a lunatic asylum.