Help Me Give Away My Book: Download Back on Murder for free
I know, I know. Rule #1 of blogging is to update often, and I am the chief of sinners in that regard. More is in the pipeline, including my latest thoughts on the Cambridge Clarion, which I've been using for awhile. (See the end of the post for a teaser.)
When I'm not blogging about Bibles, I'm writing novels, and over the weekend my publisher decided to do something cool: they're giving the first one away. If you love my Roland March series and wish you could introduce more people to the dogged and depressed Houston homicide cop, here's a perfect opportunity. Since Friday, the first book in the series, Back on Murder, has been available as a free e-book on a variety of platforms -- Kindle, Nook, and more. The goal in sharing the book this way is to hook more readers on the series. Over the weekend, Back on Murder became the #1 free title in Amazon's Kindle Store. Those numbers fluctate all the time, but it's good to know more readers are discovering Roland March for the first time.
Publishers Weekly called the world of Roland March "gritty and chilling," and Books & Culture editor John Wilson declared this "a series worth getting attached to." Friend of the blog Alan Cornett, writing today at Pinstripe Pulpit, calls this "'Christian fiction' the right way: good fiction intelligently informed by a Christian worldview."
The three novels in the Roland March series are, in order of publication:
Back on Murder (2010)
Pattern of Wounds (2011)
Nothing to Hide (2012)
The stories focus on March's life and career as he investigates a gang-related murder somehow connected to a missing teenage girl, a knife-wielding serial killer stalking Houston's affluent West University neighborhood, and a deadly conspiracy involving the FBI and the Mexican cartels. The novels have been praised for their realism, for their writing, and for engaging thoughtfully with serious themes.
If you haven't read Back on Murder yet, download the free e-book and give it a try. If you like it, both of the follow-up volumes are available as specially priced e-books, too. If you're already a fan, share the news with your friends. You'll make this crime novelist very happy indeed.
And now, because you've waited patiently, I'd like to share a couple of recent photos of my Cambridge Clarion ESV, as rebound last summer in brown English calf by the good folks at Leonard's Book Restoration. Enjoy!
J. Mark Bertrand is a novelist and pastor whose writing on Bible design has helped spark a publishing revolution. Mark is the author of Rethinking Worldview: Learning to Think, Live, and Speak in This World (Crossway, 2007), as well as the novels Back on Murder, Pattern of Wounds, and Nothing to Hide—described as a “series worth getting attached to” (Christianity Today) by “a major crime fiction talent” (Weekly Standard) in the vein of Michael Connelly, Ian Rankin, and Henning Mankell.
Mark has a BA in English Literature from Union University, an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Houston, and an M.Div. from Heidelberg Theological Seminary. Through his influential Bible Design Blog, Mark has championed a new generation of readable Bibles. He is a founding member of the steering committee of the Society of Bible Craftsmanship, and chairs the Society’s Award Committee. His work was featured in the November 2021 issue of FaithLife’s Bible Study Magazine.
Mark also serves on the board of Worldview Academy, where he has been a member of the faculty of theology since 2003. Since 2017, he has been an ordained teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church in America. He and his wife Laurie life in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.