My Personal Favorite

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Readers have waited a long time for a print edition of my Audible Original THE DEEP, DEEP SNOW. It’s finally here! The paperback is available right now (and, of course, it’s still available in e-book and audio). Click here to find it on Amazon.
 
For years, you’ve asked me: What’s your favorite novel of all the books you’ve written? That’s always been a hard question for me to answer, because after 22 novels, I love each of my stories in a different way. But THE DEEP, DEEP SNOW may well be my personal favorite among my books.
 
This small-town mystery has a heroine I love – a young sheriff’s deputy named Shelby Lake – and an emotional core that left me in tears when I was writing it. It’s the story of the disappearance of a ten-year-old boy, an event that ripples through the lives of everyone in Mittel County. But it’s also a story of fathers and daughters, of friendships and memories, of good intentions gone terribly wrong.
 
I hope you fall in love with Shelby and the people around her the way I did – and when you read it, I think you’ll see why this particular book has a very special place in my heart.

First Time in Print

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My New York Times bestselling mystery THE DEEP, DEEP SNOW finally arrives in a paperback edition on October 27. You can click here to learn more.

This book first appeared as an Audible Original last year, with narration by the amazing actress January LaVoy. I listened to the whole audio edition myself recently, and I have to tell you, I had tears running down my face. She does an absolutely magnificent job. Even if you’re not a fan of audiobooks, this one may well convert you.

Ever since, readers have been clamoring for a print edition. The book came out in e-book earlier this year, but never fear, the print edition is almost here, too. I hope you love it, because this book may well be my favorite novel of anything I’ve written.

“Enthralling,” said Publishers Weekly in their starred review. “Freeman brings all the characters to life, highlighting their strengths as well as the darkness that lies within each of them, thus adding a delicious sense of uncertainty as to their motives. Readers will have a tough time putting this one down.”

Let’s Review

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It’s been a few weeks now since the release of FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND…so this is the time when I like to remind people that authors love it when you post online reviews!
You can do so on Amazon, Goodreads, BN, wherever you go to share information about books. Reviews don’t have to be long — just a sentence works fine! But it really does help, both to trigger the automatic marketing that online retailers do, and to build enthusiasm among other readers.
So if you enjoyed FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND (or THE BOURNE EVOLUTION…or THIEF RIVER FALLS…or THE DEEP, DEEP SNOW), I’d be honored and grateful if you’d share the word online!
THANKS!

Dive In

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FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND marks the tenth Jonathan Stride novel, going all the way back to IMMORAL in 2005. Which naturally begs the question: Do you need to start at the beginning?

In fact, I deliberately write my series books as standalones, so that you can begin anywhere and get a full, rich experience of the characters. I tell readers: You wouldn’t expect to limit yourself to friends you met in your teens or twenties. You’ll meet people throughout your life, and if you enjoy them as people, you’ll want to find out more about the stories that made them who they are. That’s the way a good series should work, too. Once you meet Jonathan Stride in FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND, I hope you’ll want to go back and read some of his earlier stories, too.

Critics agree! Here’s what North Carolina’s Mountain Times says:  “Ten books into Brian Freeman’s Jonathan Stride series, “Funeral for a friend” traverses a literary tightrope that few authors can manage: the novel works equally well as a standalone for a first-time reader, or as part of the fuller Stride canon for his longtime fans….Freeman’s characters here are as developed as his plot, and even if this is your first foray into the Stride universe you’ll come to know Serena, Stride, Cat, Maggie and others as family.”

They also praise the book’s “masterful diversions, deceptions and angular plotting.”

So even if you’re new to Stride, dive in.