A lifelong marketing executive, Liam Ashe is also a novice novelist with a love for the great authors and sleuths of detective fiction’s Golden Age. Growing up on the twisty tales of Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, John Dickson Carr, Ellery Queen and other mystery masters, he marveled at these author’s devious minds and impossible crimes.
Liam’s inaugural series, featuring professional genealogist and Scottish historian Elle Cunningham Mackay, is an homage to these masters—with a little modern sensibility mixed in. Elle’s Scottish-flavored mysteries are intended to immerse the reader in a world of kilts, pipes, Highland games and, regrettably, haggis. Her first whodunnit, Thou Shalt Not Kilt, is available on Amazon.
Other books in the works include a series of thrillers featuring Elle's life-long friend and curiosity store owner Emery Vaughn and two series of Christie-ish mysteries co-written with author Beatrice Bonnie, one starring sleuth and former spy Mafalda Marchand and the other the village-set mysteries of Vicar James Valentine.
If you are a writer, a reader or a fan of classic mystery fiction, Liam would love to connect with you via Facebook or Instagram.
Available on Amazon >
Depending on who you ask, Mercy Heller is a folklore researcher, a curiosity collector or an all-around trouble maker. To her readers, she is the author of the Cull County collection of horror novels. To us, she is the most resourceful family member at Knave Publishing — and we couldn’t be happier to have her on board.
Like so many other modern writers, Heller grew up in the backwoods of the South. With a name like Mercy Heller, she soon figured her career choices were limited to televangelist, stripper or Southern Gothic novelist. Eager for a challenge, she naturally chose struggling writer — the one with least prestige and lowest earning potential.
Outside of her writing, Heller is a mountaineering and folklore researcher for several academic institutions down around the footlands of the Appalachian Trail. Her evenings are spent working on her first trio of books, Good Neighbors and Live Bait (both set in Cull County) and the gothic-flavored A House of Cinders. A fourth volume, the lighter spirited The Inscrutable Ruby Chu will follow in late 2020. Here at Knave, Heller works with our genre fiction team to mentor and assist new horror and thriller writers who come into the fold.
If you are a horror or thriller aficionado, Heller has assured us that she would LOVE to make your acquaintance. We encourage you to connect with her via Facebook or Instagram.
Coming in 2020
For nearly 40 years (but, honestly, who’s counting?) author and detective fiction enthusiast Beatrice Bonnie has thrilled to the crafty, atmospheric mysteries of such Golden Age masters as Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers. She read her first Christie — Hickory Dickory Death — at age 12, and she has never looked back.
”Few things pique my interest more than an isolated country house with a looming sense of danger,” Bonnie says. “Throw in an ever-growing body count and a quirky sleuth, and you’ve got me for the evening. Give me a sequel or two or three, and you've got me for the weekend.”
Her first series, co-written with fellow Knave author Liam Ashe, stars eccentric sleuth and former spy Maflada Marchand. The inaugural title, Murder After Midnight, will be available in 2020. For fans of Golden Age locked room mysteries, this book is sure to be a must read! A second series of village-set mysteries featuring Vicar James Valentine will launch in 2021.
A life-long writer and artist, Bonnie has split her time over the past few years between teaching and editing. When not at the computer, she can be found in her garden, behind an easel in her studio or at the library researching obscure and hard-to-detect poisons. You have been warned.
Coming in 2020
You've got the idea, and you've got the words. Now, you just need the tools to get it all on paper. If you are an author (or an author-to-be), we would like to talk to you. At Knave, we have a hand-picked family of genre authors and creators who are working together to build a small, hands-on publishing community. We want to work with new authors to develop their craft, find the right editors, artists and sales channels.
Learn more about becoming a Knave author >