Getting Mysterious with Jon Matthew Farber

The Fourth Black Beacon Book of Mystery will be released on the 23rd of November, but the Kindle version is available for pre-order today at just $1.99 instead of $3.99 and the Goodreads listing is up. To get you in the mood for mystery, we’ve interviewed our contributing authors. Are you keen to peer into their minds—a complex world of clues, red herrings, and puzzling plots? This volume of mysteries will be as challenging as ever, but our cast of amateur sleuths, private investigators, and police inspectors will leave no stone unturned!

Hi Jon,

What is it about the genre of mystery that gets the cogs turning in your head?

I enjoy puzzles. I’m an avid bridge and chess player, and my favourite mysteries are fair-play ones, where I can piece the clues together and solve the case. That having been said, I also appreciate well-constructed stories where I’m unsuccessful at matching the detective’s skill.

What ingredients are needed for a great fair-play mystery in which the reader can try to solve the puzzle before all is revealed?

First off, the murder must be plausible. For example, if needed, I can accept the murderer using a very powerful magnet, as long as the groundwork is laid out for it in in the story. However, if the magnet is in the murderer’s shoe... Second, I don’t want what I call Watson clues. These are clues so obvious that even Watson could figure them out. An example of one I came across is the following. The murderer had to break a window in order to commit their crime. The next day, one of the suspects is described as having multiple bandages on their hand, as if they had cut it on glass. Third, the clue must be well hidden, but solvable without arcane knowledge. If a victim leaves a dying message of a word which appears to be in English but leads nowhere, because it is actually Latin, that’s unfair because most of us aren’t fluent in the language. However, if we have been previously told that the victim was a professor of Latin, then I feel the reader can take full credit for remembering and using that fact. Indeed, nowadays, one can take extra credit by then going on the Internet to look up the translation (this is not cheating), and then using that information to reach the ultimate solution.

What are your protagonist’s strengths and weaknesses, trademark quirks, and bad habits?

Professor Simon has been seen multiple times, including in The Third Black Beacon Book of Mystery. His strength is obviously his intelligence. In the short story format, there isn’t much time to deal with weaknesses or bad habits, so I haven’t done that yet, but this could be interesting to explore in the future. Hubris would be an obvious weakness, but trite; I’m more intrigued by a case he misses solving (at first) because of overthinking. One quirk of his is that he delivers formal lectures, including dropping most contractions, when he summarizes a case. Another, not exactly a quirk, is something he would probably not like to admit to himself, as it isn’t congruent with his self-view as a man of logic. He enjoys acting, often carrying out improvisational roles to entice confessions from killers, as he does in the upcoming anthology.

A great mystery needs a killer plot and likeable—or despicable—characters, but setting and atmosphere are also key. What are your favourite settings for a really mysterious atmosphere?

I focus more on the concept of mystery as a puzzle, rather than something spooky or scary. As such, I’m very fond of locked rooms / impossible crimes.

What’s the most mysterious place you’ve ever been?

The Winchester Mystery House in California. This has hundreds of rooms (not all accessible on the tour), with numerous curiosities, and is an architectural mish-mash.

What was the last mystery you read?

The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman. Unlike the other books in the Thursday Murder Club Series, this was not a solvable whodunit. However, the plot, while contrived, was acceptable, the pacing excellent and never lagging, it was sprinkled with humour, and the characters are very well drawn. I am very fond of this series and recommend it highly.

What’s one type of mystery you’ve been meaning to write but haven’t got around to

yet—locked room, closed circle, police procedural, cold case, historical mystery, art theft?

As I assume is true for many authors, I would like to write a Holmes story (but see below). I did write a parody in the now defunct Mystery Magazine, but I don’t count that.

What are you working on now?

Actually, nothing. Apart from my fair-play mystery novel Do Not Resuscitate (co-written with Danieal Reinharth), I only write short stories, around three per year. When an idea for a story strikes me, I work it out in my head for a few days, then jot down a first draft. After that, it goes into hibernation until I feel ready to edit it. At the present time, I have three such stories; two are Professor Simon dying message ones (as in the upcoming anthology) which may show up in future Black Beacon Books titles, and the other is the Holmes story hinted at above.

Where can we find you online?

You can’t. I don’t have a personal web page. You could find some of my older medical blogs at allpediatrics.com, and another Professor Simon story at https://theyardcrimeblog.com/2025/12/04/piece-offering-mystery-fiction/

Thanks for playing along!

Getting Mysterious with Cameron Trost

The Fourth Black Beacon Book of Mystery will be released on the 23rd of November, but the Kindle version is available for pre-order today at just $1.99 instead of $3.99 and the Goodreads listing is up. To get you in the mood for mystery, we’ve interviewed our contributing authors. Are you keen to peer into their minds—a complex world of clues, red herrings, and puzzling plots? This volume of mysteries will be as challenging as ever, but our cast of amateur sleuths, private investigators, and police inspectors will leave no stone unturned!

Hi Cameron,

What is it about the genre of mystery that gets the cogs turning in your head?

I love everything about a great mystery, from the evocative setting and quirky characters to the thickening plot and underlying themes. What really gets the cogs turning, however, is the puzzle. A real mystery that needs to be solved is what makes me tick. If I feel I'm competing with (or even better, working with!) the protagonist, and I can tell the author has carefully placed the pieces of the puzzle within his prose, we're looking at five-star mystery fiction.  

What ingredients are needed for a great fair-play mystery in which the reader can try to solve the puzzle before all is revealed?

Unlike the plot of a gripping mystery, there are no secrets here. The essential ingredients are a) a mystery or puzzle to solve b) a believable cast of characters... and "believable" doesn't mean we can't have an eccentric or two c) clues and red herrings appropriately scattered throughout d) foreshadowing and e) the reveal in the last (or second last) chapter or scene. A fair-play mystery requires all the crucial elements required to crack the case to be referred to at least once before the final unravelling.  

What are your protagonist’s strengths and weaknesses, trademark quirks, and bad habits?

Oscar Tremont is a man with a conscious and a keen intellect, and those two traits are both arguably strengths or weaknesses according to who you ask. He can rub some people up the wrong way, whether they be officers of the law or his wife, and he has long been struggling with (and sometimes giving in to) the temptation to illegally enter premises in order to solve a crime. He is a charming and well-travelled man of culture, who is fascinated by the history and folklore of Brittany, the land that adopted him. Other trademarks include his flat cap, cherry red Doc Martens, black Peugeot 403 - in better condition than Columbo's, and his moustache-twitching grin. 

A great mystery needs a killer plot and likeable—or despicable—characters, but setting and atmosphere are also key. What are your favourite settings for a really mysterious atmosphere?

As anyone who has already read my Oscar Tremont mysteries knows, my protagonist followed me from Australia to Brittany, and this is apparent in my writing. Give me misty marshland, a lighthouse during a wild storm, or castle ruins on the night of the full moon and I'll give you a chilling mystery. Oscar does travel elsewhere from time to time, but Brittany holds more than enough mystery for him.  

What’s the most mysterious place you’ve ever been?

I wouldn't know where to start. I've been inside Neolithic burial chambers, wandered castle ruins, explored Roman catacombs, got lost in enchanted forests. I've visited 221b Baker Street and walked the streets Jack the Ripper once roamed. I've even glimpsed Count Orlok at the Nosferatu window. So, if I had to choose one... Oh, I really can't... Wait! Well, there's Loch Ness, in the middle of the wild and eerie Scottish Highlands. Did I see the monster break the surface of the cold water from my vantage point at Urquhart Castle? I will leave that a mystery for you to ponder. 

What was the last mystery you read?

I've just finished Fer-de-Lance by Rex Stout. I figured it was about time I got around to reading a Nero Wolfe novel. Archie and Nero are great characters, and I really enjoyed Stout's writing style, with prose that ranges from eloquent and intellectual to punchy and comical. I was, however, not particularly impressed by the mystery itself. I was expecting more of a fair-play puzzle, à la John Dickson Carr, but the identity of the culprit was obvious from very early in the novel, and despite an elaborate (and not particularly believable) means of committing the murder of Peter Oliver Barstow, there were few pieces to puzzle. An enjoyable read with likeable characters but not an accomplished mystery.  

What are you working on now?

I'm working on an Oscar Tremont mystery set in Asia for a short story anthology, a spooky short story set in a lighthouse, and the second Oscar Tremont novel is in the works.

Where can we find you online?

You can find me pretty much everywhere online. My website is at https://camerontrost.com and I keep a complete list of social media links at: https://linktr.ee/camerontrost

Thanks for playing along!

Getting Mysterious with Edward Lodi

The Fourth Black Beacon Book of Mystery will be released on the 23rd of November, but the Kindle version is available for pre-order today at just $1.99 instead of $3.99 and the Goodreads listing is up. To get you in the mood for mystery, we’ve interviewed our contributing authors. Are you keen to peer into their minds—a complex world of clues, red herrings, and puzzling plots? This volume of mysteries will be as challenging as ever, but our cast of amateur sleuths, private investigators, and police inspectors will leave no stone unturned!

Hi Edward,

What is it about the genre of mystery that gets the cogs turning in your head?

Depends on the sub genre. They’re all fun in their own way. A “locked room” or “impossible crime” offers a particular challenge. Can I think of something fiendishly clever which is also fair to the reader? An historical mystery may require considerable research, but offers an opportunity to learn something new.

What ingredients are needed for a great fair-play mystery in which the reader can try to solve the puzzle before all is revealed?

First, a crime that contains a puzzle, whether it’s whodunit, howdunit, whydunit, etc. Suspects with plausible motives. Clues that are not obvious but nonetheless fairly presented. Red herrings that appear to be actual clues but are not. A credible detective.

A great mystery needs a killer plot and likeable—or despicable—characters, but setting and atmosphere are also key. What are your favourite settings for a really mysterious atmosphere?

A cemetery at night. An old, dark house. A cranberry bog (see below).

What’s the most mysterious place you’ve ever been?

A cranberry bog in the dead of night far from the nearest habitation. When I was young, I worked for a cranberry company in Southeastern Massachusetts. In the spring, and again in the fall, when frost threatened to damage the vines or the berries, I often had to spend the night alone checking thermometers, and starting irrigation systems if necessary. The bogs were often accessed by rutted dirt roads cut through the swamps that surrounded the bogs. I’d have to periodically get out of my pickup and jump across ditches to read the thermometers set among the vines. An isolated cranberry bog in the wee hours is a truly spooky place. Weird sounds issue from the swamp—owls hooting, screeches of small creatures falling prey to predators, coyotes yodeling, and worst of all, unidentifiable sounds worthy of the sound track of a horror movie.

What are you working on now?

A Sherlock Holmes pastiche.

Thanks for playing along!

Getting Mysterious with Robert Petyo

The Fourth Black Beacon Book of Mystery will be released on the 23rd of November, but the Kindle version is available for pre-order today at just $1.99 instead of $3.99 and the Goodreads listing is up. To get you in the mood for mystery, we’ve interviewed our contributing authors. Are you keen to peer into their minds—a complex world of clues, red herrings, and puzzling plots? This volume of mysteries will be as challenging as ever, but our cast of amateur sleuths, private investigators, and police inspectors will leave no stone unturned!

Hi Robert,

What is it about the genre of mystery that gets the cogs turning in your head?

I’ve always liked to read mysteries. There are always questions to be answered, and that’s what drives you to keep reading, to find the answers.

What ingredients are needed for a great fair-play mystery in which the reader can try to solve the puzzle before all is revealed?

All the clues must be out there for all to see. Hidden, perhaps, but out there. You want the reader to finish the book and say ‘Of course. The clues were right there,’ not ‘There was NEVER ANY MENTION of a knife, or a hidden staircase, or a missing sister.’

What are your protagonist’s strengths and weaknesses, trademark quirks, and bad habits?

Tillie loves her Inn and hates when people call it a hotel. She pretends to be humble, but she is actually very self-assured. An acerbic wit, especially with her high school rival Sheriff Braine.

A great mystery needs a killer plot and likeable—or despicable—characters, but setting and atmosphere are also key. What are your favourite settings for a really mysterious atmosphere?

Isolated places. A dinner party in an isolated restaurant; people in a snowed-in mansion; Agatha Christie’s Calais Coach.

What’s the most mysterious place you’ve ever been?

Elephant Rock in Canada, sadly no longer there. Erosion and the tides have brought it crumbling down.

What was the last mystery you read?

Serial by Casey Hill, about a forensic investigator in Dublin.

What’s one type of mystery you’ve been meaning to write but haven’t got around to yet—locked room, closed circle, police procedural, cold case, historical mystery, art theft?

I’ve always enjoyed locked-room mysteries, but I don’t think I could pull one off.

What are you working on now?

A novel about murder at a honeymoon resort in the Poconos.

Where can we find you online?

X and Facebook @robertpetyo and @rjpetyoauthor

Thanks for playing along!

Halloween Reads: The Black Beacon Book of Horror 2

The long-awaited second volume of spooky tales to keep you up all night from Black Beacon Books...

The Black Beacon Book of Horror 2 creeps out of the coffin to pick up where the first volume left off. Seventeen scary stories from some of the most disturbing minds writing horror today. These tales of folk horror, psychological suspense, gothic romance, and cosmic terror will take you by the hand and lead into the darkest of worlds. There are possessed puppets, Lovecraftian terrors from the depths, polar predators, unsettled spirits, and most frightening of all, the madness of mankind. You'll take part in a séance alongside Sir Arthur Conan Doyle of Sherlock Holmes fame, you'll experience a midnight tryst gone wrong in a moon garden, you'll discover terror in the trenches during the Great War, and you might just survive a holiday to Fiji if you're lucky. The settings and themes in this anthology are varied, but each tale has that one particular power in common; the power to send a delicious shiver of fright up your spine before you read the final line.

A Scary Interview with Dino Parenti

The Black Beacon Book of Horror 2 will be released on the 1st of October, but in the meantime, the Kindle version is available for pre-order (LAST CHANCE TODAY!) at just $1.99 instead of $3.99 and you can add the anthology to your Goodreads TBR list. To get you pumpkin-spiced up for an unforgettable Halloween 2026, we’re interviewing the contributing authors. Step into the corridors of their dark minds, if you dare!

Hi Dino,

That classic question to get started. Do you have to be a horrible person to write horrible things?

Absolutely not! You might have to be a horrible person to DO horrible things, but to write horrible things simply requires being a patient observer of history and the human condition. The horror pretty much writes itself.

Which horror writers do you admire—old or new, famous or hidden gems?

That’s a long list. Just off the top of my head, Stephen Graham Jones, Tananrive Due, Josh Malerman, and Catriona Ward come to mind, but I always migrate back to Cormac McCarthy. Granted, he’s not known as a horror writer, but read Blood Meridian or The Road and tell me they don’t contain some of the most haunting images and passages ever written.

Can you describe your perfect horror-themed night in, out, or away?

I don’t require much. Some good wine, good friends, and a good scary movie.

Are there any urban legends, folktales, or real-life tales of horror that happened (just maybe) where you live or grew up? 

I grew up and still live in Los Angeles, so I’m sure there are plenty since the place is so spread out with distinctive, smaller towns and neighborhoods. The Charles Manson killings were before I was born, but I remember well those several weeks in the mid-1980s when The Nightstalker was active and everyone was buying up all the door locks and home alarm systems in town. My parents kept freaking out each time I went out to play until he was caught.

Do you have any writing rituals?

I’m a terminal outliner. I’m also almost exclusively a morning writer, so each session, I go through what I wrote the morning before with a quick edit pass before writing the next bit, so by the time I have the first finished version of a piece, it’s really draft 1.5. If I write at all in the evenings, it’s only to edit.

Would you share something about yourself that your readers don’t know yet?

My only real writing training insofar as schooling goes was playwriting in college. I became a serious reader and fiction writer starting in my early thirties. So, if I have a heavy dialogue scene to write, I write it like a play—all dialogue with the most minimal of prose. 

Where can we find you online?

I’m on all the socials—Facebook, Instagram, X, Bluesky—all under my name, Dino Parenti. Simple, easy. I haven’t ventured into TikTok yet. Still waiting for someone to convince me to do so.

A Scary Interview with Diana Olney

The Black Beacon Book of Horror 2 will be released on the 1st of October, but in the meantime, the Kindle version is available for pre-order at just $1.99 instead of $3.99 and you can add the anthology to your Goodreads TBR list. To get you pumpkin-spiced up for an unforgettable Halloween 2026, we’re interviewing the contributing authors. Step into the corridors of their dark minds, if you dare!

Hi Diana,

That classic question to get started. Do you have to be a horrible person to write horrible things?

In my writing and reading experience, I would swap “horrible” for “haunted”. Horror comes in all shades and flavors, but the most poignant and memorable works of dark fiction draw from the dark ink of real wounds. That doesn’t necessarily mean that every tale has to be tragic, though. It is also possible to balance that inherent darkness with excitement, action, and sometimes even comedic tones.

Which horror writers do you admire—old or new, famous or hidden gems?

This list could stretch indefinitely. In classic literature, Slyvia Plath and Ted Hughes have been very influential, especially in my poetry. Contemporary hidden gems I revere include the visionary work of Kathe Koja, Emma Glass, and Candice Wuehle. In terms of famous authors and rising stars, I absolutely adore Julia Armfield, Gwendolyn Kiste, Richard Kadrey, CJ Leede, and Keith Rosson, especially their early short fiction.

Can you describe your perfect horror-themed night in, out, or away?

This is going to sound paradoxical, but a reading marathon in a sunlit cemetery on a Summer evening would be spectacular. BYOB (Bring Your Own Books!)

Are there any urban legends, folktales, or real-life tales of horror that happened (just maybe) where you live or grew up?

There is an abandoned, historic psychiatric facility not far from my abode in the Seattle area called Northern State Hospital, which I have explored, and can confirm to be wonderfully eerie. There is even an on-site crematorium.

Do you have any writing rituals?

Inspiration often speaks loudest to me when I am less distracted (including the chatter of my own thoughts), especially in liminal states like the phase between wakefulness and sleep. Sounds bizarre, but I’ve actually solved quite a few plot puzzles that way. So, I try to maintain an open mind in those moments, either by keeping pieces of a current WIP in the foreground, or listening for new ones. Let the words marinate and see if an epiphany comes.

Would you share something about yourself that your readers don’t know yet?

That’s a tough one, as the best way to get to know me is through my work. I don’t mention it often, but I am afflicted by hereditary bipolar disorder, though I am happy to report that writing has proved incredibly comforting and cathartic during rough periods. On a lighter (and softer) note, I am also an impassioned cat lover, whisperer, and cohort! All of my work is approved by my two furry assistants, who literally shadow me. This is less of a secret to those who have perused the compendium of cat photos on my social media, however.

Where can we find you online?

Official website: dianaolney.com or Instagram @dianaolneyauthor

A Scary Interview with Malina Douglas

The Black Beacon Book of Horror 2 will be released on the 1st of October, but in the meantime, the Kindle version is available for pre-order at just $1.99 instead of $3.99 and you can add the anthology to your Goodreads TBR list. To get you pumpkin-spiced up for an unforgettable Halloween 2026, we’re interviewing the contributing authors. Step into the corridors of their dark minds, if you dare!

Hi Malina,

That classic question to get started. Do you have to be a horrible person to write horrible things?

No, you don’t ! You can use fiction to play out scenarios that would never happen in real life, and you can write about bad things happening to people who are nothing like you, personally. I’ve met horror writers who are sweet, kind and fun to be around in real life. I do feel it’s important to separate fiction from real life. You don’t have to write yourself into the story unless you intend to.

Which horror writers do you admire—old or new, famous or hidden gems?

Celia Winter, Christine Hanosly and Louise Hughes write great horror. You can find their work on Gavagai.

Can you describe your perfect horror-themed night in, out, or away?

Going for a midnight picnic with red wine, crackers and camembert cheese. I tried this once years ago but my date got creeped out at beingin a park so late at night, so I intend to try it again.

Are there any urban legends, folktales, or real-life tales of horror that happened (just maybe) where you live or grew up?

Not that I know of… But I often research and write about folklore from various places.

Do you have any writing rituals?

Writing in the morning with a cup of tea or hot chocolate.

Would you share something about yourself that your readers don’t know yet?

I find a lot of inspiration in water and watery places.

Where can we find you online?

You can find me on BlueSky and Substack @iridescentwords, or on my website, https://citrinesunstream.wixsite.com/iridescent/