In the last month or so, I've had on average one person a day email me to ask if there is going to be a third Manziuk and Ryan mystery. 

First, thanks for the encouragement. Knowing someone is waiting to read my books really encourages me to keep writing them. 

Secondly, the answer is yes. There will be a third book. And hopefully a fourth…

That's the good news.

The bad news is that the next book isn't written yet.

But the other good news is that it is in the process of being written.

Book 3 has a title – "Opaque Rays."

And it has a setting, characters, and an overall plot. (Yes, I even know whodunit!)

The setting

First, let me explain that each of the Manziuk and Ryan books began with an idea for a setting that crept into my mind and germinated there. The seed for Shaded Light began to grow after a visit to a Japanese garden in Vancouver years before I began writing the book. The seed for Glitter of Diamonds was sown  while I was watching a Blue Jays game at the then Skydome in Toronto (now Rogers Centre). The seed for Opaque Rays was sown somewhere in my many visits with my mother in a nursing home in Markham. 

What happens after the seed is sown is that I usually change the setting quite a bit. The Japanese garden ended up being a much smaller garden set on an estate in Toronto. The Skydome became the mythical Diamond Dome. And the nursing home has become a downtown Toronto condo built to contain a group of seniors on each floor, all living in community.

Most of the members of my particular group have known one another for years, and all were involved in some aspect of the arts. In their retirement, they wanted to control their own destinies, so two of them built the building and designed it to create a self-contained living space on each floor, complete with a live-in staff of four and other daily or weekly staff.

When will Opaque Rays be available? I can't say for sure, but I'm hoping it will be completed by next spring, fall at the latest, always assuming nothing unexpected happens.

But I'm also working on three other books – a fantasy for my granddaughter and a memoir, so no guarantees.

I do plan to post a few short stories here, though – one involving Paul and Jacquie, so do come back.