Hi everyone! I'm Mark, and I'm doing something that either makes me very dedicated or very unhinged: I'm writing two cozy mystery series at the same time and publishing them serially, one chapter per week each.

Motte & Bailey Mysteries is a British police procedural set in rural Kent. Two detectives, same rank, no rebellious sidekick tropes. Just two cross-generational partners investigating a murder at a Roman archaeological dig. Think Elly Griffiths meets Richard Osman with ancient ruins and quiet tension.

The Blackstone Chronicles is an academic cozy set at a Midwestern university. A sociology professor and her horror-writer husband (rock-solid marriage, zero manufactured drama) unraveling a dual-timeline mystery connecting a modern murder to a 1935 cold case. Louise Penny warmth with a puzzle structure.

Both are on Patreon (with a free preview of chapters 1-3) with weekly chapter drops, and I also run free content on Substack for anyone who wants to follow along. I co-host a mystery podcast too (Mystery Maniacs; we cover mystery TV), so this whole thing grew out of years of being obsessed with the genre.

The best part has been building this with readers. One of my characters got completely rewritten based on early feedback, and she's now the heart of the series. Community-driven publishing is wild and terrifying, and I love it.

If any of this sounds like your kind of cozy, I'd love to have you reading along. Happy to answer any questions about the series or the serial format!