This morning I'm turning over the floor to Belanger Books, our cross-promotional partners for this year's Printopia. He's here to talk about his own project, Sherlock Holmes: Mistletoe Mysteries. As the saying goes: take it away, Derrick!

Hello everyone, 

A huge thank you to Moe Lane for being my partner for this year’s Printopia. My name is Derrick Belanger and my project is Sherlock Holmes: Mistletoe Mysteries. My publishing company, Belanger Books, focuses on new Sherlock Holmes fiction. We publish everything from traditional Sherlock Holmes adventures to original crossovers in the realms of Steampunk, Lovecraft, and Edgar Allan Poe.

Sherlock Holmes: Mistletoe Mysteries came about from a collaboration with The Strand magazine. I was tasked with creating an annual story collection that is structured like an advent calendar. Thus, my first Backerkit collection, Sherlock Holmes: Crimes for Christmas was born!  Aftet the success of the first collection came Sherlock Holmes: Holiday Whoddunits and now Sherlock Holmes: Mistletoe Mysteries. The stories in each book are divided into two sections. The first day provides the case to the reader. The second day provides the ending. You get to think like Sherlock Holmes and see if you can solve the case before reading the thrilling conclusion.

What makes Sherlock Holmes: Mistletoe Mysteries slightly different from the other two is that for each story in this anthology, Sherlock Holmes teams up with another great detective from the Victorian and Edwardian time period.  There are so many other detectives such as Lady Molly of Scotland Yard, The Old Man in the Corner, Martin Hewitt, Lois Cayley, and Max Carrados that are largely forgotten. My goal with this anthology is to introduce these detectives to a new audience and hopefully, readers will seek out their original stories.

Lastly, I’m looking forward to reading my Printopia partner’s book Banshee Beach. The mystery genre stays fresh when authors approach it in new and exciting ways. Moe Vargas has done that by creating the fun and unique world of New California where Tom Vargas solves crimes while cracking jokes and making pop culture references. Fans of traditional detectives, noir, and cross-genre stories will love it!

Thank you again for allowing me to tell you a bit about Sherlock Holmes: Mistletoe Mysteries. I hope you’ll support it along with Banshee Beach, and the other exciting projects that are part of Printopia.