Forty years ago in June, Until Proven Guilty, Beaumont #1, hit the stands, and it did so with hardly a splash. It was a thin paperback with tiny print inside and a black cover that featured a single red rose. At a recent signing, a man named John Oftebro, someone I knew back in those good old days when I was a member of the Denny Regrade Business Association, showed up with his signed copy. It looks a little shop-worn all these years later, but in case you’re wondering, yes, it was signed and personalized in red ink.

I was a brand-new writer back then, and Avon Books printed 30,000 copies. The local book wholesaler, a company that supplied books to all the Seattle area grocery and drug stores, went out on a limb and ordered fifty whole copies! Years later, by the time that wholesaler closed up shop, they were ordering my books by the pallet. But not that first time. And when I asked my local sales rep when we’d have the publishing party, she looked at me like I was nuts and said, “What publishing party? This is a paperback. Nobody sign’s paperbacks.”

Well, I did, and do.

We held our own publishing party in the community room at our downtown condo. I’m pretty sure that’s where John Oftebro got his signed copy, because we invited everyone we knew, including a local woman who brought her “Party Llama” to the event. Unfortunately, the Admiral’s Club, as it was called back then, was on the sixth floor, and said llama wasn’t accustomed to riding in elevators. That’s one time when we could have used a llama-sized pee pad!

Oh, and did I mention the most important guest at that party? The week before, after meeting Bill at a widowed retreat, I had invited him to attend. Turns out that publishing party at the end of June 1985 was our very first date.

In the meantime, my enterprising agent had gotten on the phone (Being online wasn’t a thing in 1985!) and set up signings for me at every local bookstore she could find. Each store ended up ordering 25 books for the signing only to discover that Until Proven Guilty was out of print. Avon had printed as many books as they thought would sell, but in order to fulfill those book signing orders, they had to do a second printing, unheard of for an unknown, first-time author. And that was the first step on my forty-year journey of becoming “an overnight success!”

Why am I telling you all this ancient history? Because next week, on May 27, Den of Iniquity, Beaumont #26!! goes on sale in paperback. I always used to say that I could never be Sue Grafton because I could never write 26 books about the same character—which is one of the reasons I try not to say something will NEVER happen, because chances are it will.

I’m very grateful to all my loyal paperback readers who have followed my books, and along with my friend J.P, for all these many years. And if you happen to be one of those people who DOES want your paperback copy of Den of Iniquity signed and personalized, please consider ordering it through Brick & Mortar Books in Redmond, Washington. That way I can sign it before it’s shipped.

In the meantime, thanks for letting me live my dream of becoming a writer for the past forty years. You keep reading, and I’ll keep writing.