Dauntless Update:
It's been a cup of coffee since my last musing, but here I am again.  This is now the end of the third week of my retirement, and wow, have I been busy doing... I don't know what.  Yet it's not been the writing I had hoped to accomplish.  I think I need to go on vacation again to get some serious writing done.  Still, I am back editing the Dauntless book.  I just completed the first pass edit/rewrite of chapter eighteen.  Three more chapters to go, then, like painting the Golden Gate Bridge, I can go back to the beginning and start over again.
The second pass will be what I call a mechanical edit.  It is more about the structure.  It focuses on consistency in spelling of names and places, quotation placement, spacing, periods, etc. Literally crossing the T's and dotting the i's.    Some of this mechanical editing is to ensure I haven't used improper contractions.  Since the story is set in 1760, the vernacular of the time would not include many, if any, contractions.  Still, they slip in as I write, then I must find them and correct them.  I'll tell you more about this technical edit in another piece, but I will not bore you with further details now. (which implies that I will bore you with it later....  hmmm.)

  I hope to share some snippets of the book with you all in upcoming musings, but I need to secure additional releases from my crew first.  They know who they are.  That will be exciting, won't it  will it not?

Dance Noir Cover Art:
Thanks to those who voted on the cover art options.  There was a clear winner at 70% of the vote. The vote was split only between two of the four options.  The original cover lost out altogether.  The clear winner is shown on my Author Website: https://rigginswrites.com/books/dance-noir.
or at Amazon Kindle:  https://www.amazon.com/Dance-Noir-Latin-Beauty-Investigations-ebook/dp/B0FX71TC4B/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.LAyryUgMjT43dCvmqZnUkg.t2UzO5wiFGn7_SLpzhBpkqWeniuPzCb6mYvWtImW9VY&qid=1777130842&sr=8-2

This book, I am pleased to say, is currently rated a 4.8 out of 5 stars on Amazon.  Thanks to you all!
Don't worry if you purchased the original cover version; the story is unchanged.  Who knows, maybe someday it will be a collector's item.  Of course, you're welcome to purchase the new version if you like; I won't complain.  :')

The Tattooed Canary:
Book 2 of the Nick Gazelle Investigations
Yeah, not really there yet. 99% of my focus has been on finishing the Dauntless book, but I have also been outlining and developing characters.  A story is emerging, and I like what I'm feeling.  The cover art will have to change to match the new Dance Noir cover, but that's down the road.
Once the Dauntless book is in ARC review, I will turn my attention to this work.

Other Writings:
I am contemplating writing some of my other stories that have been parked in my brain as short stories, or one chapter at a time, and publishing them on my author's website rather than attempting to write and publish them as a book.   You can see the list of these ideas with short descriptions here: https://rigginswrites.com/other-writings

I don't have many people on this mailing list yet, so maybe I need a few more people in the audience before I delve into that.  Some of the stories have already been partially written and would only need minor cleanup and editing to get them going.  Would you be interested in reading such things?  And if so, which one would you have me start with?
That's all for this edition.
PS: I don't edit my musings nearly as much as I do the books, so please pardon any stray errors or typos.