Hey, Readers!

As I’ve mentioned in past enewsletters, I started writing Jules Cassidy, P.I. just a few days after the election in November 2024. Ed and I were out in California visiting Jason and his husband Matt through the holidays, and even though I’d only written a few chapters, I quickly realized that this would be an opportune time to do a photo shoot for the cover art for this book.

So we did. 

I had a very clear concept for the art for JULES—I wanted to resurrect the “mysterious running couple” that graced the covers of some of my earlier TS books like Over the Edge and Gone Too Far.

Remember those running couples? (Back in the day, it was a constant source of discussion at booksignings and on my message board!!)

They were usually visually... well, random, I guess is the best way to put it. Stock art. Women running in pencil skirts and heels through the jungle. A man dressed a business suit even though the book is about Navy SEALs.

“Who are these curiously-clad running people?” we’d wonder.

Who could know?!

The cover of Over the Edge (Senior Chief Stan Wolchonok’s book, TS # 3) features a man I swear has to be Captain Kirk—look closely, he’s definitely wearing a Starfleet uniform in the golden-colored command designation (red is security/engineering, blue is science), helping a woman run down a... Yes, that is an airport runway made of cobblestone (an interesting choice by the runway designer) where our determined running couple is about to be hit by... yup. A landing plane. (Or is it a shuttlecraft from the Enterprise coming to save them? Ooh, maybe I’ve just solved that mystery!!)

Kidding aside, I actually really love the mood of this cover, so I’m okay with Kirk, the cobblestones, and the highly inaccurate but spookily ominous “headlights” of the approaching plane/starship/shuttlecraft.

Because I think we can all agree that the most important quality of a book cover is that it’s eye-catching and striking enough to cause a potential reader to pick it up and read the first few pages of Chapter One and get hooked. (Hard to know if OTE’s cover worked, because it came out a mere week before 9/11, when the whole world understandably stopped for quite a few weeks. Book sales were the last thing on anyone’s mind.)

But okay, here’s Gone Too Far (Sam & Alyssa’s book, TS #6), where it sure looks like that’s Don Draper (the ad exec main character of the 1960s-set Mad Men) being chased by the ominous headlights of a car down a... fishing pier?

He’s running with... Well, I’m not sure exactly who Don’s with, but it’s definitely not Alyssa. (Whoever she is, she’s in heels. Look at that pointy toe on her shoe. And her hair? #Nope. #NotAlyssa.)

And yet… GTF’s cover with its Florida sky is eye-catching. It worked well to help keep this book on the New York Times hardcover list for five weeks.

But okay. After the art department gave me the running couple with Don and his white GF for Gone Too Far, I was better prepared for the cover art for Hot Pursuit (TS #15, where Sam and Alyssa return in pursuit of a serial killer). When I was sent a mock-up of Hot Pursuit’s cover featuring a silhouetted woman with long, straight hair, I sent them back a photo of a friend who had hair far more like Alyssa’s, and they finally got it right(ish). I would’ve given the silhouetted woman on this cover a few more muscles, but hey. I was happy to take the win!

ANYWAY, when I sat down to write Jules Cassidy, P.I., I knew this book was going to be a little different from the Troubleshooters books that had come before.

It’s a mystery, for one thing. It’s intentionally a little bit lighter in a lot of ways (picture me looking out my window at the dumpster fire around us and thinking, “yes, good choice!”), and the book’s main characters are Jules and Sam. So not a romance. A bromance, if you will, with romantic elements provided by the book’s secondary couple, Mick and Emily.

But Jules is the main character. His is the main internal conflict as he wonders, “how do I move forward in this shitshow of a world?” But there’re lots of scenes written from Sam’s point of view, too, as he tries his best to help his dear friend adjust to a new, unexpected reality.

And the book starts with a bang as Jules and Sam run from an SUV filled with murderous gunmen. (Read an excerpt at my website at https://suzannebrockmann.com/books/troubleshooters/jcpi-excerpt/)

In imagining the art for JULES, I wanted to see Sam and Jules as the “running couple” gracing the cover. Tall guy, shorter guy. Running hard from danger, as Troubleshooters’ running couples are wont to do!

So yeah, that’s Jason (tall guy in front) and Ed (shorter guy in back) running full-steam across a residential street in Van Nuys, California—which is where most of this new book is set—in the Valley part of greater Los Angeles. (Sherman Oaks! Burbank! Studio City! Pasadena!)

Last December, Ed and I were living in a VRBO rental on this very street, and late one afternoon the sky to the west was incredible. So Matt and I grabbed our iPhones (which now have better lenses and technology than some of the cameras with which we filmed our first movies!! Yes, it’s true!!) and we made Jason and Ed run across the street again and again.

And again.

I had a lot of really good shots to choose from, but this one was my favorite. It really caught my eye.

So now, for the first time in the history of the Troubleshooters series, we absolutely can answer the burning question: “Who are these running people?!”

Jules Cassidy, P.I. is available in a special, early-release ebook edition, only through my Kickstarter Campaign running now through December 8^th.

Grab it fast if you want JULES in your ereader (delivered to you via BookFunnel) on December 11^th!

Signed print editions (hardcover and trade paperback print-on-demand) are also available, but only to readers with a U.S. address. Those book will be signed and shipped after the holidays, but everyone who gets a print book will also be sent an ebook on December 11^th. (I’m so sorry I can’t offer international shipping of print books at this time, but the Kickstarter ebook is available worldwide.)

For international readers who want print books, or readers don’t have the bandwidth to learn how to use Kickstarter and Bookfunnel (although it’s really not hard, read my long, long explainer here): Jules Cassidy, P.I.’s official release via the usual ebooksellers will be in early 2026—I’m aiming for the end of January, so stay tuned!

Find out more about the book (and read an excerpt) at my website: https://suzannebrockmann.com/books/troubleshooters/julescassidypi/

More details (plus a short video of me talking about JULES) over at Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/suzannebrockmann/jules-cassidy-pi

Kickstarter 101 for the Kickstarter-Curious: https://newsfromsuz.beehiiv.com/p/jules-cassidy-kickstarter-101

Thank you, as always, for your time and attention, and your support!

Please never stop fighting for our freedom, for our democracy, for equality, equity, peace, love, hope, and for the rights of ALL of our neighbors both here and around the world,
Suz