A Hole in One
Published by Barking Rain Press in March 2018, the second Glass Dolphin Mystery sends antiques dealer Arabella Carpenter and partner Emily Garland after a killer when a stray tee shot at a charity golf tournament lands beside a body.
Independent fiction & literary guides
Small-press fiction, carefully recorded.
Barking Rain is an independent literary publication. We research books, especially from small and independent presses, and turn what we find into clear records, book-club questions and practical guides, with every source cited.
Book records
All recordsBluffing Is Murder
Quaker linguistics professor Lauren Rousseau finds her insurance agent dead and becomes a suspect in a summer mystery set in coastal Massachusetts. Published by Barking Rain Press in 2014 under the name Tace Baker; reissued in 2020 as Murder on the Bluffs.
Cabin Fever
First published by Barking Rain Press in April 2014, this Seamus McCree mystery strands a financial-crimes investigator at his Upper Peninsula cabin with a nameless, freezing woman and the armed people hunting her. Reissued by Wolf's Echo Press in 2017.
Eine Kleine Murder
Aspiring conductor Cressa Carraway goes to her grandmother's lake cabin in rural Illinois to finish a symphony and finds Gram drowned. When a second death happens at the same spot, she suspects murder. Published by Barking Rain Press in 2013.
Exit Stage Left
Megan O'Day, bound to the centuries-old vampire Geoffrey Drake, must face his past and the advances of his brother Alexander after Geoffrey is taken from her. Book two of Catherine Russell's Stage Chronicles, published by Barking Rain Press.
Postponing Armageddon
A medieval fantasy in which Matthias, a long-lived thirteenth apostle, carries twelve scrolls across Europe toward Glastonbury Tor. Shortlisted in manuscript for the 2011 Terry Pratchett First Novel Award; published by Barking Rain Press in 2013.
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Printable discussion prompts
Book-specific questions plus genre and theme prompts, ready to print for your next meeting.
Compare candidates
Put two or three books side by side when your group is choosing what to read next.
Guides
All guidesAmateur-sleuth and traditional mysteries: a reader's guide
A guide to the amateur-sleuth mystery and its neighbours: how cozies, traditional mysteries and police procedurals differ, the Golden Age fair-play conventions, why small towns and series matter, and the role of Malice Domestic, the Agatha Awards, Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America.
Ebook formats explained: EPUB, PDF, MOBI, DRM and accessibility
What the common ebook file types are, why MOBI has faded, how DRM affects where you can read a book, what EPUB Accessibility 1.1 means, and how to choose the right file when an author or store offers several.
How to evaluate a small or independent press before you submit
Small presses publish a great deal of good fiction, and some of them close. This guide covers what to check before you submit or sign: how royalties are calculated, out-of-print and reversion clauses, fees that signal a vanity operation, closure risk, and where to get a contract reviewed.
How to load an EPUB onto a NOOK (and other e-readers)
Got a free EPUB from an author's website? This guide shows how to put it on a NOOK eReader over USB or into the NOOK app, with short equivalents for Kindle, Kobo, Apple Books and Google Play Books and fixes for the usual problems.
How we work
Every record is built with AI-assisted desk research from publisher, author, library and archival sources, then checked by a separate AI fact-checking pass. We say so plainly: no page here claims to be a human expert review or a personal reading. If something is wrong, tell us. Read our methodology and editorial policy.