Continuing the Professor Korrigan Mystery series

Today seemed like a good day to make a little announcement, as it were, since it was on this date (March 3), fifty years ago, in the year 1975, that the plot of my first Professor Korrigan Mystery novel began in a small rural part of southwest Norway, marking the beginning of his three day journey to solve the terrible secret of The Starseed.

However fictional these events may be, I'm using this pseudo-anniversary as an excuse to provide an update on the development of the series. Actually, I have two Professor Korrigan-related news I want to share.

Photo model: Arne Vagle. 

The first is that I am working on the second novel in the series and that I'm hoping to get it finished by the end of this year (fingers crossed). This new chapter in the life of Professor Korrigan will be set in Northumberland, near the Roman ruins of Hadrian's Wall, where the mysterious death of a respected archaeologist and the discovery of a strange, primitive stone carving sets him out a horrifying new adventure.

Note that this is a different story from the one I have previously teased, both on my website and in the final pages of The Starseed. That project, which will be on a much larger scale (literally and figuratively) is one that I have already worked on for a while now, and will continue to do so. For now, however, I am deeply entrenched in the history of the Roman occupation of England in the 2nd century AD and the mysterious Celtic people known as the Picts, both of whom will be at the centre of my new historical mystery. 

Now, despite having been busy with life in general, I have already gotten well underway with the historical research for this new story. In fact, just this past week I visited the library at the Stavanger Museum of Archaeology, and just a couple of days later at the university, I had a long and fascinating conversation with a historian and former archaeologist. I'll provide more details on this here on the blog when the book is released.

Photo taken during my visit to Hadrian's Wall (near Hexham) in 2022.

I also plan on publishing an updated version of The Starseed later this year. The story will remain exactly the same, but, having detected a few technical errors and minor historical inaccuracies, I have recently done some additional research and consulted with a few more experts in order to make sure that the factual parts of the story will be as accurate as can be. In addition, I will add a more detailed breakdown of my research (both old and new), which is something I intend to do in all future Professor Korrigan Mystery novels. A preview of my next book will also be added when this work is completed.