As I’ve mentioned before, a large part of writing heist fiction involves a) getting people into rooms they’re not supposed to be in and b) ensuring this process is interesting to read about.

That second bit is the absolute bastard, because real-world security—especially physical security—is often a massive joke. Case in point: a recent security audit following last month’s Louvre heist has revealed the password for the museum’s video security system was, uh, “Louvre.”

I honestly don’t know how I’m supposed to write under these fucking conditions. If I tried to put that in a story, everyone who read it would call bullshit. To quote John Rogers, “there are no Moriartys because there really don’t have to be.”

New Novelette: “The Illusive Consultant”

Once again, Jay Moriarty and Sebastian Moran find themselves entangled with cat burglar John Clay. A notorious drug lord has hired Clay to steal a DNA sample from genetic testing company BasePairing, and Clay needs Moriarty’s help to pull off the job. With such a dangerous client, failure isn’t an option — and if things couldn’t get any worse, the world’s greatest consulting detective has just picked up their trail …

“The Illusive Consultant” is the ninth story in my series The Casefile of Jay Moriarty, a modern-day queer take on the iconic Sherlock Holmes villain, his partner Sebastian Moran, and the various crimes they commit together.

This one features the appearance of two characters you may have been waiting to see for some time.

This Week’s Links

Internet Archive’s legal fights are over, but its founder mourns what was lost

At the heart of the Open Library lawsuit was publishers’ market for e-book licenses, which libraries complain provide only temporary access for a limited number of patrons and cost substantially more than the acquisition of physical books.

True Crime Is Rotting Our Brains

It’s easy and correct to condemn Fox News for increasing our grandparents’ blood pressure, keeping them in a perpetual state of fear about roving gangs of MS-13 coming to their gated communities, but we should also consider that other demographics might be susceptible to fear-stoking propaganda.

117 LUCAS STREET, Richmond Hill (Mill Pond), Ontario

Check out this completely normal house.

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I considered whether it was a bit weird to release a book on Remembrance Day, but then I remembered that I spent the entirety of November 11, 2023 watching a marathon of every single Twilight movie at Tyneside Cinema. So I guess there are weirder things to do with the day.

-K