I'm an author who loves to entertain by writing crime fiction, true crime, and talk about publishing. Subscribe to my newsletter (usually two every month) to keep in the loop, get access to free and discounted deals, and enter my monthly giveaway contest.
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Author Stephen Bentley's June Newsletter
Published about 1 month ago • 4 min read
Welcome to the Newsletter
Hello Reader,
There is a different look to the newsletter since I moved to Kit as my email service provider. I hope you like it. One thing I do like is the Preferences Update which you will find at the bottom of the page.
It works like this: say you subscribe to my thrillers newsletter (this one) but also wish to receive the KJ Cornwall cosies newsletter, then just add it in the update. You will then receive both.
Only one hiccough on making the switch, I accidentally deleted the ARC review team details for my thrillers. I did manage to reconstruct the team but I have a sneaky feeling that I missed out two or three names off the list.
So, if you did NOT receive an email from me dated May 25 2025 with the subject line Manhunt and The Last Message Reviews, and you are a member of my thrillers review team, please reply to this email and let me know.
Nothing much else has changed so let's get straight to the monthly giveaway. Click here not the image to enter.
New Releases
Click the covers to view all the details. I hope you all grabbed Manhunt on the free day.
If you did, please consider posting a review to Amazon. They all count!
I really liked this one:
"Kenneth Cameron 5.0 out of 5 stars This book puts the thrill in thriller! Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2025 This book puts the thrill in thriller! I appreciate the chance to enjoy a new author who really knows how to write and capture the reader's attention!"
The Last Message is permafree at most retailers and is also free at all Amazon marketplaces.
Thanks to all who have posted such terrific reviews. Please keep them coming!
The pricing is designed to hook readers and persuade them to buy the last two books in the trilogy: The Silent Protocoland The Final Cipher.
Special Offer (Subscribers Only) On The Last Message Trilogy
Book One is also free direct from me below with discounts for early birds on Books 2 and 3 in the series: The Silent Protocol and The Final Cipher.
Yes, you can read the whole trilogy before all the books are published.
Here is an advance review of The Final Cipher:
Last in the series, sharp and sweet? Fast paced cyber thriller that outshines most others that I've read before. It's exciting, intriguing and dangerous.
Click the small "Get it now!" button to grab the deal.
Click the cover to grab it whilst free for 2 days on Amazon: June 1 at midnight PST to midnight June 2 PST. Set your world clock alarms, and please review after you have read it.
Book Promos
As usual, click the images/covers to see all the books in the promos. Some are free and some not.
Author Swaps
Please click the covers of books written by authors good enough to swap mentions in their newsletters with me.
Audiobooks
There are some of you who regularly review my audiobooks and were used to the StoryOrigin process. I no longer use that review platform but no worries, if you want a code for any of my books in any of my pen names, just ask me.
Don't forget I will have US and UK Audible codes soon for Manhunt.
Please note codes are only available for the US and UK Audible stores.
There are also Spotify redemption codes available for many of my audiobooks - just ask me.
Publishing News
At long last, my Operation Julie book which was a true crime bestseller many times over on Amazon UK when it was independently published, will now be published worldwide by Penguin in November 2025.
There will be a new cover and blurb which I will reveal as soon as I have them.
It will also be relaunched to coincide with the broadcasting of either the Operation Julie TV series or documentary whenever that takes place.
The Ko-Fi (pronounced coffee) Shop
My Ko-Fi shop still continues to publish the serialisation of all my new releases in all pen names.
Members can access the chapter-by chapter serialisation. Click the image below to find out how.
"This is New York. And this is the New York novel. The nineteenth-century practitioners such as Edith Wharton and Henry James wrote New York novels of manners (which is to say: class) back when that was the thing. John Dos Passos’s Manhattan Transfer expanded the class theme into an experimental, impressionist, kaleidoscopic form in 1925, the same years as one of the all-time great New York crime novels: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby..." so writes Chris Pavone.
Click the image above to read the full piece.
All Stephen Bentley and Pen Names' Books on Pre-order
As a full time writer, these books are in the pipeline and in various stages of development. They are staggered for release from June this year through to March 2026.
Two things are worth mentioning: (a) the chapter-by-chapter serialisation in my Ko-Fi store enables members to have early access to the books in draft form with a free personalised eBook of the final version on release day; and (b) if you wish to review these books as a new member of the ARC team, reply to this email and let me know.
Merciless, Book 7 and finale to the Matt Deal series.
Former British undercover cop and barrister (trial attorney) turned writer
I'm an author who loves to entertain by writing crime fiction, true crime, and talk about publishing. Subscribe to my newsletter (usually two every month) to keep in the loop, get access to free and discounted deals, and enter my monthly giveaway contest.
