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In Sauna Veritas – And Sometimes in Petone
My local book launch date and time is now fixed
Janus Lucky
May 07, 2025
The event poster
Dear friends,
You know how rare it is these days to find a bookshop that actually gives a damn about books? Not just shifting bestsellers or jumping on TikTok trends, but genuinely supporting storytelling, stories, and the strange creatures who write them. Well, I’ve found one. Schrödinger’s Books in Petone—yes, the cat is both dead and reading—has decided to get behind The Birthmark Murders – Death is a Cabaret, Old Chum!
This is no small thing.
We live in a time when big-chain bookstores act more like supermarkets—only pushing what’s been approved by algorithms and ad budgets. But true booklovers? They’re still out there. You see glimpses of them in thoughtful corners of the internet, like that CNN article I’ll link below. They’re the ones who browse slowly, who care about print quality, who still get excited by a spine that doesn’t bend too easily.
And now, here’s a moment for one indie author (moi) and one brilliant local bookshop that believes stories still matter.
So, I’m thrilled (and a little terrified) to invite you to the official launch of my debut crime novel:
📚 Book Launch: The Birthmark Murders – Death is a Cabaret, Old Chum!
📅 Wednesday 12 June | 🕕 6:00pm – 7:30pm
📍 Schrödinger’s Books, 137 Jackson Street, Petone
🍻 After-party at Spring & Fern (because books pair well with beer)
The evening will have books, banter, a bit of backstory, and probably me nervously cracking a few jokes about saunas, murder, and cultural elitism. You know, the usual.
And the best part? The books are locally printed, just down the road by Bluestar. None of that global print-on-demand nonsense here—we’re doing this proper, Wellington-style.
If you can’t make it to Petone but still want to support this small milestone that I dearly hope becomes a ripple, the book is available online at the links below. Your support means the world—whether it's showing up, spreading the word, or just reading the bloody thing.
See you at Schrödinger’s. I’ll be the one holding a pen and pretending I don’t mind signing my own name thirty times.
And to conclude, here is the first professional review:
The review by Jamie Michele for Readers’ Favorite
The Birthmark Murders by Janus Lucky is a murder mystery that follows Mikael Allardice, a half-Finnish New Zealander who returns to Ryväskylä, Finland, to uncover the truth behind his father Mikael “Spiral” Långberg's death, which occurred under mysterious circumstances during a troubled Cabaret production. Officially ruled a suicide, the circumstances surrounding his father’s death remain unclear. Mikael teams up with Pekka Wall and the hilarious Tuomas “T” Ylivire to explore Finland’s hidden world, where secrets are deeply guarded. Armed with a journal and a cassette tape, they dig deeper, and Mikael uncovers layers of betrayal and paranoia. Along the way, he realizes that exposing the truth about his father’s death is far more complicated than he anticipated, with a matching birthmark and the past holding answers that threaten to reshape everything he believed to be true. “He was murdered, and I bloody well want to find out why – and by whom.”
Janus Lucky’s The Birthmark Murders is a fantastic, intelligent read with a hard-boiled mystery baked into the protagonist Mikael's arc, and narrated from an omniscient point of view that allows us into the heads of multiple characters. Mikael's disillusionment is evident as his perception of his deceased father, as well as his mother, unravels, and he is forced to come face-to-face with the deep emotional wounds of both personal identity and loss. Lucky balances this with real humor, the highlight of which almost always comes through the witty exchanges between characters like Pekka and Tuomas, whose sarcasm offers much-needed relief, especially as the story takes a dark turn. Lucky incorporates aspects of Māori culture that are clearly formed from either lived experience, exhaustive research, or a combination of both. The plot culminates in a shocking ending, one that I absolutely did not see coming. Tightly written, smart, and entertaining. Recommended.
Warm regards,
Janus Lucky,
In Sauna Veritas
Order online here:
Get the book from below: |
👉 Amazon and of course, Kobo. |