Meet Jeff Tanner, whose novel The King's Collar will be released by Koehler Books on June 30, 2026.
Jeff holds a
PhD in marketing and published fifteen books on sales and marketing, including
two bestselling textbooks. He spent his career in higher education, retiring as
dean of the Strome College of Business at Old Dominion University. You may
recall his daily business program on NPR.
In addition, he has published short
stories in several anthologies and written/produced multiple plays. He, his
wife, and a four‑pound Maltese named Boo divide their time between grandkids in
three states and Virginia’s Eastern Shore. They add a bit of excitement by
owning and racing thoroughbreds.
He is a member of Sisters in
Crime and its Southeastern Virginia Chapter, Mystery by the Sea.
I wanted to write a mystery that was part
Maltese Falcon, part Indiana Jones. I’ve been surprised at how many readers described
The King’s Collar that way without any prompting.
Expelled at Harvard and disowned by his
father, Charlie “Bones” Bohannon quickly falls to the underworld’s fringe. Befriended
by former sailor Punchy, he begins buying and selling smuggled items. Charlie
discovers a statuette in a speakeasy bar, similar to one stolen from his dean,
who says return it and graduate. But it vanishes, and the man who took it is
found murdered. The dean accuses Charlie, whose ironclad alibi doesn't deflect
the pressure to find the statuette.
Through a series of misadventures, Charlie
and Punchy become members of the Solomon mob. Solomon demands the missing
statuette and its legendary counterpart, the jewel-encrusted King’s Collar.
Charlie, Punchy, and bold Beacon Hill socialite Olivia search while
dodging rivals for the Collar, one of whom gives Charlie a week or face death.
When Olivia and Punchy are kidnapped, and
the Collar is the ransom, Charlie’s time is running out. But finding the Collar
is no guarantee that he—or his friends—will survive.
What kind of research did you do for the
book? Any strange or odd fact that you uncovered in your research?
Comprehensive! I relied on books, archival
websites, and historians’ YouTube videos. I even followed Charlie’s walks
through Boston to ensure that I reported the distance and time accurately.
Irish Catholics weren’t permitted in the
elite Protestant men’s clubs, so in the book, they meet at the Parker House
Hotel. I visited the hotel and learned that my choice was accurate. In fact,
Joseph Kennedy proposed to Rose at Table 40, which you can now visit!
Where are your books available for
purchase?
The King’s
Collar is now available for pre-order on Amazon, and Bookshop.
What are you currently writing?
Dolls, book two in the series, publishes
in December. Books three and four I intend to bring out in 2027. I’m currently
working on book five.
Anything else you want readers to know
about you?
Besides being an avid golfer and skier,
I’m also a furniture-maker. I took up the saxophone after a very long hiatus,
and I’m loving it!
Jeff Tanner https://www.authorjefftanner.com
Certainly a book to consider adding to my TBR list. Thank you for giving us some background.
ReplyDeleteI am adding it to my list as well! I’ve read Jeff’s short stories and he’s a great writer.
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