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If you've been on my newsletter long enough, you know that my primary genre is cozy: cozy mystery, cozy fantasy, cozy historical fantasy mystery. But if you've been here long enough, you also know I like to play around and try out new genres. It's how I grow as a creator.
But it can be pretty confusing. Writers usually stick to one genre. It makes it a lot easier to explain your books. For example: "I write cozy paranormal mysteries set in colonial Africa" is a great elevator pitch.
However, "I write cozy and cozy-adjacent stories, as well as young adult, and also, I dabble in Sci-Fi and LitFic, and don't forget my supernatural thriller..." People's eyes glaze over as they back away slowly.
But regardless of the genre, all of my books have one thing in common.
The Vered Guarantee: A promise that every story provides clean, lighthearted, flinch-free reading that leaves you with a smile on your face and joy in your soul.
In this blog post, I share never-before-revealed details and background to my various series and books. Or at least, I’ve never revealed all of these details in one place, so this should be fun. I’ve also included some bonus content.
COZY MYSTERIES
Let’s start where it all began: the historical Society for Paranormals.
Most of my cozy series happen in the same world, the world of the Society. When I wrote the first book in the Society series, I had no idea what cozy mysteries were, or that I might be writing one. As fate should have it, one cozy turned into at least two dozen.
I wrote Miss Knight & Ghosts of Tsavo (book #1) when I became intrigued with a famous historical incident involving lions, hunters, and the East African railway. This naturally led me to explore the lesser-known African myths and supernatural entities who are far more intriguing than their European counterparts, yet not as well known. I decided to share with the world my limited understanding of all these supernatural marvels, and Miss Knight took over from there. (She has a tendency to do that.)
However, there is another layer to the story or, in this case, the first four stories in the series. It should be stated that I love Pride & Prejudice. The book. The movies. The mini-series. All of the various attempts at capturing Jane Austen’s storytelling brilliance in big and small screen productions. One of my favorites is the Bollywood version, Bride & Prejudice. Even the wacky Pride & Prejudice & Zombies (yes, that’s a real movie) delighted me.
So when I decided to embark on a story set in Victorian Nairobi, it felt perfectly natural to turn to the structure and flow of Pride & Prejudice. If you take the first four books in the Society series — starting with Miss Knight & the Ghosts of Tsavo — and combine them into one big story, you will actually see the overall story and character arcs of Jane Austen’s classic.
The relationship between Miss Beatrice Knight and Mr. Timmons in the first four books bears many similarities to that of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, the romantic protagonists in Pride & Prejudice. In fact, you could view the rest of the Society series as an exploration of what might have happened to Miss Bennet and Mr. Darcy after their marriage, assuming they’d moved to East Africa and surrounded themselves with supernatural entities.
Meanwhile, Miss Knight’s aunt reminds me of Mrs. Bennet (Elizabeth’s mother), as they both have delicate nerves and humorously outrageous sentiments, as well as the same fears concerning their family’s financial wellbeing. We also find within the pages of the Society for Paranormals the general shenanigans of Victorian upperclass society, the delicious language and turn of phrases, the silly restrictions placed on women, and other quirks of culture and history.
However, the opening lines of Ghosts of Tsavo immediately set the reader at ease, for it is clear you are not reading a mere rehashing of a classic, but the beginning of an entirely different sort of adventure:
“It’s an uncommonly known fact that a strong pot of tea will obscure a werewolf’s stench. Given that one doesn’t normally walk around with a teapot in hand, this fact will be of little comfort to a human unless she happens to be taking a tea break. So it was a jolly good thing I was at that moment in a teahouse.”
Once I began writing the series, I felt obliged to provide some backstory, particularly to the frenemy relationship between Koki and Miss Knight, and that’s how we end up with eleven books and two prequels.
On top of these 13 books, there are also two companion products that are exclusively available to my newsletter (Miss Knight’s Secret Tales, and A Beginner’s Guide to African Paranormal & Supernatural Beasts).
Society for Paranormals is for those who love: cozy historical mysteries; paranormal women’s fiction; African mythology; exotic safaris; small-town shenanigans; and humorous fun. Perfect for fans of Gail Carriger’s The Parasol Protectorate, Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice, and Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple. For more details, visit www.veredehsani.com/society
Let’s continue on our exploration of never-before-revealed details and background to my various series and books, and our next stop involves pirates and witches.
I wrote the Pirates Ahoy series as a backstory to one of the characters in my Wavily Witches cozy mystery series. Granny Storm Wavily was one of those secondary characters who didn’t like to stay in second place and demanded her own series, so I complied and wrote about her younger days, which somehow led to pirates.
Originally, I thought I could get away with writing a short story about a young water witch stowing away on a ship, only to discover — too late — that it was crewed by pirates, one of whom was a dashing young man, and they sail off into the sunset … The End.
Storm had other ideas.
Five books and two short stories later, we have the full misadventures of Miss Storm Wavily as she and her crew chase after treasure and hurricanes while escaping the British navy and solving mysteries. Needless to say, this was a fun series to write. I explored various locations along the African coastline, created some wonky spells for Storm to cast, and learned more than I ever wanted to about hygiene issues on sailing ships.
This delightful romp takes place in the same time period as the Society, and in a similar style, with an overlapping adventure to boot. I love the idea of a female pirate with high morals and dodgy companions. Plus, treasure and chatty cats. Prepare to sail around the African continent and into murder, mayhem and other misadventures.
If you enjoy exotic locations, eccentric characters and bewitching stories, then come aboard and join this motley pirate crew for a spellbinding voyage in which Pirates of the Caribbean meet Bewitched.
Pirates Ahoy is the prequel series to Wavily Witches, even though I wrote the prequel after the sequel. However, if you want to read in some sort of chronological order that makes sense, then read Pirates Ahoy first. Get more information on the whole series here: www.veredehsani.com/pirates
Speaking of witches, I wrote Wavily Witches with the intent of creating a cozy series. (I didn’t know what cozy mysteries were when I started Society for Paranormals.) The sequel to Pirates Ahoy, this modern-day series is a classic cozy mystery with a paranormal twist.
While the main protagonist, Storm’s granddaughter Evian, starts off youthful and immature, she quickly grows up and gets wise as she navigates The Hotel Wavily, where the guests are wicked, the owners are witches, and the service is to kill for. It takes place in a semi-fictional small town near Nairobi, in the Limuru highlands. Nestled among tea estates and old forests, Storm and Evian’s hotel caters to the criminally inclined who are in need of a little downtime in order to avoid jail time.
As with the other cozy series, this one weaves in all manner of wonky beasts, supernatural entities and the occasional annoyed god as the hotel management balances the books and the bodies while casting spells and solving mysteries.
If you enjoy exotic locations, eccentric characters and bewitching stories, then check into this hotel and embark on your spellbinding African holiday today: www.veredehsani.com/witches
SHIFTER ROMANCE
Our meander through the backyards of my various series and books takes us into cozy-adjacent spaces in which romance takes a more central role.
A modern-day sequel to the Society for Paranormals series, The Lion Shifters introduces us to a few descendants of the Society characters. Mystery still abounds, but includes urban fantasy and clean romance with a heavy dose of African shifters and their mythology.
Most stories about shifters focus on werewolves or other European / North American animals. Not this series! Lion shifters are an interesting lot, sharing fascinating traits with normal lions, particularly their strong connection to their Pride.
Their origins can be traced to the East African myth of Nyarvirazi, the daughter of a chieftain, who was cursed to remain in lion form except when she ate fresh meat. Given her pivotal role as the first of her kind, she appears in the series, usually to warn of impending danger.
Romance is a great genre for exploring strong characters and messy relationships. In addition, I also learned how to co-write. For three of the books, I developed detailed outlines and character arcs, then a friend of mine — author Su Boddie — whipped up the rough drafts, after which I performed the editing and polishing needed to give all five books and one novella the same voice.
If you want a touch of romance and urban fantasy with your cozy mystery adventures, then take one of these lions out on a safari. Shifts happen. Hearts change. Africa awaits. Escape to a land where everything is possible: www.veredehsani.com/shifters
For those who want to learn more about lion shifters and African vampires, you can pick up a complementary fact sheet (available as PDF and ePUB) over here: https://BookHip.com/QMDMKBX
ROMANTIC COMEDIES
Keeping with the romance genre, I decided at some point to write a RomCom (romantic comedy). I ended up creating two Special Event RomComs, and had a great time doing so, laughing out loud on a regular basis while writing. It was so much fun, I may go back for thirds.
As often happens, the side characters won over my heart. What’s not to love about Christmas camels and wedding piglets? Not to mention a fashionista grandmother and her elderly gang who view laws as inconvenient suggestions and have no problem breaking into and out of the town jail. And let’s not get started on the skinny dipping episode. Those grannies know how to shake up the town and embarrass their children.
The location is in the fictional town of Teaville, located just outside of Nairobi in the very real Tigoni / Limuru highlands with its misty mornings and rolling tea hills. Cozy mystery romance, here we come! Clean, sweet and packed with laughs, the Special Event RomComs series is for those who want flinch-free, light-hearted romantic comedies that are actually funny.
Looking after farm animals in a tiny town sounds perfectly calm, orderly, and sane. Problem is, there’s nothing calm, orderly, or sane about Teaville and its residents, whatever their species... Eat, Pray, Love meets All Creatures Great and Small. Get the details here: www.veredehsani.com/romcom
YA / TEEN
While cozy is my favorite genre, my second favorite is YA (young adult), leaning toward the younger end of that spectrum. Think Percy Jackson and Harry Potter with deep, meaningful concepts packaged in lighthearted adventures.
One fine day, I got it into my head that graphic novels looked like fun, and I should really try to create one as an experiment in the format. Clearly, I had no idea just how much work was involved in these things. As with any book, I had to create the plot, characters, and overall story structure. Then there’s the image design and flow; the way in which the story plays out across the panels of a page is incredibly different from a text-only novel.
It initially required a lot of back-and-forth with the graphic artist, the super-talented Cynthia Kerich Jerono, and a certain degree of detachment on my part, as the artist is a co-creator of the final product and therefore needs some freedom to express her own vision.
The result is The Realm Seekers, a 3-book series that’s Scooby-Doo meets Jumanji in steampunk Kenya. I’m a big fan of ebooks, but these books are best experienced in paper format. The images are gorgeous, thanks to Cynthia’s detailed work, and the print quality makes these books a great gift.
The Realm Seekers: Four teens are invited to beta-test a cutting-edge virtual reality game with the power to transform their lives ... if they dare to play it. A fun, action-packed, inspiring series. Find more details here: www.veredehsani.com/realm
Meanwhile, The Soul Readers explores diversity in all its forms while delivering on an adventure series that’s Percy Jackson meets Mission Impossible in Kenya. I especially wanted to dive into neurodiversity as a superpower with its own kryptonite, while also delving deeper into modern-day Nairobi.
The result is an action-packed adrenalin ride that introduces the readers to different sides of the city and what it takes to survive in it. For fans of extrasensory superpowers, neurodiversity, secret agents, cool 007 gadgets and / or Kenyan adventures involving pirates, killer robots, Men in Black, and crazy funeral home directors. Seriously, this series is fun! And the side characters are hilarious.
The Soul Readers: Three friends are recruited by a secret agency that trains agents with extrasensory abilities. But the enemy will stop at nothing to harness these powers for its own use. www.veredehsani.com/finch
And finally, the ever-expanding Safari Cards series started as a vague idea I shared with a local publisher while discussing what kind of story would appeal to a Kenyan middle school student. The idea grew into a marvelously fun yet meaningful set of action-adventure. The concept and books received detailed feedback from Kenyan teachers, editors, and storywriters, resulting in a series that is enriched with local culture and insights while retaining its spirit that’s Chronicles of Narnia meets Jumanji.
Safari is the Swahili word for travel, and The Safari Cards take us on trips across Kenya and into the lives of the protagonists. So pick a card, and start your adventure.
The Safari Cards: When a group of middle school students are invited to play a card game, they release spirit animals with the power to transform their lives, or destroy them: www.veredehsani.com/safari-cards
SCI-FI & SUPERNATURAL
Now we venture into the SciFi and Supernatural category. This covers most of my experimental writing, and includes my favorite standalone stories, such as the transcendent Last Ten Minutes, and the supernatural thriller Death’s Advocate. They haven’t received as much love and attention as they deserve, but I don’t regret the time spent creating these marvelous worlds.
When death is personified, it’s usually as a skeletal, vaguely male figure. I wanted to challenge the notion of death as a grim and scary specter, and thus Death’s Advocate was born, pitting an ambitious lawyer against Death herself. Based on my attempt at a screenplay, the story challenges our fears about death and society’s fixation on extending lifespans at all cost. And of course Death’s a woman! I personally love this book and wish it had more fans.
Death’s Advocate: Taxes are forever. Death is negotiable. The rules of dying have changed, creating a new career for those brave enough to face Death, and a get-out-of-death card for those rich enough to afford it.
Best described as Literary Fiction, The Last Ten Minutes is definitely off the beaten track as far as my typical genres go. I wrote it shortly after my father-in-law passed away, and it spilled out of me with such force, I found myself crying mid-dictation and during the editing. It’s an exploration of the meaning of forgiveness, the value of connection, and the impact our decisions have on the people who love us.
The Last Ten Minutes: Ten minutes can feel like forever. A patient trapped in a cancer clinic explores the meaning of forgiveness, the value of connection, and the impact our decisions have on the people who love us.
These next two are fun SciFi adventures with meaningful twists and a warning about ego, pride and human ambition. They have a similar vibe and were written in the same year.
The Nexus: When people venture into the untouched corners of ancient forests, they sometimes unwittingly expose humanity to new biological dangers. Combine this risk with the insatiable hunt for the next health-enhancing, life-expanding breakthrough, and you create a nexus — or a conflict — between medical research, conservation, indigenous intellectual property rights, and the next pandemic.
Leading a secret society and fighting a deadly enemy wasn’t part of Zawadi’s life plan. Neither was inheriting the Kuvu, the most valuable medical discovery in existence. An elixir that can grant unimagined health and longevity… or a painful death.
Get more details about these books over at www.veredehsani.com/scifi
I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into my catalogue, and I encourage you to explore the full extent of my genre-agnostic madness!
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