UPDATE
And it’s just my luck that less than 24 hours after I latched every ounce of focus in my ADHD brain onto this mystery, I remembered the Grimlet’s Facebook page, a.k.a. the page where Darynda fans go to play. There’s more information there.
A moment of silence while I absorb the epicness of my failure.
She’s been battling cancer. It crossed my mind yesterday but I didn’t want to assume; mastectomies can be preventative as well as a treatment.
I still don’t know if last year’s critical family situation is related; I tried to go further back in the posts, but literally four hours later I was still in this June, so I’m moving on with my life. Mystery solved enough.
Hello! I never post like this, but having spent multiple hours today hyperfocused on scouring the internet for an answer as to where Darynda Jones has disappeared to, I decided to publish my findings in case other curious readers are wondering as well. And if anyone can fill me in on what the hell I missed, please let me know!
Jones’s most recent full-length titles were released in 2022: Moonlight and Magic in October, A Hard Day for a Hangover in December. 2023 only saw two short stories—“Seven Minutes in Heaven” of the Infinity anthology, “Billionaire and the Beast” in the Pride Not Prejudice charity collection—as well as one Grave series novella, The Grave Robber, which I enjoyed.
Immediately following that release was the announcement of the next Grave series novella, Graveyard Dog, available October 8, 2024, an entire year away at the time. And that was the only announcement for 2024, which seemed odd. Aside from a barren 2018, this has been the longest absence of new releases from Jones since First Grave on the Right debuted in 2011.
I was concerned.
But I’ve had plenty of life happening, so while I’ve wondered what was going on with her, I didn’t expend the energy to investigate until now. Perhaps my recent diagnosis of ADHD prompted a renewed interest in Jones and her work. Perhaps impatience has. Perhaps both. Regardless, here I am.
Her website has nothing personal on it; the blog entries only announce book releases or sales, so the last one was about Graveyard Dog pre-orders. A simple Google search didn’t produce any relevant headlines. Her Wikipedia page is lousy and out of date. Reddit only discussed her books, as far as I could tell, not her personal life (though admittedly I didn’t read all the threads and comments). I don’t have accounts on Twitter/X or Instagram, so I couldn’t access Jones’s accounts on those sites. I don’t remember seeing any newsletters from Jones since the announcement of Graveyard Dog last fall; if I’m mistaken, it likely didn’t contain any relevant information, or I’d have remembered it. My search narrowed to Facebook, which has historically been the best place to find Darynda news.
On February 3, 2023, she notified her followers of a “critical family situation” which caused her to back out of some commitments and appearances in 2023. It’s suggested that she attended the 46th Annual Williamson Lectureship in April, otherwise she didn’t participate in any events until Bubonicon in late August. I could find nothing else mentioning her family situation, so hopefully it was positively resolved by that summer and that’s why she was able to attend events in the latter half of the year.
Or perhaps it was just the beginning, and that situation has persisted into this year, which is why she has yet to release any new books or even announce any. She had planned to release the fifth book of the Betwixt and Between series by the end of 2023, then in early 2024, but we don’t have so much as pre-order links here in August 2024.
This summer Jones (or more likely someone on her team) began to make a concerted effort to engage with her followers on social media. First I noticed new cover photos each month, then in June she began posting daily questions related to her books for her fans to answer. Sometimes she comments, sometimes she doesn’t; the point seems to be less to engage and more to keep her work on the forefront during this dry spell. A way of saying “I’m still here.”
Then on June 19, out of apparently nowhere, she posts that she’s having the first surgery on the morrow, and that the girls, Agatha and Christie, will be going away. If you’ve read the Grave series, you know that Charley’s breasts are named Danger and Will Robinson, so we fans can only assume Jones is referring to her own breasts, and that she will be undergoing a mastectomy.
I’m sorry, what?
I poured over the comments, trying to figure out what the fuck was going on. Not one comment asks that question. They’re all well wishes.
What the fuck is wrong with you people?! I find an abrupt announcement of surgery alarming. Is surgery not alarming?!
No, I know, they were being respectful and not invading her privacy, which is great. But seriously, 326 comments and no one asks, “Wait, what did I miss?”
Sigh.
The daily questions have continued to date, as have the monthly cover photos, but nothing else has been said regarding Jones’s health. Some have asked in the comments how she’s recovering and she’s responded that all is well.
Frustrated, I ran more Google searches, trying to see if the right combination of keywords would trigger something. And I stumbled onto the Ask the Author section of her Goodreads page. A lot of times the questions on Goodreads author pages go unanswered or are outdated. But lo and behold, Jones’s is up to date! Well, more or less; Goodreads doesn’t provide exact dates for her answers, just that they’re recent.
What I learned:
Charley
She’s still planning on a Cookie and Uncle Bob novella, likely through 1001 Dark Nights.
She’s still planning on Beep and Osh’s spinoff, likely in the form of a trilogy. Beep will get her own “Cookie.”
No more full-length Grave series installments are planned.
She would love to give Amber and Quentin a series but her to-do list is long enough at the moment.
Sunshine
Sunshine will remain a trilogy unless her publisher wants her to write more—she left room for more books due to a film deal in which she promised she could write more should it be requested.
She’s considered a Veronica Mars-esque book starring Auri, but none are planned.
Betwixt
She’s planning to release ten (TEN) (TEN) books total in the Betwixt and Between series.
NEW!!!
She’s been working on a new trilogy called Rumor and Innuendo. It’s “along the lines of Sunshine.” It was sold to the publisher sometime in 2023.
On her hiatus: “I’ve had a medical setback”; “2023 threw me for a loop”; “medical stuff has hindered my writing for a bit”
So I still have no idea what’s been going on with her, and though I’m very concerned for her, no, it’s not any of my business. However, she’s doing well and she’s been writing, so I’m sure as soon as she’s able we’re going to be blasted with announcements and new books. Graveyard Dog is right around the corner, and I imagine near its release we’ll be hearing what’s next.
Darynda, if you happen to read this, I wish you all the best, and that you and your family are safe and healthy. I’m ready and waiting for a review copy of whatever’s next! Also, apologies for stalking you online.
