My daughter started school last week, and something struck me. She’s never brought home a textbook. Everything is on the computer now.

That is so strange to me. One of my favorite parts of the beginning of the school year was putting covers on my textbooks. There was an art to cutting and folding those paper grocery bags to get the perfect dust jacket (of course, I didn’t know that’s what I was making back then) and then decorating it so it was personalized.

Nola has never had the chance to make her own dust jacket. Times have changed. Technology has advanced. But it makes me a little sad.

Good thing I still have plenty of opportunities to make dust jackets (even if I’m not hand-folding them).

Take the latest novel and collection in Dean Wesley Smith’s bestselling Cold Poker Gang Mystery series, for example. I got to make a dust jacket for each of those.

Case Card, the latest novel, and Action, the new collection are both available in ebook, trade paperback and hardcover (with a dust jacket!).

Here’s the synopsis for Case Card:

International bestselling writer Dean Wesley Smith returns to his bestselling Cold Poker Gang Mystery series with another twisted mystery in Case Card.

Retired detectives Debra Pickett and Sarge Carson return to the Cold Poker Gang Task Force after the pandemic to tackle the most famous of all Las Vegas cold cases: the disappearance of a college student fifty-one years before.

Becky Williams entered her apartment building on November 24, 1971, and vanished without a trace. Now, Pickett and Sarge have one last chance to solve the case before a building remodel destroys whatever clues remain.

But the twisted trail they follow in their investigation might prove the strangest and just downright Las Vegas-weirdest case they have ever solved.

You can get the ebook edition of Case Card here and the paper editions here.

Here’s the synopsis for Action:

International bestselling writer Dean Wesley Smith offers up eight thrilling puzzle mystery stories in his bestselling Cold Poker Gang Mystery series.

If you love puzzle mysteries, complicated cold cases, and detectives tackling the most twisted crimes, take this opportunity to introduce yourself to this talented group of retired Las Vegas detectives playing poker and solving cold cases.

These eight stories each feature a new cold-case mystery and offer a look at the hard-to-solve crimes found in all the Cold Poker Gang novels.

You can get the ebook edition of Action here and the paper editions here.

So, go ahead and grab these great mysteries for your fall reading pile. And if you have some naked hardcovers at home and want to try your hand at making your own paper bag dust jacket, check out this video tutorial here!

Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer, working mother, and brain tumor survivor.