Author S.P. Grogan’s debut novel, Vegas Die, went on sale in 2008 priced at $16.95 and went on to sell a respectable 12,000 copies. The Las Vegas Review Journal said it was ‘one of the top summertime reads’ and the mystery even won an award for ‘Best Regional Fiction’. By 2020, the novel about ‘retired mobsters being bumped off and the Vegas Mayor the Number One Suspect’ was lost on the shelves, forgotten, selling at book stores and online sites for a mere $7.00. Today, within the last month, if you can find a used Vegas Die copy, they are selling for $49-$59, with copies in the United Kingdom going for nearly $65. Why the rapid price increase for the 352 page thriller.
Author S.P. Grogan
There are several answers to that question, the main one being, Vegas Die is a “Quest Mystery”™. “My goal,” explained author S.P. Grogan, “was to create a treasure hunt where the clues were hidden within the writing. A reader would first enjoy the mystery, then go back to seek a hidden dagger secreted somewhere in the Vegas Valley that was redeemable for $25,000 cash.” After three years of searching by those called ‘Questors’, with bus tours to clue locations, creation of Questor Club discussion groups, and hundreds of arm-chair Questors around the world sending in their guesses, the dagger was never discovered, though many were close.
Fast forward to 2019 when independent publisher, Histria Books, which specializes in non-fiction, decided to expand into literary fiction by acquiring the boutique publishing house, Addison & Highsmith Publishers, which held the rights to all of author S.P. Grogan’s works. The editors at Histria Books agreed with author Grogan to republish Vegas Die if he would incorporate a new Quest Mystery in the story. So it was, and a new treasure hunt is now ready for launch.
“I think Questors, old and new, are buying up the 2008 Vegas Die edition,” said Mike Cowling, a major Questor in the original hunt, “because they want to re-familiarize themselves with the nuances within what we call Vegas Die 1.0, and following the Quest Mystery mantra: “Nothing Is As It Seems”. In recent years, Mike Cowling and Kristie Thor have become the main stars in the treasure hunting world, most recently being vlog leaders and influencers in the Forrest Fenn Treasure Hunt of a chest filled with $1+ million dollars of coins and jewels, which one month ago actually was found. Cowling and Thor through their active treasure hunt forum, https://www.hintofriches.com/ have been designated one of the Official Questor resource sites. They will be active in the Vegas Die hunt themselves, as well as imparting news and information to any interested Questors.
The prize of the Vegas Die 2.0 Quest Mystery, the 2020 Anniversary Edition, is a base of $2,500 with a percentage of book sales going to increase the prize pool to be awarded to the lucky treasure discoverer. Instead of a dagger, a pirate-era doubloon is out there, somewhere hidden in the Vegas Valley. Go to the author’s site: www.spgrogan.com for QM hunt rules.
Vegas Die will be released in hardcover by Histria Books on September 15th followed by an eBook release on October 15th. You can pre-order the book at HistriaBooks.com, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other major bookstores and online retailers, as well as at https://www.facebook.com/groups/210178672890280/
Getting a head start by buying Vegas Die 1.0 might be a smart move, if you can find any copies. Owning a copy might be your first treasure rarity. Histria Books will be releasing another Quest Mystery, Captain Cooked, in December 2020. While our heroine looks for love on all the wrong beaches, someone has poisoned the island’s famous singing star.
Titles published by Histria Books are distributed worldwide by the Casemate Group. For information on publishing with Histria Books please visit HistriaBooks.com or contact us at info@histriabooks.com. For more info on Vegas Die, contact: info@histriabooks.com or write the author directly at grogan.sp@gmail.com or visit www.spgrogan.com
