Mr. Beckett would like to thank readers for making December 9-15 our single best week of paperback sales to date.  Happy Holidays!

Click here to read the review of The Cana Mystery in the Times of Malta.

Highlights include:

"A lively, engaging blockbuster [that] treats readers' spirituality and matters of faith with due reverence."

"From well-known local haunts and culinary delights such as figolli and bragoli, to colourful details such as television sets blasting out Italian football matches, the debut novel of [David Beckett] is peppered with Maltese references."

"Published recently, The Cana Mystery reached number one on Amazon, garnering excellent reviews, to the delight of its author David Beckett."

"The story bounces back and forth between the Vatican in 1462 and the present time, even including the recent election of Pope Francis (as well as the election of Malta's Labour government. ... Many of the novel's key scenes occur in Malta -- a particularly suspenseful episode takes place in the darkness of St. Paul's Catacombs."

Click here to read the review of The Cana Mystery in the San Antonio Express News.

Highlights include:


"About three years ago, David Beckett was watching The DaVinci Code... "I was carping, and my wife said, 'If you can do better, why don't you do it?" Beckett recalls.   So he did."

"Beckett has created well-rounded protagonists in Ava and Paul.  ... The rapidly paced adventure, which revolves around an archaeological team discovering the lost jars of Cana has been compared to Raiders of the Lost Ark and The DaVinci Code."

Click here to read the review of The Cana Mystery published in Cambridge Day in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Highlights include:


"[On Amazon], by far the most reviews [are] in the five-star category.  Readers like the 'believable adventure with true-to-life characters ...,' the 'fast-moving, almost movie-like, chase that keeps the reader turning pages' and 'engaging specifics and descriptors [that] amplify the storyline and draw the reader to identify with the angst, tension, and frustrations of the main characters as they try to survive a deadly game of cat and mouse.

Mostly unmentioned is the ripped-from-the-headlines feel Beckett gives The Cana Mystery by incorporating the March 13 anointment of Jorge Mario Bergoglio as Pope Francis, replacing Pope Benedict XVI after his resignation a month earlier.  From real-life news to publication was only about four months."


"Beckett obviously doesn't stint on his research ... whether it's about the Catholic Church, the machinery, vehicles and weaponry used to defend and attack the good guys, or the geography of countries such as Egypt, Malta, Rome, and Yemen -- or, for that matter, Cambridge."

David Beckett refutes Joseph Atwill's Anti-Christ Thesis!  Click here to read Mr. Beckett's comments.

The Barnes & Noble on Loop 410 and San Pedro in San Antonio is back in stock!  Currently, there are signed copies of The Cana Mystery available for purchase -- just in time for the holidays!

Come meet David Beckett!  Mr. Beckett will be holding a book signing Thursday, December 12 from 7:00 - 9:00 at the Barnes and Noble Bookstore on Loop 410 and San Pedro in San Antonio, Texas.

For more information on the event, please click here!

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Thank you to Debra and the rest of the Barnes & Noble family for hosting such a fantastic book signing last night.  Mr. Beckett really enjoyed talking with everyone who came by.  Sorry we sold out of The Cana Mystery paperbacks!  

Barnes & Noble staff expects a shipment of books to arrive in about a week -- just before Christmas.  Once they get here, Mr. Beckett will stop by the Barnes & Noble on San Pedro and Loop 410 to sign a few more copies for their inventory.  So, if you wanted a signed copy last night but they ran out, or if you want to get more signed copies for Christmas, stop by the Barnes & Noble on San Pedro and Loop 410 around December 23rd!  :-) 

Happy 90th birthday to GLORIA WHELAN, Tuscany Press writer and winner of the 2013 Tuscany Prize for Best Short Story!

Mr. Beckett asked me to thank all readers for making November 9-15 our best full week of Amazon sales to date!

Click here to read David Beckett's profile in the Helotes Magazine.

Click here to read Catholic Retreats' review of The Cana Mystery.  

Highlights include:

"Once I started reading this book I couldn't help but make the time to finish it, which doesn't happen too often for me with fiction books!"

"I liked [that the] bad guys in this book were BAD people.  The do some bad things to others, and it makes you realize just how urgent it is for the main characters to succeed.  These aren't the ridiculous bad guys like the albino monks of other archaeological and historical thrillers.

"It doesn't beat you over the head with Catholicism, it doesn't assume you are very familiar with Catholic teachings, and it does not lay immediate judgement on the actions of the characters and it doesn't present them as clearly good or evil in many cases."

"Overall, this book was really enjoyable.  There was a whole lot of action and it kept me wanting to read another chapter every time I planned on stopping."

"I would give this book 4.5 out of 5 stars.  There were a few things that made me suspend my disbelief a little bit, but overall it was a well thought-out and entertaining book."

Click here to read David Beckett's profile in The Dominion Magazine's Fall/Winter edition. The article is featured on pages 36-37.

The Cana Mystery is finally available at Barnes & Noble.

Click here to read about The Cana Mystery's record-breaking debut!

Mr. Beckett asked me to thank all readers and reviewers for helping The Cana Mystery become the #1 Kindle ebook for Oct. 16, #1 for Oct. 17, and #4 on Oct. 18!

The Cana Mystery spent 30 hours straight ranked #1 on Amazon (Kindle ebooks).  Mr. Beckett says thank you to all readers and to the hard-working folks at Tuscany Press for making this achievement possible!

Mr. Beckett is scheduled to address the Mensa membership on Friday, October 18 in San Antonio, Texas.  He's happy to answer questions and sign books once he finishes speaking!

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Thank you to Mensa for a great reception Friday night!

The Cana Mystery just reached a new sales peak and is ranked in the top 0.5% of Amazon titles!  Mr. Beckett asked me to pass along a huge "thank you" to all readers.

As seen in the October edition of Hills and Heights Life Magazine: 

"Texas writer David Beckett’s new thriller, The Cana Mystery, will appeal to all who enjoy Dan Brown’s novels (Inferno, The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons) but especially to those who find Mr. Brown’s writing style less than sublime. Like The Da Vinci Code, Beckett’s mystery hinges on actual historical events. Unlike Brown, who’s infamous for factual errors, Beckett is renowned for impeccable research. His prose, less purple than Brown’s, has drawn wide acclaim. In 1997, Mr. Beckett won the Willie Morris Award for Editorial Excellence. Today, The Cana Mystery numbers among a select handful of novels boasting perfect, 5-star ratings on both the Goodreads and Amazon websites.

In this lively adventure, we follow protagonists Ava Fischer and Paul Grant on a wild ride through Egypt’s deserts, up the Nile, and across the sea to Malta and Capri. The novel begins and ends in Rome; its ripped-from-the-headlines plot incorporates the Boston terror attacks, the resignation of Catholic Pope Benedict XVI, and the subsequent election of Pope Francis.

Beckett’s luxuriant writing reflects a post-modern sensibility spiced with an intriguing assortment of cultural allusions, logic puzzles, anagrams, and puns. Obviously, the author is a movie buff. One suspects his DVD library includes classics such as The Godfather, Casablanca, It Happened One Night, Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and others. Fans of both Star Trek and Star Wars will not miss references to these modern-day cultural institutions. Meanwhile, readers more inclined to Shakespeare, Alexander McCall Smith, or even Goethe might be surprised to stumble across a subtle connection.

The novel’s main character, Ava, is a feisty twenty-something completing her doctorate at MIT. As one might expect, she is beautiful and brilliant. Yet unlike the indistinguishable phalanxes of brilliant, beautiful heroines who populate contemporary fiction’s landscape, Ava is a three-dimensional character. She evolves as the narrative proceeds. As we watch her evade deadly assassins and crack secret codes, we see her mature, incrementally, from a gifted, snarky smart aleck into a reflective, compassionate, self-aware woman. The Cana Mystery most exceeds the boundaries of its genre when it pauses to sketch exotic settings in rich, sensuous detail. One vivid passage describes a private supper eaten on a balcony suspended above the hustle and bustle of Alexandrian nightlife. The Mediterranean wind gusts, candles flicker, feluccas bob and creak in the ancient harbor. Likewise, the arresting beauty of Capri and the ageless glory of Rome are depicted with confidence and charm. Foodies in particular will relish Beckett’s bite-by-bite descriptions of the characters’ many other delectable repasts.

Some who might not enjoy this thriller are readers seeking the gory action of a Stephen-King-style horror show or the lurid, bedroom antics of bestselling adult-novel Fifty Shades of Gray. Like a screenwriter from Hollywood’s golden age, Beckett keeps it clean, a decision many parents may find refreshing. Although the novel contains the requisite romantic sub plot, Beckett opts to close the metaphorical curtains, never describing his characters’ most intimate moments. Reminiscent of the romantic chemistry that sizzled between Grace Kelly and Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief, readers of The Cana Mystery are left free to imagine the fireworks that might or might not be erupting behind tastefully locked hotel room doors.

Despite a few literary pretensions, The Cana Mystery remains, at its core, a swashbuckling adventure tale, replete with helicopter battles, boat chases, dark catacombs, shipwrecks, murderous, wolf-faced villains and noble, selfless heroes. Readers in pursuit of an engaging, fast-paced diversion to make a long flight feel short won’t be disappointed. Yet if she spotted you reading David Beckett, your high school English teacher might be pleased, too."

Come meet David Beckett!  David will be holding a book signing on October 5th from 11:30 - 1:30 at The Twig Bookstore, located in the Historic Pearl Brewery in San Antonio.  (Details below.)  There will be a Ninja Party for kids earlier that morning, and The Pearl Brewery's Farmers Market will be going on until 1:00. So, in just one trip you can find something yummy at the farmers market, bring kids to the Ninja Party, and take home a signed copy of David's novel, The Cana Mystery!

The Twig Bookstore
306 Pearl Parkway, Ste. 106
San Antonio, Texas  78215
(210) 826-6411
http://TheTwig.indiebound.com

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Thanks to The Twig Independent Bookstore and to all fans and readers who dropped by today.  Sorry we sold out of The Cana Mystery paperbacks!  More available tomorrow.  Twig management says we set the single-day store record for most books sold!

The Cana Mystery was just reviewed in MENSA Magazine:

"Recommended: The Cana Mystery

In Dan Brown's most recent novel, 'brilliant' characters lecture us about overpopulation, ozone depletion, global warming, and other perils.  Sadly, the dialogue suggests Brown may not understand the very problems he proposes to resolve.  By contrast, David Beckett's new thriller, The Cana Mystery (Tuscany Press, 2013), approaches these topics from a more informed and more historically-accurate perspective.  The book will appeal to Mensan readers who enjoy Brown's potboilers but dislike his infamous, overblown style.  Less purple than Brown's, Beckett's prose has drawn acclaim, winning the 1997 Willie Morris Award for Editorial Excellence.  The Cana Mystery's plot incorporates the Boston terror attacks, Pope Benedict's resignation, Pope Francis's election, the NSA, the Occupy movement, and the downfall of Prime Minister Berlusconi.  Its narrative is spiced with anagrams, riddles, codes, and literary/cultural allusions; Beckett's film library clearly includes The Godfather, Casablanca, Raiders of the Lost Ark, etc.  Meanwhile, readers more inclined to enjoy Shakespeare or even Goethe might spot the occasional connection."

September, 2013
MENSA Magazine
South Texas

Listen to David Beckett featured on EWTN national morning radio broadcast today (8/29/13)!  Replay tomorrow (8/30/13) 6:20 EST.

The Cana Mystery is now available in both electronic and paperback form on Amazon.com.

The Cana Mystery is now available on Kindle!  It will be available in print in August.

Coming soon

Stay tuned!