Avast, ye landlubbers and scallywaggers — a new book has made landfall! It’s Cross Bones 3: The Hottest Dogs, the third (and final?) book in the series of punny pirate adventures illustrated by Chris Kennett and written by ME.
Cross Bones 3 was a joy to write; it might actually have been the easiest time I’ve had writing a book since The Vampire Knife, way back in 2015. Part of that ease came from the many clues and narrative titbits that Chris and I have been setting up across the previous two volumes — the story was always building to a grand, catty conclusion, and so when the moment came the end of the story was ready to come gushing out. I think swapping the oceans and rivers of the first two books for a huge, windswept desert also helped, as the brand new location brought with it an opportunity for brand new jokes. I’m still amused by the sequence early on where Ed wastes all the fluids aboard on a water-themed feast, which immediately leads into another amusing sequence where the thirsty dogs hallucinate in the heat. It’s just as silly as ever, but with a nice new (Danger)lick of paint.
It was also convenient that I visited Morocco in the middle of 2022, just before I wrote the book, so images of gigantic sand dunes and towering desert fortresses were fresh in my mind. I really love North Africa (I already visited Egypt way back in 2010) so it was exciting to write a book inspired by that wild part of the world.
Cross Bones 3 wraps up the big mystery we began back in book one, with the dogs finally reckoning with the true identity of their secretive Spymaster — but is this really the end for our hairy heroes? The answer is… probably yes. I wouldn’t have minded opening up a new can of worms and writing a fourth adventure, but these chunky books are already competing for space in a very crowded genre, and from a marketing perspective it might be best to commit to a trilogy rather than outstaying our welcome. But, who knows! If we do get offered a fourth book I’m sure Chris and I will be able to chase down our tails a great new idea. The series has also just launched in Italy and Spain, with Denmark on the way, so we’re incredibly excited that readers from around the world will soon be voyaging off with our daring dogs.
What I can confirm is that this definitely won’t be the last time you hear from me and Chris, as our next project together is already underway. The full announcement won’t be for a while, but if you’re a fan of our particular mix of ridiculous stories and even ridiculous-er cartoons, rest assured that we’ll have some more wild books for you (somewhat) soon!
That’s all for now. I’m so proud of this series, and I’m so glad we got to create this conclusion. I hope you like it!
JACK HENSELEIT 