Book cover for 'Untimely Deaths' by Chris Stevens, displayed on physical book, tablet, and phone screens, with a purple and black color scheme, showing a man walking through a glowing doorway on a city street.

New Chapel Mysteries

Time doesn’t heal all wounds… especially the ones that haven’t happened yet.

Series Information

Series
The New Chapel Mysteries
Author
Primary Genre
Science-Fiction Mystery
Secondary Genre
Time-Travel Mystery
Books in Series
1 Published / Additional Books Planned
Series Status
Ongoing
Series Type
Continuing Time-Travel Mystery Storyline
Reading Order
Books Should Be Read in Publication Order
First Book
Main Character
Dan Parker, an ordinary man whose discovery of a mysterious time-travel device leaves him stranded in the past
Target Audience
Adult Mystery, Science Fiction, and Time-Travel Fiction Readers
Setting
New Chapel, Ohio, primarily during the 1940s, where small-town life, hidden secrets, murder, and shifting timelines collide
Core Themes
Consequences, friendship, belonging, responsibility, fate, unintended change, sacrifice, identity, and the danger of interfering with the past
Popular Tropes
Time travel, trapped in the past, accidental timeline change, butterfly effect
Publisher

In New Chapel, the past isn’t gone—it’s watching… and it’s changing.

In the quiet town of New Chapel, life moves at an unhurried pace. Neighbors know one another, routines rarely change, and the past seems safely buried. Until someone begins changing it.

The New Chapel Mysteries follows Dan Parker, an ordinary man whose life is upended when he discovers a hidden device capable of sending him backward through time. Suddenly stranded in the 1940s, Dan is forced to build a new life in an era that once existed only in history books. What begins as an impossible accident gradually becomes something more complicated as he forms friendships, creates new bonds, and begins to care deeply about the people who now surround him.

Then the murders begin. They are not simply crimes. They are crimes that should never have happened.

Dan remembers the history he came from, and these deaths were never part of it. Their existence means something has changed—and the most terrifying possibility is that he may be the reason.

As the series unfolds, Dan is drawn into a growing mystery surrounding the consequences of his presence in the past. Every decision carries weight. Every attempt to prevent tragedy risks creating another. Saving one life can alter dozens more. A conversation that once seemed insignificant can become a turning point. And the smallest act of kindness, fear, or hesitation can send consequences rippling across decades.

The deeper Dan becomes involved, the more unstable history appears to become. New crimes emerge. Familiar events begin to shift. People whose futures once seemed certain are suddenly placed in danger. Each mystery forces Dan to confront an impossible question: should he intervene when he knows what may happen, or does every attempt to fix the past only make the future more dangerous?

The answer is never simple.

Blending traditional mystery, time-travel suspense, small-town drama, and historical intrigue, the series transforms the familiar question of “Who committed the crime?” into something far more unsettling. What if changing history does not require a grand act? What if all it takes is one person being somewhere he was never supposed to be?

PRAISE FOR THE NEW CHAPEL MYSTERIES

  • I enjoyed the clarity with which Dan’s curiosity is explored in this spellbinding story, the crisp prose, and the well-executed dialogue. The pacing is relentless as the glow of the time-travel machine fades and the body count increases. The sense of urgency, the suspense, and the intrigue in the plot transform this story into a page-turner.

    — Romuald Dzemo for Readers’ Favorite

  • This was a great storyline that promises a series I will enjoy. The writing is skilled and the MC a man who could easily be comfortable in any time period. It will be very interesting to see how book #2 will follow Dan.

    — Amazon Reviewer

  • Time travel is always an interesting plot to a story. I loved how it was a slow start that let you get that cozy small town setting while getting to know all the characters and really enjoyed jumping from different POV’s which allowed you to see the cracks behind the perfect picture setting that was originally shown. I ended up not being able to put the book down as I needed to know what would happen next!

    — NetGalley Reviewer

Awards & Recognition

The New Chapel Mysteries has earned recognition for its inventive blend of time travel, murder mystery, historical fiction, and small-town suspense. Untimely Deaths, the first novel in Chris Stevens’ series, received a Five-Star Review from Readers’ Favorite in 2026.

Award Name Year What It Was For
Readers’ Favorite Five-Star Review 2026 Untimely Deaths — Five-Star Editorial Review, Fiction – Mystery – Murder

Books in The New Chapel Mysteries

Author

CHRIS STEVENS

Chris Stevens writes stories where ordinary life quietly slips into the unexpected. He lives in Ohio with his wife, son, and corgi, and spends his spare time reading, writing, watching classic films, listening to records, and finding adventure in everyday life.

A man in sunglasses and a plaid shirt sitting on a large rock in a forest.