Internationally best-selling Mississippi author Greg Iles has published 19 novels — well, 18 novels including the one that drops Tuesday, and a novella — and that his latest Penn Cage novel will be available this week was news that his readers had been waiting for since 2017’s “Mississippi Blood,” the sixth full book in the series.

Yet it was the news that Iles had published on his website earlier this year that surprised not only his readers, but the literary world. Beneath the heading “medical announcement,” Iles wrote a letter to his readers to let them know that an incurable disease that he had been diagnosed with nearly 30 years ago, multiple myeloma, had “switched on” about two years ago, necessitating severe medical attention — including a transplant that the author elected to stall until he could finish writing “Southern Man,” the Penn Cage novel that publishes this week.

In that letter, Iles wrote, “At long last, however, I have completed the novel, and we have a firm publication date [May 28]. I have chosen this time to go public about my situation because two years of ongoing treatment have made it impossible to maintain my privacy any longer. I will be getting my transplant prior to publication, and my publisher and I will keep you apprised of my progress during my recovery.”

But Iles isn’t done surprising his fans. Not only will readers be able to buy the behemoth 950-page political thriller Tuesday, Iles recently announced that he would embark on a mini-”book tour,” three readings that, due to health reasons, wouldn’t include signings (signed books are available at the venues and some online sellers).

Calling it “The NOT DEAD YET Tour!,” Iles will be at two Mississippi events — the novel’s launch party, May 28, at Cathead Distillery in Jackson, and Off-Square Books in Oxford, May 29 — and one reading “just scheduled” in Memphis, Tennessee, June 6. A fourth event, a cancer benefit book-signing, is in the works, the author has said.

Tuesday’s event at Cathead Distillery is part of the Mississippi Book Festival, with free admission that begins at 5 p.m., food trucks and a happy hour. The public reading/talk begins at 6:30 p.m. and pre-signed copies of “Southern Man” will be available. Find Cathead at 422 S. Farish Street, Jackson, or visit msbookfestival.com/events for more information.