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Mark Leggatt The Silk Road Tour
Mark Leggatt was born in Lochee, Dundee and lives in Edinburgh. A former specialist in Disaster Recovery for oil companies and global banks, his career has taken him around Europe, especially Paris, where he lived for a number of years. History and modern global conspiracy lie at the heart of his work, and are the backdrop for the adventures of CIA technician Connor Montrose. Leggatt is a member of the Crime Writers Association in the UK, and the International Thriller Writers in the USA.
Third in the Connor Montrose series by Mark Leggatt, following on from the success of Names of the Dead and The London Cage.
Ex-CIA technician Connor Montrose tracks two suspected terrorists to a deserted mountain village in Tuscany, where he witnesses an attack on a US Air Force troop plane, using a ground-breaking portable Surface to Air (SAM) missile. Unaware that the CIA were also monitoring the suspects, Montrose is blamed for the attack and narrowly escapes. The CIA receive orders from Washington to shoot him on sight, and a shadowy organisation begins to track his every move.
Then a spate of terror attacks threatens the fabric of NATO and the entire Western alliance. Civilian airlines are the new target, and the overwhelming evidence points to a CIA false flag plan to bring down aircraft and blame it on Moscow-backed terrorists. Montrose’s investigations lead him to underground arms sales on The Silk Road, the secret marketplace of the internet, hidden deep in the Dark Web. Montrose must assimilate himself into the society of the European aristocracy and the ultra-rich fascists, assisted by Kirsty Rhys, to pose as a middleman for the purchase of arms on The Silk Road and find the remaining cache of missiles. Montrose uncovers the layers of duplicity between governments and arms dealers, leading first to the CIA in Rome, and eventually to the palaces of the last Russia Tsar and the new oligarchs. Montrose must discover the remaining cache of missiles before the CIA catch up with him, and before carnage is unleashed over the skies of Europe.
Guest Post
The one question that always comes up, is ‘do you plot your novels before you start, or just go for it?’ This is the favourite question on the Four Blokes In Search of A Plot tour, and as a plotter, I am outnumbered three to one. The rest of the guys take an initial idea, go for it, and sit down and write the book by the seat of their pants. This is what we call ‘pantsing’.
They may go up a few blind alleys and have to backtrack, but they start at the original idea, and write their way through the plot to the end. There’s a good reason for this, in that if they don’t know where the plot and the story are going, then neither will the reader, and it will always be fresh and exciting. I completely understand why you would use this method, and why it is attractive (if sometimes frustrating) to use, but that’s not the way it works for me.
I’m a plotter. I do use the ‘seat of the pants’ method, but only for about 400 words, where the other guys will do it for 80,000 words. I’ll do my 400 to write down the plot in summary, and if I can’t see it working, I’ll ditch it. It was a good idea, but it won’t work for a book. Then I move on to the next one and do it again. If the first 400 words work to summarise the book, and it looks like it would work as an idea where the story will last 80,000 words, with the potential for enough thrills and spills, tension, double crosses, action and fun, then I’ll place it on my desk in front of me, and use it to tease out the story to about 4000 words. If that works (it doesn’t always!), then I’ll start breaking that plot down into detail, locations, and characters. This works for me, because my first three thrillers required me to have a very good grasp of where my characters were at any point in time, what they knew, and what they had done, and what that would cause to happen next. A firm grasp of the old journalists’ adage, ‘who, what, where, when and why,’ that is required to make up every good story. And when it’s all planned out, then I’ll sit down and write the story. I won’t stick rigidly to my planning if have a good idea, but I always like to know where the story is going. Planning is never wasted!
Mark Leggatt Amazon Author Page
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mark-Leggatt/e/B0105POGAY/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_1
The Silk Road Amazon Book Page
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Catch Up Q And A With Gordon Brown
Gordon has six crime and thriller books published to date, along with a number of short stories. His latest novel, Deepest Wounds, published by Strident Publishing, is the third in the Craig McIntyre series. Gordon also helped found Bloody Scotland, Scotland’s International Crime Writing Festival (see http://www.bloodyscotland.com) and is a DJ on local radio (www.pulseonair.co.uk). He lives in Scotland and is married with two children.
In a former life Gordon delivered pizzas in Toronto, sold non-alcoholic beer in the Middle East, launched a creativity training business, floated a high tech company on the London Stock Exchange, compered the main stage at a two-day music festival and was once booed by 49,000 people while on the pitch at a major football Cup Final.
Want to know more – go to http://www.gordonjbrown.com
Craig McIntyre’s mere presence can turn people’s darkest thoughts into action.
On an Iraqi street, Craig McIntyre finds himself at the center of an event that leaves several people dead. Ex-military, now a bodyguard, he has no idea how they died.
Others think he is repsonsible – the catalyst. They have no issue with that.
Indeed, they are intent on harnessing Craig’s dark talent for creating chaos where once there was order…and will let no-one stand in their way.
Who are McIntyre’s pursuers? What do they see in him that he cannot see in himself? And what will happen to him if he is caught? Worse, what will happen to those closest to him if he escapes?
As he struggles to come to terms with events, and with the possibility that he really is a vehicle for anarchy, can he stop his darkest thoughts turning to revenge
You can only run for so long
Craig McIntyre’s mere presence removes people’s inhibitions and turns their darkest thoughts into actions.
Having fled across America to evade capture by arch-enemy Senator Tampoline, McIntyre is ‘persuaded’ to work alongside him in the national interest.
The US Strategic Petroleum Reserve has been destroyed by a white supremacist group. The attack has been hushed-up and time is of the essence if national and global economic meltdown is to be avoided.
As McIntyre tries to apply his unique ability to salvage the situation, it is hard to know who is working harder to thwart him: his allies or his enemies. It might be safer to stay ahead of both.
McIntyre will never forgive Tampoline for what he has done. He is not even sure he can suppress his animosity in pursuit of the greater good…
Craig McIntyre’s mere presence removes people’s inhibitions and turns their darkest thoughts into actions.
As Craig McIntyre tries to escape bounty hunters from the Dark Web, he discovers that his details are linked to a clandestine government project. Might it hold answers to his past as well as dangers for the present?
Back on the run in North America, McIntyre hooks up with some unlikely allies. But can he trust them any more than those who want to use him to shape the future…and to further their personal ambitions?
Have those behind Factor really given up on their pursuit of him? Or is McIntyre being reeled in with some politically toxic bait?
McIntyre is the key to an explosive secret that could change mankind forever
All three book in the series are on a special deal of 0.99p on Amazon Kindle, buy them at the following links
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Darkest-Thoughts-Mcintyre-Gordon-Brown/dp/1910829161
What have you been up to with your writing since we last spoke?
1) I’ve been working on two different books. I just handed the first draft of the fourth in the Craig McIntyre series to my publisher. As usual I’ll now wait on feedback and the dreaded edits. If things pan out we are looking at a late Spring/early Summer launch next year.
The second book is something new. I currently have two series on the go. One in the U.S. with Down & Out Books where Charlie Wiggs is the main protagonist (‘Falling’ and ‘Falling Too’) and the Craig McIntyre series in the UK with Strident Publishing (‘Darkest Thoughts, ‘Furthest Reaches’ and ‘Deepest Wounds’). The great news is that Down & Out Books have just signed to take all three Craig McIntyre books into the USA, starting in 2019, so, for the moment, Charlie Wiggs is having a rest. This gave me the opportunity to work on a new series. I can’t tell you that much about it, as it’s with my agent at the moment, other than to say it’s a more traditional Scottish crime book, but with a twist.
On top of my book writing I’ve been playing my part in organising this year’s Bloody Scotland and I’m also, along with Neil Broadfoot, Douglas Skelton and Mark Leggatt on a mini tour with ‘Four Blokes in Search of a Plot’. The latest gig was a few weeks back in Rothesay,as part of Bute Noir, to a sell-out crowd. We are planning more gigs when we can get our diaries to gel.
I’ve also penned a few short stories – one was to help publicise the Four Blokes visit to Bute and the other was written because I couldn’t sleep (if anyone wants to read them click here). https://gordonjbrown.com/newsblog/witch-hunt/ https://gordonjbrown.com/newsblog/happy-in-my-skin/
So far what was your favourite book to write in terms of characters and plot?
2) The answer to this question is always the same, ‘The book that I’m working on now’. I love the process of writing. I lose myself in it. And, to be fair, I sometimes frustrate myself with it all. I strive to improve my writingat all times and I’m becoming more critical of my own work. Take the new Scottish crime novel, I had a fellow author, Russel McLean, work on an initial edit for me before I handed it over, as I am looking to shine brighterthan ever before with this new work.
How did you get involved in Bloody Scotland and the spotlight event?
3) The story of Bloody Scotland and my involvement goes back to 2010 when, sitting at a lunch with Alex Gray and Lin Anderson I heard them chatting about the lack of a crime festival in Scotland; a travesty given the wealth of crime writing talent that this country has produced. A week later Lin and I were sitting in Prince’s Square talking about the festival idea and I seem to remember uttering the words, ‘How hard could it be to organise a crime writing festival?’ Roll on seven festivals and we’ve just hit a little under 10,000 tickets for this year’s event.
Crime in Spotlight was born four years ago. In a previous life I used to run the Tennent’s marketing department and had the overall responsibility for the Tennent’s Lagersponsorship of T in the Park. I’m a live music nut and T in the Park grew my passion. When Bloody Scotland was getting established it was one of our core tenets that the festival, amongst other things, should encourage and supporting new authors. I can’t remember the exact music gig that sparked the idea of a ‘support band’ for the main authors at Bloody Scotland – but it seeped into my head one night. I suggested it at a Bloody Scotland board meeting – and Crime in the Spotlight was born. It’s been a great success, this year we had thirteen debut authors reading at the start of all our largest events.
Have you any events coming up that you can share with us?
4) I’ve a few events coming up. One of the fun ones is the North Ayrshire Libraries Reader’s Day on the 24th of this month. It’s a full day with three other authors – Denise Mina, Helen Sedgewick and David Ross. Each of us was asked to choose a book from our own work and a book from another author for the attendees to read and then discuss at the event. I choose my latest McIntyre book, ‘Deepest Wounds’ and Stephen King’s ‘Mr Mercedes’. I have a love/hate relationship with Mr King’s work. ‘Christine’ is a book that sparked so much in me as a wannabe writer but I’ve also fallen out of love with him on occasions. The Bill Hodges’ trilogy (‘Mr Mercedes’, ‘Finders Keepers’ and ‘End of Watch’) hooked me again as, with consummate ease, he turned his hand to crime fiction.
I’ve also just finished participating in a festival in Spain called Xabia Negra. I contacted the local council at Xabia a couple of years back and set up a reciprocal deal to take some authors from Bloody Scotland to their festival. This year, Graeme Macrae Burnet, AbirMuckherjee, Lin Anderson and myself attended. I wrote a small blog on it if anyone is interested.https://gordonjbrown.com/newsblog/xabia-2018/
Have you had any ideas about what you would like to write about next?
5) With book four of McIntyre with my publisher and the new Scottish crime book with my agent, I now need to get myself into gear for book 2 in the new series and McIntyre 5. I know what the former is about but not in detail, I’m not a planner. The latter is a bit of a mystery,although I’ve a kernel of a thought based on something that popped into my head while out for a walk a few days ago – both ideas will grow when I get to battering my poor old Mac into submission.
What has been your stand out moment so far as a Scottish crime fiction writer?
6) That’s a tough one, there are so many special moments – the time I saw my first book on a shelf, the launch and success of Bloody Scotland, the USA picking up my work, appearing at some fantastic events across the world – the list goes on. The real joy for me is the realisation of a dream to be a published writer. It’s not all wine and roses, but it’s an amazing adventure and I’ve met some wonderful people that I would never have encountered had it not been for my writing.
Amazon Author Page
Wendy H Jones Antiques and Alibis Tour
Award Winning Author Wendy H. Jones lives in Scotland, and her police procedural series featuring Detective Inspector Shona McKenzie, is set in the beautiful city of Dundee, Scotland. Wendy has led a varied and adventurous life. Her love for adventure led to her joining the Royal Navy to undertake nurse training. After six years in the Navy she joined the Army where she served as an Officer for a further 17 years. This took her all over the world including Europe, the Middle East and the Far East. Much of her spare time is now spent travelling around the UK, and lands much further afield. As well as nursing Wendy also worked for many years in Academia. This led to publication in academic textbooks and journals. Killer’s Countdown is her first novel and the first book in the Shona McKenzie Mystery series. Killer’s Crew won the Books Go Social Book of the Year 2107. There are now six books in this series with Killer’s Crypt being released in August, 2017. The Dagger’s Curse is the first book in The Fergus and Flora Mysteries for Young Adults. She has also wrote a children’s picture book Bertie the Buffalo telling the true story of a young Water Buffalo that went missing from a Farm in Fife and the adventure he had.
Cass Claymore, a red headed, motorbike riding, ex-ballerina inherits a Detective Agency, and accidently employs an ex-con dwarf and an octogenarian. Hired by a client who should know better, Cass has no leads, no clue and a complete inability to solve a case. Still a girl needs to eat and her highbred client’s offering good money. Join her as, with bungling incompetence, she follows a trail littered with missing antique teddies, hapless crooks, a misplaced Lord of the Realm and dead bodies. Will Cass, and Scotland, survive?
Book Location
As I am Scottish and From Dundee, the ideal location presented itself to me straight away. I would take the advice of write what you know and set my books firmly in my home town. However, as Dundee is a rather small city, I had to expand things a bit. Therefore, I use Angus, Perthshire and Fife as well.
I believe crime books need both a large palette and a tight canvas on which to paint the mystery. Let me explain. The tightness of a local area helps to heighten the tension of the situation. If there is a serial killer on the loose in a small space, the terror is all the greater. It allows the writer to develop the characters and the visceral fear that grips the city. However, this fear can also be greater if no one knows where they will strike next. If the killer is at work in Dundee, the residents of Angus, Perthshire and Fife become complacent. When the next murder is on one of these areas, the terror moves to the whole country. Panic then ensues.
I am fortunate in that the area in which I set my books is stunning. It has history, nature, industry, old buildings, new buildings, parks and enough variation to allow for dram and excitement. Dundee is an old whaling town and is known as the city of Jute, Jam and Journalism. The people are proud yet generous and, on the whole, look out for each other. It is going through a whole period of regeneration and the new V&A Museum has just opened. There is a real vibrancy and buzz about it, so plenty to write about and to use as a location.
Cass Claymore is a motor bike riding ex-ballerina who inherits a Private Detective Agency. She loves the bike and needs a wider area in which to ply her wares. Therefore, Scotland is her palette but still with Dundee firmly at the centre.
As an author, I am also allowed to take my characters wherever I choose. In the next DI Shona McKenzie Mystery, Shona and Peter will be taking a trip to New Orleans as it ties in with a case she is working on. This is great fun to write as New Orleans is such an exciting and exotic city. The contrast between Dundee and New Orleans will play a large aprt of the story.
https://www.facebook.com/wendyhjonesauthor/
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https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wendy-H.-Jones/e/B00OABSKH0/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1541410387&sr=8-1
There’s been a murder author interview with Pat Young
1. How did you get started writing?
I’m not one of those folk who has always wanted to write a book. I never expected to be a writer. Then I found a discarded book with a wad of cash and a letter tucked in the flyleaf. ‘What if something awful happened to the owner of this book?’ I thought, and I was off. I used to think my constant ‘what iffing’ was a curse as I fretted about my children. Now I regard it as a blessing. ‘What if’ is the start of a story.
I knew nothing about writing when I started. In fact, I tried to find someone to write that first story for me. A friend told me to write it myself and when I tried I realized that I knew a thing or two about books, if not about writing them. Having studied English, French and German at university, I’d read a fair few and had learned much along the way, it seems. And so, I gave it a go. After that, there was simply no turning back, I was hooked. I had other plans, none of which included sitting at a desk from daybreak till dusk. But some days I just have to. Because there’s a story to be told.
2. What drew you to write a novel?
Finding that book. Trying to work out what might have happened to the young man who owned it. I’m a runner and every morning during my run, I thought about it, couldn’t get it out of my head, in fact. Pretty soon I had a story. I tried to find someone to write it and a friend said, ‘Write it yourself.’ So I did. Although it has been changed a lot from its first draft, that story became my third to be published, last week. I originally wrote it about France because that’s where I got the inspiration but it’s now set in Scotland and it’s called One Perfect Witness.
3. Which writers past or present have influenced your style of writing?
I’ve always had a hyperactive imagination. As a child, I devoured books. Depending on what I was reading, usually under the bedcovers, I’d believe I was Heidi. Or that I owned magical ballet shoes, or led secret clubs at boarding school. A far cry from my life in a small village on the Ayrshire coalfields.
Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield is my favourite, I think. And I loved The Borrowers.
As a teenager I was really into Catherine Cookson. Much to the chagrin of my English teacher, I even answered the literature question in my O Grade (O Level) English exam on a Catherine Cookson novel. I also adored The Catcher in the Rye.
By sixth form my tastes had matured and I loved DH Lawrence. Sons and Lovers probably was, and still is, my favourite.
Since I write crime, my style isn’t like any of the above, but being an avid reader all my life I guess I’ve picked up lots of influences along the way. I write as if I’m watching a movie in my head and I’m describing it. When I’m ‘in the zone’ I feel like I’m just the typist, if that doesn’t sound too trite to be true.
4. When you first started writing did you find it hard to get publisher interest?
My first book won a Literary Agent in a competition. He was sure Till the Dust Settles would sell to one of the big international publishing houses. They all read the full manuscript (a compliment in itself, apparently) and no one hated it, but no one was prepared to take a chance on it, or me. The backdrop of 9/11 made it a hard sell to some. I made some changes and it was snapped up by Bloodhound Books.
5. There are many interesting characters in your novels, do you have a particular favourite one?
I like all my characters, even the horrible ones like Gus! And I’m particularly fond of Seb as he was the first character I ever created. I like writing children. Wee Ethan, the little boy who is abducted in I know where you live has touched many a reader’s heart and I confess to loving him as if he was my own. Wait a minute – what am I talking about – he is my own. I made him up!
6. What kind of research do you have to undertake?
If researching a novel meant spending hours poring over tomes in libraries, I couldn’t do it. My research tool is Google and it is wonderful. It’s immediate – I can check something and get straight back into the story. Sometimes it throws up ideas I’d never thought of. When I tried to find out what was in the dust that settled on Manhattan, I uncovered conspiracy theories that shook me but also inspired me as I wrote Till the Dust Settles. And I’ll let you into a secret. Don’t tell anyone, but I’ve never been to New York! I did it all with the aid of Google maps and the internet. I’m delighted when readers gasp at that fact, or tell me they know New York and I’ve captured it perfectly.
7. Are any of the characters in your books based on someone in real life?
That’s best answered by what I wrote at the end of One Perfect Witness in Author’s note and Acknowledgements
‘One character in this book is based on a real person, although I never met him. In the summer of 2010, a young man left a book on a French campsite, which I found. There was a letter inside and an envelope of money. I was intrigued! Had I not found that book, I would not have written this story or any other. Whoever you are and wherever you are, ‘Sebastien’, I hope you’re safe and happy.’
8. How do u feel about your latest book being on the top 10 Scottish crime books list on Amazon?
I’m over the moon. Rubbing shoulders with the great and the good – wow, what can I say? Just thanks, readers.
9. Do you see any of your character’s personality in yourself and vice versa?
I really don’t know the answer to that question. You’d have to ask someone else, I think. Or I’ll cheat and say, ‘Only in the nice ones!’
10. If you can, would you give us a sneaky peak into any future novels you might planned.
All I can say is that the two I’m working on have vastly different plots and settings from each other and from the three you already know but they do have the same theme. I’m fascinated by the idea of the missing person, someone who just disappears, for whatever reason. That’s back to my ‘What if?’ obsession, isn’t it?
11. If you had the opportunity to write a novel with any crime writer alive or dead, who would it be and why?
This one is easy to answer. While I loved meeting Willie Mc Ilvanney (such a gentleman) and I like acting in Douglas Skelton’s crazy murder mystery plays with Caro Ramsay, Michael J Malone, Theresa Talbot, Lucy Cameron and the great author himself, and while it’s great to be amongst other crime writers at festivals like Bloody Scotland, I have to be honest here. I’m a lone wolf. Or maybe just too much of a control freak. I’ve been asked to co-write a couple of times and my answer has been, ‘Thank you but I’m more flattered than tempted.’ For me writing is a solitary pastime. I like it that way.
12. Do you have words of advice you can share with anyone who is interested in writing a novel?
Yes, to quote the mighty Nike, Just Do It! Get sat at the computer and get started. Doesn’t matter how awful it is to begin with, at least you’ll have something to work with. Work is the right word, by the way. It’s hard work and it needs dedication and commitment, but the feeling of satisfaction when you produce a story that will take someone out of their world for a few hours is unbelievable.
A great way to get started, and what got me going, is coming up very soon. Every November is National Novel Writing Month. You can write a novel in a month. Track your progress. Get pep talks and support. Meet fellow writers online and in person.
I had a go in 2018 and now I’ve got three books published.
Check it out – http://nanowrimo.org
Two women will never meet, but their lives are about to collide.
Lucie married young. Her husband has become abusive, controlling and violent. Having lost everything as a result of the marriage, Lucie decides it is time to walk away.
As she leaves the house on the morning of September 11th, heading to a job interview at the World Trade Centre and the promise of a new life, the unthinkable happens.
On a street in New York, choking on the dust, Lucie stumbles upon an opportunity to start again.
She thought the grass would be greener but starting again is never that simple. And sometimes, what lies ahead is even more deadly.
Penny believes she’s being watched. Yet no one should know where she lives.
Penny seizes the chance of a new life for her family when her husband is offered a job in Europe.
At the airport, they meet charming Sophie, fluent in French and looking for work as an au pair. Penny, struggling to cope in France, offers Sophie a job and she soon becomes an important part of the family’s life. But Sophie is hiding something.
Then Penny’s toddler son, Ethan, is abducted and an international hunt for the child
begins. The police beg Penny and her husband to take part in a television appeal but the couple refuse. Unknown to the police, Penny and Seth have new identities and are determined to lay low and protect them. But it may be too late for that.
Who has taken Ethan and why?
Are the couple’s true identities linked to the abduction?
And who has been watching them?
To save her son Penny may have to put her own life on the line.
Three young men
One day in ScotlandLives changed forever
Seb:
Young Frenchman wanting a summer away from home so heads out with backpack and walking stick to see some of the world before taking a job at a camping spot.
Gus:
Wannabe soccer/football star in Scotland to take on a new job but has anger issues that seem to land him in trouble.
Charlie:
Younger than the above young men and silent for five years after a traumatic event – an event that he has told nobody about since he went silent.
This is a story of bullying, abuse, death, family, priorities, lies and overcoming issues that hold a person back. It is also a story of choices made that can impact a person for years. It is about love and what one might be willing to do for a person loved…or a person feared. It is a slow building story with an ending that was unexpected and yet a finale that made me think Karma is indeed something to be reckoned with.
Bloodhound Books Author Page
http://www.bloodhoundbooks.com/pat-young/
Pat Young Author Facebook Page
https://m.facebook.com/pages/category/Author/Pat-Young-Author-591734321214048/
Amazon Author Page
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pat-Young/e/B074PVB2VQ/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_1
Hugh Fraser Stealth Book Tour
Hugh Fraser is best known for playing Captain Hastings in Agatha Christie’s ‘Poirot’ and the Duke of Wellington in ‘Sharpe’. His films include Patriot Games, 101 Dalmatians, The Draughtsman’s Contract and Clint Eastwood’s Firefox. In the theatre he has appeared in Teeth’n’Smiles at the Royal Court and Wyndhams and in several roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He also composed the theme to Rainbow!
1. How did you get started writing?
I took a short story writing course with Guardian UEA under the tuition of the novelist Bernardine Evaristo which fired my enthusiasm.
2. What drew you to write a novel
It’s a form I’ve always enjoyed and when I showed the beginnings of my first effort to Bernardine, she encouraged me to persevere.
3. Which writers past or present have influenced your style of writing?
I’ve always enjoyed the gritty American school of crime writing – particularly Elmore Leonard and James Ellroy.
4. When you first started writing did you find it hard to get publisher interest?
I was lucky when a friend of mine, the actor and writer Robert Daws showed my first book to Matthew Smith of Urbane Publications and Matthew decided to publish it.
5. There are many interesting characters in your novel, do you have a particular favourite one?
I think it has to be my heroine Rina Walker, although I have great respect for her daughter Georgie.
6. What kind of research have you had to undertake for your novel?
Quit a lot of background reading and online research, particulary for the Mexican section of Harm. Also a great many biographies and memoirs of criminals, active in the Sixties.
7. Are the characters in your books based on any real life?
A couple, yes, but I’d rather not say which…
8. How do you feel about being on the list for the not so booker prize
Honoured, of course.
9. Do you see any of your character’s personality traits in yourself and vice versa? Thankfully no. And I hope I succeed in keeping my murderous urges under control in the future.
10. If you can, would you give us a sneak peek into any future novels you might have planned?
Nothing planned at the moment but I wouldn’t be surprised if Rina gets up to some more skulduggery at some point.
11. If you had the opportunity to write a novel with any crime writer alive or dead, who would it be and why
Elmore Leonard because I know he would make me adhere to his ten rules of writing (available online), which I regard as the holy grail of style.
12. Do you have words of advice you can share with anyone who is interested in writing a novel?
Write in a genre that you are going to enjoy and remember Kinglsey Amis’s response when he was asked to give advice about writing: “The art of writing is to apply the seat of one’s trousers to the seat of the chair”.
When a step out of line means a fight to the death…London 1967. A working girl is brutally murdered in a Soho club. Rina Walker takes out the killer and attracts the attention of a sinister line-up of gangland enforcers with a great deal to prove.
When a member of British Military Intelligence becomes aware of her failure to fulfill a contract issued by an inmate of Broadmoor, he forces her into the deadly arena of the Cold War, with orders to kill an enemy agent.
Rina needs to call upon all her dark skills, not simply to survive, but to protect the ones she loves.
Other books in the Rina Walker series
Harm
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Harm-Hugh-Fraser-ebook/dp/B017ZACP82/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Threat
Malice
Stealth Amazon Book Page
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stealth-Rina-Walker-Book-4-ebook/dp/B07HL9ZM5G/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Hugh Fraser Amazon Author Page
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hugh-Fraser/e/B010VF3DJ8/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_1
@Urbanebooks
Guest Post with Heleen Kist
Author bio:
Heleen Kist is a Dutch quintilingual Stanford-educated globetrotting career woman who fell in love with a Scotsman and his country, and now writes about its (sometimes scary) people from her garden office in Glasgow. She is a recognised expert in international business and small business finance and has put this knowledge to good use for her debut novel, In Servitude.
[For the author’s professional credentials in business see LinkedIn]
Setting out on a mission
No matter how content you are in life, you occasionally need something new and exciting: a light to pierce through the clouds of the mundane. A life-affirming frisson, if you will. To shake things up, I’ve challenged myself to undertake some daunting tasks in the past, like stand-up comedy, but writing a psychological suspense novel has been the hardest thing I’ve done so far.
When I decided in January 2017 that I would write a novel, I did not have an inkling of what the story would be. Living in Glasgow, with the reputation it has, it was obvious there should be an element of crime. But what did I know about crime, beyond what I’d read in novels or seen on TV? Thankfully, very little. And in a way, I wanted to keep it that way. But I did wonder: how easy would it be for an ordinary person to not just become a victim of crime, but to become the perpetrator?
Over the course of the next 2 months, while I took part in the James Patterson Masterclass online, I made a point of being extra observant, asking myself ‘Could this be a story?’ whenever something unusual caught my eye. Then a friend told me about wanting to open a vegan patisserie. ‘Wouldn’t that make a lovely setting?’ I thought. I also quipped that if it didn’t’ work out, it could always become a front for money-laundering.
And so was sewn the seed for In Servitude.
What ‘Write what you know’ meant for me
You see, in my day job I am somewhat of an expert in small business finance. I’ve set up venture capital and loan funds for local and national government, I was on the Board of what is now the British Business bank and I’ve sat on the Access to Finance expert group for the UK government. I’ve consulted to Scottish and European financial institutions.
So once the idea of financial crime took hold, I had the spark I needed.
I grabbed an old roll of wall paper from the garage, spread it out on the dining table, stopping the sides from curling with the first things that came to hand – potatoes – and drew the whole plot out: the twists, the red herrings, the sub-plots and all.
Then to write it all out. I won’t lie: it was hard.
But because I had a full outline, I just went about it chapter by chapter. Mentally picturing the whole scene unwinding like a movie before I started to type. The dialogue came easy: I could hear the different characters speaking inside my head. The plot had already been laid out, so it was down to capturing the action and the settings in a compelling way.
Never truly free
I was careful to keep the ‘accounting skulduggery’ simple and accessible–financial matters aren’t everyone’s bag. And ultimately, In Servitude is not really a story of financial crime. It was the vehicle to write about how we’re all beholden to another in some way. A family drama with plenty of betrayal that shows that we’re never truly free.
I’ve been delighted with the fantastic reviews and reader feedback I’ve had. As a debut author it all seems quite wondrous. And yet it reiterates my theme: I’m now expected to write another…!
Synopsis:
Do you owe your family your life?
When her beloved sister Glory dies in a car crash, Grace McBride’s carefully considered life spirals out of control. She discovers Glory had been sucked into illegal activities at odds with her seemingly charmed existence. What’s worse: Grace finds herself an unwitting accomplice and forced to take over the shady dealings.
Determined to keep her fingers clean and redeem her sister’s reputation, Grace plots to extricate herself—and those Glory held dear—from the clutches of Glasgow’s criminal underworld. But her moral certitude is challenged when familial pressure mounts and Glory’s past intentions remain unclear. Grace grows convinced Glory’s death was no accident, even if no-one will listen.
Seeking justice, she finds betrayal.
Excerpt 1:
Blue pulled at the lead. I let him off once I’d scanned the area and noted no loose dogs. Only a lone figure loitering. His eye line crossed mine as he also examined the park, and paused on me long enough to raise a creepy sensation.
I moved to a bench by the play park and pretended to tie my laces. When I straightened up, the man was striding straight towards me. I searched for Blue, hoping for a semblance of protection, but he was nowhere to be seen. Nor was anyone else.
Before I could stop him, the man sat down next to me. He whistled and shouted, ‘Here boy!’ then faced me with a disturbing grin. As if he knew the dog wouldn’t come. I jumped to my feet and looked around. What had he done?
On the second blow of silent air through my dry mouth, Blue appeared from behind a tree thirty yard away. Safe. He showed no interest in me or the man, instead sniffing out the ground’s many treasures.
I turned back to the intruder. Standing over him gave me an edge—at least I thought it did—and I raised my chin and my voice when I asked, ‘Do I know you?’
He chuckled. ‘Nah, hen. I’m only the messenger.’
‘What?’
His smile faded. ‘We’re not very happy about you closing the café for so long. You need to open up again. There’s a delivery coming on Thursday.’
‘What do you mean? How do you—’
His eyes turned to ice as he grabbed my wrist in a flash. ‘We’ll be very disappointed if you’re not there to receive the goods. Ken what I’m saying?’
He rushed off, his dark coat billowing behind him like a cape, almost engulfing Blue who circled his legs, tail wagging, until he turned towards the road.
Excerpt 2:
A tailor’s dummy stood beside me, draped with colourful scarves that reflected the sunset in shimmering patterns, as if calling for my attention. I ran both hands through the soft fibres, creating dancing shadows on the wall and releasing a smell that punched me in the lungs, calling up a memory so vivid that I became light-headed.
Glory’s young voice.
‘Look at me! I’m Scheherazade!’
Loose strands of long red hair enveloped her face as she twirled around, her hands waving multi-coloured strips of fabric in fluid, hypnotising motions along her eleven-year-old body. She bounced towards me, covering her nose and mouth, batting her eyelashes in cartoon-style seduction. ‘Oh Aladdin, my hero! Shall I dance the dance of the seven veils for you?’
‘Stop it, Glory.’ I grabbed the so-called veils she’d been dangling in front of my face, too close. ‘Plus, that wasn’t Scheherazade. I’m fairly sure the dance of the seven veils was Salome.’
Glory shrugged and kept the choreography going. ‘I don’t care. It’s exotic! And foreign! And marvellous!’ Each phrase was punctuated by a defiant jiggle of the hips.
‘And a little blasphemous,’ I said, failing to suppress a large grin.
‘Okay, miss party-pooper. Your turn to do something with this.’
She heaped the mix of polyester, silk and cotton we’d rescued from our parents’ store onto my head and sat on the ground. Bright blues beaming in anticipation.
‘Fine, Salome. You think you’re so sexy. Well, you’ve got another think coming.’ I wrapped layer upon layer over my shoulders and across my waist, waiting for the inspiration that came so easily to her.
Once I could move no more for the bulk, I plonked my elbows on my side and stood legs apart like a superhero, bellowing, ‘For I am…Heidi!’ My heart leapt as her unrestrained laughter filled the room. ‘And I am on my way to meet my own man…’ I paused, basking in my sister’s approval, while I searched for that goatherd boy’s name—or any goatherd name. She roared as I broke into song instead. ‘High on the hill lived a lonely goatherd, yodelay-hee yodelay-hee yodelay-hee hoo!’
‘Oh Grace, you’re so funny,’ she said, then launched into yodels that merged into mine. And I wished it would last forever.
Publication date: 23 August 2018
RRP: £1.99 eBook; £9.99 Paperback
Pages: 338
ISBN: 978-1-9164486-1-2
Genre: psychological suspense / domestic noir
Amazon: http://mybook.to/InServitude Also available at Blackwell’s & Waterstones.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41184315-in-servitude
Website: www.heleenkist.com
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/heleenkistauthor/
Twitter: @hkist
Amazon Author Page
There’s been a Murder Author interview with Dr Steven Veerapen
Steven Veerapen was born in Glasgow and raised in Paisley. Pursuing an interest in the sixteenth century, he was awarded a first-class Honours degree in English, focussing his dissertation on representations of Henry VIII’s six wives. He then received a Masters in Renaissance studies, and a Ph.D. investigating Elizabethan slander. Steven is fascinated by the glamour and ghastliness of life in the 1500s, and has a penchant for myths, mysteries and murders in an age in which the law was as slippery as those who defied it.
1. How did you get started writing?
I applied for a funding opportunity to write a nonfiction biography of Lord Darnley. I wasn’t successful, but I didn’t want to let the idea go, so I thought I might see if I had it in me to novelise the story. I was used to writing from studying English, so I knew I could do it at length – but it had always been academic stuff.
2. What drew you to write a novel?
I guess it was a lifetime of reading novels and a career teaching. I mainly reach Renaissance literature, and I think everyone who studies history would like to go back and see what it was really like to live then. Without time portals, novels are the only way of doing that.
3. Which writers past or present have influenced your style of writing?
Daphne du Maurier is my favourite writer. I learned a lot from her work about zooming in and out of perspectives until I found a style that worked for me. Robert Harris is also very good in illustrating how to do this well.
4. When you first started writing did you find it hard to get publisher interest?
Yes – my agent approached two publishers and received polite rejections. The trick is to persevere, even in the face of rejection. When I found a publisher, they were keen to accept the whole backlog I’d written.
5. There are many interesting characters in your novel – do you have a particular favourite one?
I think Simon Danforth, the detective character, is my favourite. He’s pompous and has some ugly sixteenth-century views, but he still tries to be a decent person.
6. What kind of research have did you have to undertake for your novel?
A lot of reading up on sixteenth-century Scottish history: politics, culture, and law. I’m lucky in that my PhD thesis was on Elizabethan law, speech, and writing – but Scotland was a different country. They did things differently there.
7. Are the characters in your books based on any in real life?
No. However, some quirks and behaviours I’ve seen in other people make their way in. Of course, those quirks only come from my perceptions of those people.
8. If you could set a series of novels in any decade, which would you choose and why?
I would consider looking at crime in the American gilded age or the British Edwardian period. The sixteenth century is where I’m comfortable, though!
9. Do you see any of your characters personality in yourself and vice versa?
Simon Danforth is very superstitious – I have a phobia of looking at a clock directly at 12:00 as I was once told it brings bad luck!
10. If you can, would you give us a sneaky peak into any future novels you might planned?
At the moment I’m writing a nonfiction study of the relationship between Mary Queen of Scots and her brother. After that I’d like to try a spy thriller set in England and Scotland when Mary was a captive.
11. If you had the opportunity to write a novel with any crime writer alive or dead, who would it be and why?
Agatha Christie. I’d like to ask her directly about her eleven-day disappearance and get guidance on how to write a crime-solving couple, like Tommy and Tuppence. I prefer historical crime novels to current stuff – probably because when I was wee my mum kept books on Jack the Ripper all over the house!
12. Do you have words of advice you can share with anyone who is interested in writing a novel?
Edit. I’m terrible at editing my own work, as I make lots of changes when I’m trying to sweep through for typos. I write so quickly I often miss out words, so if you’re not great at editing, try and get someone else to do it. In terms of writing, be clear on your narrative perspective. I struggled with this at first but have learned that I cope best following one character’s thoughts rather than being omniscient. If you want to leap into someone else’s head and let the reader know what they’re thinking, start a new chapter!
A new historical crime series, featuring Simon Danforth.
The Abbey Close
Paisley, 1542.
As the armies of Henry VIII and James V prepare for battle, Catholic exile Simon Danforth must decide his loyalties.
Cast out of England, he is drawn by private grief to a secretive Scottish Abbey, and the mystery of a missing girl who worked there.
Though Paisley and its Abbey refuse to give up their secrets, they do give up their dead.
In the tense and suspicious atmosphere of a nation at war, Danforth, in an uneasy alliance with his dogged colleague, Arnaud Martin, uncovers murder, madness, and sexual desire infecting the sacred house and its neighbouring town.
With the fate of his adoptive country hanging in the balance, does he dare to uncover the unimaginable truth?
Some secrets may be better left buried.
The Royal Burgh
1543.
King James V is dead, and Scotland is thrown into turmoil.
As the country is torn asunder the nation’s criminals flourish.
Out of favour with their master, Simon Danforth and Arnaud Martin escape the discontent in Edinburgh and travel to Stirling, hoping to find peace.
Instead they find murder, and must pit themselves against a shadowy killer.
Investigating the brutal death of a mysterious, beautiful woman, Danforth finds himself locking horns with a master criminal whose identity is shrouded in secrecy, but who has his own private army of enforcers.
With Martin bent on revenge against the doctor who let his sister die, can Danforth unmask the killer and stop his friend turning his own hand to murder, or will the flames of vengeance consume them both?
The Cradle Queen
Linlithgow Palace, 1543.
As Henry VIII turns greedy eyes northwards towards the baby Queen of Scots, the ghosts of Scotland’s bloody past rise from the grave. With the queen a child, her mother a captive, and the governor a puppet, the future of the realm hangs in the balance.
Commanded by their master, Simon Danforth and his friend, Arnaud Martin, join the household of Queen Marie of Guise.
But the glories of royal service are quickly tarnished for the loyal Danforth and lovelorn Martin.
Marie’s glittering household hides a deadly secret. When a series of murders takes place, recreating grisly deaths caused by Scotland’s kings, Danforth is compelled to take to the political stage. What he finds makes it clear that the crown itself is under threat.
Faced with a seemingly invisible murderer and drawn to a strange young woman, Danforth must decide where his own future lies: in loyal service or in marriage – duty or love.
Caught in a web of deception, Danforth must unmask the assassin before the crown is stolen – or will chasing ghosts lead him to the grave?
The Abbey Close – Simon Danforth #1 (2018, Sharpe Books)
The Royal Burgh – Simon Danforth #2 (2018, Sharpe Books)
The Cradle Queen – Simon Danforth #3 (2018, Sharpe Books)
Fire and Faith – Simon Danforth Omnibus (2018, Sharpe Books)
The Queen’s Consort: The Story of Mary Queen of Scots and Lord Darnley (Sharpe Books, 2018)
Twitter @ScrutinEye
Amazon Author Page
Bloody Scotland 2018 Blog Tour with Charles Cumming
Charles Cumming is a British writer of spy fiction. He was educated at Eton College (1985-1989) and the University of Edinburgh (1990-1994), where he graduated with 1st Class Honours in English Literature. The Observer has described him as “the best of the new generation of British spy writers who are taking over where John le Carré and Len Deighton left off”.
1. How did you get started writing?
I wrote a short story at my secondary school which won a prize. That gave me the confidence to continue writing fiction. I published a couple more stories while studying at Edinburgh University.
2. What drew you to write a novel?
When I was 25, I was interviewed for a job by MI6. The whole experience was so fascinating that I felt it was crying out to be dramatised. So I wrote A Spy by Nature.
3. Which writers past or present have influenced your style of writing?
Apart from John le Carré, the writers I most enjoy and admire are John Updike, Martin Amis, Richard Ford and Graham Greene.
4. When you first started writing did you find it hard to get publisher interest?
I was lucky in that I found an agent quite quickly who was able to sell A Spy by Nature to Penguin. But the book was turned down by several other publishers.
5. There are many interesting characters in your Novels, do you have a particular favourite one?
I enjoyed writing about Kit Carradine, the hero of The Man Between. Miles Coolidge, the grotesque CIA officer in Typhoon, is another favourite.
6. What kind of research have you have to undertake for your Novels?
I like to visit the places I am writing about, to smell the air in Shanghai, so to speak, to taste the food in Istanbul and walk the ground in Odessa. For The Man Between I made two separate trips to Casablanca and Marrakech in order to try to recreate the atmosphere in Morocco.
7. Are the characters in your books based on any real life?
There’s a little bit of me in Kit Carradine and Thomas Kell, but otherwise I tend not to draw on real people when creating characters. The only time I’ve ever done that was in The Hidden Man. Ben Keen’s journalist wife was based on somebody I knew very well at the time.
8. Do you have a particular favourite place you like to set your novels?
I’m increasingly drawn to setting my books here at home in the UK. London is a great city to write about. My next novel will feature a character born and raised in Edinburgh.
9. Do you see any of your characters personality in yourself and vice versa?
Maybe that’s for other people to judge! It would be impossible for any novelist not to reveal something of their own personality in the stories they tell and the characters they create.
10. If you can, would you give us a sneaky peak into any future novels you might planned.
I’m working on a new idea, but it’s too early to go into any detail. I don’t want to jinx it!
11. If you had the opportunity to write a novel with any crime writer alive or dead, who would it be and why?
It would have been fascinating to meet Raymond Chandler, but I’m not sure how he would have felt about collaborating on a book. He wouldn’t have needed any help when it came to writing.
12. Do you have words of advice you can share with anyone who is interested in writing a novel?
Don’t give up your day job. You’ll need the money.
He risked it all to become a spy. Now he must pay the price.
A gripping new standalone spy thriller from the winner of the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for Best Thriller of the Year and ‘the master of the modern spy thriller’ (Mail on Sunday).
One simple task for British Intelligence takes him into a world of danger.
Successful novelist Kit Carradine has grown restless. So when British Intelligence invites him to enter the secret world of espionage, he willingly takes a leap into the unknown.
But the glamour of being a spy is soon tainted by fear and betrayal, as Carradine finds himself in Morocco on the trail of Lara Bartok – a mysterious fugitive with links to international terrorism.
Bartok is a leading figure in Resurrection, a violent revolutionary movement whose brutal attacks on prominent right-wing politicians have spread hatred and violence throughout the West.
As the coils of a ruthless plot tighten around him, Carradine finds himself drawn to Lara. Caught between competing intelligence services who want her dead, he soon faces an awful choice: to abandon Lara to her fate or to risk everything trying to save her.
NOVELS
▪A Spy by Nature (2001), ISBN 0-14-029476-7, the first Alec Milius novel
▪The Hidden Man (2003), ISBN 0-14-029477-5
▪The Spanish Game (2006), ISBN 0-14-101783-X, the second Alec Milius novel
▪Typhoon (2008), ISBN 0-14-101802-X
▪The Trinity Six (2011), ISBN 0-312-67529-1
▪A Foreign Country (2012), ISBN 0-00-733783-3, the first Thomas Kell novel
▪A Colder War (2014), ISBN 0-00-746747-8, the second Thomas Kell novel
▪A Divided Spy (2016), ISBN 0-00-746751-6, the third Thomas Kell novel
▪The Man Between (2018), ISBN 0-00-820031-9, published in the US as The Moroccan Girl (2019)
BLOODY SCOTLAND EVENT
Amazon Author Page
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Charles-Cumming/e/B000APOROK/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_1
Website
http://www.charlescumming.co.uk/
Publishers
https://www.harpercollins.co.uk/author/cr-102278/charles-cumming/
Facebook Author Page
https://m.facebook.com/AuthorCharlesCumming/
@CharlesCumming
