Meet Jack

Today the second post in the Nowhere To Hide blog tour can be found on Sally Quilford's blog.

This is your chance to meet the charming Jack Brennan!

Dearest Rose

By Rowan Coleman

Having loved Rowan Coleman’s last book, ‘Lessons In Laughing Out Loud’, I was thrilled to receive a review copy of ‘Dearest Rose’. This is a very powerful book which explores some extremely dark themes, and will keep you gripped to the very end.

Rose and her daughter Maddie are on the run, and this novel is the story of what they are on the run from, and to. The home situation that has become so unbearable that Rose can’t take it any more is slowly revealed, and we also find out what Rose is looking for and are kept in suspense about whether she will find it or not.

There are some beautiful moments in this book. I found the story of how Maddie gets to know her grandfather, John, particularly touching. The two of them find a companionship through a shared love of art which is beautifully told and gives the novel a gorgeous sense of warmth.

‘Dearest Rose’ is very much a book about strong women. From Rose herself, who turns out to be stronger than she thinks, to her friend Shona, who goes through hell and survives, her landlady Jenny who turns out to be a bigger support than Rose could have imagined and a woman from Rose’s past who turns out to be the last thing she would have expected, all are real, gutsy female characters.

The novel also has a love story running through it. It’s hard to say too much about that without spoilers. So I won’t! But you won’t be disappointed.

As well as the interactions between the various interesting and believable characters in the story, art and the landscape play an important part in the novel as well. John’s paintings, and the landscapes he often includes in them, are pivotal to the story and add to the great atmosphere of the book.

I love Rowan’s writing and really enjoyed this book. It does include some very difficult subject matter and definitely doesn’t shy away from the darkness of its themes. Overall though, it is ultimately an uplifting story, which tells of friendship, courage, redemption and love.

A fantastic read.

Thanks to the publishers for the review copy of this book.

And we're off ...

The first post in the 'Nowhere To Hide' blog tour has gone up a tiny bit early, so you can take a sneak preview now if you like.

The post is an interview with Marie Donovan, the star of the book, and you can read it on Leigh Russell's blog here.

Nowhere To Hide Blog Tour

I'm pleased to announce details of the blog tour for Nowhere To Hide by Alex Walters!

The tour will be a series of exclusive mini interviews with the characters of the book. They'll be revealing everything from who they'd most like to take out to dinner, to who they'd like to play them in a dramatisation of the book.









Here are the tour dates and locations:

Host                                                  Character interview                          Date

Leigh Russell                                   Marie Donovan                                  8 January                           

Sally Quilford                                   Jack Brennan                                     11 January

Womagwriter                                   Lizzie                                                  15 January

Cally Taylor                                       Hugh Salter                                        18 January

Debs Carr                                        Keith Welsby                                      23 January

About the book ...

Nowhere to Hide: ‘On the North Wales coast two people traffickers are brutally murdered; a drug dealer is mown down in inner-city Stockport and in a remote Pennine cottage a police informant is shot dead. Seemingly random, these murders are the work of one professional hitman.

Reluctantly, Marie Donovan takes on another undercover role and finds herself working with DI Jack Brennan, a high-flying detective with a tarnished career. Soon, mistrustful of each other and their superiors, both begin to suspect that they are mere pawns in a complex game of criminal rivalry and police corruption.  

As Marie struggles to uncover the truth, she realises that nothing is as it seems. With every move, she draws the threat ever closer until ultimately the killer is watching Marie herself. Out on her own, she finds herself with no friends, no-one to trust and nowhere to hide.’

Published by Avon HarperCollins. 

You can buy Nowhere To Hide here.

 

Stop Dead by Leigh Russell

 I'm very excited to have Leigh Russell here today, talking about her latest novel 'Stop Dead'.

Tell us about your latest book, ‘Stop Dead’.

In ‘Cut Short’, ‘Road Closed’, and ‘Dead End’, Geraldine Steel worked for the Murder Squad in Kent. In ‘Death Bed’ she moved to London, so ‘Stop Dead’ is the second of the London novels. Once again the reader follows Geraldine’s search for a killer who proves to be elusive as well as deadly. The only clues the police have are two samples of DNA found at the crime scenes.  The first of these matches the DNA of a woman who has been in prison for twenty years, the second is from a woman who has been dead for two years. It makes no sense, but Geraldine has to solve the mystery if she is to find the killer who has embarked on a killing spree. 

The last two books have seen a move to London for Geraldine. How has this opened up new possibilities for you as a writer?

My main interest is in character, so probably the most significant difference for me was the opportunity to introduce her new team, Detective Sergeant Samantha Haley and Chief Inspector Reg Milton. While pursuing a murder investigation, Geraldine establishes relationships with her new colleagues and adapts to working in the Met. 

Has ‘Stop Dead’ got a really juicy baddy in it?

It’s important for me to understand my characters, otherwise they risk becoming two dimensional functions of the plot. Like all my villains, the killer in ‘Stop Dead’ is a damaged character, in some ways as much a victim as the people who are killed. Nevertheless, the nature of the killer’s experience leads to some quite horrific murders… It is quite tricky to talk about it without revealing the killer’s gender!

Geraldine Steel seems to be a big hit.  What is it about her that has made her such a good series character?

When I wrote ‘Cut Short’ I didn’t expect anyone to read the manuscript, let alone publish it. It certainly never crossed my mind that ‘Cut Short’ might turn out to be the start of a series. So Geraldine Steel turned up, unplanned, as the detective who would solve the case in ‘Cut Short’. She managed that quite efficiently and believably, and seemed to catch my readers’ imagination before I really knew her. Most authors of series plan their protagonist’s life story before they begin writing but Geraldine is evolving throughout the process of writing the books. I wonder if this is what interests her fans - the ambiguity and development in her character that makes her seem real.

Do you think crime writing particularly lends itself to long running series, and why?

Yes, By its nature, crime writing is episodic. The detective is the thread that runs through the series, moving on from case to case, while each book has its own complete story. So an author can continue indefinitely with different murder cases to be solved.

What’s next for you?  Are you going to continue writing books about Geraldine, or do you have something else up your sleeve.

Yes to both! Initially my publisher offered me a three book deal for Geraldine Steel. Those three books all became bestsellers so my publisher asked me for another three books. ‘Stop Dead’ is the fifth book in the series, so I’m currently working on the sixth. I’m meeting my publisher in a few weeks’ time to discuss our next contract - hopefully for the next three Geraldine Steel novels! We are also exploring the possibility of a spin off series for Ian Peterson, the sergeant Geraldine left behind in Kent when she moved to London in ‘Death Bed’. I’ll keep you posted!   

What’s been the most exciting thing to happen on your writing journey so far?

There have been so many highlights, it’s impossible to pick just one.  Here are a few that spring to mind: signing a contract with my publisher, seeing my books on the shelves in bookshops, being shortlisted for a CWA Dagger Award, being sent a personal endorsement by Peter James, reading good reviews in The Times – in fact good reviews anywhere - being invited to share Jeffery Deaver’s champagne al fresco on a summer evening, meeting Lee child, Ian Rankin, Val McDermid, Clive Dexter, and all the crime writing gang, receiving an invitation to teach on the Greek island of Skyros, spending time with a Murder Investigation Team… but the biggest thrill is still writing!

Thank you for interviewing me here and keep writing!

Thanks to Leigh for sharing those thoughts about writing and giving some tantalising hints about 'Stop Dead'. I can't wait to read it now! 

You can pre-order 'Stop Dead' for Kindle now here.  

And you can buy Leigh's other books here.

 

Jane Wenham Jones at Chez Castillon

You'll probably remember that I was very excited earlier this year about my visit to the wonderful writing retreat, Chez Castillon. Chez Castillon is an amazing place  in Castillon la Bataille near Bordeaux and St Emilion, and the very lovely Mickey and Janie have turned it into the most fantastic retreat for writers and artists.

Now there's a brilliant opportunity to attend a course at Chez Castillon led by the talented and inspiring Jane Wenham Jones.

Is There A Book In You?

For anyone who longs to be published, whatever stage of the journey they are at.

Tutor	Jane Wenham Jones
Date	Saturday 6th October – Friday 12th October 2012
Course Fee	£825 per person.

The hospitality of Chez Castillon makes it the perfect environment for writing and relaxing. Mickey and Janie are the perfect hosts, and the provision of food and drink is abundant and seamless.

Katie Fforde will be there too to offer guidance and advice to participants and also literary agent David Headley! What could be better than that!

You can find out more about Chez Castillon here.

Meanwhile, so you can see how beautiful it is, here are some photos ...

Guest Post from Victoria Connelly

 I'm very pleased to have Victoria Connelly here today to talk about her trilogy of magical romantic comedies, 'It's Magic'.

I think I’ve always wanted to be a writer.  I started my first novel when I was fourteen and used to take it to school and pass it under the table for my friends to read during Maths lessons.  Of course, it was a romantic comedy and I’ve never stopped writing them since.

I never finished that first attempt at a novel and it was many years and many rejections from agents and publishers later that my first one was published.  It was called Flights of Angels and it was about a young widow who has her own group of tiny guardian angels to take care of her.  It was a romantic comedy with a touch of magic but that touch of magic was what stopped it being published in the UK.  Nobody seemed to think that readers wanted magic in a rom com.  However, things were different in Germany where five publishers set up a bidding war for it.  It was a whirlwind experience and resulted in four different editions of the book being published as well as a film being made – an experience I’ll never forget!

Then came two more magical romantic comedies.  Unmasking Elena Montella about a woman who is given a magical Venetian mask which helps her choose which of her three (yes – three!) fiancés is the right one for her.  And Three Graces about a young woman who marries a duke and goes to live in his ancestral home only to find it’s haunted by a rather opinionated eighteenth-century ghost.

I had so much fun writing these books but they were never published in the UK even though they’d done so well in Germany.  So, whilst writing my ‘straight’ rom coms like A Weekend with Mr Darcy and The Runaway Actress, I’ve decided to make my magical rom coms available on Kindle where you can buy them individually or as a trilogy called It’s Magic. 

So, if you like your rom coms peppered with naughty guardian angels, magical Venetian masks and haughty ghosts, give them a try and let me know what you think.  I really hope you enjoy them.

You can find out more about Victoria on her website,  or follow her on Twitter at @VictoriaDarcy

You can find 'It's Magic' here.  

Thanks to Victoria for being such an interesting guest!