27/01/2021

Wednesday 27 January 2021

I thought maybe it was time to fill everyone in on what is happening/has happened with my writing – I have been a published author for just over five years now, and it has been a whirlwind of a time. 

All of my books are published by Bloodhound Books and the first one, Beautiful, was launched 31 August 2015. My seventeenth will launch on 7 April 2021, and is called Nine Lives.

In between those two books there have been another fifteen, a mixture of standalone novels and a collection called the Kat and Mouse series. I was approached by Bloodhound with a suggestion that I might like to try my hand at a trilogy, a cosy mystery series.

This floored me a bit because I had no idea what a cosy mystery was, but I immediately said yes, figuring I could do research. The boss said a rural setting, a female lead, and don’t kill any kids or animals.

The rural setting became the beautiful plague village of Eyam, very near where I live for research probabilities, the female lead became three female leads, and in the first book I only killed two children. Murder Undeniable was born, and it sold extremely well. 

In November 2020 Bloodhound launched the final book in that series, Murder Unjoyful, which joined Murder Undeniable, Murder Unexpected, Murder Unearthed and Murder Untimely on bookshelves and eBooks around the world. In addition to these five, a spin-off was released which featured one of the much-loved characters in Kat and Mouse, Doris. That book is called Epitaph, and is best read after Murder Untimely and before Murder Unjoyful.

Much to the dismay of fans everywhere, the fifth was the final one, but after discussions with Bloodhound it was agreed I would do a three part series called the Connection Casefiles, but with a slight change of characters, and forgetting the cosy mystery side of it. I could kill who I wanted to kill! 

This is what I am currently writing. It doesn’t have a title yet, although it does have a working title of Redhead. I have introduced two important characters to the Connection Investigation Agency, and removed a couple, and it has been interesting creating different relationships. I hope you take these new people to your hearts as much as you did in the Kat and Mouse series, and yes, Luke is still there!

However, before that, Nine Lives will launch. This is a standalone novel, and the River Porter in Sheffield plays an important part, as does the rain. You’ll need an umbrella and a raincoat when you read this one. I have toyed with the idea of writing a serial killer story for some time, and this is it.

This is my brand new website, and I hope to be able to do a weekly blog, keeping you informed of my writing life. Thank you for reading this, have a look around the site and stay safe.