Celebrate Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
Summer Morris gets a phone call from her ex-lover Patrick begging for help. But he’s cut off before he can give her all the details.
He’s in deep trouble. She would have been happy to never hear from him again, but can she really refuse to help a man whose life is in danger?
Patrick turns out to have many enemies who might want him dead. He’s been working in Malawi and uncovered a scandal. He’s involved with a powerful woman. And he’s borrowed money from the wrong people. And that’s just for starters.
Along with an off-duty policeman, DS Stewart, Summer gets swept into Patrick’s world of lies and deceit, in a desperate race against time to find him alive.
Who is behind Patrick’s disappearance and can Summer find out before it’s too late?
1. She spent 20 years lecturing in human physiology at university before a serious health issue made her reassess her life, and leave to focus on writing. Most of those years were at the University of St Andrews, where she also did her undergraduate degree.
2. Naturally ambidextrous, she generally writes with her right hand, but all of her lab books were written left-handed during her PhD after RSI in her right prevented her from being able to hold a pen.
3. She helped to set up a charity in Malawi that works to help homeless children stay in education. The charity buys uniforms and school supplies, pays school fees and helps to support any remaining family to keep the children off the streets.
4. She never drinks coffee, but drinks oceans of tea. Her favourite tea is Fortnum and Mason’s Earl Grey, for its hint of smokiness along with the bergamot.
5. She once did a charity lecture for medical students, dressed as Braveheart, wearing her husband’s kilt. The outfit was completed by blue face paint and a plastic sword, which she used as a pointer during the lecture. Amanda is English, incidentally. The irony was not lost on her.
6. A stationery addict from an early age, the has a cupboard full of notebooks and another full of fountain pen ink. She probably owns more notebooks and ink than she will be able to use in a lifetime.
7. She has ‘O’ levels in Art and Latin. One has been much more useful than the other!
8. She loves a good ceilidh. Strip the Willow (conventional or Orcadian version) is her favourite dance.
AUTHOR BIO
Amanda Fleet is a physiologist by training and a writer at heart. She spent 18 years teaching science and medicine undergraduates at St Andrews University, but now uses her knowledge to work out how to kill people (in her books!). She completed her first degree at St Andrews University and her doctorate at University College, London.
She has been an inveterate stationery addict since a child, amassing a considerable stash of fountain pens, ink and notebooks during her lifetime. These have thankfully come in useful, as she tends to write rather than type, at least in the early stages of writing a book.
During her time at St Andrews, she was involved with two Scottish Government funded projects, working with the College of Medicine in Blantyre, Malawi. While in Malawi, she learned about the plight of the many street children there and helped to set up a Community Based Organisation that works with homeless Malawian children to support them through education and training – Chimwemwe Children’s Centre. It was this experience that helped to shape the Malawian aspects in her first novel, The Wrong Kind of Clouds.
Amanda lives in Scotland with her husband, where she can be found writing, walking and running. The Wrong Kind of Clouds is her début novel and was published by Matador in early 2016. It will be re-published by Joffe Books.
Twitter @amanda_fleet1
Brass in Pocket: Inspector Drake #1 by Stephen Puleston
It is the middle of the night …The road is deserted …A killer is waiting …
Two traffic officers are killed on an isolated mountain pass in North Wales. Inspector Drake is called to the scene and quickly discovers a message left by the killer – traffic cones in the shape of a No 4.
The killer starts sending the Wales Police Service lyrics from famous rock songs. Are they messages or is there some hidden meaning in them?
Does it all mean more killings are likely? When a politician is killed Drake has his answer. And then the killer sends more song lyrics. Now Drake has to face the possibility of more deaths but with numbers dominating the case Drake has to face his own rituals and obsessions.
Finally, when the killer threatens Drake and his family he faces his greatest challenge in finding the killer before he strikes again.
Inspector Drake
Detective Ian Drake is an inspector in the Wales Police Service and is based in the northern division headquarters near Colwyn Bay on the coast. North Wales is a large area that stretches from the coast to the border with England. It is an area rich in history and great scenery.
I know good crime fiction when I see it and Brass in Pocket certainly is. Stephen Puleston’s writing has a certain realism that can only be explained by experience. After reading so many books you begin to recognize the author’s craft and things that make them unique.
The story is one thing; but how the story is altogether different from one person to the next. I consider this a kind of “brand” of storytelling which is almost synonymous with voice. I really like how Puleston tells his story.
I write mysteries and thrillers.
I have published the first novel in a series featuring Inspector Drake based in North Wales and also the first in a series with Inspector John Marco based in Cardiff. The first Drake mystery is called BRASS IN POCKET and the second WORSE THAN DEAD. The third, AGAINST THE TIDE and the fourth, DEAD ON YOUR FEET.
Before turning to crime fiction I had written three other unpublished novels and you can read about my writing and about Wales, one of the most beautiful countries in the world, on my website http://www.stephenpuleston.co.uk/
I was brought up on the Isle of Anglesey, off the North Wales coast and went to school in Holyhead. After a degree in Theology from London University I decided to train as a lawyer and returned to work in the practice run by my father on Anglesey. For many years I worked as a lawyer in a small practice representing clients in the criminal courts and doing divorce work all of which has given me valuable raw material for my novels.
I still live and work in North Wales where the Inspector Drake novels are set.
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Looking for a brilliant best-selling murder mystery with a feisty female detective?
Then meet DI HILLARY GREENE, a policewoman struggling to save her career and catch criminals.
A would-be politician is found battered to death in the kitchenof his expensive home in a lovely Oxfordshire village. His wife’s alibi is full of holes and there’s another woman in the background. And what about his seemingly mild-mannered political rival?
DI Hillary Greene tries to get to the bottom of this perplexing murder. She certainly doesn’t think the prime suspect is as guilty as everyone thinks.
Just as she’s about to make a breakthrough, everything is turned upside down by a fatal development in another case she is working on . . .
Can Hillary find the murderer and will she survive a brush with one of Oxford’s most dangerous criminals?
This is a crime mystery full of well-observed characters, which will have you gripped from start to finish.
MURDER IN THE VILLAGE is the fourth in a series of page-turning crime thrillers set in Oxfordshire.
“Another page-turning book by Faith Martin, I just couldn’t put it down.” -Viv
THE LOCATION
The picturesque village of Lower Heyford, set in North Oxfordshire’s Cherwell Valley, nestles close to the Cotswolds, an area of outstanding natural beauty. Farming country, the village has been in existence in one form or another for over a thousand years, providing a natural ‘ford’ for oxen over the river since medieval times. A mix of thatched and old stone and slate cottages, it is home to local families and rich ‘incomers’ alike. It’s proximity by train to both London and Birmingham make it a very desirable place to live indeed, and both the Oxford canal and the river Cherwell run close to it, making it haven for walkers, boaters and wildlife.
THE DETECTIVES
DI Hillary Greene
An attractive woman in her forties, Hillary Greene is a police officer of many years’ experience, and came up through the ranks. Consequently, she knows how the system works, and is fiercely loyal to the force without being blinkered to its faults. She is a long-standing friend of her immediate superior officer, ‘Mellow’ Mallow and enjoys a rather enigmatic relationship with the steely Superintendent Marcus Donleavy. Popular with the rank and file for her no-nonsense attitude and competence.
DCI Philip ‘Mellow’ Mallow
Mel appreciates Hillary’s first-rate ability to solve her cases, and isn’t happy about her harassment by the officers from York. Known for his sartorial elegance and laid-back manners, he has a sharp mind, and an eye for the ladies. A good friend and ally for Hillary in her recent tribulations, he’s determined to keep his best investigator focused on the problems at hand.
Review
I’m not sure how to put this, but Faith Martin writes page turners. Every book in the series is delightful to say the least. Every writer is different in how they tell a story, but what I appreciate about Faith Martin’s books are balance with a touch of humor. They’re the perfect balance of character, dialogue, and narrative. This makes for a very pleasurable experience.
DI HILLARY GREENE SERIES
BOOK 1: MURDER ON THE OXFORD CANAL
BOOK 2: MURDER AT THE UNIVERSITY
BOOK 3: MURDER OF THE BRIDE
BOOK 4: MURDER IN THE VILLAGE
MORE COMING SOON!
Faith Martin has been writing for over 25 years, in four genres and under four different pen names. She was born in Oxford and sets most of her crime novels within sight of the city of dreaming spires. A real nature lover and afficionado of the countryside, descriptions of wildlife and native flora often find their way into her manuscripts. Right now, JOFFE BOOKS are re-issuing the first eleven of the DI Hillary Greene novels in new updated editions! And the first of these, MURDER ON THE OXFORD CANAL is available now, with the others to very quickly follow.
Her romance novels, written under the name of Maxine Barry, are now available from Corazon Books. IMPOSTERS In PARADISE, and HEART OF FIRE are both out, and others will very quickly become available in the future.
Her first foray into writing ‘spooky’ crime, (and written under the pen name of Jessie Daniels) comes out in November 2017. THE LAVENDER LADY CASEFILE is published by Robert Hale, an imprint of Crowood Press.
As Joyce Cato, she writes more classically-inspired ‘proper’ whodunits. So if you like an amateur sleuth, plenty of clues and red herrings, plus a baffling murder mystery to solve, these are the books for you.
Mystery Thriller Week 