Hello book lovers!  I’ve had an great opportunity to participate in a  blog tour for His Third Victim, which I’m still reading. However, I did get a chance to interview the author. Check it out below!

 

 

Book Description

HIS THIRD VICTIM by Helen H. Durrant

A BRAND NEW STANDALONE DETECTIVE MYSTERY FROM #1 BEST-SELLING AUTHOR HELEN H. DURRANT

A man is shot dead and his body is dumped on the moors. Hisarm is stamped with the Chinese symbol for sorry.

There have been five unsolved murders with the same hallmark. The police can’t find any motive or connection between the victims.

Bella Richards was close to the murdered man. She lives with her five-year son and has begun a new life in the local area.  But although clearly grief-stricken, she is not telling the police everything she knows.

Detective Talbot Dyson wants his most trusted inspector on the case. But DI Matt Brindle is out of action. He was badly injured and his sergeant was killed in a criminal ambush.  He is drawn into the investigation and must decide whether he wants to go to back to his old life.

What is the real connection between the victims and who will be next?

This is a detective mystery full of twists and turns, with a stunning edge-of-your-seat ending.

 

 

Interview with Author Helen H. Durrant

 

 

 

 

 

Author Bio

OVER 500,000 books sold of her Calladine & Bayliss and DI Greco Series 

I’m one of the ‘baby boomer’ generation. I was born in Edinburgh to an English father and Scottish mother. My father was from the North West of England and this was where the family settled. 

 

I know the area well, both the good and the bad, and so I set my books here. Sitting between two counties, Lancashire and Yorkshire, and between the city and the hills, it offers a rich mix of the industrial and the countryside and all the character therein. I always planned to write crime novels — to create the characters in my books. Since my retirement from a busy teaching job in FE, this is what I’ve done — almost to exclusion of anything else! 

 

I have a grown-up family and five grandchildren. They see me as something of an eccentric — always on my laptop writing away. Writing is something of a second career and, despite having a bus pass, keeps me busy, young and tuned in the world as it currently is. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Name three things that led you to write crime novels.

I have wanted to write since I was ten years old. Had no idea what though. It began with the name ‘Calladine’ and an idea – (which I have never used!) Crime novels are almost all I read – it’s been that way for years.

 

 

What kind of work did you retire from?

I was a lecturer at a local education college. The subject – Computing. I had come from a programming background, so mostly taught a language called ‘COBOL’. Since the advent of ‘Windows’, COBOL is not as popular. We are going back to pre DOS times.

 

 

 

 

 

Was it difficult retiring from a full-time job to writing full-time?

No. I was ready to retire. I’d worked at the college for twenty years or more. Although I loved the job and the students, it was time to go. Writing was still something I might get round to. The name ‘Calladine’ was still messing with my head. Eventually I knuckled down and got on with it. No one is more surprised than me at the speed I turned out those first three books in the Calladine & Bayliss series, or at their popularity once I was taken on by Joffe Books.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What was your process writing the plot for His Third Victim?

I got the name first – Matt Brindle. And I knew where I wanted him to live. I don’t plot everything in detail. There are times when the characters forge their own way ahead. The house – Brindle Hall, is based on a real place. It is a house with gardens and petting farm that I have taken my grandkids too frequently. So we have been a couple of times this summer while I’ve been working on the book.

 

 

“There are times when the characters forge their own way ahead.”

 

 

 

Why was this book a standalone? 

I wasn’t sure how it would be received. But …. Things seem to be okay at this point, so – I am already thinking about a second in the Matt Brindle series.

 

 

Name some positive experiences writing this book.

The days out with the kids and wandering around the villages of west Yorkshire – endless teas in cosy tearooms!

 

 

 

 

 

Did it turn out the way you envisioned it?
Yes, I think it did.

 

Do you have any favorite quotes?

No.

 

 

What are you working on next?

Currently – DI Greco 4. Followed by Calladine & Bayliss 8 and then the next Matt Brindle. They are all WIP. Most of Greco 4 is complete, C & B – three chapters in and Matt Brindle 2 is in my head!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Connect with Helen!

Links

Twitter | Facebook | Facebook page | Website | Goodreads | Amazon

 

 

Don’t miss the rest of the blog tour!