Detective Thriller
Date Published: March 1st 2021
Publisher: Happy London Press
A church going district of North London and a neighbourhood where friendly residents know each other. But when a brutally murdered woman is found next to a burned-out black candle, a strange mark etched deep into her back, the locals became afraid.
Her old boss, a Chief Superintendent in the Met, calls for PI, Tammy Pierre’s assistance. He’s aware of her Caribbean links, and knowledge of Obiah, a voodoo curse found in Trinidad, and used, some claim, to commit bizarre murders. So, is it voodoo? Or just superstition?
A trip to the West Indies reveals some disturbing facts, new evidence of child abuse and murders going undetected for over twenty years.
Returning to London, her situation becomes dangerous – is it all more than Tammy had bargained for?
INTERVIEW
What is the hardest part of writing your books?
Character formation is probably one of the hardest parts. Making people come alive so they jump off the page, so that the reader recognises them as soon as they speak.
What songs are most played on your Ipod?
Jimi Hendrix, Voodoo Chile, anything by Pink Floyd, anything by Bach, particularly the cello concertos.
Do you have critique partners or beta readers?
I have at least a dozen beta readers who spare no feelings in giving their views.
What book are you reading now?
I’m reading The Minotaur, by Barbara Vine. She writes brilliant psychological thrillers.
How did you start your writing career?
Thirty years ago I had an idea for a short story occur to me, and with my wife and daughter’s encouragement wrote, Cat and Mouse, about a timid man and his cat. It went down well, as did many of my following short stories once I’d joined a writers’ group. A thriller, The Hamilton Conspiracy was published by US publishers around 2000 and received excellent reviews. Beads of Blood, some ten shorties was published in 2017 to brilliant reviews, though I later parted company with Spinetinglers, the publishers, I’m now with Happy London Press who have published my first crime thriller, The Lyme Regis Murders, and are set to publish a follow up with the same main character, The Black Candle Killings next month. A further follow up, The Politician’s Wife is already penned.
About the Author
Sir George Everest said, they climbed that mountain, ‘Because it is there.’ The same might be said of writing. Why do we write? because of the idea, the notion, the thought. ‘Because it is there,’ and the irresistible urge to put it down in print.
My inspirations have come from real people, events or situations that have presented themselves. Titles like, I am a Contract Killer, Beads of Blood, Death Zone, License to Kill, are all based on my own lifetime experiences, questions asked, incidents occurring. So far, nobody has been murdered on my watch. But the notion gave rise to the impetus to write my first murder mystery, The Lyme Regis Murders. Could I make the jump after years of writing macabre short stories to a full-length drama? That familiar beating in the gut, said, ‘Yes, try it. Give it a go.’
And so to that cosy coastal town where nothing untoward ever happens. Or perhaps it does. The author seeks to shatter notions, change people’s perceptions, spoil long held views. That was my intention in entering into the world of crime thrillers. I’ve found that ‘nice’ people are not always what they seem. The helpless can be transformed into the most dangerous, the most dangerous become the most harmless. It’s all up to the writer and what they’re hoping to achieve. For me, so far, there have been several children’s books, one collection of short stories, with three more planned and three novels completed, plus a fourth in the mixer.
Whilst a short story might be written with a flurry of adrenalin in the space of a few hours, a book will need more than just a flash of creativity. It will need, perseverance, discipline and dogged determination. But then, isn’t that what is required of every ambition?
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