I’ve just published the seventh Mac Maguire detective mystery novel and it’s called The Match of the Day Murders. This new book combines my love of crime fiction and football. Here’s the official blurb-

‘It’s been the worst summer in years and Mac is once more at a loose end. He then meets the mother of a murdered girl and is asked to look into an unsolved murder case that is nearly five years old. Her daughter wasn’t the only girl who died in what became known as ‘The Match of the Day Murders’. Three girls had been found on football fields exactly one week after the other and all had been strangled to death. Mac agrees to do what he can but, before he can even get started, he is asked by his old friend DI Andy Reid from the Major Crime Unit to help. They are also re-investigating the case and so Mac finds himself working alongside Kate Grimsson once again as they dig deep into the past. A serial killer appears to be still on the loose and Mac is worried that he might start killing again.

Mac too has an anniversary coming up and it’s bothering him. It will soon be a year since his wife Nora died and he is totally unsure as to how he will face it. Meanwhile Kate has her own personal problems as the past comes back to haunt her and she finds that she has an important decision to make.

A story of life, death and football.’

Although I wrote the story I must admit that it held more than a few surprises for me. Although it’s a self-contained crime novel it also expands on what’s been happening to Mac and Kate Grimsson. Mac has the anniversary of his wife’s death coming up, which he’s dreading, and Kate has issues with her father which she must finally face up to.

I’ve included a note for my many American readers explaining that football, as mentioned in the book, is what they know better as ‘soccer’ and also what Match of the Day is. I remember watching Match of the Day back in the 1960s when it was exactly that, a single match that had been selected for televising. Nowadays they show the highlights of all the English Premier League games and it’s a programme that I rarely miss. This is partly due to being able to see all the goals scored that day but even more so to hear what the experts thought of the games. When the experts are ex-footballers of the calibre of Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer and Ian Wright then you will always listen to what they have to say.

I hope you find the new book entertaining and don’t forget to leave me a review to let me know what you thought of it.