Category Archives: Crime writing

Just published – The Blood Moon Murders

Posted on by under Crime writing, Ghosts and horror, Mac Maguire

The twelfth Mac Maguire mystery has now been published. This one is a little different to the other eleven is that it has a supernatural element to it. I’ve always loved ghost stories and I’ve been looking for a way that I might incorporate this into a Mac Maguire story for some time. Finally, the idea came to me and so I’ve run with it.

I hope that fans of the series won’t be too thrown by this as the book is still very much a crime mystery. However, it’s also my hope that the new added supernatural aspects might just make it a little bit different and in a good way. I’m also aware that Halloween is upon us and so I’m delighted to get it published just in time for the occasion.

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Coming soon – The Blood Moon Murders

Posted on by under Crime writing, Ghosts and horror, Mac Maguire, Writing process

Mac Maguire’s twelfth outing – The Blood Moon Murders – is a little different to the others. You might get a clue what this difference is through the dedication – ‘For Halloween, ghost stories and things that go bump in the night.’

I have long been an admirer of M. R. James and his ability to put ghostly goings-on right into the workaday world. I’d guess that it was the title that first gave me the idea that this might be my chance to incorporate a supernatural thread into a murder mystery. That and the fact that the book should be ready to be published around Halloween.

As you can guess from the title the murders take place during an eclipse of the Moon by the Earth. I witnessed a really good one some years ago and the effect of the moon darkening and then glowing red with the light that had made it through the Earth’s atmosphere is a really eerie experience. It was easy to see why ancient peoples saw this as a harbinger of change and even doom.

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If you’re self-publishing then who are your most important readers?

Posted on by under Crime writing, Self publishing, Writing process

The answer isn’t complicated, it’s those people who you ask to read your book before you publish it. I’ve touched on this subject a few times in my posts so why write about it now?

My latest book, A Concrete Case of Murder, took quite a while to write. Too long for my liking. Writing is never an easy process but, due to a confluence of adverse circumstances, writing became impossible for some months. Since retiring, I have been publishing two books every year, however, A Concrete Case of Murder took over eighteen months to complete. Having a series of ten books already published, most of which were well-received, I found myself getting a little paranoid about this latest one. I think that my paranoia was mostly triggered by an offhand remark someone made which was something to the effect of, ‘If it was hard to write it will probably be hard to read’. It was not a comment I appreciated all that much.

And so, the seeds of doubt were sown. All I could do was carry on writing and then trust to my readers.

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Just published – A Concrete Case of Murder

Posted on by under Crime writing, Mac Maguire, Writing process

The eleventh book in the Mac Maguire detective series has just been published. Here’s the official blurb –

‘Mac is just back from holiday and is once again getting bored when he is asked to help out by the local police. It turns out to be one of the strangest thefts that Mac has ever come across – a whole house has gone missing! Evidence is hard to find but, with some creative thinking and the help of his partner, Mac finds himself on the track of a suspected murderer. Despite his best efforts, tragedy strikes, and he is left to wonder if the murderer will ever be brought to justice and whether this might be a case that he will never recover from.’

This book has been a long time coming. Since I retired and started writing full-time, I’ve been averaging two books a year. It’s taken well over a year just to produce this one. I hope that it’s been worth waiting for!

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Tim Teagan, Prostate Cancer and what every man should know

Posted on by under Crime writing, Life and stuff

2020 was a horrible year. I know that Covid was a major issue for many people but, surprisingly perhaps, it rated fairly low when it came to my family’s other health issues during that year. One of these issues, and not the greatest, was my Prostate Cancer. I had been diagnosed just the year before when, by luck more than anything, my problems urinating became apparent. I didn’t go to my doctor though as, like most men, I just tried to ignore it. However, I was asked by my neurologist during a routine examination about this and she insisted on reporting it, just in case. While the problem could have been caused by the damage to the nerves in my lower spine (which is also the cause of my chronic pain), my neurologist wanted to rule out Prostate Cancer first. This proved to be a very wise decision and one for which I’m very thankful. Continue reading →

Cozy, hard-boiled or somewhere in between? Crime fiction and uncertain times

Posted on by under Crime writing

Book sales have increased during this pandemic and, for some, it seems that crime fiction has boomed. This caused me to look at my own sales figures. As I’m a self-published author on Amazon, my sales figures are very easy to find. It looks as if my book sales have more or less doubled compared to last year. It is, of course, a situation that I’m very happy with, however, it did start me thinking.

I have been advertising a little more and I’ve finally got up to ten books in my crime series but I’m not sure that’s the whole story behind the increased sales. Continue reading →

The trouble with book covers…

Posted on by under Crime writing, Writing process

The eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed that the cover of The Body in the Boot has recently changed, not once but twice. This is why.

This is the original cover and it was one I quite liked. It’s the first book in the series and therefore I’m anxious to advertise it as much as possible on the grounds that if a reader likes it then they might read the other eight.

I told the designer that I wanted something that suggested film noir, those lovely old crime movies from the forties and fifties and I think he did a good job. So what’s the problem then? Well, Amazon have now made it easier for me to get my books featured on the Kindle lockscreen and it’s an advertising opportunity that I felt I couldn’t miss out on. Unfortunately Amazon also have a myriad of rules around what qualifies for a lockscreen ad and 3D lettering in the title is something that they don’t like for some reason. I have the original file but it’s a Photoshop file and, as I’m not proficient on Photoshop, I decided to try making another cover. Continue reading →

A work in progress – The Eight Bench Walk – my first international novel

Posted on by under Crime writing, Writing process

book coverIn the tenth Mac Maguire mystery Mac goes to Cyprus. It’s been a hard winter and Mac’s back has been playing him up so his daughter Bridget has little problem in persuading him that he should go somewhere warm on holiday. Of course as soon as he arrives on the island something happens and the story kicks off!

I was in Larnaka, Cyprus for three weeks last year and spent over half the vacation wandering the streets looking for locations and trying to generate some ideas for a plot. I returned with the outline of a story in my head as well as a good visualisation for, at least, some of the settings. However, one evening towards the end of our stay, we were sitting outside a restaurant when it started raining. Of course we all rushed indoors and sat down next to a couple who were speaking Greek. She turned to us, smiled and made a comment about the English and rain in perfect English. Of course, the reason she spoke perfect English was because she was English, being born and brought up in the East Midlands. Continue reading →

Having to write a crime novel to find out how it ends!

Posted on by under Crime writing

confusing signposts

The image on the left describes pretty well how I feel at times when starting a new novel. However, sometimes I’m still feeling like that even when I’m well into it! To illustrate this I’m well over halfway through the eighth Mac Maguire mystery (provisionally titled ‘The Chancer’) and I’ve only just discovered who the murderer is!

I’m not one of those authors who like to plan the story line out in advance. I’ve heard of crime writers who even use spreadsheets to plan the plots of their books in incredible detail. If I’m honest that all sounds a bit cold-blooded to me. Continue reading →

Why can’t crime writing be more like real life?

Posted on by under Crime writing

cucumberI’m taking a quick break from writing the seventh novel in the Mac Maguire series in order to write this post. In the next few weeks I’ll be handing over the first draft to my partner for its first read through. I’m planning on publishing the novel, as yet unnamed, late April or early May and hopefully by then I’ll have come up with a title.

Among the myriad of things I often get wrong in any first draft is the plot line. There are either some obvious holes or, one of my partner’s pet gripes, some events are just too implausible. When these implausibilities are pointed out I usually groan silently and wonder how I could have written something that was so unlikely to happen in real life. Continue reading →