My latest book The Eight Bench Walk should be ready for publication next month. This is the first Mac Maguire mystery that is more or less completely set abroad and so it presents its own set of problems. (Only part of Two Dogs was set in France and Ireland in The Chancer is definitely not ‘abroad’ as far as I’m concerned).
One of these was getting the locations right. Continue reading
I attended a local reader’s group a few weeks back. It was one that specialised in crime and murder mysteries. I was interested in what they did and it turned out that they were interested in what I did too. The first question, as always, was ‘Where do you get your ideas from?’
I couldn’t give a definitive answer as I honestly don’t know. I don’t want to investigate how my ideas are created too deeply in case it’s akin to analysing a joke. It’s never funny afterwards. For me the strangest aspect of being a writer is having to keep an open mind. I don’t mean this in the usual sense as in being intellectually open to new ideas or concepts. An analogy for that is like being in a house and looking out of the window at all the new ideas parading by and then inviting the ones you like or find interesting inside. For me as a writer an open mind is more like having your front door wide open and whatever decides to walk in, walks in. Continue reading
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
In 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
It’s said that a review can sometimes make or break a writer’s day and in that I’m no different to any other author. Publishing a book is like sending a child out in the world by itself for the first time and a review is like getting your child’s first exam results. A bad review can really hurt and a good review can be like a shot of literary adrenalin making you want to write even more. I’m lucky, the first book I published, The Body in the Boot, has racked up quiet a lot of reviews in both the USA and the UK and almost all of them are positive (it has an average of 4.4 out of 5 in the USA and 4.3 in the UK).
I often wonder who readers are primarily writing for when they publish a review. Of course the main purpose of the review should be to tell other readers if a book is worth buying. In that respect a book is no different to a hair dryer or a phone and a careful buyer will always check the reviews first to see what other people thought of the product. However, it’s not really the same. A book is not a hair dryer. Continue reading
This year I carried out my first ever research trip for the soon to be published The Chancer, Mac Maguire’s eighth mystery, which was followed up by my second research trip to Cyprus for an, as yet, untitled book that will be published next year. Two facts conspired in making these trips happen – I retired and I’m actually making a little money from book sales.
So why, after seven books mostly set in Hertfordshire, did I feel that such trips were needed?
Derry/Londonderry
Ever since Mac Maguire came into my life I’ve been aware that, while he was brought up in Birmingham in the English Midlands, his Irish background is important to him too. So, I’ve been thinking about how I could explore this facet of his life and reveal a little more about his past. In this latest book Mac gets the chance to help with a murder when he is in Donegal, Ireland for a funeral. He hasn’t been back ‘home’ for a while and, as he visits familiar places, he is reminded of a past he’d thought he’d all but forgotten. Besides the murder a family mystery is also resolved. Continue reading
I recently posted about different types of reviews and how most reviews, including negative ones, can be really useful. I’ve just published the sixth Mac Maguire novel, Two Dogs, and I’ve received my first review –
5.0 out of 5 stars Waiting and hoping…
By Linda D Hoffman on November 2, 2017
Format: Kindle Edition
I’m waiting and hoping that there will soon be a Book 7, 8, 9 and on. I have really liked this series and all of the stories in it. I do hope that someone spends some serious time editing any further books though. Hate when I have to stop and reread because of such poor editing. If you can see beyond the errors, I do recommend the Mac Maguire detective mysteries. Continue reading
Two Dogs, the sixth Mac Maguire mystery, has just been published in Amazon Books. I’ve also written a book of ghost stories 13 Ghosts of Winter so that makes seven in all. So what’s next?
I started writing seriously just over three years ago as a response to my pain issues. I’d dabbled with writing before but had never been able to stick at it long enough to come up with anything decent. I found that my work as an Audience Analyst gave me some respite during the week as it took my mind off the pain. However I then needed something to do at the weekends and so I started writing. Since then I’ve averaged a book every six months or so. I’ve now got another book nearly completed, The Black Vaults Experiment, which is a paranormal thriller and something of a new departure for me. I’ve also started on Mac 7 as I call it and, although I’ve got four or five chapters written, I’ve no idea where the story is going as yet. I always find this quite exciting as it’s almost as if I’ve got to write the story first so I can see how it all ends. Continue reading
If you’ve spent even a few minutes looking at the Amazon KDP Writers Forum then you will know how exercised authors can be on the subject of book reviews. If they don’t get any then they are sad but if they get reviews and they are somewhat negative then they’re even sadder. Some old hands have pointed out that amassing loads of good reviews doesn’t always mean increased sales. So why are reviews so important to authors?
I can only speak personally but I read all my reviews and getting a good review cheers me up. Why? Because, after all those days and weeks spent sitting alone banging away at my keyboard, it’s like a reader popping by and saying ‘Well done!’ However, it’s strange, but a somewhat less than positive review can sometimes be even better. Below I’ll show you four reviews and talk about the affect they had on me. Continue reading
The next Mac Maguire book, the fifth, is nearly there and after some three years or so of seriously struggling to put the right words in the right order this has given me some pause for thought. Looking back I’ve learnt so much from the writing process and I’ve no plans for stopping anytime soon. So what’s changed with me since I started out on my writer’s journey?
Why did I start writing? Continue reading
Patrick C. Walsh Author 