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 →