My debut mystery novel.

c2011 (S)


I am just putting the finishing touches on what is actually my seventh novel, although I have only published five so far. It will be published December 1.

This one, 'Redemption: an Inspector Gilles Maintenon mystery,' is my first full-length novel in the detective/mystery genre. It's based on a character created in the short story, 'The Handbag's Tale.'

That's available in multiple formats from Smashwords, and it's also available in a Kindle book. Over on Amazon you can read some mixed reviews. One of the reasons for writing a longer piece with the Maintenon character was to try and address some of the critic's concerns. While a short story is always going to have its limitations, the expectations of paying readers are definitely a matter of concern.

The basic plot is simple: an aircraft crashes, only the pilot has been dead a little too long. As noted in a previous post, I struggled from about the 20,000 to the 40,000-word mark. If nothing else, I'm happy to have completed the thing.

Themes sensitively explored in the book include loss, grief, remorse, self-recrimination, as well as religious prejudice, unpredictable consequences of the simplest actions, and covering up a lie with another, bigger lie.

This is probably the densest prose I have attempted to write, and everything from 'Glenfiddich' to 'n'est pas' have been checked for validity and accuracy of spelling if nothing else.

At 65,000 words, it's very tight, yet I've managed to weave all the narrative threads together in a compelling and satisfying read.

Okay, I admit it. I'm actually kind of pleased with myself.