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I
blame Val McDermid for everything! I'd been procrastinating for
centuries about becoming a writer, boring my friends stupid with endless
talk about how I was going to do it one day. They would fall asleep
listening to me and occasionally get rather cross and tell me to 'get on
with it then!'. I needed a push. I needed someone to open that door
inside my head and let it all come flooding out.
Then
one day I had to take a long train journey and in the days before
e-reader's I stocked up with a couple of paperbacks. One of them was
'The Mermaid's Singing' by Val McDermid. I started to read it and it not
only gripped me and took up residence in my imagination, but it
inspired me. It was a different kind of crime novel from anything I'd
read before and although it's pretty gruesome in places( I got some very
strange looks on the train when I shivered at some of the scenes) it
also gave me an understanding of the kind of writer I wanted to be. Then
I read 'A Place of Execution' by Val and by the end of that I was
emotionally committed to writing and to entertaining people through good
storytelling and believable characters.
My
first attempt after many different drafts became a book called 'The
Wild Heart'. I knew I wanted to write fiction that was edgy and
challenging and because I wanted to be known as a crime fiction writer I
thought it would be best to come up with a series of books featuring
one character. That led to me writing three books featuring the
character of DCI Sara Hoyland who's a thirty-something woman who likes
wine, men, and sex as well as being a bloody good police officer.
Another stand alone book and a collection of short stories later, I
found myself writing the fourth in the Sara Hoyland series. But I wasn't
comfortable with it. It didn't seem like Sara's kind of story. That's
when I came up with the new detective of Jeff Barton and the story of
'Sorceror' suddenly started to make perfect sense.
'Sorceror'
asks the reader to take their mind into some pretty dark territory but
it is a compelling story and one which launches the character of Jeff
Barton in a way which I hope people will connect with and have their own
ideas about how he will develop over subsequent books in the series.
One of the reasons I chose to write in the crime fiction genre was
because it allows me as a writer to tell stories that include social
commentary and that cover the kinds of issues that are important to
people and that they have opinions about. In 'Sorceror' the evil deeds
committed appear to have gone unanswered until someone takes matters
into their own hands. One of the thrills I get when I'm writing is when I
put those twists into the story that I know will turn people's picture
of where the story is going on it's head. There are some good twists in
'Sorceror' which I hope make it an entertaining read. I really hope you
enjoy the story and in the process you get to know Detective
Superintendent Jeff Barton as well as I do.
And it's all Val McDermid's fault!
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The
remains of three bodies, one of them an infant, one of them a child,
are found in an old house close to Manchester University. The house used
to be a care home for teenage boys and Detective Superintendent Jeff
Barton and his team uncover a history of brutality and abuse. But what
is the link between that and the three bodies? The investigation leads
to the former manager of the care home and his wife who are traced to a
villa in Spain. The twisted secrets and lies of the family are exposed
and Jeff, who is a single Dad following the death of his wife and who
balances a demanding job with the care of his five year-old son Toby,
begins to see what nobody else can. A determined and audacious plan by a
former resident of the home, a former victim of the abuse, who is now
hellbent on revenge. And if he's right then Jeff and his team have to
act quickly before justice is taken out of their hands.
Author Bio
David
was born in Derby, England and has lived all over the UK but now he
divides his time between Paris, where his partner John lives, and the
northwest of England. In 2009 he left an almost thirty year career in
the airline industry to pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a writer
of crime fiction and 'Sorceror' is his seventh book, the first in a
series set in Manchester and featuring Detective Superintendent Jeff
Barton. He's now working on the second which he hopes to release in
spring 2014. When he isn't writing he teaches English to Russian
students, he works for a Brussels-based consultancy advising the UK
transport industry, and he's an activist and events organiser for the
Labour party. He takes a keen interest in current and international
affairs, he's into all the arts of literature, film, TV, music, and
theatre, and he's an avid fan of American singer/songwriter Stevie
Nicks. He also loves Indian food and the odd glass of red wine or three!
Links
A fascinating article. Good to learn a little more about a good friend of mine. I wish you well David
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