My first ever independent blog review and interview

 Drink with a dead man reviewed on Carol McKay's Lockdown book blog https://carolmckay.blogspot.com/2021/03/sandra-davies-drink-with-dead-man.html

'Drink with a dead man' - now available

 

Book 4 in the Love triangles with murder series featuring DI Luke Darbyshere 

Eight years ago Kit Talamantes faked his own death. When he receives notification of a wedding which cannot be allowed to proceed he has no choice but to return to England to correct mistakes made in his previous life. But who has summoned him? And why?

Similarly unexpectedly Edinburgh crime reporter Baz Rose hears of a proposed, and potentially problematic, reunion for four ex-uni friends who fled apart on graduation.

DI Luke Darbyshere receives a tip-off more interesting for its provenance than its content. In pursuing that he finds himself in professional conflict with the woman who, having given him six months to convince her they should marry, is struggling to solve a murder.

And Drew Bishop is determined on revenge.

ebook available https://www.blurb.co.uk/ebooks/p4a4655bbcf101d007e50

https://www.blurb.co.uk/b/10624440-drink-with-a-dead-man

Mercy for a Friday child

 ... is beginning to grow. 

Among the conversations which I've known Luke and Baz and Fran must have, as a result of what happened in 'Snap',  a new murder story is beginning to emerge, and make connections to what has gone on in the past. 

Very early days yet, but finding the perfect title  - which then gave impetus and focus to a rag-bag of semi thought-out scenes - and designing the cover has further helped it find a shape.

'Snap is not a children's game' - cards dealt, now resting

First draft of 'Snap is not a children's game' - book 5 in the 'Love triangles with murder' series featuring DI Luke Darbyshere - today completed at ~96000 words.

Now to let it rest for a bit, so I can come to it fresh and see where all the plotholes are.

Love triangles with murder - now available as ebooks

I've FINALLY got my act together and made available as ebooks my Love triangles with murder series:

Step so grave  - 440 pp - is the first: https://www.blurb.co.uk/ebooks/704104-step-so-grave

Second - 373 pp - is Longest shadows reach: https://www.blurb.co.uk/ebooks/704317-longest-shadows-reach

Third, Commission and omission - 405 pp: https://www.blurb.co.uk/eboo…/704107-commission-and-omission

At £3.99 each, that works out at a penny per page.

Brilliant Blurb!

Uploaded to Blurb Saturday afternoon - received before midday today. To-be-proofed copies of 'Drink with a dead man' plus an anthology of my favourite stories from the past nine years.

Commission & omission

When Chloë Carrington, successful but predatory gallery owner of a North Yorkshire gallery, is found dead the morning after a Private View, first to come under suspicion is Annabel, the pregnant, soon-to-be-wife of wealthy ex-criminal Ed Hetherington.
Second is publicity-shy artist Ivo Kinnersley whose exhibition it is.

Despite a multitude of motives, and many witnesses, evidence to convict either proves elusive. The discovery of a new lead coincides with Ed’s fortieth birthday, interrupting a weekend of celebrations during which DI Luke Darbyshere learns that Ivo Kinnersley has not only already escaped one murder charge, but also shares a past and a secret with the woman with whom he wants to spend the rest of his life.

(Prediction Fiction participants might be pleased to know Pettinger plays a part in this.)

Longest shadows reach

‘Step so grave’ indicated a wealth of history between Luke Darbyshere and Baz Rose. They’d been born within a week of each other; lived half mile apart, in a Hertfordshire village small enough to allow no escape.  Each came successfully  through adolescence courtesy of Susannah Elphinstone (Baz two years before Luke).

Before puberty was reached, however, Susannah, to some extent, made an already horrific situation worse, the results of which came back with a vengeance 24 years later.

‘Longest shadows reach’ reveals how nurture and nature influenced what came next.

Inspiratiion and coincidence - 'Longest shadows reach'

A huge stroke of luck kick-started ‘Longest shadows reach; the second book in the Love triangles with murder’ series.

A part-remembered house, seen from the top deck of the school bus. Turrets and chimneys, emerging from a sea of tree-tops. One day it disappeared and there were times I thought I might’ve dreamt it. I Googled it. Struck lucky. Found a photo of it on Flickr. It looked like the perfect place for a murder.

Luckier still – pure serendipity –  the photo had been taken by someone I’d sat next to in primary school. He was kind enough to give me permission to use it on the cover.

Available to buy from mid-September

'Step so grave' - at last!

and now available via Blurb

Eight years ago I signed up for NaNoWriMo 2011 with plans to write a murder mystery (a genre I then knew little of).

I had a title. An idea: a cruise ship on which brides were bumped off to order. I had back stories for a dozen honeymooning couples; for ship’s crew and owners (some good, some bad). Best of all I had DI Luke Darbyshere and crime reporter Baz Rose, whose from-the-cradle friendship had turned toxic. All I needed to do was convincingly bump off a few brides under suspicious circumstances, by person-as-yet-unguessed-at, for reasons I could not begin to imagine.

Nearly eight years later, the final, final version of ‘Step so Grave’ is available to order.

Not only did the original undergo a change of title and me commence a steep learning curve – simultaneously reading some 700 crime novels and learning how to structure a readable novel – but, thanks to fellow writers and a succession of beta readers, asking pertinent questions and pointing out self-indulgences I reached a point where Step so grave was far removed from a shitty first draft and, having undergone eleven rewrites, became something I’m confident enough about to release upon a paying public. [Click on the link via the image in the sidebar]

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50219754-step-so-grave" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Step so grave (Love triangles with murder #1)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1563968396l/50219754._SX98_SY160_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50219754-step-so-grave">Step so grave</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1226042.Sandra_Davies">Sandra   Davies</a><br/>

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Available from: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="https://www.blurb.co.uk/b/9633748-step-so-grave">https://www.blurb.co.uk/b/9633748-ste...</a>

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