My new eBook - it's a crime

 

About 150 years ago – at least that’s the way it seems –  I worked on various local newspapers and, over the years, I met a lot of amazing characters. I also got to witness first hand, stories that had to be seen to be believed.

Now I’ve rolled some of the characters and many of the stories into an eBook crime novel, called A Model for Murder. Here’s the cover and a quick synopsis…  

When a beautiful glamour model – one of three booked to pose for a computer company’s calendar – is found in her bath with her wrists slashed, everything points to suicide – including a suicide note written in what is proven to be the model’s distinctive handwriting. But Samantha Trewin had everything to live for. And Octavia Lord, a reporter on the local newspaper who interviewed her the day before her death, reckons it’s murder. Dragging in her news editor Jack Fallowfield she sets out to prove it. At first, Jack goes along with it against his better nature. But when a second of the trio of models dies, and then a third, he finds himself caught up in a story that takes him and Octavia from the south coast of England to the west coast of America, as they follow a trail of unexpected twists and turns that finally lead them to the killer.

And here’s an excerpt from the book that uses one of the true stories from my local newspaper days…

‘Why so many different jobs?’ Octavia asked.

‘Force of circumstance,” said Jack. ‘Got the sack from most of them.’

‘Why?’

‘Lots of reasons. Booze. Saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. Saying the wrong thing at the right time. Saying the right thing at the wrong time. The mayor’s balls.’

‘I’m loathe to ask, but what exactly did a mayor’s balls have to do with your getting the sack?’

‘It was a headline I wrote the one and only time I worked on a subs’ desk. The mayor of this particular town – somewhere up north, it was – had two civic balls every year, and the ratepayers’ association thought that was at least one too many. So they brought up a resolution at a meeting of the finance committee, recommending that the policy should be changed. The points for and against having one or two civic balls were debated at length and when the story came before me on the subs’ desk, I wrote a headline that said MAYOR’S BALLS HANG IN BALANCE.’

Octavia choked over her wine. ‘And that got you the sack?’

 ‘No, what happened was that the finance committee referred the matter to a full meeting of the council which, being predominantly of the same political party as the mayor, agreed that of course he should have his two civic balls every year. When that story came onto my desk, I wrote a headline that said MAYOR’S SECOND BALL COMES OFF. That’s what got me the sack.’

If you fancy reading the rest, you can download part of the first chapter free or the whole book from Amazon by clicking here.