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1895

Fighting his demons with drink and seclusion, Inspector Arthur Harbreak has managed to keep his head down in the small village of Heath on Hill. All of those protective walls begin to crumble, however, when the mutilated body of a choir boy is found strewn on the church steps and Harbreak, untested and unprepared, is thrown into the thick of a murder inquiry. With evidence suggesting ritualistic undertones, the close-knit community quickly begins to devolve into superstition and suspicion. Trying to contend with force unprepared, as well as his own self-doubt, Arthur enlists the help of his only friend, the eccentric Doctor Charles Thurston to help him find his way. Yet in the dark heart of Dartmoor, in a town bending beneath the weight of mistrust and accusations, they must move swiftly to catch the killer before the tension snaps and destroys them all.

 

 So, that's it, then! The cover and blurb of my new--and first--murder mystery. This was equally my most difficult and easiest book to write. And it's certainly the most daunting thing I've written.

You can pre-order it HERE. And be able to read it on August the 23rd. 

What's so hard about it? Well, for one, plot. Mysteries aren't like fantasy or science-fiction. There is not as much wiggle room for plot. When you're writing it, you're not allowed to go meandering down rabbit trails and seeing what delightful places they lead. Every step of a murder story must be planned, every action of every character must have specific and important meaning.
Don't all books get written that way?
I don't know. Not mine. I let myself play with my writing in other books. Perhaps that is not a good thing, but I've found I stumble upon some storylines that I'd never have thought of otherwise.

The other reason writing a murder mystery was so hard for me was the crushing doubt (which I suppose we'll soon see) of it not being good. We've all read rubbish mysteries. In my opinion, mysteries are the hardest to write because if they don't provide that curiosity or suspicion or Ah-ha! moments, those moments of wondering at the brilliance of the detective, it loses its interest. Even when Sherlock Holmes is investigating something as god-awful as monkey serum we're still shivering in delightful chills over Gosh, I'd never have expected that! He's brilliant! 

But I also really like the inspectors that aren't that great. The John Watsons, the Lestrades, the Hastings. There's something a bit fun about tagging along with our dear detective who's just as lost as us, or maybe a bit more, but without being boring.

It's a fine line to walk either way. If you don't keep your reader engaged, you're a dead duck. Deader than your poor victim. And whilst I can't tell you much about the writing process and my preference without spoilers, I can say that I threw in everything I love in a detective story--and culture in general--into this tale.

I was honestly a little hesitant to write it in the year 1895. It's a year important to Sherlockians. Would I be edging my little tale into a time period that is somewhat reserved for Sherlock? Maybe. In the end I decided I was more torn on it than I should have been. This is not a Sherlock story, but it does--I hope--play at least some homage to it.

Another reason that I really wanted to play in this time period--besides Holmes--is it was in the time, though perhaps not the absolute craze of Spiritualism. I don't know what fascinates me about the movement so much. Was it that so many respectable, otherwise brilliant people became so entrapped in it? The fact that people seemed to return to an almost Middle Ages superstition? Yes.

But another reason is the Romanticism of it. The ending of the Victorian age, the looming of the Great War on the horizon. It is a time of horses and new machines, of new ideas and the dying out of the old world. There's a certain melancholy to it that I think we all wish to sink in to. We're fascinated by that time of uncertainty, where everything seemed possible.

I hope I was able to bring some of that haunting feel to it. And I hope, when it comes on sale, you feel it. I didn't add any physical description to Arthur Harbreak, he is completely yours to imagine and follow along with. I hope you like him. And I hope you enjoy. Because it really bloody terrified me to write.