Finally…. another book!

by | Jun 13, 2018 | Crime fiction posts

I’m thrilled – and more than a tad relieved – to tell you that I am finally bringing out a new book! However, it’s not a new Skyberg – you’ve got a few more months to wait for that. Some of you will remember that Eva and I collaborated on a little side project, the Hollywood Detective series, and we’d published two books before she died. My priority had been to publish the Skyberg series, so the side project had to take a back seat. But now, over three years since the last book came out, Dangerous By Design is hitting the shelves. I finished the first draft in 2014, and Eva gave me her notes on it in December that year. It was hard going through the manuscript and seeing her handwriting, but much harder realising I couldn’t have a debate with her about which of us was right. But as she wasn’t around to argue, or consult, with I made the decision to accept every suggestion she made. We loved writing this series. The novels are bright, breezy and a heck of a lot of fun as our characters –  a wisecracking P.I. and his whipsmart assistant – blaze their way through 1930s Hollywood, helping movie stars crack cases and solve mysteries. In the new book, our hero – the charming Spencer McCoy – is called to a break-in Hedy Lamarr’s mansion. When he discovers that the thieves have taken something far more valuable than jewels, the hunt is on to stop a deadly document falling in Hitler’s hands. If that sounds like your sort of read,...

7 authors, 7 days, 7 FREE books

by | Dec 11, 2016 | Crime fiction posts

  I’m going to go out on a limb here, but I reckon if you like Eva’s books then there’s a good chance you might be a fan of a bloody good FBI thriller. In which case, I have excellent news! I’ve teamed up with six brilliant authors for a 7-day download giveaway. That’s 7 authors, 7 days, and 7 FREE books. If you’ve not read Douglas Dorow, Ty Hutchinson, Helen Hanson, John W Mefford, Carolyn Arnold or David Bruns yet, get over to http://www.douglasdorow.com/fbi-crime-thriller-instafreebie…. and fill yer boots. What are you waiting for? Offer runs until December 17. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ RETURN TO THE BLOG...

Ten things I want readers to know about Below Zero

by | Nov 23, 2016 | Crime fiction posts

Below Zero, the sixth Ingrid Skyberg FBI Thriller, is published on Monday and I wanted to share my thoughts with you about the new book. I hope you’ll find some of these insights about how I wrote the book interesting. I also really, really, hope you enjoy Ingrid’s latest adventure. ONE This book took way too long to finish and it was much harder to write than Shoot First. (I know – for sure – that in the time it’s taken me to write two Skyberg novels, Eva would have written four or five. But then, Eva was incredible.) It’s really important to me that I stay as faithful as I can to Eva’s notes, but I encountered a few problems with this book that slowed me down. The big one was that Eva’s arc had Ingrid being held hostage for a long time, but I struggled to make a fast-paced thriller out of a woman sitting alone in a dark cold room. I had to add in a few plot devices that weren’t in Eva’s notes to try and keep the pace up. I think that, if Eva had been given the chance to sit down to write it, she’d also have realised it wasn’t working the way she’d plotted it. But she was smarter than me, so maybe she’d have figured out differently.   TWO Having loved the Skyberg books before I took over the series, I was really excited to see how Ingrid would behave without her supporting cast. No Ralph, no McKittrick, no Angela Tate and, crucially, no Jennifer at the end of a phone...

Help me choose the new cover

by | Oct 12, 2016 | Crime fiction posts

It’s getting closer and closer to publication day and there are just a few tweaks left to make – and one big decision left to take: which cover should I choose? In Below Zero, Ingrid is sent on a secret and dangerous assignment to Stockholm, but when a series of terrorist incidents put the city on lockdown, her mission is thrown into chaos. Which of these two designs most makes you want to pick up the new book? VOTE HERE and let me know. Your input, as ever, will be massively appreciated.   VOTE NOW! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ RETURN TO THE BLOG...

The new novel is almost here!

by | Oct 1, 2016 | Crime fiction posts

I am – finally!!! – thrilled to be able to tell you that the new Ingrid Skyberg FBI Thriller is nearly ready for publication. It’s currently with a team of advance readers for road testing, and it’ll shortly be sent off to the proof reader once the final tweaks have been incorporated. Publication won’t be far behind. The new novel – the sixth in the series – is called Below Zero and is set in Stockholm in December 2014. Fans will remember that at the end of Book 5, Shoot First, Ingrid ends up owing Nick Angelis a favour, and he calls it in at the beginning of Below Zero. He sends her on a top secret – and highly illegal – mission to Sweden, but the country becomes the victim of a series of terrorist incidents and the only way Ingrid can carry complete her mission is by breaking the law… again, and again, and again. Unlike previous books where Ingrid has been investigating crimes, in Below Zero she’s the one being hunted. It’s been fun to put her in the position of second guessing cops rather than perps, and it’s also been interesting to take away her supporting cast. Not having Angela Tate, or McKittrick or Jennifer around means Ingrid has to rely on her instincts much more. In a sense, Below Zero gives us a purer Ingrid. When Eva started writing the Ingrid Skyberg books in 2013, she deliberately gave her heroine a Swedish heritage as a nod to the Scandi crime she enjoyed reading so much. She always intended to set a novel in Sweden, and it’s been a...