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Blog Blitz - The Long Revenge

8/15/2018

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​Previously published as Ledston Luck (the name of a village in Yorkshire) .

What's it about? 


They say you can always trust a policeman. They are lying.
They lied thirty years ago and they are still lying today.
When a booby-trapped body is discovered in a long-abandoned chapel, CSI Eddie Collins and his team are called to investigate. But when the scene examination goes horribly wrong, Eddie and DI Benson are injured and one of the team killed.
Heartbroken by the death, Eddie is also guilt-ridden. But more than that he is angry. Very angry.
Eddie will stop at nothing to bring the guilty to justice, and will teach them that even when served cold, revenge is a killer dish.  

My review - 


Eddie Collins is such an annoying man. Sometimes I could slap him. He’s irascible, angry, stubborn, but usually, he’s right. He’s a man driven by a desire for justice. He’s at a scene when a booby-trap kills his colleague and injures him. It’s the scene of an old murder, but a new killing, also booby-trapped makes old and new murders come together. Someone higher in the system is trying to frustrate the case and sideline Eddie. They didn’t reckon with the fact that Eddie won’t let go, especially when he’s angry – and he feels guilty.
 
The wonderful thing about an Andrew Barrett book is that you often don’t totally like the goodies and you feel strong sympathy for the baddies. As with real life, there are no black and white characters, but many, many shades of grey. Stories like this make you think and there are often no easy answers. This book’s packed with action but there’s room for thoughtful contemplation, too. It works on many levels. A brilliantly good read.


​Who is Andrew Barrett?
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Andy has been a real life CSI since 1996, after a varied life working on a farm and in the Kuwait oil fields. His first trilogy, beginning with A Long Time Dead, features Roger Conniston, a SOCO (scene of crime officer as they were called then) and these were the first book of Andy's that pulled me in to his brilliant writing style.
Today, Andy is still producing high-quality, authentic crime thrillers with a forensic flavour that attract attention from readers worldwide. He’s also attracted attention from the Yorkshire media, having been featured in the Yorkshire Post, and twice interviewed on BBC Radio Leeds.
He’s best known for his lead character, CSI Eddie Collins, and the acerbic way in which he roots out criminals and administers justice. Eddie’s series is four books and two short stories in length, and there’s still more to come.

You can buy The Long Revenge here on Amazon uk and here on Amazon dot com.



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Changing names

8/14/2018

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This is the image that inspired the book I'm writing at the moment. I'm calling it The Angel Monument and it's set in 1824-25. I'm getting within sight of writing The End under the first draft.

I belong to a Facebook book club, the UK Crime Book Club, which recently passed the milestone of 5,000 members so we wanted to celebrate. We decided to have a month of fundraising in aid of two educational charities - how great to share our love of reading. They are The Lighthouse School (for autistic children) and  Dyslexia Sparks. Generous authors immediately leapt in with offers of signed books to raise funds for these two causes. As I don't write crime (though I read it!) the readers here are not really my audience. I decided to offer people the chance to have their name - or a relative's - used in this book. I now have a gentleman of mysterious background by the name of Joshua Stevenson, a young lady of honour and intelligence by the name of Caroline Maston, and a boot boy named Alfie Laidler who works in the big house and turns into a bit of a star.

I'm pleased to say that our total so far, after just over a week, is in the region of £700, with another week and a half to go. What an achievement. 


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Blog Blitz - The Hammer Falls by Andrew Barrett

8/3/2018

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PLEASE NOTE, THIS BOOK WAS PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED AS SWORD OF DAMOCLES
​

What's it about?

Some secrets, no matter how well buried, refuse to die.

When the remains of a woman are found in a burnt-out car, Eddie Collins reluctantly teams up with his enemy, DI Benson, to untangle the knot of lies behind this apparent suicide.

In the midst of all this, Eddie’s life grows more complicated by the day; his perfect relationship is suffocating him. As a CSI in the Major Crime Unit, he is also being forced to accept a promotion that he doesn’t want, leading a team that he can’t control or tolerate.

Even when the mystery is solved, proving it turns out to be deadly.

My review -


Scenes of Crime expert Eddie Collins is the real star of this novel. His private life is as hopeless as ever and he takes on his dad’s problems too. You know that situation when, an hour or so too late, you think of the great put-down, the witty riposte, but you weren’t fast enough? Eddie Collins is the man. He’s razor sharp and is no respecter of persons and we laugh with him while cringing as we watch him digging the hole deeper. He is also the newly-promoted head of his team and his methods of personnel management and team building are not the usual ones. He is a tragic combination of empathy and temper.
 
Eddie tackles a murder on his patch but he finds a connection with an unsatisfactory verdict of thirty years ago. His methods are irregular but as he’s meticulous and the best at the job, he finds the evidence from which the detectives solve their cases. The story lines weave together very well and the interplay between the characters is a delight. The ending knocked me over. I really love the complexity of these stories and I hope we’ll hear more from Eddie in the future. This story could be read as a stand-alone although it forms part of a superb series. Hard-hitting and imaginative, this book is an absolute cracker.


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About the author -

​Andy has enjoyed variety in his professional life, from engine-builder to farmer, from Oilfield Service Technician in Kuwait, to his current role of Senior CSI in Yorkshire.
He’s been a CSI since 1996, and has worked on all scene types from terrorism to murder, suicide to rape, drugs manufacture to bomb scenes. One way or another, Andy’s life revolves around crime.
In 1997 he finished his first crime thriller, A Long Time Dead, and it’s still a readers’ favourite today, some 200,000 copies later, topping the Amazon charts several times. Two more books featuring SOCO Roger Conniston completed the trilogy.
Today he is still producing high-quality, authentic crime thrillers with a forensic flavour that attract attention from readers worldwide. He’s also attracted attention from the Yorkshire media, having been featured in the Yorkshire Post, and twice interviewed on BBC Radio Leeds.
He’s best known for his lead character, CSI Eddie Collins, and the acerbic way in which he roots out criminals and administers justice. Eddie’s series is four books and two short stories in length, and there’s still more to come.
Andy Barrett is a proud Yorkshireman and sets all of his novels there, using his home city of Leeds as another major, and complementary, character in each of the stories.

Where can I find the book?

The Hammer Falls is available from Amazon uk here and from Amazon dot com here. 



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    Author

    Kath Middleton, author of Ravenfold, Message in a Bottle, Top Banana, Long Spoon, Souls disturbed, Stir-up Sunday, Beneath the Ink, The Novice's Demon, The Flesh of Trees and The Sundowners.
    ​Contributor to Beyond 100 Drabbles. Part-author of Is it Her?



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