One of my major goals this year was to write the first draft of my new gothic mystery novel. I can tell you that I have now completed this. It’s a twisty-turny murder mystery thriller with hints of the supernatural, and I’m rather pleased with how it turned out.
What’s it called?
Drumroll… The title isA Thorn in Winter. This title not only sounds suitably sinister but has a hidden meaning that only becomes apparent as the plot unfolds.
What’s it about?
It concerns a young woman who is being blackmailed. Upon learning her blackmailer is linked to a decades-old unsolved murder, she discovers an alarming personal connection to the victim, and consequently finds herself in deadly peril.
I don’t really want to get more specific than that at this point, as this is one of the most twist-laden novels I’ve ever written. At the same time, it delves into themes of infidelity, revenge, and even reincarnation. It ticks many of my gothic mystery trope boxes: Imperilled heroine, sinister locations, buried secrets (literally and figuratively), and supporting characters who aren’t quite what they seem. It’s a rollercoaster of suspicion and suspense, and I think it has some emotional heft too (there’s a melancholy romantic subplot of sorts).
“Modbridge” looks a bit like this. Photo by Beth Jnr on Unsplash
The bulk of the novel is set in the fictional town of Modbridge, with occasional visits to Plymouth. Modbridge is a small town based on the real town of Modbury. The name combines the two local towns of Modbury and Kingsbridge. The steep main road running through Modbury, with shops either side, is also a key location that inspired a similar location in the novel.
When can I read it?
Not for a while, as I’ll probably sit on this manuscript for at least a year, per my standard procedure, before looking at it again with fresh eyes. On the other hand, I’m about to polish up the novel I completed this time a year ago, The Hobbford Giant, with a view to submitting it to agents and publishers. So you are one step closer to seeing that one. Watch this space.
I sometimes mention reviews for my novels received in places like Amazon or Goodreads. However, I’m thrilled to see a pair of great reviews for Spectre of Springwell Forest and The Irresistible Summons on Medium, by the excellent Arpad Nagy. Word is spreading, and soon my nail-biting horror-thrillers will take the world by storm. Or at least, that’s always the aim.
In the meantime, here are a few of snippets from these greatly encouraging reviews. First up, concerning Spectre of Springwell Forest, Arpad says this:
“A fright-inducing, panic-charged paranormal mystery… Putting the book down is nearly as impossible as stopping the horror the story reveals.”
“With each turn of the page, unease swims in your stomach, and your throat goes dry. The reader wants to know what’s beneath the veil and needs to see the truth revealed, all the while wishing the main character would relent in pursuing the mysterious secrets of Springwell and the abnormal behaviours of its citizens.”
“Creepy, dark, shocking, and spooky from beginning to end… Don’t forget to take a long look at the book’s cover when you’ve finished reading.”
Ah, yes. The cover. Anyway, for the full article, click here. On to Arpad’s other piece, this time concerning The Irresistible Summons. Here are a few of his thoughts.
“An unstoppable descent into a paranormal nightmare.”
“From romantic nuance and religious references, Dillon drives the story into dark places. Horror arrives in various forms, and all of them are unnerving and most frightening is the possibility of some of them being real issues we could be facing soon.”
“The story makes you think, unwind and rewind the implications of what is happening, and you quickly lose faith in which characters you can trust. Dillon delivers the right amount of twists and turns, none of which I could accurately predict, and one of them is a real “didn’t see that coming” doozy.”
Arpad’s full review of The Irresistible Summons is here.
To pick up an ebook or paperback of either of these novels, click here (for the UK) and here (for the US). Alternatively, click here to obtain copies via Smashwords and their associated distribution channels.
This year has been an exciting one, as I continue to make sense of my new profession: Full-time writer. Some of what that has meant I won’t bore you with. The duller freelance assignments are hardly worth mentioning, though they help pay the bills. However, in this piece, I will review the goals from my New Year post and see how they compare with what I actually achieved.
This gothic mystery novel was top of my year’s writing goals, and I’m pleased to say I now have a first draft. Next year, I will look at the manuscript with a more critical eye, having had a bit of distance from it, and start to polish it up.
A dark and sinister tale to sit alongside the likes of Spectre of Springwell Forest, The Irresistible Summons, The Thistlewood Curse, Phantom Audition, and The Birds Began to Sing, The Hobbford Giant is set in 1997, and concerns a young woman, Mira, who gets a job as a journalist at a local newspaper in the (fictional) town of Hobbford in southwest England. Years earlier, a huge abuse scandal caused the closure of the local orphanage where her parents grew up, revolving around the man in charge, Gregory Barry. Although he was due to be put on trial, Gregory Barry vanished without a trace before he could be prosecuted.
Mira stays with her reclusive uncle Artemis (her mother’s older brother), until she can find a place of her own. Art is a therapist to rich clients. He lives in a large house and seems to have done very well for himself, but for reasons I won’t get into here, he is estranged from Mira’s parents, who are less than keen on her staying with him. Once in Hobbford, Mira reports on an archaeological dig investigating a local legend about a giant buried in a nearby hillside. What took place in the Hobbford orphanage rears its ugly head as the plot thickens, and Mira soon discovers she has a highly personal connection to the mystery.
For this story, I was somewhat inspired by the real-life Cerne Abbas Giant in Dorset, and the legends surrounding it. In my story, local legend states this giant was sent by a witch to take revenge, after the witch in question was persecuted. The giant was slain, and the body supposedly buried inside the hill. What bearing this has on the main narrative has to remain under wraps for the time being.
Another writing goal this year was simply to continue with my Medium output. This I have also achieved, having published well over a hundred exclusive-to-Medium articles. Here’s a sample of some of my favourites.
Once again, I set myself the goal of restarting this film podcast series. And once again, this didn’t happen. My producer and co-presenter Samantha Stephen also wants to restart this, but our paths in life have rather diverged of late. Samantha is busy pursuing her academic goals with great aplomb (currently working on her Masters) and no longer lives nearby, so that’s part of the reason we’ve not yet pulled our fingers out on this one.
Has The Tangent Tree had its day? I don’t know. I hope not. I’ll talk to Samantha again and if there is any news, I shall announce it here. But I don’t think it’s fair to include this on my annual goals list next year when a new series failed to materialise two years in a row.
My writing goals for 2022 also included releasing another short stories anthology. This didn’t happen either, but I still plan to do this, ideally early next year. On a more positive note, I wrote a handful of new short stories this year, some of which I’m holding on to for the time being, as they might wind up as exclusives for the aforementioned anthology. Three others were published in Medium publication Fictions.
In-Between
Originally conceived as a supernatural satire, this evolved into something far more personal. It concerns a recently deceased man whose attempts to haunt his family are constantly interrupted by ghost politicians attempting to secure his vote in an afterlife by-election. Check it out in full here.
Sweet Dreams
A science fiction thriller set in the near future, about a journalist investigating a tech company that manufactures nightmare-suppressing nanotech for children. Check out part one here. (NOTE: Links to subsequent parts are included at the end of each instalment.)
Vindicta
A spine-tingling ghost story set shortly after the end of World War II, concerning a jewel thief and murderer whose past catches up with him whilst fleeing for South America. Check out part one here. (NOTE: Links to subsequent parts are included at the end of each instalment.)
The final goal in this year’s list was to keep pursuing mainstream publication. This I did for my grown-up fantasy novel Ravenseed; an epic set mostly in the Dark Ages. Alas, this full-blooded tale of love, lust, betrayal, and vengeance didn’t get any bites. I’m hanging on to the manuscript for now, as I’m hopeful I may be able to generate interest in the future.
However, more hopefully, I have had a certain amount of interest shown by literary agents in my gothic mystery The White Nest (not the real title – I’m keeping that a secret for now). Here’s a snippet of my agent pitch, to give you a taste of the plot.
A widower fears his young son is cursed when he shows disturbing behaviour akin to that of his younger brother, before he vanished without a trace twenty years previously. Gnawing dread that history will repeat itself is inherent in (title redacted), my 99,000-word modern gothic mystery novel. It’s also a coming-of-age romance with hints of the supernatural, exploring traumatic sibling relationships, parental worries, false guilt, and the misleading nature of memory.
After his young son Ben writes a disturbing story about murdering a boy in a forest, widower Nick Unwin is alarmed by eerie parallels between his son’s behaviour and that of his younger brother Jason, prior to his inexplicable disappearance twenty years previously. This tragic past returns to haunt Nick when he sees an image of his long-lost brother in a newly released film. Fearing a repeat of history, Nick decides to investigate, along with Tanith, an old flame from his early teenage years, with dark secrets of her own connected to Jason’s disappearance. But as they delve deeper into the labyrinthine mysteries of their past, long-buried memories resurface. Nick is forced to face the terrible fear that has plagued him for decades: Was he responsible for the death of his brother?
As I said, I’m hearing positive noises, and have good feedback post-full manuscript requests, but certain details need to be ironed out. I’ll keep you updated once I have definitive news, so watch this space.
Other Achievements This Year
One of the reasons I didn’t publish a short story anthology this year is because I chose instead to focus on the rewrite, retitling, and rerelease of The George Hughes Trilogy. As I’ve explained elsewhere on my blog, this trilogy of sci-fi adventure novels were originally titled George Goes to Mars, George Goes to Titan, and George Goes to Neptune, but I decided to withdraw them because I felt the titles didn’t do them justice (they sounded too much like picture books for very young children). I also wanted to polish the manuscripts up to my current standards, as the first novel, in particular, needed a shakedown, having been written well over fifteen years ago (I’ve improved a lot as a writer since then).
I rolled my sleeves up and did a big push on rewrites. The new titles are The Martian Inheritance, The Titan War, and The Neptune Conspiracy, each of which I much prefer. I’m enormously proud of these three stories, and always have been (the stories themselves haven’t changed). I designed new covers too. As a result, I’m doing a big push on these stories at the moment, as you’ve probably noticed. I have also released all three novels in a special omnibus volume that’s three for the price of two.
Finally, I decided to launch a Patreon page this year, to help with funding my writing endeavours. I offer people the chance to support me at four different levels (Ally of the Dillon Empire, Free Citizen of the Dillon Empire, Knight of the Dillon Empire, and General of the Dillon Empire), and so far, I’ve had over ten supporters. I post exclusive material for supporters, including exclusive sneak peeks at covers, images, title announcements, and so on, plus early access to short stories and novel samples, writing updates, video updates, film of the month recommendations, interesting deleted segments, and more. At present, for Knight of the Dillon Empire support level and higher, I’m serialising the draft version of my thriller novel The Balliol Conspiracy (the title may change if it is ever released).
Please have a look at my Patreon page here and consider supporting me. If nothing else, check out the hilariously awkward video of me at the edge of Wistman’s wood on Dartmoor last September, in desperate need of a haircut.
As you can see, I’ve certainly been busy during the last twelve months. I’m taking it a bit easier throughout the rest of December, as I’ve been rather flat out this year and could do with the break. What are my goals for 2023? I shall expound on that further on New Year’s Day. Watch this space.
It only remains for me to wish you all a Merry Christmas.
The Bodleian Library in Oxford also features in my novel The Balliol Conspiracy. Photo by Lina Kivaka on Pexels
One question authors dread is: Where do you get your ideas? A reasonable enquiry, but often a fiend to answer. Inspiration is a slippery, elusive thing; difficult to pin down in concrete specifics, and infinitely variable. Recently, I faced this question anew, when asked by someone considering supporting me on Patreon. Specifically, he wanted to know where I got the idea for my as-yet-unpublished mystery novel The Balliol Conspiracy.
He asked because for supporters at a certain level, I have just started to serialise this novel in draft form. It’s an exclusive bonus for their patronage, offering the opportunity to read a novel that, in all honesty, I’m rather unsure what to do with. Why am I unsure? Mostly because, as this potential patron pointed out, it sits rather outside my usual oeuvre. It’s a thriller, but it isn’t a gothic horror-thriller of the kind that forms the bulk of my novel output. It sits a genre apart, beginning as an unusual psychological thriller, before evolving into a romantic spy thriller of sorts, akin to something like Hitchcock’s version of The 39 Steps (which added a romantic element absent from John Buchan’s original novel) or North by Northwest.
So why write The Balliol Conspiracy at all, if it’s not really my thing? For a start, it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve attempted to go “off-brand”, if you’ll forgive my use of an obscenity. Some years ago, I wrote animal fiction adventure novel Echo and the White Howl. Animal fiction is exceptionally hard to write well, as I discovered. A fascinating and challenging learning experience ensued. I had to go through the manuscript with a fine toothcomb, removing phrases like “couldn’t put his finger on what was wrong”, because, of course, wolves don’t have fingers. Nor could they have knowledge beyond what they would naturally know (no concept of the sea, for instance), yet they need emotional attributes to which human readers can relate: Courage, ambition, anger, love, a sense of humour, and so forth. It was an absolute minefield, but at least I could answer the question of inspiration in a clear, straightforward manner: I wrote it because my youngest son wanted a novel about wolves.
In the case of The Balliol Conspiracy, the question proved much harder to answer. I scratched my head, recalling a conversation with my history-buff adopted brother about how Oliver Cromwell seized the silver of Balliol College in Oxford for his New Model Army during the English Civil War (an incident referenced in BBC classic comedy series Yes Minister episode Doing the Honours). This may have been the spark for the story. Then again, around the same time, whilst directing a TV shoot near Tromso in Norway (of all places), a conversation I had with the cameraman also may have been the genesis of this project. Shivering in temperatures of minus twenty degrees Celsius, he told me about eccentric characters bidding in auctions for unclaimed left luggage at airports; a kind of pot-luck exercise that can lead to the discovery of curious items. This also sparked my interest and informed the premise of the novel.
Despite this sort of inspiration, I still can’t quite understand why I persevered with what proved to be an exceptionally difficult writing experience. The main reason I struggled is I was determined, for once, to write a novel that wouldn’t give my mother nightmares. I fought every instinct in my body to make left turns into horror territory, determining that come hell or high water, it would remain at PG levels of suitability (though it is a grown-up book). The Balliol Conspiracy is still a strong, suspenseful, compelling narrative, but damn, it was hard reining in my urge to make it gory and scary.
At its heart, this is a history-based treasure hunt tale, leading to a new lease of life for its bereaved structural engineer protagonist, who has a mysterious compulsion for purchasing and cataloguing suitcases left in airports. I explained this to my potential patron, but he didn’t seem satisfied with the premise, or my vague explanations about inspiration. But because spoilers are against my religion, I didn’t want to reveal anything further, except that the novel also involves Balliol College, the infamous “Galloping Gertie” Tacoma Narrows bridge disaster, and the head of Oliver Cromwell.
Relaying this clutch of eclecticism provoked a frown from my interlocutor. He seemed particularly bemused by how the Tacoma Narrows bridge disaster could intermesh with a story about left luggage and Oliver Cromwell’s head. Again, I didn’t want to get into spoilers, but I reiterated that the protagonist is a bridge structural engineer, and that there are some esoteric reasons why the incident has a place in the novel.
I’m not sure he was convinced, and again, I was left wondering what, if anything, will ultimately become of The Balliol Conspiracy. My wife insists it is a good novel, but it is definitely a one-off, and I don’t think I’ll be showing it to agents or publishers any time soon, as I’m trying to sell myself as a purveyor of gothic horror-thrillers. I may get it properly polished up and self-published at some point, and then my mother will finally have the opportunity to read it (without fear of nightmares). In the meantime, I hope the draft version proves a fun benefit for my Patreon supporters, but with any luck, they resist asking where I get my ideas.
(This article was originally published on Medium.)
To support me on Patreon, at £2, £4, £8, or £25 per month, check out my Patreon page here.
I recently had a couple of great five-star reviews for two very different novels: One for children’s adventure story Echo and the White Howl, and another for horror-thriller The Irresistible Summons. I always feel immensely encouraged by such reviews, as nothing makes me happier than knowing I’ve entertained the reader in the manner I intended.
Echo and the White Howl is a story about wolves in Alaska that I originally wrote for my youngest son. I was pleased to see the reviewer below picked up on the influence of Watership Down, one of my all-time favourite novels, though as he says, this is also very much its own beast.
“This is an exceptional story written by a brilliant author. My favourite book is Watership Down and whilst this has similar themes it is an original story on a slightly darker tone mixed with a bit of fantasy. Beautiful descriptions of the habitat of wolves and a wonderful adventure of family and revenge on an evil act. This is a must for any lover of Watership Down.” (MA Holburn, Amazon)
The Irresistible Summons is the scariest novel I’ve written, or so I’m told. I’m pleased it kept this reader on the edge of her seat.
“An extraordinarily imaginative tale, the supernatural infused with technology, love and hatred and an intense sense of dread and mystery. Thoroughly enjoyed it.” (AlisoninOz, Amazon)
You can pick up The Irresistible Summons and Echo and the White Howl from Amazon here (in the UK) and here (in the US) or here (on Smashwords). If you do read and enjoy my novels, please consider leaving a short review. Not only are they a great encouragement, but they encourage Amazon’s algorithms to show my work to more readers. That’s why reviews – even just a one-liner – really help independent authors like me. As for all who have left reviews, thank you very much. It is immensely appreciated.
This month on Medium, I’m showcasing some of the opening chapters from my novels. These will be primarily from my gothic mysteries, though there may be one or two others. This week I feature the first part of horror-thriller The Irresistible Summons.
This opening comes directly after a short prologue touching on a tragic and mysterious incident in protagonist Naomi Levinson’s teenage past. Naomi has gone on to become a TV producer making documentaries that debunk the supernatural, but she and her TV crew are in for a nasty surprise when they interview a supposedly demon-possessed murderer in a prison. Here’s are the first three paragraphs.
Naomi Levinson sat in the driver’s seat of the company Citroen Berlingo, watching light drizzle splatter on the windscreen. She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel, staring at the walls of Holloway prison. Judging by the silence among her colleagues, she wasn’t the only one feeling on edge.
They had interviewed prisoners before, including the worst kinds of rapists, child molesters, and murderers, but on this occasion, there was something particularly chilling about the individual they had come to film.
Naomi recalled Tanya Sutton’s mug shots from the television news, along with footage of her walking calmly to and from the court during her trial. Elegant and attractive, Tanya Sutton came from a wealthy background. She had founded what promised to be a very successful cosmetics business. During the trial she had been softly spoken, never once raising her voice. Somehow that had made her appalling crime, and the reasons behind it, all the more frightening.
From The Irresistible Summons by Simon Dillon
You can read the whole of the chapter here, and read my companion piece article on this series here. Alternatively, to purchase a copy of The Irresisitible Summons (ebook or paperback) click here (for the UK), here (for the US), or here, if you wish to purchase via Smashwords.
Herewith an update on where you can read my currently available short stories and novellas. Most are online in Medium publications such as Fictions and Illumination.
Dystopian Sci-Fi/Thriller. A journalist investigates a tech company manufacturing nightmare suppressing nanotech for children. “Sweet Dreams” refers to the technology involved, which the journalist comes to believe may be linked to an increase in suicidal tendencies among young people. Her investigations uncover conspiracies, cover-ups, and eventually murder.
Fantasy. A Dark Ages knight undertaking a quest to rescue the young woman to whom he is betrothed. She has been captured by a mysterious Beast and taken into a mysterious and dangerous uncharted forest. On his quest, the knight encounters bandits, witches, and strange supernatural beings, journeying ever deeper into the forest, and ever deeper into himself.
Horror/Sci-Fi. The near future. No one knows where the giant spider nests came from, but nations are adjusting to the challenge of living alongside dangerous oversized arachnids. A mercenary desperate for money to purchase medical treatments that can save his wife is hired by an influential businessman. His objective: Infiltrate a spider nest on a mission of vengeance.
The former also features two short stories, Influencer and White Horse, exclusive to that volume. Copies can be ordered here (in the UK) and here (in the US). Digital versions are also available from Smashwords here, as well as the various outlets to which they distribute (Barnes and Noble, Apple Books, and Kobo, for instance).
The latter features exclusive stories The Thought Improvement Programme, Driverless, Bleed with Me, The Traffic Warden, Apocalypse 1983, and Love and Other Punishments (as well as Sweet Dreams, which can be read on Medium). Copies can be ordered here (in the UK) and here (in the US). Digital versions are also available from Smashwords here, as well as the various outlets to which they distribute (Barnes and Noble, Apple Books, and Kobo, for instance).
Papercut and Once in a Lifetime were originally traditionally published by Dragon Soul Press for their First Love and All Dark Places anthologies respectively. These collections are now out of print, though copies can be obtained via sellers. Papercut is also available to read in both short story and adapted screenplay form on this blog, here.
This month on Medium, I’m showcasing some of the opening chapters from my novels. These will be primarily from my gothic mysteries, though there may be one or two others. This week I feature the first part of gothic psychological thriller The Birds Began to Sing.
I wrote this novel back in 2012, and in all honesty, I think if I were writing it today, I’d open the book differently. Yes, I have a bit of satirical fun with the publishing industry, but I fear it comes off as a little petulant. Still, I love the book overall, and am proud of it. Here are the opening paragraphs.
Rejection is normal. Everyone experiences rejection at some time in their life, so there is no point getting upset about it. Don’t give up. Just move on. Tomorrow might be better.
That’s what Alice Darnell kept telling herself. Yet having her writing rejected again and again by agents and publishers was beginning to feel worse than getting dumped by a boyfriend. She had just received another rejection letter from a literary agency through the post, and every time she read one it felt like something inside her died. Her bedroom now had an entire wall plastered with rejection letters of one kind or another, all of them saying more or less the same thing:
Dear Alice,
Thank you for your sample chapters and synopsis which we read with interest. Unfortunately we don’t feel this is one for us, but we wish you the best of luck elsewhere.
Kind regards
The Publisher/Agent
Alice thought a more honest summary might read as follows:
Dear Alice,
I’m not sure why you bothered to send us your sample chapters and synopsis, as you are not an established author. Obviously, we didn’t bother reading it. You might want to try elsewhere and see if anyone is foolhardy enough to take on an unknown author, but don’t count on success.
Indifferent regards
The Publisher/Agent
Alice pinned the most recent rejection letter alongside the others, and glanced at the alarm clock at the side of her bed. Almost half past nine. She had a cold, and had already called in sick so wouldn’t be going to work. That meant a day alone trying to rest, recuperate and watch daytime television whilst trying not to feel too depressed.
From The Birds Began to Sing by Simon Dillon.
You can read the whole of the chapter here, and read my companion piece article on this series here. Alternatively, to purchase a copy of The Birds Began to Sing (ebook or paperback) click here (for the UK), here (for the US), or here, if you wish to purchase via Smashwords.
This month on Medium, I’m showcasing some of the opening chapters from my novels. These will be primarily from my gothic mysteries, though there may be one or two others. This week I feature the first part of gothic psychological thriller Phantom Audition, which begins like this:
What Mia noticed most was the silence.
She kept expecting to hear Steven’s voice, or the insistent thud of his feet, as he rehearsed his lines, pacing up and down. She expected to hear him on the phone to his agent, publicist, or to a director.
In the mornings, she no longer heard his absurd singing in the shower. His seat at the breakfast table stood empty. Mia would avert her eyes, unable to bear staring at the space he should occupy. He should be sipping his tea, scrolling through his phone, crunching his cereal… Silence chewed the room instead, like wind and rain gnawing an eroding landscape.
At nights, Mia would awaken and roll over, hoping to warm herself on his body. But Steven wasn’t there, and he wasn’t coming back. He had been replaced with the same terrible silence that screamed, clawed, and tore at her mind whenever she entered the rooms that still had his smell. The memory of her husband had stained the entire house.
Mia had always thought the mansion ludicrously big for the pair of them, but now more than ever she felt the size of the place. A curious unease lingered, as though the carpets, furniture, paintings, and ornaments had turned against her. She felt like a stranger in her own home, imagining everything around her glared in frowning disapproval. Perhaps her presence was a desecration.
One Monday morning a month after the funeral, the unpleasant sensation of feeling watched by the house became too much, and Mia yelled out into the silence.
‘It’s my bloody home too!’
The house responded without mercy, making every tiny tick of the clock an intolerable cacophony. Mia put her hands over her ears. She knew her behaviour was absurd, but the curious mixture of anger and fear that stirred within her had taken her by surprise. Sadness at Steven’s passing was to be expected, but she had not expected to feel so defensive or fearful. Perhaps bewilderment at the events leading up to his suicide by drug overdose still had her on edge.
From Phantom Audition by Simon Dillon.
You can read the whole of the chapter here, and read my companion piece article on this series here. Alternatively, to purchase a copy of Phantom Audition (ebook or paperback) click here (for the UK), here (for the US), or here, if you wish to purchase via Smashwords.
In a brief series on Medium, I’m showcasing some of the opening chapters from my novels. These will be primarily from my gothic mysteries, though there may be one or two others. Kicking off the series is my supernaturally tinged whodunnit The Thistlewood Curse, which opens with these words:
In spite of the peculiar circumstances surrounding the death of Jacob Price, Detective Sergeant Laura Buchan had all but convinced herself there was no foul play. That he died as the result of a bizarre accident had become the accepted version of events for her and most of her colleagues. Only the senior investigating officer, Detective Inspector Ethan Roland, had any further inkling that Price’s demise was in any way suspicious.
Laura kept pinching the bridge of her nose in a nervous reflex. The questioning of her lifelong friend and occasional colleague Lawrence Crane should have been mere formality; an interview that would establish beyond all doubt that he had no involvement in Price’s death. But Roland kept treating him like a criminal. No doubt he considered his actions thoroughness, but Laura thought he was just being rude. Through the two-way mirror, Laura watched as Roland continued to question Crane in the interview room.
‘Are you glad he’s dead?’
Lawrence Crane leaned forward and stared for a moment at the mirror. His eyes met Laura’s and although he could not see her, she experienced the familiar sensation of discomfort, as though she were standing before him naked. His gaze seemed darker and colder than usual, no doubt because he didn’t suffer fools gladly, and Ethan continued to behave like one.
Crane returned his piercing, steel blue stare to the Detective Inspector sitting before him. Although his back was turned, Laura could imagine the dogged, determined expression on Ethan Roland’s face. He had a stocky, bulldog build that intimidated most people he questioned. But Lawrence Crane was not most people. He replied with an icy calm.
‘Obviously, I’m glad he’s dead.’
From The Thistlewood Curse by Simon Dillon.
You can read the whole of the chapter here, and read my companion piece article on this series here. Alternatively, to purchase a copy of The Thistlewood Curse (ebook or paperback) click here (for the UK), here (for the US), or here, if you wish to purchase via Smashwords.
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