I’ve finished writing another title and passed it to Vinci Books for their approval. I hadn’t written anything longer than a newsletter since March 2023, and despite insisting I wasn’t suffering from writer’s block, it was clear something was holding me back from doing what I’d loved for a decade. When you’ve written that final page, read through the manuscript for the hundredth time, you get an indescribable feeling.
A mixture of euphoria, relief, satisfaction, and fear. Fear that it’s not as good as what came before.
I thought The Freeman Files needed a prequel —perhaps even deserved one — so readers would understand why Gus Freeman came out of retirement.
So, that was what inspired ‘Lingering Doubts’: –
A young Gus Freeman, ambitious and not yet hardened by years of policing, leads an investigation into the murder of a teenage girl found near a military installation on the edge of Salisbury Plain in 1985. The case has plenty of evidence, but nothing that fits together cleanly.
Under pressure to deliver a swift resolution, he follows the trail that points to Brian Cutler, a man with motive, means, and a criminal past. Gus faces a choice between loyalty to his superiors and faith in his instincts. He makes a decision that will haunt him for decades.
A piece of evidence resurfaces several years later, and Gus returns to the village that started it all, to a graveyard that still carries the weight of a broken promise.
Lingering Doubts reveals the mistake that drives him back from retirement with a new zeal to seek the truth.
The tagline:
He’d done everything by the book. But as the years went on, he learned that the book never carried the weight of a life. Only the man who signed it did.
Now the process begins. Vinci provided excellent new covers for all my books in 2024. There’s a new cover to look forward to, I hope to bring it to you soon, plus a publication date.
I know you want to hear that there will be more old Gus Freeman cases to savour, but this is the perfect way to close the file on a character who changed my life. A few weeks after my 80th birthday I think it’s time for a change, a less frentic pace. One subgenre of crime fiction has always intrigued me.
A cozy mystery features a gentle, lighthearted tone with an amateur sleuth as the protagonist. The stories typically take place in a small, intimate community. The focus is on plot and character, offering a comfortable and satisfying escape without the darkness of typical crime thrillers.
Why do so many people enjoy cozy mysteries? Faith Martin. L J Ross, and J R Ellis have excelled in this category (and many others). I can do gentle and lighthearted, and a focus on plot and character was what The Freeman Files was all about. So, between now and Christmas I’m plotting a six-book cozy series featuring a bookshop owner from Melksham. I’ll bring news of my progress in December, together with developments with ‘Lingering Doubts’.
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