Sowing The Seeds
Five weeks ago, I was heading to Ibiza for a holiday in the sun. I took plenty of reading material, plus paper and pens, to start Sowing The Seeds for the new series.
I had a great time… and apart from a few random thoughts I scribbled on the homeward flight, I admit to achieving very little.
Almost as soon as I arrived home, a horde of window fitters, swiftly followed by a team of painters/decorators, invaded my quiet retirement.
Have you ever tried writing under those conditions? It’s not easy.
However, I’ve completed the research for six titles in The Freeman Files and can share my progress.
I think the covers capture the cold-case mystery/police procedural very well. I hope you agree.
(Not the originals. These were introduced in late 2024 by Vinci Books’ genius Stuart Bache)
Rapid Release
After a year without metaphorically picking up my pen, I needed the spur to get me back in the game. The schedule remains the same.
Three books in 2019, with #1 published in time for Christmas. The remaining three books to be ready by the end of April 2020.
I’m aiming for a faster release of these titles than in the past. So, the final title will be up for grabs by the end of May.
The Wiltshire Detective
So, who is the leading man, and what sets him apart from other police procedural staple characters?
Gus Freeman is 61 years old. The retired Detective Inspector lives in a village a few miles from the West Country town where my first novels were set.
A fictional town that borrows elements from the half-dozen small towns that surround my family home.
It lies approximately ten miles from the Roman city of Bath, which is where The Phoenix series was centred.
Larcombe Manor stood several miles out of the city, closer to Bristol and the coast.
Freeman has spent the past 3 years tending his allotment. A peculiar British tradition that is a carry-over from WWII and the ‘Dig For Victory’ campaign.
As he surveys his handiwork sitting outside his garden shed, he ponders his nighttime reading.
Gus is a fan of Kierkegaard, the Danish author often considered the first existentialist philosopher.
Fatal Decision
Freeman’s wife, Tess, died from a brain aneurysm six months to the day after his retirement.
He is still coming to terms with his enforced solitary existence. Then comes a phone call from the county police HQ.
His old boss wants him to head up a Crime Review Team investigating cold cases. His trips to the allotment would be curtailed.
The musings would be clouded by old witness statements and freshly unearthed clues… the hunt would be on.
Freeman wonders whether his superiors really need his old-style policing methods, or if the request is out of pity.
To occupy his mind with some fruitless digging into age-old cases, the best young brains failed to crack?
Detective Sergeant Alex Hardy and Forensic Psychology graduate Lydia Logan Barre will join Gus in the Review Team office.
There’s one more team member to emerge. I’m sat outside my own garden shed now studying the seeds I planted last week.
They should be ready to harvest by late summer. Patience is a handy tool to have, don’t you think?
I’m sure you realise there’s a lot more to the other team members than mere names? I’m excited by the possibilities already.
Take care and best wishes.
Ted Tayler