A.A. Abbott

GREAT CRIME STORY WRITER

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Book review – A Saintly Grave Disturbed by Nikki Copleston

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A deeply satisfying short read

A Saintly Grave Disturbed by Nikki Copleston is a short read set in the English West Country

Short reads are having a moment. This detective story is a stunning example, packing tons of twists and emotional development into two hours. It’s a deeply satisfying read. 

Fleeing his demons to fight crime

Detective Inspector Jeff Lincoln has fled a failing marriage and personal tragedy to fight crime in England’s West Country. The city of Barbury might seem sleepy, but a stabbing on the local council estate and thefts from the museum keep him busy.  Then there’s the archaeological dig near the abbey, where volunteers appear to be falling victim to a mysterious assailant, perhaps even to each other.

Intriguing characters

While Nikki Copleston focuses on Jeff’s point of view, she also gives us insights into the thoughts of his colleagues, and other leading characters. There’s Beth Tarrant, for example, leading the dig and hoping to solve a family mystery while she uncovers the remains. Meanwhile, Trish Whittington, local librarian and Jeff’s lover, isn’t too besotted to ignore a sexy archaeologist.

Twists layered upon twists

Twists multiply and build upon each other, as Jeff links the crimes together and then finds his theories unravelling. Despite the complexity of the plot, the flow of the story is smooth, its separate strands neatly woven together at the end.

Flawless writing

Nikki Copleston is a class act, writing flawlessly and covering an amazing amount of detail in this interesting novella. It is the second book in a series about DI Jeff Lincoln (the others are all longer), but can be read as a standalone. ‘A Saintly Grave Disturbed‘ is a great way to dip a toe in the water and see if you enjoy Jeff Lincoln’s world. I suspect you will be hooked!

Do you like short crime reads? Then you’ll love ‘A Hint of Crime’, an anthology of short crime stories by the Bristol Fiction Writers’ Group. I’ve contributed three tales, all with a tantalising hint of mystery.

Book Review – Unlawful Killings by Wendy Joseph

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Compelling true crime stories

Unlawful Killings by Wendy Joseph is a true crime book as compelling as any thriller

True crime books are often racy, but speculative, accounts of the workings of a psychopath’s mind. Wendy Joseph’s book is not like that. As a former judge at the Old Bailey, she takes us behind the scenes at her trials. We learn not just about the roles of court officials, but the judges’ daily tea and their pecking order for chocolate biscuits. The book is laced with humour alongside the pathos of shattered lives.

As well as explaining how each story unfolds, Ms Joseph gives us a hint of what happens next. The cases include a stabbing, dangerous driving, child cruelty and a Mr Big dying at the hands of his battered wife. In the latter, the jury appear to decide that the widow has carried out a public service.

Ripples

Each crime affects not just the victim and defendant, but their families. It is impossible to feel unmoved at the anxious parents awaiting the fate of their child in the dock, or hearing that a much-loved son belonged to a gang. A crime creates ripples throughout the community, and the trial is a but a small part of that.

The future

Obliged to sentence in accordance with strict guidelines, Ms Joseph suggests we are storing up problems for society’s future. By the time prisoners regain their freedom after a long sentence, they are likely to be institutionalised and brutalised. How can we expect that to end well? She makes a plea for more work on rehabilitation and crime prevention.

The past

Ms Joseph also takes us back to the scene of each crime, with well-written and emotional vignettes. It is impossible to finish the book without shedding a few tears.

A fork in the road

The book begins with a school party visiting the court. The children, clearly engaged, act out a courtroom drama with enthusiasm. One of them might even be persuaded to follow in Ms Joseph’s footsteps. Schools outreach is possibly even more important than the ear of politicians. As long as Ms Joseph and her colleagues can convince young people to stay on the right side of the law, there is hope.

Do you love a well-written crime story? My latest psychological thriller, “Lies at Her Door” combines an old mystery with modern family drama.

A murder she can’t remember. A cop convinced she’s a killer. Her battle for freedom just became a fight for her life…

Book Review – The Lodger by Valerie Keogh

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Angels of Mercy dealing with death

Valerie Keogh's latest book psychological thriller The Lodger next to a pot plant

Nurses are useful people for a thriller writer to know. The Angels of Mercy save patients’ lives, but in doing so, they learn a lot about death. Valerie Keogh, a former nurse turned author, says she’s never committed murder. The Irish crime writer does enjoy finding creative ways to kill in her psychological thrillers, however.

Missing, presumed dead

Valerie’s latest book, The Lodger, features two characters who are missing, presumed dead. At least that is Leigh Simon’s fear, when both her creepy boss and hip young lodger disappear without trace.

Leigh is a go-getting young woman who has secured a high-flying job in the City of London. The City is notorious for paying handsome salaries to smart people and giving them boring work to do. This is true in the case of Leigh, a Cambridge maths graduate, whose skills are under-utilised in her role as a trader. The job is dull, its pressures exacerbated by her middle-aged boss’s lechery. Leigh fights back, only to find to her horror that he has vanished, pleading stress. Has she sent him over the edge? Another event unsettles Leigh even more. In an act of kindness, she has rented her spare room to Gina, a girl she hardly knows. Then Gina moves out suddenly, leaving a cryptic note behind. Yet someone is visiting the house, eating Leigh’s food and drinking her wine.  Leigh decides it’s time to track Gina down…

Suspense, twists and murder

Valerie Keogh writes convincingly of a fearful woman, gradually falling apart, doubting herself and others. The pages crackle with suspense. Of course, there is a murder – a suitably colourful one – but there are plenty of twists before we discover who, and why, and what has happened to the lodger.

If you enjoy a mystery amplified by twists and cliffhangers, you’ll love my latest suspense thriller, Lies at Her Door. Shy Lucy has spent her life in her brother’s shadow. When the spotlight of accusation shines down on her, can she clear her name? Or will the hunt for chilling secrets send her to her doom?

Settings in Fiction – a guest blog by Victoria Goldman

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Places inspire plots

Settings in Fiction illustrated by an English map

A strong sense of setting is important to me when I read. I enjoy books in which the backdrop becomes a character in itself – a haunted English country mansion, frozen Icelandic terrain, or even bustling London streets. I love familiar settings, where I recognise place names and buildings, visualising myself there as the plot unfolds around me.

So when it comes to my own novels, setting is essential to me when I write, using words to paint pictures of tree-lined roads and rundown houses, and eerie grassy parks after dusk.

A murder mystery in a sleepy English town

When writing my murder mystery debut, The Redeemer, I always knew that I would set it in Hertfordshire, on the cusp of rural and suburban life. Firstly, that’s where I live so it’s familiar to me, but secondly, the Jewish community I feature in the book is based on those in Hertfordshire and North-West London (and specifically the one in my own town). To set the book anywhere else just wouldn’t have felt ‘right’.

The difficulty in writing about the place where I live is that it will be instantly recognisable to anyone who lives there, or nearby, especially if it’s a relatively small town with a strong sense of community. This always leads to inevitable questions, from family and friends, in particular – So, who am I in your book? Is [xxx] based on me? Why did you put a park in that location when it’s over there?

To avoid this, I created a fictional Hertfordshire town. Hillsbury has many features of my own real-life hometown – a crossroads with a synagogue and church opposite one another (which partly inspired the book’s plot), a large spacious park, a Jewish cemetery (with a small airfield nearby) and several schools. By writing about a town that doesn’t exist, it doesn’t matter if I’ve moved the secondary school, added a mosque or an extra café, or changed the layout of the roads.

The secret of Whomsoever Lane

I’ve enjoyed going on long walks at different times of the day, at different times of the year, to inspire me and fuel my imagination. I’ve explored roads that I’d never noticed before, taken photos of the finer details and created visual memories of dilapidated houses with rusty gates and rotting window frames, muddy footpaths shrouded by low-growing shrubs, and gravel driveways edged with pristine flowerbeds.

Streets in my book are based on actual streets, and many would probably be recognisable if you drove down them – roads lined with bungalows, terraced cottages or large houses with sweeping driveways. Only one road in The Redeemer is an actual place, simply because I love the name (Whomsoever Lane), although I have moved it to a different location to suit the plot.

In the acknowledgements at the back of my book, I clearly state:

‘Hillsbury is a fictional town loosely based on where I live in Hertfordshire. If you know the area, some of the locations in this book may seem familiar. But I’d like to reassure everyone who lives nearby that none of you have been immortalised as a character in this book!’

Victoria Goldman is a journalist and author whose first novel, The Redeemer, has won praise from Louise Voss, Adam Hamdy, Marnie Riches and many more.

As a British thriller writer, I too love to infuse my fiction with a sense of place. New murder mystery and suspense thriller Lies at Her Door is set in the swanky district of Clifton, Bristol. When a skeleton is found under Lucy Freeman’s garden, the shy young woman is the prime suspect. Yet when she tries to clear her name, she realises that uncovering long-buried wrongs can be lethal…

Book Review – Phosphate Rocks by Fiona Erskine

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Phosphate Rocks by Fiona Erskine is a Scottish noir murder mystery set in a chemicals factory

Scottish noir

Years ago, before I threw caution to the winds and became a full time writer, I worked for a company who proclaimed themselves world leaders in phosphorus chemistry. They, too, relied on solidified bird droppings – the “Phosphate Rocks” of the book’s title – as their raw material. Fiona Erskine’s thriller says a great deal about this, and other little-known (but absolutely fascinating) facts about the industry.  A slice of Scottish noir, it begins in true murder mystery fashion with the discovery of a dead body when a chemical works is demolished. Brisk young Detective Inspector Rose Irvine soon homes in on the one man who holds the key to the mystery: John Gibson, the former shift manager.

Literature meets chemistry

As Rose questions John however it becomes clear that “Phosphate Rocks” is much more than a simple police procedural story. The corpse, encased in a crust of phosphate, is surrounded by ten objects. When John identifies each item, pouring out his reminiscences in the process, we receive a sequence of chemistry lessons. Furthermore, John’s memories are a rich seam of social history. He tells Rose about canny men and glamorous women and a manufacturing environment decaying as much as the deliquescent corpse.

Layers of mystery

Although the mystery is solved, it’s a bitter-sweet victory. Too many other questions remain unanswered. Is Rose the orphaned child of good-time girl Polly, who ended up feeding the fishes? What became of the proud workmen thrown on the scrapheap when the factory closed, victims of head office accountants?

This is not a formulaic, stripped down style of book, but it is beautifully written. If you fancy a refreshingly different crime story, “Phosphate Rocks” delivers it.

For a mystery with a difference, read “The Bride’s Trail”, first in my Trail series of British thrillers. When a shy graduate finds herself framed, can she survive long enough to clear her name?

Multi-Tasking & More: Why We Adore Audiobooks (and Why We Don’t)

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AA Abbott's Chilling Psychological Thriller BRIGHT LIES is now available on audiobook so you can listen through headphones

Before the audiobook version of my thriller, BRIGHT LIES, was released, I ran an online survey about audiobooks. Why did readers love them – or, in some cases, hate them?

Scores on the Doors – those audiobook survey results

Before going into detail, I should comment on the people I surveyed. I write psychological thrillers and mysteries, so naturally, many of those I asked were thriller fans. For instance, I approached my newsletter subscribers, and Facebook groups dedicated to crime fiction and Audible books. It’s hardly surprising that 94% of the 182 respondents loved audiobooks, 73% listened to audiobook thrillers and 60% to mysteries. Non-fiction, adventure stories and historical fiction were also popular with at least 25% of the readers who replied. Nearly half preferred an audiobook to a paperback or ebook.

83% were over 45, perhaps a reflection of Facebook’s popularity in older age groups. However, although I expected a majority of readers to identify as female, I  didn’t think as many as 90% would do so. The age and gender of survey participants explains why so few listened to young adult fiction (6%) or horror (10%). Romance listeners (13%) lagged behind sci-fi (14%) and fantasy (23%).

Despite the skewed audience, the survey results were interesting. Readers generously explained the pros and cons of audiobooks, recommended their favourites, and gave price-saving tips. If you’re on a budget, fear not – it is possible to get hold of audiobooks for free, or certainly cheaply.

Why audiobooks?

Of the 47% who preferred audiobooks to any other format, the reason most often cited was that listeners could multi-task. You can drive, go for a walk, do the chores and even (in one instance) do a boring low-paid job while enjoying audiobooks. Others said they were relaxing, helped reduce eyestrain, eased the loneliness of isolation in the pandemic and really brought a story to life. The last point depended heavily on the quality of narrator. Listeners felt the narrator could make or break a book. Angus King, Jim Dale, Stephen Fry and Stephen Mendel were repeatedly praised.

34% listened when travelling, 28% when exercising or doing chores and 38% when chilling out at home.

Why not?

Audiobooks were left on the shelf by those who preferred to imagine the characters’ voices for themselves, who thought reading was quicker or had hearing problems. A couple of readers had never yet found a narrator they liked: either the voice was irritating or it failed to hold their interest and they zoned out. One respondent was annoyed that audiobooks sent them to sleep (although audio fans mentioned it as a point in favour). Others recognised that audiobooks were expensive to produce, and their high price was justified, but it sadly made them unaffordable on a limited budget. The money-saving tips below should help!

Free and cheap audiobooks

For those on a budget, helpful readers suggested borrowing audiobooks for free from the local library. Free Audible codes are sometimes offered in Facebook groups in exchange for a review. Promotional sites like Chirp also have cheap daily deals, such as 99p/99c audiobooks. (I take the Chirp newsletter myself and have been impressed by the range and quality of deals on offer.) Even full price titles can be purchased at a discount by buying an ebook from Amazon and upgrading to audio. The combined cost is usually much less than the Audible price.

Listening to sample clips on Amazon removes the guesswork, too: if you like a sample, you know you won’t be wasting your time and money.

Recommended writers and narrators for audiobooks

As well as the narrators mentioned above, certain writers were very, very popular. JK Rowling and LJ Ross led the pack, followed by Val McDermid, Peter James, JD Kirk, Elly Griffiths, Denzil Meyrick, James Patterson, Stuart McBride and Terry Pratchett. Others who received several mentions included Stephen King and Agatha Christie. Naturally, given the groups surveyed, there was a preference for crime writers.

Finding audiobooks

Amazon/Audible was the biggest source of recommendations for new audiobooks, followed by social media, libraries, friends, bloggers and Goodreads. Only 6% took any notice of ads. Facebook was by far the most popular social media source (but this is no surprise, given that I mainly surveyed Facebook groups).

More advice from those in the know – publishers, take note!

Seasoned audiobook listeners had several pieces of advice for authors and publishers. They would like to see a wider range of titles in audio, but stressed that good narration and production were essential. Audiobooks should be proofed just like the printed page: there is no excuse for errors. Listeners were looking for narration with a pleasant voice, accuracy and sympathy for the story. They disliked an unduly slow narrator, a heavy regional accent or someone who mispronounced words. Where a series was recorded in audio, they pleaded for the same narrator to be used throughout.

Rumours of death are much exaggerated

Audiobook sales have been rising for years, and rumours of their demise as a result of the pandemic are much exaggerated. Although commuting is down on pre-pandemic levels, housework, gardening, exercising and chilling in an armchair still lend themselves to audiobook listening. It is a flexible format which is here to stay.

I am thrilled that my psychological thriller BRIGHT LIES is now out in audiobook! It’s been narrated by the amazing Eilidh Beaton. Eilidh has already worked with other respected psychological thriller writers, including the excellent Keri Beevis. Hear a clip of Eilidh narrating BRIGHT LIES, here (just click on the arrow under the book cover). She channels teenage Emily’s naiveté and David’s creepiness really well.

In many countries, Amazon will let you add an audio upgrade to your ebook at a modest cost, so do check your local Amazon site!