A.A. Abbott

GREAT CRIME STORY WRITER

new st authors

Thank You!

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Happy New Year! As we race into 2016, it’s time to thank everyone who’s made 2015 great for me. Most of all, I owe a debt of gratitude to the readers who bought my latest crime thriller, The Bride’s Trail. From your reviews, it seems you liked it! Please tell your friends!

Thanks also to…

…the 20 readers who gave me feedback on the draft book. It’s a much tighter, colourful and interesting read because of you. Special thanks to Liz Ascott, RIP and much missed.

…Katharine D’Souza for her skilful and diplomatic editing.

…Pete Sutton for his fantastic Bristol Litfest events – it was a pleasure to take part in two of them.

…Foyles Bookshop, Brewsmiths, the Grosvenor casino, the Haggerston Tearoom, the Happy Heart Café, Waterstones and others who hosted live fiction events and book launches – they were brilliant.

…Donna Marie Finn of Twitter’s #TheCultureHour and Dave Massey of #BrumHour for their faith, support and inspired ideas. Teamwork is dreamwork after all (take a look at this guest blog I wrote for authorpreneur Amy Morse).

…Glenn Richardson, who suggested the secret tunnels under Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter as the setting for action scenes in The Bride’s Trail – and local librarian Jackie Molloy, who took a cameo role in the book.

…New St Authors, Pigeon Park Press, Simon Fairbanks, Suzanna Stanbury and other writers who helped me out. I love your work too!

…all the authors whose fabulous fiction I enjoyed in 2015 – too many to mention!

…my newsletter subscribers. I hope you liked your free e-book, Something In The City.

Wishing you all great things in 2016!

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I’m a British crime thriller writer, author of full-length crime thrillers The Bride’s Trail, After The Interview and Up In Smoke. My New Year’s Resolutions boil down to read, write and be nice! More in my last but one blog.

Thriller of the Month – a Review of “Blood Libel” by Chuck Loyola

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As well as writing crime thrillers, I read avidly. This month, I’m reviewing a little-known but brilliant writer – Chuck Loyola. In 1990, he self-published “Blood Libel”, a political thriller. Although it pre-dates the digital age (the internet doesn’t feature at all, and the huge mobile phones of the time are disparagingly called ‘yuppie bricks’), the themes within the book are bang up to date. Corruption, child abuse and ghetto violence are still with us.

“Blood Libel” introduces us to young black investigative journalist, Howie. ‘City Life’ is a new listings magazine run on a shoestring, but receptive – at least at first – to Howie’s desire to expose the truth about political corruption in the city. The magazine has an uneasy relationship with its public, however, and increasingly, Howie’s finding it difficult to publish the hard-hitting articles he loves to write. Worse, his work has made him enemies – violent, murderous ones. This brilliant thriller oozes suspense as it describes the darkness at the heart of a rapidly regenerating city. Chuck Loyola makes the reader itch to turn the page, with an impressive cliffhanger finish to every chapter.

Howie’s wry wit sparkles throughout the tense narrative. He gently pokes fun at the city’s rebranding. The Media Quarter, Finance Quarter and Retail Quarter should be joined by the Ghetto Quarter and Bohemian Quarter, he decides. Howie is even more scornful of the men holding the levers of power in the city, until he finds himself fearing for his life.

I loved the slightly paranoid, noir edge to Blade Runner, and Chuck Loyola captures that feeling perfectly. Rather than a future city, though, this is Britain in 1990. While the city is never named, my guess is that it’s Birmingham. Hammered by the recession of the early 80s, it set about reinventing itself to become the shiny, exciting urban centre we see today. Certainly, it’s Handsworth and Moseley that I see when Loyola writes about the Ghetto Quarter and the Bohemian Quarter. Plus ça change?

I’m delighted it’s been republished by Andy Conway of the respected New St Authors group. His foreword is a great read too, describing how he tracked Chuck down. With luck, Andy will persuade Chuck to write a sequel or two, as writing of this calibre deserves a wide audience. “Blood Libel” is simply the perfect thriller – incredibly well-written and full of suspense.

Take a look for yourself here.

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I write crime thrillers set in British cities. Both London and Birmingham feature in latest thriller The Bride’s Trail, with stunning action scenes in Birmingham’s old Jewellery Quarter.