Let’s start with the Book of the Week, always a good ‘un. This week Joffe offers a brand-new, page turning crime thriller from bestselling author Charlie Gallagher LAST ONE ALIVE which is out now for the special launch price of just £0.99 | $0.99.
Daisy-Mae is now sure she’s awake. It’s not the cutting breeze or the musty smell that has her convinced, it’s the pain. You can’t dream pain. She is being held down, something tight over her arms, her chest too. Time is running out. Detective Maddie Ives is her only chance to get out alive.
CLICK HERE TO BUY LAST ONE ALIVE BY CHARLIE GALLAGHER FOR £0.99 | $0.99.
DETECTIVES LENNOX & WILDE: BY HELEN DURRANT: GET TWO BESTSELLING MANCHESTER-SET CRIME MYSTERIES FOR £0.99 | $0.99 – a smashing deal.
Meet detectives Harry Lennox and Jess Wilde in this great-value box set of two page-turning mysteries full of twists from #1 bestselling author Helen H. Durrant. Perfect for fans of Angela Marsons, Kimberley Chambers, Damien Boyd, Rachel Abbott or Mark Billingham
A FALSE PRETENCE BY VERONIC HELEN £0.99 | $0.99
A DELICIOUSLY QUIRKY COZY MURDER MYSTERY. Bea’s assistant’s ex, Zander, believes he’s to blame for the death of his boss. When he asks Bea for help, she can’t turn him away. When bodies begin to pile up, Zander is the police’s first suspect in more than one murder . . . Will Bea and her gang of misfits be able to uncover the deadly pretences in time? I rather feel they will. Goiod fun all the way.
DEATH’S BRIGHT DART BY V.C. CLINTON-BADDELEY £0.99/$0.99
LET’S MEET Dr R.V. Davie, an opera-loving, puzzle-solving amateur sleuth, in a series of classic crime mysteries set in Cambridge by acclaimed author V.C. Clinton-Baddeley. This launches Joffe’s brand-new list of crime classics, originally published by Ostara Publishing — read on to the end of this newsletter to find out more – get books 1-4 in the cambridge classic murder mysteries series for £0.99/$0.99 each, and while on the subject of Ostara Publishing:
Interesting news: 2022, Joffe Books acquired Ostara Publishing, hurrah, says Frost Magazine. Ostara Publishing is an independent publisher whose remit is to rediscover and republish quality crime writing for new readers. Under consultant editor, Mike Ripley, an award-winning crime writer and former crime fiction critic for the Daily Telegraph, Ostara acquired a well-deserved reputation for the superlative quality of its crime list: from Golden Age mysteries of the 1920s, to classic spy thrillers from the 1960s, to delightful 21st century cozies, Ostara has breathed new life into a range of fantastic books which must not – heavens no, be forgotten.
With Joffe Books’ digital expertise, they are looking forward to introducing a new generation of readers to tmany new and fabulous books, which is great good news. Hurrah again.
JOFFE’S INDIE AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT this week is on internationally bestselling author Mel Sherratt
Mel writes police procedurals, psychological suspense and crime dramas — fiction with a punch. Shortlisted for the prestigious CWA (Crime Writer’s Association) Dagger in The Library Award, her inspiration comes from authors such as Ian Rankin, Martina Cole, Lisa Jewell, Mandasue Heller and Clare Mackintosh.
To date, she has sold two million books. All of her crime novels have been bestsellers, each one climbing into the Kindle UK top 20, and several reaching number one. Mel has also had numerous Kindle All-Star awards, for best read author and best titles. She lives in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, with her husband and terrier, Dexter (named after the TV serial killer) and makes liberal use of her hometown as a backdrop for some of her books.
Mel tells us more about herself and her work.
Do you prefer writing police procedurals or psychological thrillers?
A: Hmm, that’s a difficult question to answer as I find all my books to a certain element are psychological thrillers. There is usually a ‘whydunnit’ instead of a whodunnit in my books. I like to get into the minds of my killers, so that as a reader, you may feel you understand why a killer did what he or she did, mostly because of their past.
Crime thrillers in general are an everyman/everywoman genre — they feature regular people in circumstances we all dread. They confront our deepest fears — murders, serial killers, errant or abusive spouses, lost children, etc. They are gripping and thrilling but also contain mysteries that readers love to figure out. We all analyse the people around us and readers can draw on their experience and gut instinct, not just to work out the mystery, but whether or not to trust the main character.
Q: What author, dead or alive, would you like to have dinner with?
A: I’m very lucky that over the years I’ve been writing, since 2012, I have been to many crime festivals in the UK and met most of my favourite authors. I actually can’t believe how many, and often get starstruck when I talk to them.
But there is someone I keep missing and that’s Lisa Jewell. Whenever I’m on a panel at an event, she will be on one the next day, and vice versa. It’s very frustrating. So I would love to have dinner with her, and a good natter about her books as I’ve read every one since she started out writing women’s fiction, and now she writes amazing dark psychological thrillers.
Q: What’s the strangest thing you’ve had to research for a book?
A: Over the years, I’ve not researched so many strange things, as my stories are mostly about social issues, but I do have a fascination in twins. For my book Ten Days, I learned about twinless twins — either a twin dying at birth or later in life and how it affects the surviving twin. It was fascinating to read about how some feel a part of them is gone; others felt as though the twin was still with them.
Also, the DNA around twins is fascinating, in how identical twins do have differences. Of course, I can’t go any further as that would spoil a plot in one of my books . . .
Q: Who would you want to play your main characters in a film/TV adaptation — any why?
A: I have a few series written but for my main one about Allie Shenton, who starts out as a detective sergeant and then a detective inspector, it would be actress Rachel Shenton, star of All Creatures Great and Small. I’ve met her several times now, as she is local to me, and I remember chatting to her about Allie, and Rachel said that she could see herself running around the streets of Stoke-on-Trent as a cop.
Incidentally, I can’t believe Allie Shenton and Rachel share the same surname — surely a twist of fate . . .
Q: What are you currently reading and watching?
A: I have just finished the second book of the Detective Joanna Piercy Murder Mysteries by Priscilla Masters. As an author who writes about, and lives in Stoke-on-Trent, although it makes me smile to see local readers recognising places in my city, it was only when reading Priscilla’s books that I actually got to experience it for myself. In Burnt on the Moors, I found myself thinking, ‘I’ve visited The Roaches’, ‘I know where the village of Flash is,’ ‘I’ve been to the Winking Man pub’, with a smile on my face as I read on.
I enjoy the books because they are set in the 1990s, so most of it is good old-fashioned policing, with all the bias and stereotypes of the police force during those years.
I’ve just finished watching Gangs of London. I watched series one as soon as it came out, so as it was a while ago, I rewatched it and then watched series two. It was phenomenal. I have to admit to looking away at the levels of violence, but I love that the story is really about families at the heart of it. I felt like each episode was like a separate movie and I just wanted more.
I’m now four episodes into The Devil’s Hour and am loving it for its creepy vibes!
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