As I said last week, The Independent Author Book Award has been a revelation. There are just so many good writers out there, which made our task hugely enjoyable, if difficult. At last we decided on commended, highly commended, and then – the winners. In the end, our decision was unanimous. Great books all three of them. Thank you all so much for entering – rest assured that 100% of the entry fees go to the wounded.
Last week we highlighted First Place achieved by Jane Cable with The Cheesemaker’s House, in the recent competition. Today we have the second place winner, Janet O’Kane.
Thank you, Palamedes PR for sponsoring a professional press release for the winner, and the opportunity of a discounted press release for 2nd and 3rd. Thank you Frost Magazine for publishing a review of the top three.
The great good news is that Felicity Trew, of the highly respected Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency, is now representing the winner, Jane Cable.
We’re totally delighted to reveal that Felicity Trew will also be our final judge for the 2015 Independent Author Book Award. The WforW team is so excited.
2nd Place.
No Stranger to Death by Janet O’Kane
Zoe Moreland is a GP who stumbles upon a corpse. Set in the Scottish Borders, her own life experience is revealed, alongside the unfolding crime story.
No Stranger to Death Janet O’Kane
Judges’ comments. A crime novel must grab you from the first sentence. This one does: “Zoe Moreland saw her first dead body at the age of twelve … “ You also need a reason for the person to be consulted or somehow involved with a dead body, especially if you want to keep open the possibility of a series. Tick number two: she’s a GP. This sets everything up well for a crime novel and the other necessities for any novel, including interesting setting described with a vivid sense of place (the Scottish Borders) and rounded characters with distinctive personalities and back stories which appear gradually, are all here. Tick, tick, tick. We particularly liked the way Janet O’Kane lets facts and personalities emerge naturally, by incremental details rather than through the dreaded information download. She credits the reader with the ability to put details together. This crime novel has a well-constructed plot with interesting characters and we look forward to reading the next one in the series. Well done.
When Janet O’Kane outgrew Enid Blyton’s books she moved on to what her Mum liked reading: crime novels. And despite occasional dalliances with other types of fiction, that’s where she has happily stayed.
Her career before turning to writing full-time included selling underpants to Roger Moore in Harrods of Knightsbridge and marketing nappies for Boots the Chemist. It was when she helped run a GP surgery that she decided a doctor would make an excellent main character for a series of crime novels.
Janet lives in the Scottish Borders with her stonemason husband, a cat, two dogs and far too many chickens. She is now writing the sequel to No Stranger to Death and learning to tap-dance. She’s delighted to have been placed second in a competition which raises money for such a good cause.
