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Kerry was born in Dublin. He spent most of his life in the UK, and now lives in Brittany with his wife of thirty-seven years. He has three children and three grandchildren, all of whom live in England and all of whom think he’s nice (strange the way that works out). An absentee granddad, Kerry praises the advent of video conferencing.
I former lives, Kerry has been a furniture designer/cabinet maker, a research scientist, a house restorer, and now spends all.most of his time writing crime thrillers and what he likes to call adventure yarns. He recently topped the Amazon UK bestseller genre list for his paranormal thriller, The Transition of Johnny Swift.
There are currently two book in his DCI Jones Casebook series and a new addition is due out in the New Year.
Who is my greatest fictional or TV hero?
When I was fourteen, way back in the time before mobile phones, home computers, and the Interweb, a new headmaster took control of our school. He came in with all sorts of radical ideas, one of which was insisting that every pupil visited the library at least once a week. Not only that, but we had to take out a book and read it too.
In our own time.
Over and above our normal school homework.
I mean the cheek of the man.
What self-respecting fourteen-year-old boy wants to spend his free time reading when there are footballs to kick and a cricket bats to wield? Not me, that’s for sure.
Thought I was being so smart by choosing the smallest book in the place—blue of cover and well thumbed. I didn’t even read the title, just plucked it from the shelf, and walked it to the librarian’s desk. She stamped it and I took to the desk. Boy was I miffed when I opened the book to find the tiniest text I’d ever seen. Seventy years old and written by some old fossil called Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It’s title? Sherlock Holmes - Selected Short Stories.
Read that book cover to cover in about a week. I was blown away by the writing style and the scope of the characters. The stories were a little dated and a tad naive, but wonderful nonetheless. The Sign of Four, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Speckled Band, all were classics of the criminologists’ art.
I still have the book, bought for 15p at the end of the term. It hasn’t left my side ever since. Need a magnifying glass these days to read the font, but I take it out occasionally to remind myself what a good detective story is all about. That little blue book is one of the reasons I write crime fiction.
A recent BBC series, Sherlock, has ‘rebooted’ Holmes and Watson into a modern setting. It is a testament to Doyle’s writing class that his lead characters, first written well over a century ago, stand the test of time.
This is stunning fiction, trend setting. If only I could write something that extraordinary.
The Transition of Johnny Swift
by Kerry J. Donovan
The Transition of Johnny Swift is a psychological thriller in 96,000 words, set in present-day England.
Racing driver, “Fiery” Frank Brazier has a problem. He keeps seeing a grey figure he calls Shadow-man. The silent Shadow-man appears in times of stress, but things are worsening. Frank would seek medical help, but racing drivers aren’t supposed to feel fear, and how would his sponsors react?
The novel opens at the start of the final race of the season. Frank is only one win away from sealing the F2500 Championship and earning a place on a Formula 1 team for next season. When Frank’s blood pumps hard and adrenaline heightens his senses, he sees Shadow-man again, sitting on the nosecone of his car, brooding, still, and silent.
Frank survives a front tyre blowout, wins the race, and is offered a contract with the best team in the Formula 1 Series. The next day, he accompanies his sister, Paula, to London by train, but a senseless act of vandalism results in an horrific rail crash.
When he wakes in hospital three days later, with eyes bandaged, bones broken, and head aching, Frank hears two words that throw him into a world of terror and confusion.
“Save her!”
When the doctors remove his eye bandages, Frank sees the owner of the voice—Shadow-man, who repeats the words, “Save her.”
“Save who?”
“Paula...”
The DCI Jones Casebook: Ellis Flynn
by Kerry J. Donovan
An empathetic detective and his Swedish-born colleague hunt for the abductors of a teenage schoolgirl—a police procedural set in England and France.
When their daughter fails to return from school, Hollie Jardine’s parents are terrified. Is she a runaway, or the victim of something more sinister?
Veteran Detective, David Jones, head of the Midlands Police, is tasked to find her. His team soon discovers a link to convicted sex-offender, Ellis Flynn, whom Jones suspects of grooming the naive teenager. A difficult case is made more personal when Jones sees a photo of the missing girl, Hollie Jardine. She is the spitting image of his God-daughter! Jones can't separate the two in his head.
With Hollie's chances of survival fading, Jones and his Swedish-born colleague Alexandra Olganski, risk their careers and their lives when they ignore protocol to follow Flynn’s trail across the Channel into France. What they discover in an idyllic backwater will stretch Jones' detection skills to the limit, and Alex's loyalty to heartbreak.
As he closes in on the abductor, Jones faces an impossible decision - give himself up or the girl dies—do nothing and the girl dies.
When their daughter fails to return from school, Hollie Jardine’s parents are terrified. Is she a runaway, or the victim of something more sinister?
Veteran Detective, David Jones, head of the Midlands Police, is tasked to find her. His team soon discovers a link to convicted sex-offender, Ellis Flynn, whom Jones suspects of grooming the naive teenager. A difficult case is made more personal when Jones sees a photo of the missing girl, Hollie Jardine. She is the spitting image of his God-daughter! Jones can't separate the two in his head.
With Hollie's chances of survival fading, Jones and his Swedish-born colleague Alexandra Olganski, risk their careers and their lives when they ignore protocol to follow Flynn’s trail across the Channel into France. What they discover in an idyllic backwater will stretch Jones' detection skills to the limit, and Alex's loyalty to heartbreak.
As he closes in on the abductor, Jones faces an impossible decision - give himself up or the girl dies—do nothing and the girl dies.
I live and write in a small village about thirty miles upstate of NYC, and share my home with my wife, Bonnie and our dog Alfie, an apricot poodle.
When I began writing in 1980, I had no idea where I was headed. Since then, I've published thirty-five novels, thirty-three of them with traditional publishers, but I decided I wanted more freedom than the traditional publishers would allow and began a new phase in my life as an Independent Author.
My first Independent novel Angels In Mourning, was my 'homage' to the old time private detective books of the late 40's, 50's and 60's. I used to love to sneak them from my parents’ night-tables and read them as a young boy. Angels, is a modern day take on the old style hardboiled detective. Angels In Mourning won the Amazon.com Book of the Month Reader's Choice Award shortly after it was published.
My most current thriller, The Cured, was written with Terese Ramin.The idea for this Medical Thriller came shortly after the death of a close friend. I couldn't help but wonder about the medication....
My previous suspense thrillers are The Hyte Maneuver, (a Literary guild alternate selection); As Peace Lay Dying, Conspiracy of Mirrors, And Down will Come Baby, Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep, and Shadows.
Website ~ Email: dmw@davidwind.com
Angels In Mourning
by David Wind
The Cured
by David Wind
I was born and came of age on the mean city streets of New Jersey. As a young man, I served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, which included a year in Vietnam. After that, I began a career as a computer professional in California’s Silicon Valley.
Since quitting the workaday world to pursue my passion for writing, I've authored six novels, a collection of stories, and a memoir, titled The Way I Saw It. I've written other books, too, that never saw the light of the published world, when I was young and still learning the craft.
My novels include the three volume City Different mystery series, set in Santa Fe, NM, available individually on Amazon, and recently released as a complete Boxed Set, titled The City Different Series. Separately, the three volumes of the series are City Different, Nina’s Time, and Finding Nina. I've also published three other novels of contemporary life, the collection of stories and the memoir mentioned above.
Currently, I divide my time between New Mexico's Land of Enchantment and Orange County, California, pursuing the craft of a writer of contemporary fiction, mystery/suspense and crime/thrillers.
Website ~ Email: stevehazlett@hotmail.com
City Different
by Stephen Hazlett
Nina's Time
by Stephen Hazlett
RP Dahlke
I write humorous mysteries about an annoyingly tenacious tall, blonde and beautiful, ex-model turned crop-duster who, to quote Lalla Bains, says: “I've been married so many times they oughta revoke my license.” I wanted to give readers a peek at a not so-perfect life of a woman who is not afraid of chipping her manicure because she doesn't have time for a manicure, what with herding a bunch of recalcitrant pilots and juggling work orders just to keep her father’s flagging business alive.
Beginning with #4 in the series, A Dead Red Alibi, Lalla and her family will reside in South East Arizona where she will divide her time between a fledgling P.I. business with cousin, Pearlie Bains, and volunteering as a team member with Cochise County Search and Rescue.
I also write a romantic sailing mystery trilogy: A Dangerous Harbor and Hurricane Hole. Coming in 2015: Dead Rise
Website ~ Email: rp@rpdahlke.com
A Dead Red Cadillac
by RP Dahlke
A Dead Red Heart
by R.P. Dahlke
Abby L. Vandiver
Through her various occupations, Abby discovered her love of writing. She’d always been told she had a gift for telling stories, combining the two, she became an author.
Her debut novel, the mystery/sci-fi, In the Beginning, was an Amazon #1 bestseller, it was written on a whim, packed away, and rediscovered some twelve years later. After publishing it in 2013, Abby decided to make writing a full-time endeavor. She penned three novels since - two stand alone sequels and a historical/women’s fiction novel that she co-wrote under the pen name Kathryn Longino. Abby hopes to publish another historical novel, and a paranormal romance story in 2015.
Abby, a former lawyer and college professor, has a degree in Economics, a masters in Public Administration, and a Juris Doctor. A lifetime resident of Cleveland, Ohio, Abby spends all of her time writing and enjoying her three wonderful grandchildren.
Website ~ Email: abbylvandiver@aol.com
In The Beginning
by Abby L. Vandiver
At the End of the Line
by Kathryn Longino (AKA Abby L. Vandiver)
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Great post, Kerry! Don't you just love a great detective story?
ReplyDeleteHi Delene thanks for being a host, and yes, Abby, you can't beat a great crime story.
ReplyDeleteGreat guest post, Kerry! Love your books :-) xx
ReplyDelete