Today is publication day for These Are The Stories We Tell. It’s my 25^th novel. As has been detailed here before, my agent couldn’t find a publisher, so ultimately I’ve had to publish it myself, and therefore publication day just means the day I’ve made it available on Amazon, and other e-stores. No launch party, not even a virtual one, no interviews, no reviews in the press, no book tour, no YouTube trailer, no double-page spread in a lifestyle magazine where I discuss where I get my inspiration, no talk of seven-figure screen options.

I suppose I could, as my publisher at Freight once stated I would do, “social media the shit out of it.” But he only said that because we’d only just met, and he had no idea. It may have been his expectations of an author. And I suppose there might be authors who do social media the shit out of things. I, on the other hand, regard social media the way I regard flying, heights, confined spaces and spiders. Especially spiders.

Here's the blurb:

A world in ruin. A country on its knees. A young girl, dead by the side of the river…

It is late August in a long, hot summer. The small Thames Valley village of Long Whittingbourne moves at a different pace to the chaotic outside world. It’s a place where time has stopped, where the ravages and outrages of society have yet to reach. The surrounding fields have turned brown, swallows play amongst the willows that hang low over the silent, barely moving river. Women standing lifeless at windows watch the world pass by. Artworks of women standing at windows appear to come alive. Perhaps time has slowed to their static pace. Perhaps there’s something mysterious, something dark in the air.

The murder investigation is handed to Beth Faraday, on her first day as a newly-qualified Detective Constable. Being all the station can afford, she is given no team, no back-up, no resources.

Faraday, however, is plagued by her own secrets, and the strange, lonely women who inhabit paintings are reaching out from their silent dominion to pull her in.

Faraday must escape from her past to solve the murder or be lost to the world forever...

---

To mark this historic publishing event, here’s a list of my 25 novels, year of publication, and the original publisher. Long Midnight Publishing (LMP) basically means I published it myself. Some might note that Cold Cuts, Pereira & Bain #1 hasn’t been included. That’s because it’s a novella.

Tomorrow, as I social media the shit out of These Are The Stories We Tell release week, more words.

1. The Long Midnight of Barney Thomson (Barney #1) Piatkus 1999
2. The Cutting Edge of Barney Thomson (Barney #2) Piatkus 2000
3. A Prayer For Barney Thomson (Barney #3) Piatkus 2001
4. The King Was In His Counting House (Barney #4) LMP 2004
5. The Last Fish Supper (Barney #5) LMP 2006
6. The Haunting of Barney Thomson (Barney #6) LMP 2007
7. Lost in Juarez LMP 2008
8. The Final Cut (Barney #7) LMP 2009
9. The Unburied Dead (DS Hutton #1) Blasted Heath (BH) 2012
10. We Are The Hanged Man (DCI Jericho #1) BH 2012
11. A Plague of Crows (DS Hutton #2) BH 2013
12. Being For The Benefit of Mr Kite! BH 2014
13. The Blood That Stains Your Hands (DS Hutton #3) BH 2014
14. A Room With No Natural Light BH 2015
15. Song of The Dead (DI Westphall #1) Freight 2016
16. We Are Death (DCI Jericho #2) BH 2016
17. The Judas Flower (Pereira & Bain #2) Bastei 2017
18. Aye, Barney (Barney #8) LMP 2018
19. Ballad in Blue LMP 2018
20. Boy in The Well (DI Westphall #2) Mulholland 2019
21. The Art of Dying (DI Westphall #3) Mulholland 2019
22. See That My Grave Is Kept Clean (DS Hutton #4) LMP 2019
23. Curse Of The Clown (Barney #9) LMP 2020
24. In My Time of Dying (DS Hutton #5) LMP 2020
25. These Are The Stories We Tell LMP 2021