It’s my turn today on the blog tour for Dead and Gone by Sherryl Clark. It’s the sequel to Trust Me, I’m Dead. Thank you to Clare Quinlivan at No Exit Press and Verve Books for inviting me to take part. I have a guest post from Sherryl Clark but before you read that, let’s find out a bit more about the book.

 

The Blurb

There’s nothing more dangerous than revenge.

Judi Westerholme has been through it. Brave and strong-willed, she’s just about coping in her new role as foster parent to her orphaned niece, taking a job at the local pub to help make ends meet. Then the pub’s landlord and Judi’s friend, army veteran Pete ‘Macca’ Maccasfield, is murdered, and her world is suddenly turned upside down.

Despite warnings from the city police to keep out of it, Judi can’t help but get involved in the search for Macca’s killer. But she soon becomes deeply entangled with some ruthlessly dangerous men. She must act fast and think smart to work out what they want – before anyone else gets hurt…

Guest Post

Crime writing is not my only job

Despite what readers might think, writers come from all kinds of backgrounds and have done dozens of different jobs on their way to writing (and many keep working to support their writing). It’s fascinating to see what people did before their novels sold well enough to earn them a living!

Ann Cleeves studied English at college but dropped out and had a number of different jobs such as cook, auxiliary coastguard, childcare officer, library outreach worker and probation officer. All of these have given her plenty of ideas for characters and crime situations. Her husband was an ornithologist so she includes lots of detailed bird references.

Val McDermid grew up in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, and studied English at Oxford University. She trained as a journalist and worked on various national newspapers for 14 years before becoming a fiction writer. After her first novel was rejected many times, an actor friend read it and encouraged her to make it into a play, which was then performed at the Plymouth Theatre Company. However, Val has never been a psychologist or a police detective!

Before becoming a full-time novelist, Ian Rankin worked as a grape picker, swineherd, taxman, alcohol researcher, hi-fi journalist, college secretary and punk musician in a band called the Dancing Pigs. He’s also taught at university.

Michael Robotham began as a journalism cadet in Sydney, Australia. He spent many years as a journalist, mostly in the UK where he eventually became Deputy Features Editor of the Mail on Sunday. After resigning he freelanced for a while and then began ghostwriting. He’s written the life stories of fifteen different people, including many celebrities. After he returned to Australia in 1996, he started writing fiction and his first crime novel was accepted for publication in 2002.

Like some of these writers, I’ve done quite a few different jobs over the years. I initially trained as a librarian – the best way to get my hands on lots of new books to read. I’ve also worked in lots of pubs and restaurants over the years, including one in London where I was doing 60-hour weeks for about 16 pounds! I’ve also been a secretary, a hospital cleaner (the only job I’ve been fired from, I think), a teacher and a community arts worker.

It’s funny how many little bits of these jobs creep into my stories. In Trust Me, I’m Dead and Dead and Gone, my character Judi has owned and worked in a pub and ends up working in the one in Candlebark. My waitressing days included good and bad experiences with chefs, some of whom threw tantrums almost as bad as Gordon Ramsay, so I’ve created a chef who’s just a little temperamental.

As I grew up on a farm, and lived in a very small place, I often use that sense of ‘everyone knows your business’ in my novels set in the country. There’s nothing like gossip and the country shop or pub as the centre of the community to make sure all the inhabitants are involved – and are potential suspects, too.

 

Thank you Sherryl for telling us a bit about how your life experiences have influenced your writing.

 

The paperback will come out end of August but the e-book is available to buy now. Click here.

 

The Author

Sherryl Clark has had 40 children’s and YA books published in Australia, and several in the US and UK, plus collections of poetry and four verse novels. She has taught writing at
Holmesglen TAFE and Victoria University. She recently completed a Master of Fine Arts
program at Hamline University, Minnesota, and is now studying for a PhD in creative writing. Sherryl’s debut novel, Trust Me, I’m Dead, was shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger. It is the first novel in the Judi Westerholme series, followed by Dead and Gone.