Choices: let me know your opinion


DS Regan Carter	View in browser

Header image showing a male walking away in a blue haze. Andrew Barrett, Thrillers Written by a CSI in text below.

Hello from Leeds!

My word, it's been a hectic few weeks on this side of the keyboard. And there's more hectic to come. Most of this newsletter is dedicated to my new friend, DS Regan Carter, but there's other news, too, and some things I need your help with.

This is a long newsletter, so if you're sitting comfortably, let's begin.

(Don't forget that your email provider might have clipped this message, make sure you don't miss the juicy bits at the bottom!)

Let's Begin

I was approached by a publisher last year who was interested in me and my work. Woo hoo, I hear you say... well, the echoes of my own 'woo hoo' hadn't even died away before the 'deal' fell through. Never mind, this kind of stuff happens all the time.

The good thing to come out of this disappointment was DS Regan Carter. You see, I wanted to see if I was stuck in an Eddie Collins groove (I love writing him, and he's so easy to wind up, hehe), or could I branch out and write crime fiction from the detective's point of view. And could I make it good?

I needed to find out, and so I set myself some targets and began thinking of a character. I wanted the character to be different from Eddie Collins, and so to make sure, I created a female: Regan Felicity Carter (although we never hear her middle name in the books). And to really challenge myself, I wanted the three books written in first draft within a year.

An AI depiction of what Regan looks like

DS Regan Carter

I used this depiction as my background on the desktop computer to try and keep me focussed on her and her story. I don't usually inflict my own descriptions onto the reader, believing they should construct their own image based on a few pointers I give away.

But I wanted Regan to have coppery-coloured red hair, and a bit of fiery temper to go with it - that flick of the hair says to me she doesn't care that she's not prim and proper - you get what you get. I liked that.

But she looked a little too perfect, don't you think? So, I recently came up with the second image (again AI created). I chose this one because she looks more real, less perfect, but still with the same couldn't care less attitude, I think.

I know what you're thinking: who cares what she looks like? Well, maybe readers don't but I do. When I try to write a scene it plays out in my head like it would if I were watching a movie, and seeing the actors at work is crucial to me, as it would be to any viewer.

So I like to see who I'm working with. Possibly the only real exception to that rule is Eddie Collins. I still don't really know what he looks like, and maybe that tells the psychologists among you more about me than I care to let on.

Help!

Image shows the cover of The Pain of Strangers

You know how much I love reviews, don't you?

Last September in the UK, The Pain of Strangers received the most horrendously scathing review left by someone who, I believe, never even read the book. You know I'm all for fairness in reviews and wouldn't dream of telling people what to write or censoring what they've already written. But each time I look at new reviews for Strangers, all I see is this horrid review - and have done since last September.

So please, please, anyone from the UK who has read and enjoyed The Pain of Strangers and who hasn't yet left a review - please do so. Each time I click on 'latest reviews' all I see is some troll telling me all the other reviews for this book are lies. And yes, it infuriates me. So please, add your review and make it the latest one for me to look at.

Here's a button that'll take you straight to the review page on Amazon. Thank you!

The Pain of Strangers

Choices

Here are the first few paragraphs from Book 1

It all ended on her last day off. She died on January 17th 2024, as she was popping to Tesco Extra to get some bread for dinner, and a bag of Maltesers for the film she and Mr Shambles planned to watch tonight. She was a detective sergeant in the Major Crime Unit in Leeds.

The police investigation into her death revealed no mysterious circumstances; there was no big-time villain trying to silence her, no small-time thug after her purse. It seemed, with fingertips almost touching the door handle of her Mini Cooper, she slipped on ice, fell backwards and smacked her head into the kerb – just like a one-punch kill, really.

There she was, cooling on the pavement after a very turbulent, never boring, fifty-two years at a constant thirty-seven degrees. There wasn’t even any blood. Her head hadn’t split open, but the bag of Maltesers had, and they all rolled away into the gutter.

I know that you have no idea what the Regan Carter books are about, and perhaps the opening paragraphs of Book 1 didn't help that much, but have a look at the choices I've come up with for the the title of the first book, and mark your favourite in the poll. As usual, I'm terrible at making decisions, so this will help me a lot.

This poll is for Book 1 only

Help me by clicking your favourite title first

A Random Killing

The Long Drop

The Long Scream

The next bit...

Or include a suggestion

Continue

Family Stuff

The photos of family time I put in the last newsletter went down so well that I've included some more here. We went to a small town not too far from Leeds called Knaresborough, and we loved it!

One spot we loved in particular was the Lavender Tearoom. It left such an impression on me that it features in the third Regan book.

Call me a tease...

I've been messing around with the idea of getting some merchandise. A number of people have gone mad over these things. What do you think? If I were to go ahead and create a merchandise line like this, would you be interested?

That's all for now, folks. I'll write to you again soon.

Remember to check pricing in your store before you buy.
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Image of smiling author, Andrew Barrett, alongside his signature

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