Buried Deep, by Penny Grubb, Reviewed.

The wonderfully idiosyncratic heroine, Annie Raymond, appears first in Penny Grubb’s detective

novel, Like False Money. Buried Deep is the fifth book in the series, and this well-imagined detective has significantly developed along the way.

This story holds the reader’s interest from the beginning and never lets go. The reader easily understands Annie; her faults making her a believable creation and endearing her to us as she struggles with the difficulties sent her way. In this book, she has to work with the flawed police detective, Webber. He brings his own problems, prejudices, insights and skills to the tale, building the book into something bigger than a simple crime novel.

Penny has a way of wearing the skin of her characters, even the villains, so that the reader cares what happens. But Annie and Webber are the ones we really empathise with, in spite of their faults, or maybe because of them.

The nature of the crimes in this story will disturb some readers, but crime fiction is designed to make people think, to bring the real world into the safe environment of our homes where we can experience it without personal danger.

As always, with this author’s work, there are shocks, moments of unexpected illumination, many twists and turns, and a complex puzzle to solve. And the developing pace of the story engages the reader as both Annie and Webber are led into great danger. The denouement builds slowly at first, then the pace increases with the tension until it becomes impossible to book the book down until it’s finished. And a satisfying finish it is.

Buried Deep is more than just a crime novel. It is a well-written, engaging, absorbing and truly attention-demanding piece of fiction. If you like your crime enlivened with humour, human failings, realism, and intelligence, this book is for you. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and heartily recommend it.

The Cunning Man, by John Yeoman, Reviewed.

This ‘fictorial’ as the author calls it, should start a trend amongst authors with a desire to help other writers improve their craft. That is precisely what John Yeoman does in this collection of historical mystery stories. He tells a tale and inserts footnote links in the text, these lead to the footnotes, which explain what the writing sample has done, and how. It’s a fascinating and extremely useful tool for those wanting to become better writers of fiction.

The stories? Well, John Yeoman is an author with a very long history of writing both fiction and nonfiction. He’s a teacher and mentor who runs an excellent blog and he knows what he’s doing. These are great stories: amusing, full of historical detail, populated by characters with whom you can empathise and posing mysteries that will keep even the most jaded of readers hooked until the end.

Best read on a Kindle, as that will allow the links to work exactly as planned, but readable on any eReader you choose. I read my copy on an iPad and found the read a great experience.

This innovation, using great stories to illustrate writing practise and inform the editing process, is a great idea, and one I expect to be copied many times. If you love historical mystery, enjoy it as a reader. If you’re a writer seeking advice and inspiration, then read it with those aims in mind. You won’t be disappointed, whatever motivates you to read this one.

The Writers’ Toolkit, by Penny Grubb and Danuta Reah, Reviewed.

Interested in the inner workings of commercial fiction? Then this book is for you. The authors, both good commercial writers with that extra talent that separates them from the rest of the field, have produced a book that gets straight to the heart of what makes fiction commercial but also eminently readable.

Their advice is illustrated with samples, given in a clear and easily followed form so that writers can apply their methods to their own writing. Split into seven sections, the book deals with everything from overall structure, through opening sequences and tension building and releasing scenes, to bringing the story to a satisfying conclusion. The path is easy to follow and the information given in easily digested bites. Plenty of room for manoeuvre is allowed: this is not a dictatorial piece, but a guide to best practice for the general writer of good commercial fiction.

For readers, it will give insight to the way in which novels are constructed and what goes on in the mind of the writer during the building of the story. For writers, it provides detailed and sensible guidance in the most effective way of constructing a story and delivering it to your readers.

A small but comprehensive and practical ‘how-to’ book that should be on the shelves of all serious writers who want their books read by more than the minority. I shall use it in my future writing and thoroughly recommend it.

How to Market a Book, by Joanna Penn, Reviewed.

The third in a package of books on writing in the digital age, this one deals with the nuts and bolts of getting your books to market. That may sound daunting or technical or simply distasteful to many writers. It did to me. We are, after all, artists. We have souls and care about the words we share, the stories we tell, the characters we invent. Surely selling is a dirty world full of shysters, slimy creeps and people bent on separating the gullible from their money for personal gain, isn’t it? Well, it turns out that isn’t actually what it’s about.

The author, a writer of both nonfiction and fiction, explains in great detail, and to great effect, the reality behind the art of selling your books. You are a writer. Writing is communication and entertainment, as well as many other positive things. You have talent, you have imagination, you have knowledge. Are you writing to keep these things to yourself? I hope not. I certainly aren’t. We write to pass on our gifts, knowledge, imagination. But hiding your work in a cupboard or drawer is hardly going to get those words out there, is it?

In reality, marketing a book is passing information to people, readers, who are actively seeking your words. You are providing a service to the very people you wish to reach. They want to know about your books. They want to read your stories. They want to be able to find and buy your output. Are you going to prevent them by being all precious and mistakenly coy about the act of actually selling those works?

If you want to remain in obscurity, keep your efforts hidden from public gaze, hide away from the possibility of having readers actually read your books, then don’t read this book. It will educate and convert you. It will place you on the path to reaching readers. It may even make you see selling your wares as an honourable and desirable part of your craft that you could enjoy!

The book has multiple sections, all of them giving practical advice and some attempting to put right the ill-informed attitude that I and others may possess regarding the marketing of our books. I was one of those who considered himself an artist and unsuited to the world of sales. Mind you, I have a brief and troubled background in that world that undoubtedly tainted my opinion. But that was a different world, a commercially predatory place where the customer was seen as a target for the unscrupulous to cheat and legally rob. Marketing and selling your book does not have to be like that at all. In this field, potential buyers are actively seeking your books. And this book has left me feeling positive, enthusiastic and ‘clean’ about marketing and promoting my own work.

So, if you’re a writer just starting out, uncertainly stepping into the world of words, or a veteran with many titles under your belt, all unsold and under-promoted, this is definitely the book for you. Read it. Act on the advice. And sell your books to people who want to read them. Thoroughly recommended.

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Let’s Get Digital, by David Gaughran, Reviewed.

A book I bought as part of a package for indie authors. I’m glad I did. So far, and this is the second in the pack of three, it has been a thoroughly worthwhile investment in terms of time and money. In fact, I would happily have paid significantly more for these books.

This volume is very much about the nuts and bolts of indie publishing. There is a good deal of history and background, which it is tempting to skip. Don’t: you’ll miss out on some very useful information. There are sections on the craft of putting a book out there as an indie author, and sections on why you should do this.

It’s a real eye-opener; giving background to the now fast-decaying idea that self-publishing is naff, or for those who can’t get a ‘real’ publisher, or is a route to poor quality. Self-publishing has been accused of all these things and, in the recent past, there has been some justification for this. However, bear in mind that Thackeray, Dickens and Johnson all self-published. And, these days, many well-known mainstream authors are turning to self-publishing simply because it gives them complete control over their books and invariably leads to much higher returns than those made with traditional publishers. I exclude small independent publishers from this description: many of them do a very good job indeed.

Ever since the bean-counters overtook the running of the now corporate structures that play, badly, at publishing, the author has been viewed as a necessary evil by most of them. Instead of seeing the creators of their books as an asset, these ‘bottom line’ merchants consider most authors a distraction from the making of money.

Self-publishing is a route to real success for a growing number of writers. But if you’re wondering whether it’s for you, read this book first. It will smooth out a lot of the kinks you might otherwise encounter and it will guide you through the process in easy steps.

There is a wealth of information within these pages (screens) and the appendix alone is worth the price of the book; the resources section is invaluable. Easy to read, easy to absorb. I fully recommend it to any writer considering self-publishing, and even for those who have already started along the path.

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