tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83038920443958810622024-03-12T23:52:16.049+00:00Jennifer Lee ThomsonWelcome to the official website for author Jennifer Lee Thomson.
She also writes fiction as Jenny Thomson and non-fiction as Jennifer Thomson.
Jennifer Lee Thomson, Jenny Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07999487852799181636noreply@blogger.comBlogger94125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303892044395881062.post-61031612802890610182023-12-16T05:59:00.005+00:002023-12-16T06:26:51.228+00:00Justice finally for Caroline Glachan, aged 14<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigJ9JGfzdASZ6Tfoc75GYsJJBF-REsaV9SIoA8qolxao6eZ3Qps-x2U04m59ntZBiC0Zx0k5s5koMhyphenhypheniWvi1bdVzmH0tmVcBR4iXGHERVEdGKM7rswtPnqDSVmG8XppjdswXSl-wtxOdVt8HJaKJFrCd2EjcbF3UfDQ0TqGk8NDfpBq6wpii_0TjRtUpQ/s1600/Caroline%20Glachan.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigJ9JGfzdASZ6Tfoc75GYsJJBF-REsaV9SIoA8qolxao6eZ3Qps-x2U04m59ntZBiC0Zx0k5s5koMhyphenhypheniWvi1bdVzmH0tmVcBR4iXGHERVEdGKM7rswtPnqDSVmG8XppjdswXSl-wtxOdVt8HJaKJFrCd2EjcbF3UfDQ0TqGk8NDfpBq6wpii_0TjRtUpQ/s320/Caroline%20Glachan.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Caroline was a vibrant young girl with her whole life ahead of her</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">When 14 year old Caroline Glachan set out one night to meet her friends in West Dunbartonshire, she wasn't to know that would be her last night alive.</span></p><div data-dcy-id="0.7663206381738985" dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;">She was found later face down in a burn with horrific injuries. She had at least ten head injuries and her skull was fractured in several places. It was described as a 'horrific and violent attack' by the prosecutor. Mercifully, experts think she was unconscious when she was put in the water. She drowned. </span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.5509895069527608" dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.34786094058319805" dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Police investigation found that Caroline had been besotted with a boy named Robert O'Brien. He was a few years older than her and she'd gone to meet him on a bridge that fateful night. She left her home just before midnight.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.04687693953786076" dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;">She was never seen alive again. At least not by anyone who loved her. The last person to see her were her killers. </span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.11621256023840076" dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.4621246343267529" dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It took 27 long, heartbreaking years but when Caroline's mum Margaret McKeich stood outside the High Court in Glasgow and announced that her daughter could finally rest in peace, it was a day she worried she would never see. </span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.5460017644858604" dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.6539221764152479" dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;">For 27 years, her wee girl's savage killers had been free to enjoy their lives. To enjoy family events and special occasions like birthdays, weddings and Christmases. Caroline's mum couldn't even enjoy her birthday. Not when her daughter had been brutally murdered and the date on her death certificate was her 40th birthday. </span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.3983181364946553" dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.5575443860798772" dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Unknown to the 3 monsters who'd killed her - all teenagers when they murdered Caroline - the clock was already ticking. It took nearly 3 decades but the countdown to them being punished for their evil crime had begun.</span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.859373472973886" dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.14491384493502246" dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It was police re-interviewing witnesses in 2009 that snared Caroline's killers. </span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.6989405166236256" dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.2424630332666442" dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The testimony of a 4 year old boy helped convict the evil trio. He didn't testify at the trial but there was a police recording of the captivating little boy being interviewed 27 years ago where he spoke of seeing a 'lassie get battered' and fall in the water helped convict the vile trio.</span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.5571314424276284" dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.9047442246069042" dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The killers had been babysitting both him and his brother when they'd taken them to the spot where they'd met Caroline. </span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.9047442246069042" dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.9047442246069042" dir="auto"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvmM7FvzCHu0lUI42n3EEpMABpayFeeMPyjYotUowEb6nGB6-tNn3M80f0ujIw4WO-UzRvi3E4Y5ytstvaTGOp9gyc1Gz9Is0TEIKJi1fcrSOtp1mFy8iUc2rzYGJ14QL0S_sVLk9uGzWQ3XJY6J8vMV81XFQpO3gWbwcF0vlwn7TkJORYFxqLwUrFzjU/s1600/Caroline%20Glachan%20killer.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvmM7FvzCHu0lUI42n3EEpMABpayFeeMPyjYotUowEb6nGB6-tNn3M80f0ujIw4WO-UzRvi3E4Y5ytstvaTGOp9gyc1Gz9Is0TEIKJi1fcrSOtp1mFy8iUc2rzYGJ14QL0S_sVLk9uGzWQ3XJY6J8vMV81XFQpO3gWbwcF0vlwn7TkJORYFxqLwUrFzjU/s320/Caroline%20Glachan%20killer.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robert O'Brien was 17 when he murdered 14 year old Caroline<br />It was a brutal, unprovoked attack.</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.18498962534213947" dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.41871964425685615" dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It would end with Robert O'Brien* who was 4 years older than the dead girl, Andrew Kelly and Donna Marie Brand being found guilty by a jury of their peers. Their motives for attacking the 14 year old were never fully established.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.21512871099315478" dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Now that countdown is over and Caroline finally has her justice that was denied for so long.</span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.21512871099315478" dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.21512871099315478" dir="auto"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">*Thug and heroin addict O'Brien had been sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2006 for the attempted murder of a stranger near his home. He had a lengthy criminal record. </span></div><div class="yj6qo"></div><div class="adL" data-dcy-id="0.660164137756645" dir="auto"><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /></div>Jennifer Lee Thomson, Jenny Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07999487852799181636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303892044395881062.post-62361418312566647012023-05-29T00:00:00.000+01:002023-05-29T07:40:07.190+01:00Keeping track of your novel's characters <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />Writing a novel series is a balancing act</td></tr>
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<span face=""calibri" , sans-serif"><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">One of the most important and time consuming parts of writing a series of books based on one character can be keeping track of the continuity. I discovered that to my cost when writing my Detective In A Coma series of books featuring Detective Inspector Duncan Waddell and his comatose sidekick DC Stevie Campbell. </span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br />
<span face=""calibri" , sans-serif"><br /></span>
<span face=""calibri" , sans-serif">Unfortunately I hadn't prepared myself for making sure I maintained contiuity in my characters, which often led to me having to trudge through hundreds of pages of text to make sure everything I'd written was consistent. </span><br />
<br />
<span face=""calibri" , sans-serif">I've just finished writing book 4 Vigilante City and with the weird way that publishing works book 2 in the series Cannibal City will be published soon.</span><br />
<span face=""calibri" , sans-serif">Keeping track of the characters and what's happened to then in previous books is tricky when you don't have a system in place. </span><br />
<span face=""calibri" , sans-serif"><br /></span>
<span face=""calibri" , sans-serif">That's why I have my trusty notebook - an old fashioned one you write in - with pages devoted to every one of my main characters and plenty of space left to add in new details.</span><br />
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<span face=""calibri" , sans-serif">I'm using a notebook because I can carry it around with me, but I also back up the details online using file storage service Dropbox, my email and I have it in a Word document. </span><br />
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<span face=""calibri" , sans-serif">Hey, as writers we can never back up too much, can we?</span><br />
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<span face=""calibri" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">What should be in your notebook</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span face=""calibri" , sans-serif"><b>1. Name and brief outline of the character.</b></span><br />
<span face=""calibri" , sans-serif">Include full name of your characters including middle names and nicknames if any, age, general appearance.</span><br />
<br />
<span face=""calibri" , sans-serif"><b>2. Personality - What are they like as a person?</b></span><br />
<span face=""calibri" , sans-serif">What do they like, what interests them, how do they treat others, what makes them laugh, have they any phobias/hang ups, are they dour or do that have a good sense of humour etc...</span><br />
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<span face=""calibri" , sans-serif"><b>3. Personal details</b> - are they married, divorced or single, do they have kids (if so what ages are they?), do they cheat on their partner, do they have any health problems etc...</span><br />
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<span face=""calibri" , sans-serif"><b>4. Major events they've gone through. </b>This would usually be things that happened to them in your books or that you've referenced in your books. </span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br />
<span face=""calibri" , sans-serif">For example, my sidekick detective DI Waddell has been able to have two-way conversations with his best pal and colleague Stevie Campbell, but nobody else can hear him. I had to establish in my notes when Stevie first spoke to him.</span><br />
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<span face=""calibri" , sans-serif">It might seem like you're spending too much time doing this, but trust me, it will turn out to be a major timesaver later on when you're not having to trawl through hundreds of pages of text just to find out what colour of hair a character has.</span><br />
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<span face=""calibri" , sans-serif">Tip - Have a photo of each character - some writers find it easier if they have a photograph of how their characters look pasted into a notebook, or pinned to a noticeboard on the wall or on their computer desktop. </span><br />
<span face=""calibri" , sans-serif"><br /></span>
<span face=""calibri" , sans-serif">It can be a picture of anyone including of a celebrity or a generic photo cut out of a magazine.</span><br />
<span face=""calibri" , sans-serif"><br /></span>
<span face=""calibri" , sans-serif">If you find yourself losing your character you can look at it and it might put you back on track.</span></span></div>
Jennifer Lee Thomson, Jenny Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07999487852799181636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303892044395881062.post-3662689830181656182023-05-16T20:05:00.000+01:002023-05-29T07:41:56.466+01:00True Crime Provides Inspiration<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">When it comes to
writing it's frequently said that we should draw inspiration from our
surroundings, but often that isn't true of crime writers. On the whole those of
us who haven't worked as police officers, prison guards, parole officers or
crime reporters tend to have lived a much more sheltered life. The closest we
get to real crime is watching a documentary on the TV or reading true crime. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">At least that was
the case with me until I moved to be closer to my elderly mum after my dad died
following a long battle with cancer.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It seemed like the
right thing to do at the time but its fast turned into a nightmare, but on the
plus side I now have plenty of material for countless crime novels thanks to events
that have happened since I moved. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The first week at
our new flat the police came to our door looking for a flasher. Apparently some
degenerate was going around with his penis hanging out and hiding it behind a
newspaper before assailing the eyes of women going about their daily business. My
OH was questioned as were other men in the areas, but he was cleared very
quickly because the police were looking for was someone well over six feet. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">They never did
catch this flasher, but it gave me an idea for a short story that might turn
into a novella. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Round two came
when my partner who had never been the victim of a crime before unless you
count the mullet he had in his teenage years (I blame Kevin Keegan), was
targeted by two muggers with one spitting on him and the other punching his
head when he refused to let go of the bags he was carrying. Whilst this was
happening, in blood daylight, several cars were stuck at the traffic lights and
not one single person though to so much as toot their horn.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">That made me
conduct some research into why many people who witness crime do nothing, and
why others intervene. That became the basis of what will be my fourth Detective
in a Coma book, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Vigilante</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">City</st1:placetype></st1:place>. Publication date
TBD as the second and third book haven’t been published yet due to unforeseen
delays. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Being in such a
crime hotbed means I've leant some new skills too that I’ve used in my recent
work. After my mobile phone was stolen out of my pocket whilst I was out
walking the dog with my partner, I discovered exactly how to track it down and
I managed to pinpoint it to less than a mile from where it was stolen using the
Find My Phone function on my mobile. Handily, I also found out how to remotely
access the phone's contents and transfer them to my other phone as well as how
to delete them once they're no longer useful. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Best of all, I
could lock the phone remotely and render its pre-payment SIM card totally
useless so the thief wouldn't be able to make so much as a call or a text,
effectively turning it into a lump of useless plastic. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">This knowledge
I've acquired will come in handy in years to come as I write my crime novels. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">As well as the
frustration of having my pocket picked in what I'm now calling The Incident,
the lost phone inspired me to come up with the idea of a novelized <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Phone Booth</i> for the year 2018. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In case you've
never seen it, in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Phone Booth</i> (2002)
Colin Farrell's character is passing a phone box when it rings. Foolishly he
answers it and that's when the menacing voice of Kiefer Sutherland comes over
the line and tells the unlucky guy he's got a sniper's rifle aimed at him. Oh,
and he knows all about him. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Phone boxes are
disappearing faster than sugar in soft drinks, so in this case my lead
character would find a mobile phone and being such a good Samaritan, he decides
to hand it into the local police station. Before he can make it, the phone
rings and he answers it and it soon becomes obvious that someone is watching
him and they threaten to hurt his family if he doesn't shut up and follow
orders. They don't care that he's not the man they hired. They just want
whatever clandestine task they have in mind for him done. Then he'll be off the
hook.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">But are you ever
off the hook with these kinds of people? As every crime novelist knows, the
answer's a resounding no. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">A few months ago a
man was arrested on my street for dangerous driving, whilst drunk and found
with a cache of weapons straight out of a horror flick, including a machete and
no, he didn't work in a nearby restaurant or a butchers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">What should my
next book be about? How about a main character who gets their phone stolen
during a mugging, who then goes around the city in his car looking for his attackers.
This vigilante's weapon of choice - clearly a machete.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 12pt;"><span>Inspiration as
they say is everywhere and I've now got more than my fair share.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Note - this piece first appeared in Red Herrings the magazine of the Crime Writers Association </b></span></div>
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Jennifer Lee Thomson, Jenny Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07999487852799181636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303892044395881062.post-28782469366531838822023-02-07T06:13:00.004+00:002023-02-07T06:13:50.456+00:00How Kirsty Gets Her Kicks gets the review treatment over at the fantastic Mystery People <p> <span style="font-family: georgia;">Kirsty Gets Her Kicks gets the review treatment over at the fantastic Mystery People. </span></p><div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Here's what Dot Marshall-Gent had to say - </span></div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><h3 class="post-title entry-title" data-dcy-id="0.30249243883236887" itemprop="name" style="background-color: #c0a154; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 30px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: start;">‘How Kirsty Gets Her Kicks’ by Jennifer Lee Thomson</h3><div class="post-header" style="background-color: #c0a154; color: #997755; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 12.88px; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: start;"><div class="post-header-line-1"></div></div><div class="post-body entry-content" data-dcy-id="0.9082797943269585" id="post-body-424768786042709991" itemprop="description articleBody" style="background-color: #c0a154; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.524px; line-height: 1.5; position: relative; text-align: start; width: 488.333px;"><p><b><span style="background: white; color: #002060; font-size: 14pt;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS_0cnYlcWcpCwVCO--7OlkYyzUWl7KC8IiT6s5RfprAPyIJPW4O2Axjhu8lf0jYeYG7-afEzf8VgZVvmCfVUjdcOV8iOUDkuJBhovaSZrDDTDy6rUKV4PkxHvtZTPrSiuluEDzUU_z0_C6_MyIqL01s3CeM6kbggtuaTPDx2kVQOAAeQEZdEoVDJl/s499/How%20Kirsty%20gets%20her%20kicks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; color: #cc3300; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" data-dcy-id="0.5349406236279683" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="313" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS_0cnYlcWcpCwVCO--7OlkYyzUWl7KC8IiT6s5RfprAPyIJPW4O2Axjhu8lf0jYeYG7-afEzf8VgZVvmCfVUjdcOV8iOUDkuJBhovaSZrDDTDy6rUKV4PkxHvtZTPrSiuluEDzUU_z0_C6_MyIqL01s3CeM6kbggtuaTPDx2kVQOAAeQEZdEoVDJl/s320/How%20Kirsty%20gets%20her%20kicks.jpg" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 8px; position: relative;" width="201" /></a></b></div><b><span style="color: #073763;"><span style="font-size: large;">Published by Shotgun Honey,<br />13 June 2019.<br />ISBN: 978-1-6439-6005-0</span></span><span style="color: #073763;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i> </i></span></span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b><span style="color: #073763;"><span style="font-size: large;">(PB)</span></span></b></span><i><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></i><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: 11pt;">'Wow. You took out one of McPhee’s boys with one bloody leg. Awesome.'</span></i><i><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 11pt;"></span></i><i><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></i></p><p><i><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 11pt;"></span></i><i><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" data-dcy-id="0.8205235250656577"><span data-dcy-id="0.7411100859900686" style="font-size: 11pt;">Kirsty explodes onto the opening page of this outrageous thriller as a thug makes the mistake of getting too fresh with her. She’s not the sort of woman who takes kindly to such behaviour. She <i>is</i> the sort of woman who deals out her own justice. Kirsty may be a below-knee amputee, but whatever anger she feels about her disability, she channels into her overwhelming desire to succeed in a life that has dealt her some cruel blows. Having stopped the would-be attacker in his tracks, she allows herself a moment of self-congratulation. Then, as she considers her next move, Kirsty makes the unwelcome discovery that Jamie, another member of the bar staff, saw everything. The annoying voyeur reveals that the guy she just flattened is an “enforcer” employed by their boss, Jimmy McPhee. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">McPhee is a career criminal who controls much of the illegal activity in this area of Glasgow. He has friends in high places, including the local constabulary, and enough dirt on the city’s bigwigs to ensure that his nefarious endeavours are kept well below the law’s radar. As if Jamie’s presence at the scene of her crime was not enough, it then turns out that the hapless-looking witness seems to want to join forces. This is the first of many conundrums that our anti-heroine faces in the novel but, rest assured, she’s rarely out of ideas to deal with the most impossible of situations.<br /><br />The pace of the narrative is fast and gets faster as Kirsty uses her quick mind and laudable resilience to face and overcome countless challenges that confront her as the story progresses. Her true north may be slightly off when compared with that of the average citizen, but Kirsty’s backstory is harrowing, and she can be forgiven the odd offence. Her proclivity to inflict grievous bodily harm is restricted to those who have done far, far worse. Kirsty does have a softer side which, when it shows, elicits empathy. The writing has humour too, but it’s never cosy.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" data-dcy-id="0.09133757137935183"><i><span style="font-size: 11pt;">How Kirsty Gets Her Kicks </span></i><span data-dcy-id="0.65872649442249" style="font-size: 11pt;">is a tongue-in-cheek thriller with an unbreakable and unstoppable hard-boiled protagonist taking a rip-roaring ride in a wild and wind-blown tide. If you like tough and gritty this is for you. Expect the unexpected in this adults-only novel and you’ll still be shocked. Enjoy it, I did!<br />------</span><br /><i><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Reviewer: Dot Marshall-Gent</span></i></p></div></div><div dir="ltr">Note - review is copyright (c) of Mystery People.</div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://viewbook.at/KirstyGetsHerKicks" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="313" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzz4gEY2jQeXLenIF6FsiW9Qn4-HnQ6Rwoqn2Tq7FKF7fkQcYeDFBq0Nz1lDWQkmORRR8H_wi6xtP7hMw41FMJTLubtAOsZ54QJw0fYwSnD5fSHOn8qWMFaCucSvMiZ7T7kzhmIL2QbCWWN3k_2Mxay9khhHgvZ8sLuBjVyrSg6beSl6tvwKhgWb4/s320/Kirsty%20book%20cover%202022.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">click on cover to find out more:)</div><div><span class="a-text-italic" data-dcy-id="0.873266475259932" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic !important;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span class="a-text-italic" data-dcy-id="0.873266475259932" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic !important;"><b>What's it about then?</b></span></div><div><span class="a-text-italic" data-dcy-id="0.873266475259932" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic !important;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="a-text-italic" data-dcy-id="0.873266475259932" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic !important;">A tale of skullduggery that plays out on the mean streets of Glasgow…</span><span data-dcy-id="0.6197083114883115" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />One-legged barmaid Kirsty is in a shit-load of trouble after she kills one of gangster Jimmy McPhee’s enforcers with a stiletto heel to the head after he gets a bit too handsie.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Now she’s on the run from the gang boss who loves to torture his victims before he kills them, with a safe-load of cash she stole from him and a hot gun. And she has company—a choirboy barman Jamie who just happens to be the only witness.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />She needs to survive long enough to spend the cash.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />How difficult can it be to catch a “daft wee lassie with one leg?” Glasgow hardman Jimmy McPhee is about to find out. Kirsty’s made a laughing stock out of him and he doesn’t like that one wee bit.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Bring together a one-legged barmaid who’s legged it with a safe load of dirty cash, a spurned gangster’s wife who wants a walking womb for her mail order sperm, a giant birthday cake and a mad chase to the end, and you’ve got </span><span class="a-text-italic" data-dcy-id="0.6123055802926469" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic !important;">How Kirsty Gets Her Kicks</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">: one freaking minute at a time.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Praise for HOW KIRSTY GETS HER KICKS:<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />“A high-kicking, double-barrelled, blast of grindhouse pulp.” —Paul D. Brazill, author of </span><span class="a-text-italic" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic !important;">Last Year’s Man</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />“</span><span class="a-text-italic" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic !important;">How Kirsty Gets Her Kicks</span><span data-dcy-id="0.30262952992916414" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> hits the ground running and does not let up for a single breathless second. I tore through this in one sitting, and it’s a hell of a ride filled with colourful characters and casual violence—everything I look for in crime fiction—not to mention a lead character that takes everything thrown at her and just keeps on coming. This is a great story, and Jennifer Lee Thomson is a great story-teller.” —Paul Heatley, author of </span><span class="a-text-italic" data-dcy-id="0.8310176474163253" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic !important;">Fatboy</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">, </span><span class="a-text-italic" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic !important;">Guillotine</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">, and the Eye for an Eye series</span></div><div><p class="yiv4762521348MsoNormal" data-dcy-id="0.9202542671780956" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="yiv4762521348MsoNormal" data-dcy-id="0.9202542671780956" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm;"><b>******************************************************************************************</b></p><p class="yiv4762521348MsoNormal" data-dcy-id="0.9202542671780956" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm;"><b>You can find out more about Mystery People here - </b></p><p class="yiv4762521348MsoNormal" data-dcy-id="0.9202542671780956" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "New serif";"><a href="http://www.mysterypeople.co.uk/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="color: #196ad4;" target="_blank"><span data-dcy-id="0.9604427279531011" style="color: blue;">www.mysterypeople.co.uk</span></a></span></b></p><p class="yiv4762521348MsoNormal" data-dcy-id="0.22311159748712073" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm;"><b data-dcy-id="0.8786039664026728"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "New serif";"><a href="http://www.promotingcrime.blogspot.co.uk/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="color: #196ad4;" target="_blank"><span data-dcy-id="0.39023069369249486" style="color: blue;">www.promotingcrime.blogspot.co.uk</span></a></span></b></p><p class="yiv4762521348MsoNormal" data-dcy-id="0.9516665153418737" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "New serif";"><a href="mailto:mysterypeople@outlook.com" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="color: #196ad4;" target="_blank" ymailto="mailto:mysterypeople@outlook.com"><span data-dcy-id="0.7573339992040693" style="color: blue;">mysterypeople@outlook.com</span></a></span></b></p></div>Jennifer Lee Thomson, Jenny Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07999487852799181636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303892044395881062.post-85600552895898739522022-11-27T06:56:00.002+00:002022-11-27T06:57:59.772+00:00Why my latest killer force-feeds their victims in Butcher City - Detective in a Coma Book 2 (the follow up to Vile City)<p> </p><p><br /></p><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--uP_AFD7XYI/XpIQz3lLQ4I/AAAAAAAAcRY/--GAeM6ed_QoGhbVJFvBEVwdhtwn5dYzgCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screenshot_2020-04-11-15-05-59-1-1.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;"><img border="0" data-original-height="681" data-original-width="584" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--uP_AFD7XYI/XpIQz3lLQ4I/AAAAAAAAcRY/--GAeM6ed_QoGhbVJFvBEVwdhtwn5dYzgCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screenshot_2020-04-11-15-05-59-1-1.png" width="274" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-family: times;"><br />In Butcher City the killer's victims are force-fed in a similar way<br />Suffragettes were before they're killed</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span><br /></span></span><span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Y</span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">ears ago I lived on an island. Not one of those remote Islands but one of the most accessible ones you are likely to get. One day I was walking past a local restaurant and I was shocked to see something on the menu that's so cruel the production of it is banned in my country but not the sale. </span></span><br /><span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span><span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">You can read about what happened next on my companion blog for my book Living Cruelty Free: Live a more Compassionate Life <a href="https://greatestguidetolivingcrueltyfree.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">here</a> </span></span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">That product was Foie gras which is made by ramming a metal or plastic pipe down a duck or goose's throat so their livers swell abnormally to around ten times their normal size. </span></span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br style="overflow-wrap: break-word;" />Foie gras is French and translates as fatty liver. </span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br style="overflow-wrap: break-word;" />There's never been an appetite for reversing the ban on producing it in the UK where I live because even farmers who could make money out of producing this vile 'foodstuff' find the cruelty involved too much. </span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><br /></span><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4vro1sINTog/XpIdWeTn1aI/AAAAAAAAcRs/cR48P01ttNsGCW2C7yzBwFogkdAqKsBWwCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_20180919_195609%2B%25281%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1037" data-original-width="1280" height="259" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4vro1sINTog/XpIdWeTn1aI/AAAAAAAAcRs/cR48P01ttNsGCW2C7yzBwFogkdAqKsBWwCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_20180919_195609%2B%25281%2529.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-family: times;"><br />I<span style="font-size: small;">n Butcher City, DI Waddell investigates a sinister killer who's killing<br />people and removing their livers</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br style="overflow-wrap: break-word;" />When I was writing book 2 in the Detective in a Coma series (the follow up to Vile City) I wanted to do something a bit different. Come up with a different method of murder whilst also letting people who don't know into the sick little secret of how cruel a 'food' Foie gras is. </span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">In Butcher City, my killer craves Foie gras but is so sickened by how it's obtained he decides that he'll make a human version instead. Pretty gross but as well as coming up with a more novel way to kill people, it also gives folk an insight into one of the cruellest things humans eat. </span></span><br /><span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span><span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">A food so cruel that when Scottish tennis star Andy Murray discovered what it was he banned it from being served in the hotel he owns. </span></span><br /><span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span><span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">If you want to see how it's used in <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Detective-Coma-Jennifer-Lee-Thomson-ebook/dp/B0BGQ4Z7WD" target="_blank">Butcher City</a> you can check out the book now.</span></span></span></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Detective-Coma-Jennifer-Lee-Thomson-ebook/dp/B0BGQ4Z7WD" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="311" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Xot2yROrGwpMYr9vtrXW-Lm-IrVtLO7B3lOD8CDQI2KFpzufLauzzyHKm0SfsLP-CLn_1T_g0GB51sNVxmsmVxoukOd8Dbv_ogYLnuoQ0o-54S-NDnvfGntFwliiKf2avBjf4lsJJFRp3_xSozhS7-vJGkq0lzSnwrQLoVY0R6dFdU3Nb7tBIKM/w249-h400/Butcher%20City%20cover.jpg" width="249" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><b>A killer is stalking his victims on Glasgow's streets.</b></span><br /><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><b>Men are being abducted, kept tied up for weeks and force-fed, then strangled and their livers are being removed.</b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">~from Jennifer Lee Thomson @jenthom72 and Diamond Crime~ </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">#ButcherCity Detective in a Coma Book 2 , </span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">the follow up to VILE CITY is out</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">now-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Detective-Coma-Jennifer-Lee-Thomson-ebook/dp/B0BGQ4Z7WD" target="_blank">Amazon Kindle</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Detective-Coma-Butcher-City-2/dp/1915649153" target="_blank">Amazon paperback</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><br /></span><span>#Kindle #paperback</span></span></div><span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div>Jennifer Lee Thomson, Jenny Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07999487852799181636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303892044395881062.post-65664362398498132302022-11-27T05:30:00.006+00:002022-11-27T05:59:59.240+00:00Butcher City (Detective in a Coma Book 2) - the follow up to Vile City - is available now<p> </p><h1 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.4rem; text-align: center;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: medium;"><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Detective-Coma-Butcher-City-2/dp/1915649153" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="311" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtwQK8durv7iuLfGEEzFfmkCQmPkwhqqKLxbO_obpo05T9RToiQk9YcA04E9iC4a0Qd78DXsi6oqR3IxDnNt2dDxIrUMZzcqN8r-cCxnq4ca0RhjjAYH1ic1_bs9qv7e-_bOVJhE32xu0bQrPvWlN_eGIcMKLM5TwgS_WImjqb5_ZXb4f1COyLzJo/w249-h400/Butcher%20City%20cover.jpg" width="249" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="color: black; font-weight: 400;">"Sometimes the monsters are real."</span></div></div></span></h1><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Introducing Detective In a Coma book 2 now</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">"A tough case and your partner is sleeping on the job."</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: medium;">What's it about then?</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A killer is stalking victims on Glasgow’s streets. Men are being abducted, tied up, force-fed, then strangled and their livers removed.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111; text-align: start;">DI Duncan Waddell is facing his most bizarre case yet. Meanwhile, his best friend and colleague Stevie, is comatose in Inten</span><span face=""Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111; text-align: start;">sive Care. But talking to him, and only him.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111; text-align: start;"><br /></span></div><span face=""Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111; text-align: start;"><div style="text-align: justify;">A career criminal comes forward claiming he was targeted by the killer but managed to get away.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><span face=""Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111; text-align: start;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Is this the breakthrough the team needs? Is this witness a genuine link to the disturbing madness of the case?</div></span><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">~Out now from Jennifer Lee Thomson @jenthom72 and Diamond Crime~ </span></div><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">#ButcherCity </span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">the follow up to VILE CITY</span></div></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><div style="text-align: center;">get it now-</div></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Detective-Coma-Jennifer-Lee-Thomson-ebook/dp/B0BGQ4Z7WD" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;" target="_blank">Amazon UK Kindle </a></div><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><span><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Detective-Coma-Butcher-City-2/dp/1915649153" target="_blank">Amazon UK Paperback</a></div></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">#Kindle #paperback</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWTz0xG1qsXa6rW9Xm_LcU_znQO9cnYyz8SRAw7f93Qa9a3uNEF4GnLl2m7gArL-GakVR-bmGiSpt4aKYFJ3BZQx1sMgCJEhepf9AK9yObQ6_ubOGpoY7rrrPr1OmHnPMdxmsrdkj8sjvXyNG_301NRi-kH8D05ITD_6khwY1e_w0PSb6WTK1gENBH/s960/Butcher%20City%20back%20pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="600" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWTz0xG1qsXa6rW9Xm_LcU_znQO9cnYyz8SRAw7f93Qa9a3uNEF4GnLl2m7gArL-GakVR-bmGiSpt4aKYFJ3BZQx1sMgCJEhepf9AK9yObQ6_ubOGpoY7rrrPr1OmHnPMdxmsrdkj8sjvXyNG_301NRi-kH8D05ITD_6khwY1e_w0PSb6WTK1gENBH/w400-h640/Butcher%20City%20back%20pic.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><br /></span></div></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></div>Jennifer Lee Thomson, Jenny Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07999487852799181636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303892044395881062.post-4307877093422445182022-10-01T20:54:00.017+01:002022-10-02T04:21:26.045+01:00Another review for Vile City "deliciously dark twist at the end."<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: georgia;">Vile City got the review treatment in the latest edition of Mystery People.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Here's what reviwer Dot Marshall-Gent said -</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-oh23pyRLOL_MKzdDt8GEJpZOZDZeNsNkaPoVVIsjOqe2dno0BH98vWu7OglF8XlUeXjk4w2iDU85e1UgunPPCm2ub1Ox7Jt9M3yEFnosttDmTapHKcl6rdLQMSov0I73fX2Yvbx7XZczzu-8-WwBrA9DTYmpoeQopkz13zvwO2aVQ3DMnYx2LNs/s1245/Vile%20City%20Mystery%20People%20review%20Oct%201st%202022.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="874" data-original-width="1245" height="373" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-oh23pyRLOL_MKzdDt8GEJpZOZDZeNsNkaPoVVIsjOqe2dno0BH98vWu7OglF8XlUeXjk4w2iDU85e1UgunPPCm2ub1Ox7Jt9M3yEFnosttDmTapHKcl6rdLQMSov0I73fX2Yvbx7XZczzu-8-WwBrA9DTYmpoeQopkz13zvwO2aVQ3DMnYx2LNs/w566-h373/Vile%20City%20Mystery%20People%20review%20Oct%201st%202022.png" width="566" /></a></div><br style="text-align: left;" /><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></p>Jennifer Lee Thomson, Jenny Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07999487852799181636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303892044395881062.post-39218898483312151372022-09-30T05:37:00.005+01:002022-09-30T05:37:49.309+01:00 SOLVED - Renee MacRae and her 3 year-old son get justice at last<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">SOLVED - ONE OF SCOTLAND'S MOST BAFFLING UNSOLVED MURDER CASES dating back to 1976 has now been solved. </span></p><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">In September 2022, William MacDowell, who was the man Renee MacRae had been having an affair with and allegedly meeting on the night of her death, was convicted of her murder and the killing of her 3-year-old son Andrew who was also his son. Their bodies have never been found. </span></span></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">MacDowell who tried to blame the dead woman's husband for her murder, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">was given a minimum sentence of 30 years. As he's 80 years old, he's expected to die in prison. </span></span></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Renee who was described as a devoted mum, left behind an older son. Rennies sister and the police I have called on the callous killer to reveal where the bodies are buried.</span></span></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;">Read on if you want to know more about the tragic case- </span></span></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CwrpRLAtF6Y/WT9TsL9dcYI/AAAAAAAATq0/29ok1czpYxgFb1YGQTbqOmNytcKUkDHtACLcB/s1600/Renee%2BMacrae.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CwrpRLAtF6Y/WT9TsL9dcYI/AAAAAAAATq0/29ok1czpYxgFb1YGQTbqOmNytcKUkDHtACLcB/s1600/Renee%2BMacrae.jpg" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The last picture of Renee and little Andrew</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Usually when a child goes missing they don't have either of their parents with them. But in the case of the longest open missing persons case In Britain's history, 3-year-old son Andrew was with his mother Renee MacRae when he disappeared along with her, way back in 1976.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Renee was separated from her husband Gordon and dropped her oldest son Gordon who was 9-year-old off at her husband's in <st1:place w:st="on">Inverness</st1:place>. She was meant to be going to see her sister in <st1:place w:st="on">Kilmarnock</st1:place> and she was heading that way in her BMW when she was last seen.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WAQK3DPvbx0/WT9UwqN0ioI/AAAAAAAATrA/0GEd4_cqHj0_yPLuqdX4yweMArGFdtY1QCLcB/s1600/burning%2Bcar.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="212" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WAQK3DPvbx0/WT9UwqN0ioI/AAAAAAAATrA/0GEd4_cqHj0_yPLuqdX4yweMArGFdtY1QCLcB/s320/burning%2Bcar.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><b>The burning car</b></span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">12 miles away that very same night, a train driver spotted a burning car in an isolated lay-by. It turned out to be Renee MacRae's car.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">No trace of either her or the little boy was found. All that police found was a rug stained with blood that was tested and matched MacRae's blood type.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><b>What happened to Renee and little Andrew?</b></span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">So, how did a car carrying a mother and her child end up on fire and more importantly, where were Renee and little Andrew? Despite an intensive search no trace of either them was ever found.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><b>The Sightings</b></span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Witnesses spotted a man dragging what looked like a dead sheep along the road where the mother and child were last spotted driving along. Renee MacRae was wearing a sheepskin coat when she was last seen.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Other witnesses saw a man with a pushchair near the quarry. Could it have been the little boy's?</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8Th_vjkd_Ek/WT9VbIk2WKI/AAAAAAAATrI/zJdYgq5aXzonvwMjjHpGX0y5QM6t5HVUgCLcB/s1600/qyestion%2Bmark.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="230" data-original-width="219" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8Th_vjkd_Ek/WT9VbIk2WKI/AAAAAAAATrI/zJdYgq5aXzonvwMjjHpGX0y5QM6t5HVUgCLcB/s200/qyestion%2Bmark.jpg" width="190" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><b>The Theories</b></span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">Unbeknown to her husband Renee had been having an affair with a married man called Bill MacDowell who worked for her husband. According to Renee's best friend she'd been going to see him that night and not her sister as she claimed. </span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">What's more she confided in her friend that wee Andrew was her lover's son. This friend claimed that Renee was planning to start a new life with her lover.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">If that was true, Renee never got the chance of happiness. Her little boy never got the chance to enjoy his childhood.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Whatever happened to the pair that night it seems certain that they were murdered. Will their bodies ever be found so they can rest in peace?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><b>Some hope</b></span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The man in charge of the search, Detective Sergeant Cathcart was convinced he'd found Renee and Andrew in a quarry after removing the topsoil and being hit with the stench of what he believed to be corpses. He hired a bulldozer, but was ordered to stop digging by a senior officer because the vehicle had to go back to the contractors due to lack of money.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Over twenty years later, the quarry was dug up again but there were no sign of any bodies. Had they been removed? We'll never know.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8s6hK2nbcvA/WT9UL5Ir7wI/AAAAAAAATq4/1wXZZSBUPZwYUonSKYcL7HSzpuetLlO2QCLcB/s1600/road%2Bsign%2Bon%2Bthe%2BPerth%2Bto%2BInverness%2BA9%2Broad_.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="372" data-original-width="620" height="192" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8s6hK2nbcvA/WT9UL5Ir7wI/AAAAAAAATq4/1wXZZSBUPZwYUonSKYcL7HSzpuetLlO2QCLcB/s320/road%2Bsign%2Bon%2Bthe%2BPerth%2Bto%2BInverness%2BA9%2Broad_.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Could the tragic pair be buried beneath this motorway?</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><b>The prime suspect</b></span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Bill MacDowell, Renee's lover was the main person of interest. At one stage he went into a police station to make a statement, but was dragged out by his wife.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Had he been about to confess? He denied any involvement in Renee and Andrew's murder.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The prevailing theory appears to be that mother and child were killed and buried under the A9 motorway that was being upgraded. If that is this case, maybe one day future roadworks will give all unearth the tragic pair.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Update -</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span>See "Suspect in MacRae case fled to US <a href="http://www.scotsman.com/news/suspect-in-macrae-case-fled-to-the-us-1-4383307">http://www.scotsman.com/news/suspect-in-macrae-case-fled-to-the-us-1-4383307</a></span><br /><br />UPDATE - On September 2019 a 77-year-old man later named as William MacDowell was charged with the murders of Renee and little Andrew. MacDowell is allegedly the man Renee was having an affair with and who she was meant to be travelling to meet on the fateful night she went missing. There were rumours he was little Andrew's biological father.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>Jennifer Lee Thomson, Jenny Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07999487852799181636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303892044395881062.post-47795122131877103892022-09-19T17:56:00.003+01:002022-09-19T17:56:52.087+01:00"The contrasting viewpoints create a plot that is fast, forceful, and absorbing" - Vile City review from Dot Marshall-Gent <p style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;">A new review for Vile City on</span><span style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;"> </span><a href="https://promotingcrime.blogspot.com/2022/09/detective-in-coma-vile-city-by-jennifer.html" style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;" target="_blank">Promoting Crime</a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">"the writer creates two intriguing characters who often defy readers’ expectations."</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><h2 class="date-header" style="background-color: #c0a154; color: #997755; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; min-height: 0px; position: relative;"><span data-dcy-id="0.2057085229403981">Thursday, 15 September 2022</span></h2><div class="date-posts" style="background-color: #c0a154; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 12.88px;"><div class="post-outer" data-dcy-id="0.9294360976578775" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("https://resources.blogblog.com/blogblog/data/1kt/watermark/post_background_birds.png") left top repeat scroll transparent; border: 1px dotted rgb(204, 187, 153); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 0px 0px 0px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 15px 20px;"><div class="post hentry uncustomized-post-template" data-dcy-id="0.39020600445286946" itemprop="blogPost" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="http://schema.org/BlogPosting" style="min-height: 0px; position: relative;"><a name="2001465462947040003"></a><h3 class="post-title entry-title" data-dcy-id="0.21402128922862396" itemprop="name" style="font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 30px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; position: relative;">‘Detective in a Coma: Vile City’ by Jennifer Lee Thomson</h3><div class="post-header" style="color: #997755; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 1em;"><div class="post-header-line-1"></div></div><div class="post-body entry-content" data-dcy-id="0.39612938810312937" id="post-body-2001465462947040003" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 13.524px; line-height: 1.5; position: relative; width: 488.021px;"><p><b><span style="background: white; color: #002060; font-size: 14pt;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYSWtI-zATjWJr6iBD44qGT3MdKLraFuyaMjlxzQ8H48jzLk4ki39a3wFP2kLo8KjM7XzRQJGv5pph0mMB9tFKc7DRxnflTugEG0bkb8Q2vx-QXwhzR-l6t6CtkuTis4g8J6mhZJA-xB8h9h9Y4k_0p5suZE9FtDnGsjdo6iHqOgm0uoF9_3z28mqY/s1024/Detective-in-a-Coma-Front-Cover.jpg" style="clear: left; color: #cc3300; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" data-dcy-id="0.8328235537837836" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="641" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYSWtI-zATjWJr6iBD44qGT3MdKLraFuyaMjlxzQ8H48jzLk4ki39a3wFP2kLo8KjM7XzRQJGv5pph0mMB9tFKc7DRxnflTugEG0bkb8Q2vx-QXwhzR-l6t6CtkuTis4g8J6mhZJA-xB8h9h9Y4k_0p5suZE9FtDnGsjdo6iHqOgm0uoF9_3z28mqY/s320/Detective-in-a-Coma-Front-Cover.jpg" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 8px; position: relative;" width="200" /></a></b></div><b><span style="color: #073763;"><span data-dcy-id="0.9723115643686844" style="font-size: large;">Published by Diamond Books Ltd,<br />24 November 2021.<br /></span></span></b><span style="color: #073763;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>ISBN: 978-1-83840268-6 (PB)</b></span></span><p></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" data-dcy-id="0.7353236245071038"><span data-dcy-id="0.5658952759066456" style="font-size: 11pt;">When Detective Sergeant Stevie Campbell is assaulted on duty, he cheats death, but only just, and whilst he languishes in hospital, DS Brian McKeith has taken his place on Detective Inspector Waddell’s team. McKeith has yet to impress his new boss who is wading through the in-tray from Hell that includes a spate of robberies as well as two missing women. To make matters worse, the new DS has just informed Waddell that another woman has disappeared. This time, however, there is a witness. Shelley’s boyfriend was also attacked, and the detectives are hoping that he might be able to give them a lead.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span data-dcy-id="0.2389559828671286" style="font-size: 11pt;">The third person narrative moves primarily between the perspectives of Waddell and Shelley, though other points of view are also related. This juxtaposition creates an almost cinematographic feel to the story as it flips from the police investigation to the description of the imprisoned woman. Waddell’s team must first determine whether there is a link between the women who have disappeared. Shelley on the other hand does not wait for the cavalry to arrive and makes a series of valiant attempts to escape her captives. By foregrounding these two points of view, the writer creates two intriguing characters who often defy readers’ expectations.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">The contrasting viewpoints create a plot that is fast, forceful, and absorbing. There are several scenes of brutality and some graphic depictions of sex trafficking, that are hard to read. Crucially, though, the writer has provided female characters who are combative and resourceful. There are also moments of poignancy. For example, when Waddell visits Stevie in hospital he is clearly traumatised to see his erstwhile partner’s condition; sometimes he believes he is conversing with his old pal, and this causes him to doubt his sanity. Similarly, Shelley’s valiant attempts to escape provoke empathy as well as admiration.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><i>Detective in a Coma: Vile City</i> is a tough Scottish thriller that explores the appalling trade in human beings. It also examines how resilience and determination can carry us through the worst of times. If gritty crime is your thing, you’ll enjoy this book. I did, particularly the deliciously, dark twist at the end.<br />------</span><br /><i><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Reviewer: Dot Marshall-Gent</span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM9cCTh1NbcLCp0yjTFTkHaaF8lZx77So8FSaw3F8EpSx4ZsEpENYCFZxhOk9YZESNbh-wmta4C4VqaxCyzG_bFH78rEFv6iB77cSU3S7UmXvux7TpTnZ2pDexPTmn_KfEk_eisAUiG9-3Her7WRDHBWFFDw6D86ZEB0B6XuPTDiTf1SgtDyb-IrLF/s255/Jennifer%20Lee%20Thomson-Colour.jpg" style="clear: left; color: #cc3300; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" data-original-height="255" data-original-width="222" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM9cCTh1NbcLCp0yjTFTkHaaF8lZx77So8FSaw3F8EpSx4ZsEpENYCFZxhOk9YZESNbh-wmta4C4VqaxCyzG_bFH78rEFv6iB77cSU3S7UmXvux7TpTnZ2pDexPTmn_KfEk_eisAUiG9-3Her7WRDHBWFFDw6D86ZEB0B6XuPTDiTf1SgtDyb-IrLF/w142-h152/Jennifer%20Lee%20Thomson-Colour.jpg" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 8px; position: relative;" width="142" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color: red; font-size: 14pt;">Jennifer Lee Thomson</span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> is an award-winning crime writer who has been scribbling away all her life. She also writes as Jenny Thomson and is an animal and human rights advocate.</span></p><span lang="EN-US"></span><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color: red; font-size: 14pt;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1uz3QaHHxR1lrcXMOLvLg4H2F6a3ntE1b7jJhXl8muK6E9GXIbAgIC12yJhfpeL1G4Gp9cFPn4j1_KV2Vw4s8HlgNgU_qhb3YLWZyitOAvh5YCyggb89T7T_DfmZbP_QwXEeSiL4ADW7G7hr1ugfvDkVIAYKbg8U3VtbTo7U19qaKq17OC7mD2L_q/s200/dorothy.marshall-gent.jpeg" style="clear: left; color: #cc3300; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" height="145" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1uz3QaHHxR1lrcXMOLvLg4H2F6a3ntE1b7jJhXl8muK6E9GXIbAgIC12yJhfpeL1G4Gp9cFPn4j1_KV2Vw4s8HlgNgU_qhb3YLWZyitOAvh5YCyggb89T7T_DfmZbP_QwXEeSiL4ADW7G7hr1ugfvDkVIAYKbg8U3VtbTo7U19qaKq17OC7mD2L_q/w144-h145/dorothy.marshall-gent.jpeg" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 8px; position: relative;" width="144" /></a></b></div><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Dot Marshall-Gent</b></span></span> <span data-dcy-id="0.8270727722861286" style="font-size: 11pt;">worked in the emergency services for twenty years first as a police officer, then as a paramedic and finally as a fire control officer before graduating from King’s College, London as a teacher of English in her mid-forties. She completed a M.A. in Special and Inclusive Education at the Institute of Education, London and now teaches part-time and writes mainly about educational issues. Dot sings jazz and country music and plays guitar, banjo and piano as well as being addicted to reading mystery and crime fiction. </span></div></div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Thanks to Mystery People and Dot Marshall-Gent. You can check out the Mystery People website <a href="https://www.mysterypeople.co.uk/" target="_blank">here</a></span><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.mysterypeople.co.uk/" target="_blank"><br /></a></span><br /><p><br /></p></div>Jennifer Lee Thomson, Jenny Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07999487852799181636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303892044395881062.post-56275363313656899802022-09-18T06:16:00.000+01:002022-09-18T06:16:39.300+01:005 things telenovelas can teach you about writing <p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi7eLLupdQx5svtFL8C0kqZRGr4Enjf5YlKcnhptYQTZweV3kVIGGzol3V2Ohaolp6HR5cNUAp9fRktvB1bJu8Mpf_7CC1gL9GKg4KjRq0oM1p-Gft5wjlPMYz1lEwxZJeJuefVq8aHbjpfMM9kQfuLTrMrieHJO4ql7jPLhEKTB0WYNYRjsQBlL8I" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img data-original-height="700" data-original-width="1400" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi7eLLupdQx5svtFL8C0kqZRGr4Enjf5YlKcnhptYQTZweV3kVIGGzol3V2Ohaolp6HR5cNUAp9fRktvB1bJu8Mpf_7CC1gL9GKg4KjRq0oM1p-Gft5wjlPMYz1lEwxZJeJuefVq8aHbjpfMM9kQfuLTrMrieHJO4ql7jPLhEKTB0WYNYRjsQBlL8I=w400-h200" title="Kate del Castillo the Queen of telenovelas" width="400" /></a></p><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Kate del Castillo the Queen of telenovelas </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">(Photo (c) Netflix)</span></div><p></p><div data-dcy-id="0.10193866118022288" dir="auto"><span data-dcy-id="0.621141755861556" face="tahoma, sans-serif">I came across some telenovelas on Netflix - and now I'm hooked. </span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.9884843051232828" dir="auto"><span data-dcy-id="0.5457150986710306" face="tahoma, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.9750139233253501" dir="auto"><span data-dcy-id="0.36366364293564923" face="tahoma, sans-serif">In case you don't know what a telenovela is, it combines the words television and novel for good reason. A telenovela is a serial drama mainly made in Latin America so usually in Spanish. Usually there's a hint of soap opera about them and they are very dramatic. </span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.6583305899181857" dir="auto"><span data-dcy-id="0.5457150986710306" face="tahoma, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.8679458324495675" dir="auto"><span data-dcy-id="0.26851296124316026" face="tahoma, sans-serif">My favourites so far have been Ingobernable (starring Kate del Castillo the Queen of telenovelas as the </span><span data-dcy-id="0.14082690177625912" face="tahoma, sans-serif">First Lady of Mexico), La Reina del Sur (the English language version is Queen of the South and it's about Teresa Mendoza who goes from grieving woman to drug lord - also played by Kate del Castillo) and The Marked Heart (A woman who's given the heart of a young mother who is murdered for her organs becomes part of her reluctant donor's family life). </span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.4179956589580389" dir="auto"><span face="tahoma, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.0801948584925114" dir="auto"><span data-dcy-id="0.3094907104164166" face="tahoma, sans-serif">Watching them isn't just entertaining, it's also taught me a few things about writing - </span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.0801948584925114" dir="auto"><span data-dcy-id="0.3094907104164166" face="tahoma, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.0801948584925114" dir="auto"><span data-dcy-id="0.3094907104164166" face="tahoma, sans-serif"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjFHIiA6QMV-YpeoYP_ZQRzEW2YunsXnwnJY-L7ZWK0o8Z1G7HFrG1qYi_ujLggjgmojzNa-dCjowlxNiO8xQcuJHb03gDBwq6xBys9scm8hLZFSG9qMTi9lJjaAds4CoGr9XtTBkiCx1w6igppY4EUGPKginfSFktH4xOrPEto7lBc8yowbHFZW5M" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="360" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjFHIiA6QMV-YpeoYP_ZQRzEW2YunsXnwnJY-L7ZWK0o8Z1G7HFrG1qYi_ujLggjgmojzNa-dCjowlxNiO8xQcuJHb03gDBwq6xBys9scm8hLZFSG9qMTi9lJjaAds4CoGr9XtTBkiCx1w6igppY4EUGPKginfSFktH4xOrPEto7lBc8yowbHFZW5M" width="240" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Telenovelas have lots of "WOW" moments </div><br /></span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.09095428453912224" dir="auto"><span face="tahoma, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.9726654122147349" dir="auto"><span data-dcy-id="0.22087629111420726" face="tahoma, sans-serif">1. How to keep people interested by using twists and turns - telenovelas seem to have a twist every 5-minutes. There is never a dull moment. If a telenovela was a book you would never put it down. At least not because you were bored. </span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.37081328358672705" dir="auto"><span face="tahoma, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.5449902229654393" dir="auto"><span data-dcy-id="0.48574494719167793" face="tahoma, sans-serif">2. Having lots of characters isn't necessarily a bad thing - when it comes to the plot it gives you much more room for manoeuvre. Characters that seem like peripheral ones at the start can be given more of a storyline that can be just as good as the main storyline. Many characters means lots of threads to pull. Lots of subplots. </span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.5449902229654393" dir="auto"><span data-dcy-id="0.48574494719167793" face="tahoma, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.5449902229654393" dir="auto"><span data-dcy-id="0.48574494719167793" face="tahoma, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.4560672097407934" dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: tahoma, sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjPQpuW8yrZ4_79Rxp2FHZuNtC1ZTuM2hDycFbGehhHCbOjW0ylprGtYthdzd4D7zKQwnBoAw7mZCPmv8YEKFFin7XxXoXkxfOxXdOA6GJLqLTwnvP-RZDwNG8B0mSD4fIf7t3HW8zPFvcdnOId8ETIFo_7CFmT1eN6Or_NlCd-PtYV1gPV5TUxC3E" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjPQpuW8yrZ4_79Rxp2FHZuNtC1ZTuM2hDycFbGehhHCbOjW0ylprGtYthdzd4D7zKQwnBoAw7mZCPmv8YEKFFin7XxXoXkxfOxXdOA6GJLqLTwnvP-RZDwNG8B0mSD4fIf7t3HW8zPFvcdnOId8ETIFo_7CFmT1eN6Or_NlCd-PtYV1gPV5TUxC3E" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: tahoma, sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Too much telling not showing in dialogue</span></div><br /></div><div data-dcy-id="0.3001295761196068" dir="auto"><span data-dcy-id="0.5624860404347127" face="tahoma, sans-serif">3. How not to write dialogue - one thing that's very noticeable about telenovelas is the use (or should that be abuse?) of information dumping in dialogue.</span><br /></div><div data-dcy-id="0.10314635959436047" dir="auto"><span data-dcy-id="0.5080496558341272" face="tahoma, sans-serif">Example - "I know that you found the letter in the jewellery box and read it and found out about me stealing the baby from the woman who lived downstairs."</span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.9218669662572516" dir="auto"><span data-dcy-id="0.49243374440154186" face="tahoma, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.9218669662572516" dir="auto"><span data-dcy-id="0.49243374440154186" face="tahoma, sans-serif"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhyZ3-Lg7JHE1aFpVxExGOCeUZqObHk4VfjVCdaMX-l6vlusDyoYdycJSpWv3JiksW3DNmzPqhfvWjVTyIJ1qWek86BNcggdY54XmPOAEE3ELRJMRmHThHhhP88aSS4shviGsA-XfNxHtDHVv1YAZB2uJhqZwiEiAMS6nj03SjpK3KyfSXS1obwDOY" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="560" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhyZ3-Lg7JHE1aFpVxExGOCeUZqObHk4VfjVCdaMX-l6vlusDyoYdycJSpWv3JiksW3DNmzPqhfvWjVTyIJ1qWek86BNcggdY54XmPOAEE3ELRJMRmHThHhhP88aSS4shviGsA-XfNxHtDHVv1YAZB2uJhqZwiEiAMS6nj03SjpK3KyfSXS1obwDOY" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Give your big reveals time to breathe</div></span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.9218669662572516" dir="auto"><span data-dcy-id="0.49243374440154186" face="tahoma, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.9596991286741294"><span data-dcy-id="0.9495650832739717" face="tahoma, sans-serif">4. Give your big reveals time to breathe - they don't tend to do this in telenovellas which often means the big "WOW" moment you get is so fast you don't get to savour it. When writing your novel, give readers the chance to think, "WOW, I didn't see that coming" and to react to their surprise and absorb what it means for the story. </span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.40741002590504016"><span data-dcy-id="0.8915344392192881" face="tahoma, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div data-dcy-id="0.055839044188239484"><span data-dcy-id="0.7357094629267329" face="tahoma, sans-serif">5. Think about the music that would accompany the scenes in your novel - Telenovelas make use of music to illustrate what's happening in the story very well. </span></div>Jennifer Lee Thomson, Jenny Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07999487852799181636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303892044395881062.post-20265019672281122472022-03-23T05:00:00.000+00:002022-03-23T06:37:04.826+00:00What happens after abducted Shelley Craig wakes up in Vile City<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal"><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><strong style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #444340; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></strong><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kbDDYsDSbAo/WUCKPPuSVxI/AAAAAAAATsI/6SZCbLVxv3osa72iozzMJMIpvPY9Q_MFQCLcBGAs/s1600/unconsciousbfquote.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kbDDYsDSbAo/WUCKPPuSVxI/AAAAAAAATsI/6SZCbLVxv3osa72iozzMJMIpvPY9Q_MFQCLcBGAs/s320/unconsciousbfquote.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_kuJL7JQ0BQ/WUCLxlPtATI/AAAAAAAATsU/HRhVOdCOyRQHtSzYFBa_PL4Nng5iMOESQCLcBGAs/s1600/Vile%2BCity%2Btwitter%2Bpic.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="1024" height="160" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_kuJL7JQ0BQ/WUCLxlPtATI/AAAAAAAATsU/HRhVOdCOyRQHtSzYFBa_PL4Nng5iMOESQCLcBGAs/s320/Vile%2BCity%2Btwitter%2Bpic.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><b>What happens after Shelley Craig wakes up in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Vile</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">City after she's been abducted and her boyfriend left for dead</st1:placetype></st1:place>? </b></span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><b><br /></b></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><b>Here's an extract -</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div></div><span style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;">When Shelley came to, her throat was raw. Water. She needed water. With one hand, she groped for the glass she always kept on the bedside table.</span><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;">Damn, it wasn’t there. Must have moved it.</span><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;">She pulled herself into a sitting position. When she moved her head it was as though a part had broken off inside. She flopped back down. What had she done last night to get into this state? She hadn’t changed out of her work clothes; she was wearing her work trousers that pinched at her calves because Stuart hadn’t noticed the ‘dry clean only’ label and they’d shrunk in the wash.</span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;">Trying to dredge up the last thing she remembered made her head hurt. Her disorientation wasn’t helped by being unable to see properly because her eyes were stuck together by the glue of sleep. She must have forgotten to take her contact lenses out.</span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;">Wherever she was, it wasn’t at home. She was lying too low down and the place smelt of unwashed laundry and mould.</span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;">Maybe she was sleeping on some pal’s floor after one cocktail too many. That had to be it. Think, damn it, think.</span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;">When some light permeated the darkness, the jolt it gave her was a bolt of electricity to her brain.</span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;">Stuart. He’d been attacked. Was he okay?</span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;">A sob wracked her body as she forced herself to sit up. This wasn’t the time to get hysterical. She could do that later when she was safely at home.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;">She rubbed her eyes with her fingers, picking away the sleep until she could see clearly. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;">She was on a bare mattress on top of a rusty old bed frame, in a strange room with torn wallpaper and flaking paint on the wall. The bed creaked whenever she moved and she wanted to tell it to shut the hell up. She didn’t want him to hear.</span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;">She remembered his voice in her ear, saying he’d kill Stuart unless she cooperated. Had he hurt him? That thought made her sob.</span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;">He’d know she was awake and then what would he do – rape her? She didn’t think he’d done it already. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;">Surely, she’d be able to tell, wouldn’t she?</span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">***TO BE CONTINUED***</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="http://viewbook.at/VileCity-Coma_1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="146" data-original-width="88" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTF5f8YxGxDq2KyR1KT32aRm8XMf567tfxyEKZv2_l-9fVhR_m0YG-DxR_VHRbT2PC1gjAyg0O0A-4nZEzDFHYxClOKx_bjqo5jgTvzl9y4D5maWPrFXdlYtxchVBexeZrt-DWR9EjZFwoLPBkjpzInuvqsiPw5BeVWmJfTkmTI_nCUxk5EpIWl38/w164-h222/smaller%20vile%20city%20cover%202021.jpg" width="164" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br />------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Vile</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">City</st1:placetype></st1:place> is available now </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Amazon <st1:country-region w:st="on">UK</st1:country-region> </span><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Detective-Coma-Jennifer-Lee-Thomson-ebook/dp/B09M3YNLL2" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.co.uk/<wbr></wbr>Detective-Coma-Jennifer-Lee-<wbr></wbr>Thomson-ebook/dp/B09M3YNLL2</a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Amazon .com </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Detective-Coma-Jennifer-Lee-Thomson-ebook/dp/B09M3YNLL2" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/<wbr></wbr>Detective-Coma-Jennifer-Lee-<wbr></wbr>Thomson-ebook/dp/B09M3YNLL2</a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Amazon <st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region> </span><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Detective-Coma-Jennifer-Lee-Thomson-ebook/dp/B09M3YNLL2" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.can/<wbr></wbr>Detective-Coma-Jennifer-Lee-<wbr></wbr>Thomson-ebook/dp/B09M3YNLL2</a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Amazon <st1:country-region w:st="on">Australia</st1:country-region> </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Detective-Coma-Jennifer-Lee-Thomson-ebook/dp/B09M3YNLL2" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com.au/<wbr></wbr>Detective-Coma-Jennifer-Lee-<wbr></wbr>Thomson-ebook/dp/B09M3YNLL2</a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div></div></div></div></div>
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Jennifer Lee Thomson, Jenny Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07999487852799181636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303892044395881062.post-22151148541596307112022-03-17T05:18:00.005+00:002022-03-17T05:47:48.358+00:00the book trailer for Vile City<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgMn340PG3vqO5r95mUBEMMb1nPzkqpwQ0M1SDp03WNx3eqA2mh--o7pOkeb_zWdg8wEGeCSrcP_JTeapq-h607fNQPnKOrWAm8JZkh4rJ_iT2J97nPswWt_aXnz45Am_t0erLLPyN-RS4ZrqJp2EDc7LliYasEaAJNqVQDVDwL-VLNOUxXNLdN7hcU=s2560" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Vile City crime scene" border="0" data-original-height="1921" data-original-width="2560" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgMn340PG3vqO5r95mUBEMMb1nPzkqpwQ0M1SDp03WNx3eqA2mh--o7pOkeb_zWdg8wEGeCSrcP_JTeapq-h607fNQPnKOrWAm8JZkh4rJ_iT2J97nPswWt_aXnz45Am_t0erLLPyN-RS4ZrqJp2EDc7LliYasEaAJNqVQDVDwL-VLNOUxXNLdN7hcU=w320-h240" title="Vile City crime scene" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: center;"><span face="sans-serif">Vile City crime scene</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span face="sans-serif">I</span><span face="sans-serif">t ain't Spielberg. </span></span></p><p><span face="sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">It isn't even a 5 year old with a mobile phone. </span></p><p><span face="sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Here's the book trailer for Vile City. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxoUlOlossQ_TQBVomeBSRy_vhcmO2EC4APv83ZAmphc6VnOhHs-Y1yf57Ty1qjZ73a4VLgq5l06OLMAdYkcg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><span face="sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><div dir="auto" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Read it and help abducted Shelly get home. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Vile City is available now, just click <a href="http://viewbook.at/VileCity-Coma_1" target="_blank">here </a></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">#Glasgow</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">#crime</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">#thriller</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">#bookTok </span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">@diamond_crime </span></div>Jennifer Lee Thomson, Jenny Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07999487852799181636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303892044395881062.post-8062939537047017862022-03-01T06:30:00.009+00:002022-03-01T06:30:00.172+00:00"intriguing and hard-hitting story that gets dark and gritty in places but tickles my funny bone" - Sharon Beyond Books - Vile City Review<p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Writers love reviews. Each is a gift. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Here's one for Vile City (Detective in a Coma Book 1) from <b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><a href="https://twitter.com/ShazzieRimmel">@ShazzieRimmel</a> at </span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://t.co/HcmMeNAobw" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">https://sharonbeyondthebooks.wordpress.com/2022/02/23/jennifer-lee-thomson-detective-in-a-coma-volume-one-vile-city/</a><b> </b>who took part in my blog tour. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Thanks, Sharon. You made a writer smile today😀</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Book 2 in the series that was once called Cannibal City will be out soon under the new name of Butcher City. Also from Diamond Books. You can see more of their titles at <a href="https://diamondbooks.co.uk/library/">https://diamondbooks.co.uk/library/</a> and on Twitter @diamond_crime</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiansPQpIl4dOgwoYagBb3TxmpyrSxF6PVJ6OKhc5Xbngx3LGt0lX4phO5urDsYDp0IonypGDtT_-9j51d6aQeWe8KQWy3a7jFA53_65IvHUotF46aHMSuN2ZnDyxagTZQOlzckFeI-StMERt4mtEYfpntvUiR0Qwnsl94UjgZuibx-YG0OnY96Q89G=s1280" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="936" data-original-width="1280" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiansPQpIl4dOgwoYagBb3TxmpyrSxF6PVJ6OKhc5Xbngx3LGt0lX4phO5urDsYDp0IonypGDtT_-9j51d6aQeWe8KQWy3a7jFA53_65IvHUotF46aHMSuN2ZnDyxagTZQOlzckFeI-StMERt4mtEYfpntvUiR0Qwnsl94UjgZuibx-YG0OnY96Q89G=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br /><b><br /></b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Imagine my
surprise. I am invited to a blog tour of a book by an author. I recognise, go
to check everything out and discover I have read the second book already AND
loved it! Well, that made this book a pleasure to read, and I was super happy
to have the first book to read as well.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">I do like a bit of
Scottish crime writing and feel the standard is set high, too. This is an
intense, multi layered, fast-paced story. Jennifer Lee Thomson keeps you on the
edge of your seat through. As you think you have got it cracked, she cranks it
up again and blows everything out of the water.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">I was glad to be
able to feel like I knew DI Duncan Waddell. His partner is in a coma, and
Waddell thinks he is talking to him. It was great to delve into this book, as
it felt like I was getting to know more of the DI’s background. The
issues that are handled in the book incorporate the sex trafficking trade and
the demeaning and horrific acts that are inflicted upon the women.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Even with the heavy
subjects that this book deals with, Jennifer Lee Thomson has balanced it out
with humour and strong women throughout the story. It is an intriguing and
hard-hitting story that gets dark and gritty in places but tickles my
funny bone, too. The detective in a coma for me plays a large part in Waddell’s
life. The fact that I have already read Cannibal City gives me a sort of
insight to Waddell and Campbell that some won’t have.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">A brilliant start
to a series that I know I enjoy so much. Anyone who loves a dark, gritty, but
funny too series!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 16px;">You can read an extract</span><a href="https://ramblingsofafrustratedcrimewriter.blogspot.com/2021/11/who-took-office-worker-shelley-craig.html" style="font-size: 16px;" target="_blank"> here </a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Buy it on Amazon <a href="http://viewbook.at/VileCity-Coma_1" target="_blank">here</a></span></p></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="text-align: left;">Book 2 in the series that was once called Cannibal City will be out soon under the new name of Butcher City. Also from Diamond Books. </span></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="text-align: left;">You can see more of their titles at </span><a href="https://diamondbooks.co.uk/library/" style="text-align: left;">https://diamondbooks.co.uk/library/</a><span style="text-align: left;"> and on Twitter @diamond_crime</span></span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>Jennifer Lee Thomson, Jenny Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07999487852799181636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303892044395881062.post-30275605299850058262022-02-28T06:22:00.001+00:002022-02-28T06:22:11.820+00:00Who'd live with a writer? We're all nuts. <p> This piece was first published in Red Herrings, the Crime Writers Association @the_cwa in the March 2022 issue:)</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Who’d live with a writer? – We’re all nuts<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>By<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Jennifer Lee Thomson</b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">"For goodness’ sake. Where have you been? I'm freezing out here."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I flash my partner of over 20 years a wry smile. "Sorry, I had a chapter to finish. I wasn't long, was I?"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">He takes a sharp intake of breath and breathes the air out his nose like a raging bull. "Of course you bloody were. What else would you be doing for 20 minutes, in the public toilets as I stand out in the snow shrivelling and shivering."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I fight back the desire to congratulate him on his fine alliteration but think better of it. I've stretched his patience already. He's a rubber band about to snap.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">We're meant to be on a Christmas shopping trip. He'd envisioned being warm inside a shopping centre drinking a cup of hot chocolate with a touch of ginger and eating a cinnamon bun, reading his paper as I went round the shops. Not standing outside in the snow.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">We hadn't even made it to the shopping centre before inspiration had struck and I used the excuse of going to the toilets to get it down on my phone.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">That's the trouble with living with a writer. There's a lot of standing around waiting as they finish that last sentence, that last paragraph, that last chapter.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">"Just give me a few moments. I need to do this now." Those are probably the two phrases I use more than any other.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Who in their right mind would want to live with a writer?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">We're an annoying bunch. We're a slave to our writing. When we're deep into it, we wouldn't notice if the house was burning down.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Our life is all about deadlines. The deadlines we are given and the ones we set for ourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Our writing is a time stealer - thieving huge chunks from family and friends.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In my case, I'm always asking stupid questions seeking the male point of view.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The questions we ask are completely insane. And if we weren't writers we would probably be reported to the police or the anti-terrorism unit.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Questions like would curling tongs on a man's bits hurt and can you get rid of a whole body in a wood chipper?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">There isn't a piece of paper or a notebook that's not written on in our homes. We devour paper like termites. And at least in my case I'm told I horde all the pens. Well, how else do I make sure I always have one (or six) at hand?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Let's salute them; those who live with writers. Mentioning them in the acknowledgements of our latest book or article isn't much of a reward for all that they do.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Just ask my other half who has spent far too long standing outside different establishments whilst I finish the last line.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: georgia;">BIO<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Jennifer is the author of several books including fiction and non-fiction. Her most recent books are the pulpy crime fiction novella How Kirsty gets her Kicks from Shotgun Honey and Vile City (Detective in a coma book 1) from Diamond Books.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In Vile City, DI Duncan Waddell thinks he’s losing his mind when his best friend and colleague Stevie Campbell who’s in a coma starts to talking to him. But only Waddell can hear him.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Twitter @jenthom72<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Blog https://ramblingsofafrustratedcrimewriter.blogspot.com/<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgns-uCC-nBLyTl__ypFEEQzwdmD-cApSjapTbl2NUKtEuv-eWWBB9pj_3IuPeZfdlGd6MO0JGThYzMg6OCFdJwecc6lbBwRJCaDaZlgmdTpRAwMJryQldFfDqeo6a2QPtsR8CmKHwOdLUAfJXipaHNOWuYSkGn5d_K9Egfs9DZ9qLlg10CytqTlpY" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="225" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgns-uCC-nBLyTl__ypFEEQzwdmD-cApSjapTbl2NUKtEuv-eWWBB9pj_3IuPeZfdlGd6MO0JGThYzMg6OCFdJwecc6lbBwRJCaDaZlgmdTpRAwMJryQldFfDqeo6a2QPtsR8CmKHwOdLUAfJXipaHNOWuYSkGn5d_K9Egfs9DZ9qLlg10CytqTlpY" width="240" /></a></span></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: georgia;">You can visit their website at </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://thecwa.co.uk/">https://thecwa.co.uk/</a></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Happy crime reading, viewing and or watching. </span></o:p></p><p><br /></p>Jennifer Lee Thomson, Jenny Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07999487852799181636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303892044395881062.post-22164742436043626642022-02-22T21:18:00.042+00:002022-03-02T21:48:42.454+00:00Vile City blog tour on Instagram at Midnight Angel Book Heaven <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiDs0imCrUovpOXB4-ozg78kLPlnJPiNeWS1dygsjd9OxFo9mmhRus2cWl-1LNFsFJ-FS1p4GMOXz2zAQRsiZrhxAus0tSnPpG4DxiEshJjVvn_LhkKJIOq9AIqJ2p46i0eIzrsCpv3FD64K1FjWXmEwwqPhNA34NrlrdrSxf_0E8_OKSV1RalJAWlH=s1258" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1258" data-original-width="720" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiDs0imCrUovpOXB4-ozg78kLPlnJPiNeWS1dygsjd9OxFo9mmhRus2cWl-1LNFsFJ-FS1p4GMOXz2zAQRsiZrhxAus0tSnPpG4DxiEshJjVvn_LhkKJIOq9AIqJ2p46i0eIzrsCpv3FD64K1FjWXmEwwqPhNA34NrlrdrSxf_0E8_OKSV1RalJAWlH=w229-h400" width="229" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjJACUzu35ru_ehR9oZoCCKDWxzOTEhcsn5ND-16lagKrIqwre_-cTFVpRajkmPemQzuM_sr9rqkrNYQHxA09g64j3jAMCE9VaMuUsjwwTpSJVemgs9lODIoOwLeNwASYIsgo9vz-0PmYZvPjkEWu4Md-Mpfq_6-9C12vGbE2uXKHKcg9jZSfjugiY4=s1436" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1436" data-original-width="718" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjJACUzu35ru_ehR9oZoCCKDWxzOTEhcsn5ND-16lagKrIqwre_-cTFVpRajkmPemQzuM_sr9rqkrNYQHxA09g64j3jAMCE9VaMuUsjwwTpSJVemgs9lODIoOwLeNwASYIsgo9vz-0PmYZvPjkEWu4Md-Mpfq_6-9C12vGbE2uXKHKcg9jZSfjugiY4=w200-h400" width="200" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p>Vile City gets the blog tour on Instagram at Midnight Angel Book Heaven. </p><p>Here's the review - </p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">When I first saw the title for this book I was intrigued. This is the first book i have read from the author and was excited to see where the story goes. From the very get go the book brings action with the opening scenes. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The book brought the reader right into the action with a layered approach to keep us engaged and guessing. I am hoping there is more to this series and that we gert to see more of the team. Another bonus point for those who us Kindle Unlimited this title is available.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Thank you🙂Midnight Angel Book Heaven</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Jennifer Lee Thomson, Jenny Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07999487852799181636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303892044395881062.post-272265021626404002022-02-18T20:48:00.009+00:002022-02-28T07:10:16.739+00:00A review for Vile City by Scintilla - "intense plot"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Thanks to the awesome @Scintilla_Info Scintilla.info for agreeing to be on my Blog Tour and for such an insightful review of Vile City (shown below).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Why not stop by her wonderful <a href="http://scintilla.info/2022/02/18/detective-in-a-coma-vile-city-jennifer-lee-thomson/" target="_blank">website</a>? </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://viewbook.at/VileCity-Coma_1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1520" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEios3T4i_z4D70P1i0mNJ42Ator6iiu4mP5xCM4LVdoVqgTXw-mSyXeHfOnsF17_w1WBOhE1yoLOkMgvPn7_lPymTawW2J1G_syFZzVfPP1AvFFwPmUtiViXZ6hQ6_ebYsG6Yf0tmoXQd1IuHJhVKdzkD28gLjI9D9xyh0oIttrNVS3iipkP_motOjA=s320" width="152" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjKQG4fYj8GUyP9w1IqwdkW4wzaR9jjujB4l8F4SyI5FLo7O94C8lpXJYTQcHp5_mpolOxtSDmhSeIilGnJG5QCT3RpOP8I_oNO8amyv8khqC_r64kT5dzdYBFN2w3chrZCwsiuAz2gXKeghenypMn2NGyrtl6hjX4N6PLJGv2A0GJowW2jsiSyacI=s1037" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1037" data-original-width="1036" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjKQG4fYj8GUyP9w1IqwdkW4wzaR9jjujB4l8F4SyI5FLo7O94C8lpXJYTQcHp5_mpolOxtSDmhSeIilGnJG5QCT3RpOP8I_oNO8amyv8khqC_r64kT5dzdYBFN2w3chrZCwsiuAz2gXKeghenypMn2NGyrtl6hjX4N6PLJGv2A0GJowW2jsiSyacI=w200-h200" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">DI Waddell has a lot on his plate </td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Vile City is available on <a href="http://viewbook.at/VileCity-Coma_1" target="_blank">Amazon </a>and in all good book stores</div><p><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", HelveticaNeue-Light, "Helvetica Neue Light", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.625; margin: 0px 0px 20px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Mystery: <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">Detective in a Coma: Vile City</span>, <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">Detective in a Coma Book 1</em>, Jennifer Lee Thomson</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", HelveticaNeue-Light, "Helvetica Neue Light", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.625; margin: 0px 0px 20px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Blog Tour February 18, 2022</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", HelveticaNeue-Light, "Helvetica Neue Light", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.625; margin: 0px 0px 20px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Detective Inspector Duncan Waddell has his hands full. A wave of burglaries in Glasgow has targeted the elderly. Two young women have gone missing, and a report has just come in about a third victim. He is training his new partner, DC Brian McKeith. He and his wife are raising their children. It is no wonder that he visits and talks often with his former partner.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", HelveticaNeue-Light, "Helvetica Neue Light", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.625; margin: 0px 0px 20px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">His former partner, DC Stevie Campbell, is lying comatose in the hospital, with no sign that he will ever recover enough to wake up. Stabbed by a criminal with a broken bottle, he now lies inert, fed intravenously, turned regularly to prevent bedsores. Waddell visits him, shares details of cases with him, jokes with him and reads to him, hoping against hope that he can somehow hear him despite there being no evidence of this.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", HelveticaNeue-Light, "Helvetica Neue Light", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.625; margin: 0px 0px 20px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Until the day that Stevie sits up and talks to him! Except, no one else can see him. There is no medical sign that he ever moved, no one else heard him, and when the nurses come into the room to check on him he is as deep in his coma as ever. Only Duncan can hear him.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", HelveticaNeue-Light, "Helvetica Neue Light", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.625; margin: 0px 0px 20px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Did we mention how much pressure DI Waddell has been under?</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", HelveticaNeue-Light, "Helvetica Neue Light", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.625; margin: 0px 0px 20px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Jennifer Lee Thomson’s plot is intense. Kidnapped women, sex trafficking, rape and other kinds of violence. The “Vile” part of the title </span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">Detective in a Coma: Vile City</span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"> definitely lives up to its placement. Waddell tries very hard to shelter his family from the ugliness he sees every day. When he comes home, though, he has to take a long, hot shower to wash away both the grime on his body and the darkness in his spirit before he can trust himself to spend time with his children and his wife. It is a perilous internal struggle, one that he has mastered but which takes an awful toll on him.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", HelveticaNeue-Light, "Helvetica Neue Light", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.625; margin: 0px 0px 20px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><b><i> "DI Waddell is committed to bringing in some light where he can."</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", HelveticaNeue-Light, "Helvetica Neue Light", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.625; margin: 0px 0px 20px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">I cannot say enough about Thomson’s painting of this protagonist. He is a good man facing a lot of evil but determined to make a difference. He loves and protects his family, he visits and talks with his fallen friend, and he manages to see the positives in DC McKeith despite an occasionally intense desire to kick him back to handing out parking tickets. Glasgow seems to have many dark corners. DI Waddell is committed to bringing in some light where he can.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEia2CJBu7HxLp59qbDSCynRfLJJVKWPvfFsPYtfgV1gPUM4E9vRKolOgMD6RohNxMHWJO-xsgc02P-arTFXEnjOUxaKyf3y_dnpGQe8MPZHCu2eEcE2jcHoqSTzyRZaraICx94cw7x4s7aqvi6DU7iXRpdYwB4Kfu7Cl1Ttmc8Vdab36-aeGqq0CRY=s1600" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="720" height="607" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEia2CJBu7HxLp59qbDSCynRfLJJVKWPvfFsPYtfgV1gPUM4E9vRKolOgMD6RohNxMHWJO-xsgc02P-arTFXEnjOUxaKyf3y_dnpGQe8MPZHCu2eEcE2jcHoqSTzyRZaraICx94cw7x4s7aqvi6DU7iXRpdYwB4Kfu7Cl1Ttmc8Vdab36-aeGqq0CRY=w503-h607" width="503" /></span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 16px;">You can read an extract</span><a href="https://ramblingsofafrustratedcrimewriter.blogspot.com/2021/11/who-took-office-worker-shelley-craig.html" style="font-size: 16px;" target="_blank"> here </a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Buy it on Amazon <a href="http://viewbook.at/VileCity-Coma_1" target="_blank">here</a></span></p></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="text-align: left;">Book 2 in the series that was once called Cannibal City will be out soon under the new name of Butcher City. Also from Diamond Books. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="text-align: left;">You can see more of their titles at </span><a href="https://diamondbooks.co.uk/library/" style="text-align: left;">https://diamondbooks.co.uk/library/</a><span style="text-align: left;"> and on Twitter @diamond_crime</span></span></div><p><br style="text-align: left;" /></p></div></div>Jennifer Lee Thomson, Jenny Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07999487852799181636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303892044395881062.post-76103069667674930882022-02-18T06:28:00.008+00:002022-02-28T06:54:57.716+00:00"The plot is full on intense" - Donna's Book Reviews on Vile CIty <p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> Delighted with this review from Donna's Book Reviews for Vile City.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Review </b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">I'm a big fan of Scottish crime, and the crime writing standard in Scotland is particularly high. I had never heard of this author, but the title and blurb sounded intriguing, and I was right to take the plunge. The story follows Di Waddell, who has to investigate missing women in the city of Glasgow. His partner and friend is lying in hospital in a coma, so he has to work with McKeith. He is already up against it, not being the man Waddell wants, but his is also gangly and clumsy, but luckily does provide some useful insights. Their pairing made for an entertaining read. Waddell alone is exactly the type of character I love to read, he has a sarcastic humour and it certainly endeared me to him almost immediately.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Shelley is the woman who is abducted, and you follow a lot of the story through her eyes. It shows the abduction and captivity from her point of view. It was difficult to read at times, but Shelley's strength shone out. She was determined to survive the ordeal and wouldn't be broken no matter how much they tried.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>"The plot is full on intense"</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The plot is full on intense, it goes all over the place, not confusing, just breathtaking in its speed and multi layer. approach. You are kept guessing, and even when you think the case is finished and passed over, the author laughs and throws a grenade in to blow everything wide open again. It covers the sex trafficking trade, and discusses many of the awful acts that are inflicted on women, but on the other hand there are a cast of incredibly strong women to balance this out.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The detective in the coma remains so throughout the book, and does rather make you wonder why he gets the title, but it does intrigue me as to what will be done with his character as the series progresses. He will clearly have been able to hear what has been discussed with him, but whether his condition leads to any useful outcome remains to be seen.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Whatever happens I will be reading more from this author, I will look forward to re-inserting myself in the tough Glaswegian streets, amongst this great team, to see what they get up to next.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhd9MD7N2ACKo9SVh4m_sbgiw-dRQje6-PQyQozyw0bAnLWEkLJ8xYSs35t__nIr5guouWsktvTLJgN75Z1xau5CwI2-f-bu9hR2UfSFMqjBqcxRlxYYU8fTEk9P1geGygEHvIdLsZJ_ocvShqNfYRwd8QV804lbQgV2XHTNinde58R0jso1460XSo=s940" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="940" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhd9MD7N2ACKo9SVh4m_sbgiw-dRQje6-PQyQozyw0bAnLWEkLJ8xYSs35t__nIr5guouWsktvTLJgN75Z1xau5CwI2-f-bu9hR2UfSFMqjBqcxRlxYYU8fTEk9P1geGygEHvIdLsZJ_ocvShqNfYRwd8QV804lbQgV2XHTNinde58R0jso1460XSo=w434-h243" width="434" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://viewbook.at/VileCity-Coma_1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1520" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhacfj4ugFK4iRRyWNMuf21s21gJUiX8uDYnU5O3S3vlt4yVQJShSUd7RuvbSgZPvYrXfMfPfZTWJ1TJihYPFRFfqMhjfdOlOAMLc8bLSQWPMkySBbfybBBS_cStNICb1b81gVjfx0vZatcCz7PnAlUtTw7RRIuzhFPpwPKjaeup6TfLWA3GaQ5Gsg=s320" width="152" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">What's it about then?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Detective Inspector Duncan Waddell has his hands full. A wave of burglaries in Glasgow has targeted the elderly. Two young women have gone missing, and a report has just come in about a third victim. He is training his new partner, DC Brian McKeith. He and his wife are raising their children. It is no wonder that he visits and talks often with his former partner.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">His former partner, DC Stevie Campbell, is lying comatose in the hospital, with no sign that he will ever recover enough to wake up. Stabbed by a criminal with a broken bottle, he now lies inert, fed intravenously, turned regularly to prevent bedsores. Waddell visits him, shares details of cases with him, jokes with him and reads to him, hoping against hope that he can somehow hear him despite there being no evidence of this.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Until the day that Stevie sits up and talks to him! Except, no one else can see him. There is no medical sign that he ever moved, no one else heard him, and when the nurses come into the room to check on him he is as deep in his coma as ever. Only Duncan can hear him.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 16px;">Read an extract</span><a href="https://ramblingsofafrustratedcrimewriter.blogspot.com/2021/11/who-took-office-worker-shelley-craig.html" style="font-size: 16px;" target="_blank"> here </a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Buy it on Amazon <a href="http://viewbook.at/VileCity-Coma_1" target="_blank">here</a></p></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="text-align: left;">Book 2 in the series that was once called Cannibal City will be out soon under the new name of Butcher City. Also from Diamond Books. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="text-align: left;">You can see more of their titles at </span><a href="https://diamondbooks.co.uk/library/" style="text-align: left;">https://diamondbooks.co.uk/library/</a><span style="text-align: left;"> and on Twitter @diamond_crime</span></span></div><p><br /></p>Jennifer Lee Thomson, Jenny Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07999487852799181636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303892044395881062.post-6904958530859390392022-02-17T05:40:00.003+00:002022-02-28T06:58:26.197+00:00Vile City (Detective in a Coma book 1) is on tour<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgMgXxpiv0kiabyGtxu2-Pclp9x2xQlYvWRaQ-mYNqG44LVoMmFI3rI2fUZmJ5CgDcCDkCrRfkNatCshTeHWfHG1C9cwD_H0plSEWHBXvCJV5pPRKd4R_j7OR5xQOydYuov-qXWamOJLEaaKCenRgp8pEurn3KZzRI_aicJt-XkZjVzrH-z1miP95Y=s1037" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1037" data-original-width="1036" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgMgXxpiv0kiabyGtxu2-Pclp9x2xQlYvWRaQ-mYNqG44LVoMmFI3rI2fUZmJ5CgDcCDkCrRfkNatCshTeHWfHG1C9cwD_H0plSEWHBXvCJV5pPRKd4R_j7OR5xQOydYuov-qXWamOJLEaaKCenRgp8pEurn3KZzRI_aicJt-XkZjVzrH-z1miP95Y=s320" width="320" /></a></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Together with it's stars DI Duncan Waddell and Shelley Craig, Vile City is going on tour thanks to the wonderful Random Things Tours. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Here's the secedule - </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEip4kYGNBhakKNKv3Ikiljc-Dec8TC5ISFp5IonFcj7rX9INa4eFUgqdTooBkE4GBYrx93mnq_vkyrW2eF6fvxInH3oLHrSEyWuQxVU5pFsqa0bt8GZlTm8coYPV4Y36mL_vzQr7sJE1TVH6m15r669LRTYf4k5wUEBgj4GlfkvZ0OqEOyYLMa4DWo=s1280" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="936" data-original-width="1280" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEip4kYGNBhakKNKv3Ikiljc-Dec8TC5ISFp5IonFcj7rX9INa4eFUgqdTooBkE4GBYrx93mnq_vkyrW2eF6fvxInH3oLHrSEyWuQxVU5pFsqa0bt8GZlTm8coYPV4Y36mL_vzQr7sJE1TVH6m15r669LRTYf4k5wUEBgj4GlfkvZ0OqEOyYLMa4DWo=w400-h293" width="400" /></a></div><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Perhaps you can stop by? We'd love to see you 😍</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Vile City is available on Kindle and in paperback -</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09M3YNLL2" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09M3YNLL2">Amazon.com</a> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">~About Vile City~</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Vile City tells the parallel stories of snatched Shelley Craig and DI Waddell who'll do anything to find her. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It's the first book in the Detective in a Coma series. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Here's the blurb - </span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 14px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">DI Duncan Waddell is on the brink of a nervous breakdown – he thinks his best pal DC Stevie Campbell, who’s been in a coma since he was attacked by a suspect, is talking to him.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: -4px 0px 14px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">When office worker Shelley rushes to her boyfriend’s aid after he is attacked, she is abducted. She wakes up in a strange room with no memory of how she got there.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: -4px 0px 14px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">On the case, Waddell finds himself in a desperate race against time to uncover the truth behind the abduction.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: -4px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">To do this, he and his team must delve into the seedy underbelly of Scotland’s swingers’ scene and a world where women are tricked into the sex business and traded like cattle.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: -4px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 16px;">You can read an extract</span><a href="https://ramblingsofafrustratedcrimewriter.blogspot.com/2021/11/who-took-office-worker-shelley-craig.html" style="font-size: 16px;" target="_blank"> here </a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Buy it on Amazon <a href="http://viewbook.at/VileCity-Coma_1" target="_blank">here</a></span></p></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="text-align: left;">Book 2 in the series that was once called Cannibal City will be out soon under the new name of Butcher City. Also from Diamond Books. </span></span></div><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: -4px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="text-align: left;">You can see more of their titles at </span><a href="https://diamondbooks.co.uk/library/" style="text-align: left;">https://diamondbooks.co.uk/library/</a><span style="text-align: left;"> and on Twitter @diamond_crime</span></span></div>Jennifer Lee Thomson, Jenny Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07999487852799181636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303892044395881062.post-25435408425915511062021-12-01T20:16:00.004+00:002021-12-01T20:16:33.393+00:00Who killed schoolgirl Caroline Glachan? - BREAKING NEWS - 3 arrests - Could the case have finally been solved?<p> <i style="font-family: helvetica; font-weight: bold;">UPDATED:</i><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> - November 25th, 2021 </span></p><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">2 MEN AND A WOMAN HELD IN CUSTODY CHARGED WITH CAROLINE'S MURDER </span></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Donna Brand, Andrew Kelly and Robert O'Brien are alleged to have killed Caroline Glachan more than 25 years ago. </span></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">When they allgedly murdered the 14 year-old schoolgirl, they would have been 17, 16 and 18. A postmortem on vivacious Caroline showed she was alive when she was dumped in the water. </span></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">I never knew Caroline but I often think about her and the terror she suffered in her final moments. It makes me both sad and angry so imagine how those who loved her feel?</span></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Hopefully, Caroline and her family will finally get justice at last. </span></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Read more <a href="https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/woman-two-men-behind-bars-25546960" target="_blank">here</a> </span></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7wqDHS6n1Fs/WoPIwxgKj9I/AAAAAAAAUvo/ETbJ3xcQAOoR_jLngJTmR6AtpMMPlDhxwCLcBGAs/s1600/Caroline%2BGlachlan.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="210" data-original-width="375" height="179" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7wqDHS6n1Fs/WoPIwxgKj9I/AAAAAAAAUvo/ETbJ3xcQAOoR_jLngJTmR6AtpMMPlDhxwCLcBGAs/s320/Caroline%2BGlachlan.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">Caroline had her life stolen from her </span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Twenty-two long years ago, on Sunday 25 August 1996, 14-year-old schoolgirl Caroline Glachan was found dead on the water’s edge of the River Leven near Bonhill, Dunbartonshire in </span><st1:country-region style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;" w:st="on">Scotland</st1:country-region><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One of the last people to see Caroline alive was her friend Joanne Menzies. Caroline left Joanne and a group of friends at some shops just before<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">midnight. She was going to meet her boyfriend in nearby </span><st1:city style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;" w:st="on">Renton which was a mile away</st1:city><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">She never made it. She took a shortcut through the woods.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What happened next nobody knows. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6-7-a-vv0N8/WoPJHvoo56I/AAAAAAAAUvs/ZoWQTHJIu_kMUV_ClwOHnABXANd2158rgCLcBGAs/s1600/Caroline%2Bfound.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="210" data-original-width="375" height="179" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6-7-a-vv0N8/WoPJHvoo56I/AAAAAAAAUvs/ZoWQTHJIu_kMUV_ClwOHnABXANd2158rgCLcBGAs/s320/Caroline%2Bfound.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">Where the teen's lifeless body was found</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">She was found dead on the banks of the River Leven in Dunbartonshire. She'd been badly beaten and possibly drowned. It wasn't clear if she was dead or alive when she'd ended up in the water. She could have been unconscious.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The ambitious teenager with a feisty attitude, never made it to fifteen as her life was snatched away.</span></div><h3 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A killer among us? </span></h3><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Caroline's mother and Police in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Scotland</st1:place></st1:country-region> believe the answer to who killed Caroline lies within the local community. Could the killer of the teen be walking amongst them?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Caroline's murder was featured on TV true crime show Crimewatch two years ago, where her mum Mrs McKeich spoke in heartbreaking detail of how she found out her daughter was dead on her 40th birthday.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">For her life didn't begin at forty, she said, it ended. She'd lost her only child.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"There's two questions I need answered - who and why."</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ikSltP4l3Eg/WoPJhj2gS-I/AAAAAAAAUv0/qmfM59jgi8EgamYs0LpKLx0YOzjDxMG7wCLcBGAs/s1600/Caroline%2Bkiller.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="474" data-original-width="368" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ikSltP4l3Eg/WoPJhj2gS-I/AAAAAAAAUv0/qmfM59jgi8EgamYs0LpKLx0YOzjDxMG7wCLcBGAs/s320/Caroline%2Bkiller.jpg" width="248" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">Could this be the man who killed her?</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">After her murder, police released a photo of a man in a dark green hooded top who was seen by a taxi driver walking near Caroline as she made her way along Dillichip Loan around 12.15am on Sunday, August 25, 1996. The man was described as having sharp features.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He was asked to come forward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The call was never answered.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Was this man her killer?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div></div>Jennifer Lee Thomson, Jenny Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07999487852799181636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303892044395881062.post-61049551793108983312021-11-27T04:35:00.000+00:002021-12-01T20:26:37.043+00:00WHO TOOK OFFICE WORKER SHELLEY CRAIG? Read an extract from Vile City (Volume 1 Detective in a Coma)<div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://viewbook.at/VileCity-Coma_1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1162" data-original-width="701" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bJkk29piUNE/YaL03OL40gI/AAAAAAAAlcI/E4NXcuIWaCMajTUdPqNv8ZYLNop98-0VACNcBGAsYHQ/w241-h400/Vile%2BCity%2B2021%2Bversion.png" width="241" /></a></div><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>#VileCity #detectiveinaComa</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>#crimethriller #tartannoir </b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>DI Duncan Waddell is on the brink of a nervous breakdown – he thinks his best pal DC Stevie Campbell, who’s been in a coma since he was attacked by a suspect, is talking to him.</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>When office worker Shelley rushes to her boyfriend’s aid after he is attacked, she is abducted. She wakes up in a strange room with no memory of how she got there.</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>On the case, Waddell finds himself in a desperate race against time to uncover the truth behind the abduction or Shelley dies.</b></span></p><p 0px="" 15px="" 20px="" border-box="" center="" font-size:="" margin:="" text-align:=""><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>To do this, he and his team must delve into the seedy underbelly of Scotland’s swingers’ scene and a world where women are tricked into the sex business and traded like cattle.</b></span></p></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: georgia; text-indent: 36pt;">Vile City is out now, published by <a href="https://diamondbooks.co.uk/" target="_blank">Diamond Books</a> in paperback and eBook. </span></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: georgia; text-indent: 36pt;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: georgia; text-indent: 36pt;">You can buy it by clicking <a href="http://viewbook.at/VileCity-Coma_1" target="_blank">here</a></span></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: center; text-indent: 48px;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 15.9021px; line-height: 31.488px; margin-left: 36pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;"><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PPYiykdpEmY/TVQpHQqebvI/AAAAAAAAAFM/tE9-XaYa32skBuaizpdS75J9ScsWA1xcACPcBGAYYCw/s750/Crime%2BScene%2Bpic%2B1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="750" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PPYiykdpEmY/TVQpHQqebvI/AAAAAAAAAFM/tE9-XaYa32skBuaizpdS75J9ScsWA1xcACPcBGAYYCw/s320/Crime%2BScene%2Bpic%2B1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div></div><div style="font-family: sans-serif;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b>~ Read an extract</b> ~</div></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 15.9021px; line-height: 31.488px; margin-left: 36pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><b>Chapter 1</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 15.9021px; line-height: 31.488px; margin-left: 36pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;">Stuart was hiding something. Shelley could</span><s style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;"> </s><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;">tell. She was always the one who’d had to wake him because he could block out the shrill of the alarm clock. Nowadays, he was up before her, grabbing the mail whilst she slept. And he’d started making breakfast – nothing much, just tea and toast, more than he’d ever made her in their near three years together.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 15.9021px; line-height: 31.488px; margin-left: 36pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 23.8531px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">When she’d ask him if anything was wrong, he’d shrug his shoulders, give her a wee smile and say everything was fine. She knew he was lying because his face went even paler, making his freckles stand out as if they’d been drawn in by a kid with a coloured pencil. She never pushed it, maybe because deep down she was worried that he’d tell her he’d met someone else.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 23.8531px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The No.76 bus was empty when they clambered on board – one of the benefits of working until eleven at night in a call centre, was that there was no need to scoot past a sea of legs and become a contortionist to get on and off a bus.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 23.8531px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Their cold breath filled the air with ghosts as they walked towards Waterstones, Shelley pausing to peek at the new crime fiction releases showcased in the illuminated windows, whilst Stuart fidgeted with his watch. He was always footering about with something since he’d given up cigarettes and it drove her mad, but at least it didn’t fill his lungs with tar and make the house smell like an overflowing ashtray.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 23.8531px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">“I need to have a pee,” he announced, as they came to the dimly lit lane off Mitchell Street that reeked of eau de Glasgow: decomposing takeaway, urine and other bodily fluids.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 23.8531px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">She groaned. “Can’t you wait until we get home, Stuart?” She knew she’d pronounced his name “Stew-art” as she always did when she was annoyed with him. She couldn’t help it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 23.8531px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">What made men think it was okay to urinate in public?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 23.8531px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Stuart looked pained. “Sorry, I can’t. Too much coffee tonight.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 23.8531px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">She let him walk on ahead of her and whilst he scooted down the alley, she stood outside the amusement arcade, pretending to look in so she wouldn’t be mistaken for a prostitute. It’d happened to her once when she’d got off the bus alone. Stuart hadn’t been working that night.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 23.8531px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Five minutes later, she was so cold she couldn’t feel her nose and Stuart still wasn’t back.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 23.8531px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">She turned the corner to look for him, fully expecting to see him ambling back towards her with that jaunty walk that always made her smile. He wasn’t there.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 23.8531px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Where was he?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 23.8531px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anger welled up in her chest. Had he started smoking again? He swore he wouldn’t.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 23.8531px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">There was one way to find out.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 23.8531px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">She headed down the alley. The sole light was provided from some nearby buildings, so visibility was poor.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 23.8531px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">She’d walked a few steps when she spotted a bundle of rags on the ground. Was someone sleeping there?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 23.8531px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">She moved closer, squinting into the dim light. Stuart was lying motionless on the ground. He must have tripped and knocked himself out as he hit the concrete.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 23.8531px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">She ran to him, calling out his name, the squeezing in her chest waning slightly when she knelt and heard him groan.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 23.8531px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">She pulled her mobile phone from her bag to call for an ambulance.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 23.8531px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">She didn’t make it to the third digit. A gloved hand clamped across her mouth and nose, cutting off her airways. The phone fell from her grasp, clattering onto the cobbles. Terror gripped her and she couldn’t breathe.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 23.8531px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">As she struggled, her assailant pressed his mouth to her ear. He was so close that it occurred to her that if anyone saw them, they would think he was her boyfriend whispering sweet nothings in her ear.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 23.8531px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">“Your man’s been given a strong sedative. He’ll wake up with a sore head and nothing more. If you scream, I’ll kick him several times in the head and he’ll never get up again. Do you understand?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 23.8531px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The voice was cold and emotionless She didn’t recognise it and there was an accent. Not from around here.<s><o:p></o:p></s></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 23.8531px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">She nodded under his hand. Then did something he didn’t expect. Backheeled him in the groin.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 23.8531px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">There was a satisfying yelp as he released her.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 23.8531px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">She ran, arms pumping away like Usain Bolt, down towards the café at the end of the alley and safety.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 23.8531px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">She’d almost made it when he grabbed her arm and hauled her back. An electric shock shot from her elbow to her shoulder as she tried to pull herself free. He was too strong.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 23.8531px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">He dragged her towards him.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 23.8531px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Before she could scream, he punched her in the face and she went down with a thud, jarring every bone in her body, momentarily stunning her.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 23.8531px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">As she fought to get up, he punched her in the back, and she fell again.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 23.8531px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The last thing she saw was the pavement rushing towards her before she blacked out...</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 23.8531px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 23.8531px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UqXq9w2YTmQ/VejLs47ZlNI/AAAAAAAARpo/ythdp3AMKYoUjGKTPY4MG_NGed-AaqfQwCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/captifs021011.jpg" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 15.9021px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; text-indent: 48px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1063" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UqXq9w2YTmQ/VejLs47ZlNI/AAAAAAAARpo/ythdp3AMKYoUjGKTPY4MG_NGed-AaqfQwCPcBGAYYCw/s320/captifs021011.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></span></p></span></div></div></div></div>Jennifer Lee Thomson, Jenny Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07999487852799181636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303892044395881062.post-57601755487211184362021-11-06T05:10:00.003+00:002021-12-10T04:52:13.604+00:00Why we need flawed characters in fiction like DI Duncan Waddell star of the Detective in a Coma books<p><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CxHrZH7Jc4Y/YYYEba4t2aI/AAAAAAAAlHI/ohgKUutZaGAKLJwd32I7Ea3qeqOKLrz9QCNcBGAsYHQ/s400/fqit5nak57iullg92dyj_400x400.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CxHrZH7Jc4Y/YYYEba4t2aI/AAAAAAAAlHI/ohgKUutZaGAKLJwd32I7Ea3qeqOKLrz9QCNcBGAsYHQ/w200-h200/fqit5nak57iullg92dyj_400x400.jpeg" width="200" /></a> </p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: helvetica;">DI Waddell is no Mark wahlberg </span></b></p><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I'm currently working on a new crime novel. It's a police procedural and the main character is an amazing human being both physically and mentally. They have no bias. </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Handsome and charming, they run ultra marathons and raise wads of money for charities in any free time they have. </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Their partner is very supportive of their job and they have an amazing family. </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Thankfully, I am lying and I am not writing a book with the person I described as a the lead character because I hate them already.</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Let's face it, who wants to read about perfect, unflawed characters like the one I just described? </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I know I wouldn't. </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia;">How boring would that be? </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The reason is simple - someone who's the perfect human being would be so boring to read about. For one thing, how do you have conflict in a story with a character like that? Well, they're perfect so how would they possibly get into any conflict with anyone? </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia;">And, they would solve the crime within the first two pages.</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>perfect is boring </b></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia;">When I am reading, I like my main characters with loads of imperfections and conflicts. That's how I came up with DI Duncan Waddell. He's a decent man, relatively good at his job but he has problems. Not the least of which is that his friend and colleague Stevie Campbell, who was attacked by a suspect he was trying to apprehend and ended up left in a coma is talking to him. </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia;">And only to him, leaving Waddell to wonder if he's losing his mind. </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia;">He has other problems too. He eats too much junk food so has a paunch on him. If someone were to play him in a movie it definitely would not be someone like Mr chiselled abs Mark Wahlberg.</span></div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia;">He consumes way too much sugar, so is a borderline diabetic and that's why his wife Isobel is trying to force him to eat healthier. </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia;">He loves Glasgow, the city where he lives and works, but is fast coming to despise because of of the sick and twisted crimes comes across. Hence the name of the first installment featuring him is Vile City. </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Sometimes he even hates his job so much that he disappears into the nearest quiet place to have a swig of whiskey and wishes he had become a history professor as he is a Scottish history buff.</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Waddell is flawed and human. </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I hope that is why readers will like him. </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><b>~ Vile City, the revamped first book in the Detective in a coma series is out soon from <a href="https://diamondbooks.co.uk/authors/jennifer-lee-thomson/" target="_blank">Diamond Books</a></b></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><b>Why not what come and meet him? You may like him. ~</b></span></div><div class="yj6qo"></div><div class="adL" dir="ltr"><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /></div>Jennifer Lee Thomson, Jenny Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07999487852799181636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303892044395881062.post-17671814312702677642021-06-20T03:16:00.002+01:002021-06-20T03:16:43.569+01:00The moment that changed my novel - Don't be afraid to change course if you're stuck in a rut <p style="text-align: center;"> <b style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Don't be afraid to change course with your novel</span><span style="font-size: 18px;"> </span></b></p><p></p><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jNfxvLKaVeQ/YM6VlvDJrKI/AAAAAAAAjWI/DIb9OFjZlKcffZMEjpu1fIlIhYxPt49QQCNcBGAsYHQ/s717/Screenshot_20210620-020604.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="410" data-original-width="717" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jNfxvLKaVeQ/YM6VlvDJrKI/AAAAAAAAjWI/DIb9OFjZlKcffZMEjpu1fIlIhYxPt49QQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screenshot_20210620-020604.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px;"><div><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box;">It's always good to hear that people have finally got down to writing that novel that they've had held deep inside of them for years spurred on by the pandemic. Or to read about those writers who have never gotten so much writing done.<br /></span></div><div><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box;">If you're like me and find yourself in the I'm struggling to write anything camp, you might feel discouraged.</span></div><div><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span></div><h2><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px;">Struggling to write? </span></h2><div><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box;">At several points over the last year, I have seriously thought about giving up writing anything at all. Because of money pressures, I have found myself working longer hours to earn money from ways other than my writing. Unless you are one of the 1% of writers who makes a very good living, writing fiction is a very badly paying trade.</span></div><div><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box;">It's only just recently that I have re-focused back on my work in progress, a psychological crime thriller. The reason - I've realised I need a different approach. </span></div><div><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span></div><h2><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px;">Time for a new beginning</span></h2><div><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IXx39CPxRss/YM6bya5KDiI/AAAAAAAAjWY/W0JpULE1afsB5nSKpxaxUy6E_cCY6PhEACNcBGAsYHQ/s706/Screenshot_20210620-023333.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="552" data-original-width="706" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IXx39CPxRss/YM6bya5KDiI/AAAAAAAAjWY/W0JpULE1afsB5nSKpxaxUy6E_cCY6PhEACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screenshot_20210620-023333.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box;">The beginning of the book has to be rewritten and rejigged to make it the compelling read I want it to be. The type of book I love to read which I hope to write.</span></div><div><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box;">The moment of realisation came for me when I witnessed a distressing scene where a woman was staring at a couple's daughter who looked about 9 years old. This was in a supermarket and the woman's staring was such that the mother noticed it and pointed it out to her husband who angrily spoke to her. 'What are you looking at? Stop staring at my daughter like that.'</span></div><div><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box;">In usual circumstances, if someone spoke to you like that and everybody turned round to stare, you would be mortified and shuffle off away from public scrutiny. But this woman kept staring. It was as if she was transfixed and I could see the man getting angrier and advancing towards her.</span></div><div><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box;">Thankfully at this stage another lady who appeared to know the woman ran up to her put her arm around her and led her off.</span></div><div><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box;">I later found out from someone who worked in the supermarket tills that she knew the woman who had been staring and her daughter had been abducted by her husband 2-years ago and taken abroad. Apparently, she still kept seeing her child everywhere.</span></div><div><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box;">'I think she thought that little girl was her daughter,' the check-out assistant told me. 'She's mistaken other children for hers too before.'</span></div><div><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span></div><h2><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px;">Good fiction comes from truth</span></h2><div><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box;">As well as feeling heartsick for that poor woman, the whole thing made me think that the novel I was writing that had a similar theme of a missing child, needed to be changed.</span></div><div><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box;">What if after witnessing such a scene and finding out the reason behind it, someone offered to help her find her child? And so I decided to totally restructure the start of my novel.</span></div><div><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box;">Will it work and make it the gripping read I want it to be? I hope so. It's in witnessing human moments like hers that you realise reality is often stranger than fiction.</span></div><div><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box;">I also hope, that one day very soon, that poor woman is reunited with her child.</span></div><div><span class="s-1" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)" face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="--cc-z: 3; --drag-and-drop-z: 4; --file-viewer-z: 1; --library-z: 2; box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span></div></span></div>Jennifer Lee Thomson, Jenny Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07999487852799181636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303892044395881062.post-63683940140971146422021-06-14T03:21:00.001+01:002021-06-20T03:31:54.958+01:00Why I love zombies<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uDAfEjPgnpU/YMaRUSXjeXI/AAAAAAAAjQs/HMPP8fDWKPA8CFo3Qk9oODEhFW3gouGFwCNcBGAsYHQ/s300/zombies.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uDAfEjPgnpU/YMaRUSXjeXI/AAAAAAAAjQs/HMPP8fDWKPA8CFo3Qk9oODEhFW3gouGFwCNcBGAsYHQ/s0/zombies.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'm not the only one obsessed with the dead who rise</td></tr></tbody></table><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br />I often get asked when people look down my list of published books why I wrote a zombie novel? It doesn't seem to fit in with my profile - I've been a vegetarian for over 30 years and a crime writer.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">I've written books on compassionate living, bullying due to my bitter experience of it, caring for your dog because of my experience of having rescue dogs all my life and I'd even written comedy books. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">How does that fit in with being obsessed with humans who die then come back to life, desperate to devour human flesh? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">I'm obsessed to the point of coming up with theories of how an actual zombie apocalypse could start. When I go for walks with my rescue dog I think about where would be the best place to be holed up if the Dead started to roam the earth. How secure would that place be? How would we get food? How would we survive?</span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-a1s4L0UkkFE/YMaYpPkAzmI/AAAAAAAAjRI/FTRL3OMIkXkiMRwmuDeTYO3o8iwhidTQQCNcBGAsYHQ/s300/walking%2Bdead%2Bz.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-a1s4L0UkkFE/YMaYpPkAzmI/AAAAAAAAjRI/FTRL3OMIkXkiMRwmuDeTYO3o8iwhidTQQCNcBGAsYHQ/s0/walking%2Bdead%2Bz.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Seeing zombies through the eyes of Rick Grimes</td></tr></tbody></table><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">That's the one thing the zombie genre gives you - pure escapism. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Zombies give me something else to think about other than the problems we all face in our lives - nightmare neighbours, rude and obnoxious people who don't speak to you for 5 years and then out the blue accuse you of something nonsensical, constant worrying about money and the welfare of those we love. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Zombies are my escape from the true horrors of the world - could anyone have imagined a pandemic like the one we are experiencing - and daily existence.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Unlike real life, living humans who don't die and come back to life, with zombies you know where you are - avoid them or if they bite you and you die and then come back as one of them. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">If only life were just as simple. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">I also love to be scared - when it's a movie, TV show on novel but not in real life. There are enough things to scare you in real life. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">I also love exploring how the zombie apocalypse brings out the best and worst in people. I enjoy the way anyone can be redeemed. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">And that's one of the other things I enjoy most about the genre - how it explores the best and worst sides of human nature. Nothing shows someone's true colours as much as a zombie apocalypse. </span></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YYu6Sr7205E/YMaQiPDRlsI/AAAAAAAAjQk/nqY0e8xzZXU85nmclrV5iwU1w2arixyPACNcBGAsYHQ/s960/strand%2Band%2Bmorgan.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="960" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YYu6Sr7205E/YMaQiPDRlsI/AAAAAAAAjQk/nqY0e8xzZXU85nmclrV5iwU1w2arixyPACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/strand%2Band%2Bmorgan.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Nothing shows someone's true colours as much as a zombie apocalypse</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: #cc0000;">SPOILER ALERT!</span> - </span><span style="font-family: courier;">Don't read the next bit if you haven't seen the season finale of Fear The Walking Dead. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Just ask Morgan Jones who was thrown into the path of walkers by a so-called ally Victor Strand in Fear The Walking Dead.</span></p><h2><span style="font-family: georgia;">**************</span></h2><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">If you're interested in checking out my very Scottish zombie novel, here's it is - </span></p><p><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">One woman rages against the zombie hordes! Check it out <b><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://viewBook.at/DeadBastardsK" target="_blank">here</a> </span></b></span></p><p><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P2rWC3RskSY/YMaWOaTTA9I/AAAAAAAAjRA/1NMuhW2VIg8hRuwnTFORQh97LbkIKmXQgCNcBGAsYHQ/s642/dead%2Bbastards%2Bcover%2Bfor%2Bbadges.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="642" data-original-width="389" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P2rWC3RskSY/YMaWOaTTA9I/AAAAAAAAjRA/1NMuhW2VIg8hRuwnTFORQh97LbkIKmXQgCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/dead%2Bbastards%2Bcover%2Bfor%2Bbadges.png" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">Or, if you prefer direct links here -</span></p><p><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">Amazon.com </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0187LFCVU&source=gmail&ust=1623713090163000&usg=AFQjCNEHrgJKDmrDnIWd9UsAC75PVCvWzQ" href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0187LFCVU" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.com/dp/<wbr></wbr>B0187LFCVU</a></p>Amazon UK <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0187LFCVU&source=gmail&ust=1623713090163000&usg=AFQjCNHNKrEXfIEd33TL_adrletMt6qURA" href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0187LFCVU" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/<wbr></wbr>B0187LFCVU</a><div>Amazon Canada <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0187LFCVU&source=gmail&ust=1623713090163000&usg=AFQjCNHNKrEXfIEd33TL_adrletMt6qURA" href="http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0187LFCVU" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.ca/dp/<wbr></wbr>B0187LFCVU</a></div><div>Amazon Australia <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0187LFCVU&source=gmail&ust=1623713090163000&usg=AFQjCNHNKrEXfIEd33TL_adrletMt6qURA" href="http://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0187LFCVU" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.com.au/dp/<wbr></wbr>B0187LFCVU</a><div><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Stay safe everyone.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p></div></div>Jennifer Lee Thomson, Jenny Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07999487852799181636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303892044395881062.post-44578262441139541072021-05-04T05:35:00.004+01:002021-05-04T05:37:30.075+01:00The ouch diaries <p> <a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nz4Sq0Bpua4/YJDM1CRtj-I/AAAAAAAAiwI/SiglTPjtqCULpGdTLk-1Sr4FV-vnnDfWgCPcBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG-20210419-WA0001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nz4Sq0Bpua4/YJDM1CRtj-I/AAAAAAAAiwI/SiglTPjtqCULpGdTLk-1Sr4FV-vnnDfWgCPcBGAsYHg/w240-h320/IMG-20210419-WA0001.jpg" width="240" /></a></p><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><i>Ouch, that hurt!</i></b></span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">It was 2-weeks ago now that I had an accident and badly sprained the ligaments in my writing hand from my wrist almost up to my elbow. </span><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The bruising has all but gone but even writing a a sentence with my hand is very painful. Any kind of jerking or twisting movement is painful and a lot of the time I'm it feels as if there's a mass of elastic bands in my wrist and they've all been overstretched and knotted. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I am now officially a writer who cannot write. By that I mean I cannot physically write with my hand. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Because I have to write - like other writers it's a natural imperative and not a choice - I now have to rely on speech to word software. Wow, that's been fun - I say that ironically. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It's great when it works and saves me time but when it doesn't work it costs me time. That's unless I want to write a load of gibberish.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pb9txNib5sQ/YJDNPEjTcxI/AAAAAAAAiwQ/n39FSsxV-kwGFXARl67Uuc4-DQ3y3CgjQCPcBGAsYHg/s1201/original_b0a5e244-9709-43db-92c9-3bf4a8ed5388_Screenshot_20210315-153939.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1201" data-original-width="671" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pb9txNib5sQ/YJDNPEjTcxI/AAAAAAAAiwQ/n39FSsxV-kwGFXARl67Uuc4-DQ3y3CgjQCPcBGAsYHg/s320/original_b0a5e244-9709-43db-92c9-3bf4a8ed5388_Screenshot_20210315-153939.png" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Harley is sad I can't play tug with him </i></b></div></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The worst thing for me is having to slow my speech down to a crawl because text to speech software is not designed for Scottish people or anyone who talks at any kind of reasonable speed. I have to talk very slowly or the words that are printed bear absolutely no relation to the words I have spoken.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Sometimes the results can be funny. Like when I type a perfectly normal sentence and it replaces one of the words with a swear word that I definitely didn't say.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Will I keep on using speech to text software once my wrist has healed? </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I might but it seriously needs to improve. Not everybody speaks like the Queen of England and it's time the software reflected that.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r199fAJ_f78/YJDOGsJDbpI/AAAAAAAAiwc/6UdEqlSTccwz8ZOKuqLjfsViZahsmOOVwCPcBGAsYHg/s976/1612377247670.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="549" data-original-width="976" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r199fAJ_f78/YJDOGsJDbpI/AAAAAAAAiwc/6UdEqlSTccwz8ZOKuqLjfsViZahsmOOVwCPcBGAsYHg/s320/1612377247670.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: georgia;"><i>I think this evil wee guy came up with the speech to text software I'm using </i></b></div></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: georgia;">If you have a suggestion for some good text to speech software or apps I could be using, please drop me a line in the comments. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Please. </span></div></span></div><div dir="auto"><br style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: large;" /></div></div>Jennifer Lee Thomson, Jenny Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07999487852799181636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303892044395881062.post-7176109563792891522021-03-14T05:49:00.001+00:002021-03-14T05:49:23.295+00:00Elisa Lam - What happened to the brilliant writer at the Hotel Cecil? <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-V0IiEx7xhXI/YCycUBJTILI/AAAAAAAAhjY/RfuugBQYD8QCcJrc4Le0Etqg5OBa8qs2QCNcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img data-original-height="439" data-original-width="780" height="225" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-V0IiEx7xhXI/YCycUBJTILI/AAAAAAAAhjY/RfuugBQYD8QCcJrc4Le0Etqg5OBa8qs2QCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/image.png" title="Elisa's disappearance mystified everyone" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><h3>Elisa's disappearance captivated the world</h3></td></tr></tbody></table><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br />I watch a lot of true crime documentaries but you have got as under my skin as the mysterious case of Elisa Lam.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Few facts are known about her last hours. This is what is known.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Elisa was a 21-year-old student from Vancouver who travelled to Los Angeles to see America. An avid user of the social website Tumblr here who talked about being bipolar, she found the hotel on the internet and decided that she would stay there. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">That decision would lead to her death. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The Hotel Cecil had a dark, dark history of murder, suspicious deaths, overdoses and suicides. It's been said that Night Stalker Richard Ramirez used to stay there and when one night he turned up covered in blood nobody batted an eyelid, such was the regular craziness at the Hotel Cecil. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Some people even believe it's haunted or cursed. Maybe both. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-W_LCeTvga-o/YCydfKNTX1I/AAAAAAAAhjk/vdCTkda7ZOI18QWmAkC-y35uk3XE5RbsgCNcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img alt="" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="1200" height="168" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-W_LCeTvga-o/YCydfKNTX1I/AAAAAAAAhjk/vdCTkda7ZOI18QWmAkC-y35uk3XE5RbsgCNcBGAsYHQ/image.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">19 days after she went missing, Elisa's lifeless body was found naked in one of the water tanks on the hotel's roof. An autopsy was unable to establish how she died because of the damage the water had wreaked on her body. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">After investigating her disappearance, police found hotel footage of Elisa acting erratically both inside and outside the elevator. At one point, she seemed to be talking to people or person's unknown outside the lift. In another, she's frantically pushing the button in the elevator as if desperate to get it to move.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The autopsy was long and drawn out. Ultimately it declared that this was a case of accidental drowning. There were no recreational drugs in her system or asthma. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Here's what I think happened to Elisa Lam. Please note - this is only what I believe happened - </span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial;">My Theory </span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Elisa was scared. Scared of the noise she heard coming through the hotel walls. Scared of the men who tried to hit on her. On her last morning on earth, she came out of her room looking through the keyhole several times to make sure no one was about. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">She was in the hallway when she heard someone coming. She frantically jumped in the elevator to avoid them, frantically banging on the lift buttons trying to get the door to close. She made the same mistake many of us make when we're in a hurry and unwittingly pressed the buttons to keep the door open for two minutes instead of the correct ones to close it. </span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial;">She panicked</span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">That's when she had a discussion with someone outside the lift. It freaked her out so much - as any interaction would in her highly stressed state - she ran up the stairs to the roof to avoid this person or persons. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">When she got to the roof she thought she had evaded them but all she'd managed to do was leave herself with no escape or place to hide. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Then she saw the four water towers that supplied the Cecil Hotel's water. Not wanting to get her clothes wet, she hurriedly took them off and placed them on the edge of the water tank at a point she thought they couldn't be seen. </span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial;">She climbed into the water tank</span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">She then climbed into the water tank using her fingertips to try and desperately hold on to the top rim and waited for the person to leave. But she misjudged how far away the water was from the hatch or lid and as she tried to frantically keep herself from dropping into the water she accidentally pulled her clothes full in. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">One item of clothing was heavy and sunk to the bottom. She went down to retrieve it and that's when she drowned because she couldn't get back out. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Her hiding place became her tomb.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">This theory is pure conjecture on my part. We may never know the true story. </span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">My agoraphobia</span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I have personal experience of living in the type of sheer terror I believe Elisa suffered in her last hours on earth. I suffer from agoraphobia - defined as the fear of wide, open spaces, to me, it's more about the fear I have of other people. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">My agoraphobia was brought on by the extensive bullying I suffered throughout my teens. When I lived alone, I would go into hypervigilance mode and before I stepped outside I would check that the coast was clear. This would involve looking out the window, peering through keyholes, listening at the door for anyone coming. All part of the reconnaissance I would do before I would leave my home/room.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Her story draws you in</span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">What we do know is that the Canadian student who wrote about the difficulties of growing up on Tumblr that she used like a Dear Diary, will never be forgotten. Through reading about her disappearance at the Cecil Hotel and watching the Netflix documentary, we feel as though we have gotten to know and care about her. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Elisa may have perished but she lives on in the minds of everyone who's heard her story and those who've read her amazing words on her blog. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I have no doubt that she would have made an amazing writer. Like so many talented people she died too soon. </span></p><p><br /></p>Jennifer Lee Thomson, Jenny Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07999487852799181636noreply@blogger.com0