Today I’m joining the blog tour for The Blood That Binds by Dave Sivers – published for kindle on 4th April, this is the fourth in the series featuring DI Lizzie Archer and DS Dan Baines. I haven’t been able to try the series yet, but I do love the synopsis of this one, and it’s had some really great endorsements…
“Two intriguing cases – one twisted plot.” – Alison Bruce
“Stylish, skilful and packed with suspense.” – Sharon Bolton
SOMETIMES THE PAST IS BEST LEFT ALONE
The quiet Buckinghamshire village of Houghton is reeling. Soon after twelve year old Leanne Richards is killed by a hit and run driver, the two classmates who were with her that night disappear, one by one.
Jade and Becky said they couldn’t identify the car or the driver. Does someone want to make sure it stays that way? Or are other, darker motives in play?
As DI Lizzie Archer and DS Dan Baines search for the truth, buried pasts and secret loves begin to reveal themselves. But is time running out for the girls? Or is it already too late?
PRAISE FOR ARCHER AND BAINES:
‘You’ll enjoy this if you liked Elizabeth George’s Inspector Lynley Mysteries, Gillian Hamer’s Gold Detectives series and Val McDermid’s Wire in the Blood’ - J J Marsh, author of the Beatrice Stubbs novels.
I’m delighted to welcome Dave to Being Anne, with a great guest post on turning ideas into books… over to you Dave…
“Where do you get your ideas from?”
It’s a question that fiction writers get asked all the time.
Actually, there’s a second question I get asked as a crime fiction writer: “Why are you so interested in murder and death? Is it something in your psyche?”
They’re fair questions. To dispose of the second one first, I’ve yet to meet a crime writer who had a dark, brooding personality, although we do have some quite animated conversations on subjects I won’t go into now. I get some odd looks when, whilst out and about, I remark to a companion, “That’d make a great place to hide a body.” And as for my browsing history (for research purposes)…
But no. I like crime fiction because it allows me to explore not only the mechanics of whodunit, but also why. Most people love trying to solve a mystery, or crack a puzzle, and I’m no exception. But with my puzzles, there’s always a human side too. What events and emotions brought about the tragedy that DI Lizzie Archer and DS Dan Baines try to solve?
As for where the ideas come from? The simple answer is, “All over the place.”
It could be a newspaper article, which was certainly the spark for my new book, The Blood That Binds – just an item in a free newspaper I was reading on the train home from London, about a case in Italy.
It could be something I’ve seen. There’s an unofficial swimming hole near where I live, much used by local young people in the summer months. Okay, maybe I do have a dark turn of mind, after all, but it occurred to me that a teenager being fished out of a similar swimming hole would be a great start to a book. That was the spark for Dead in Deep Water.
Little things like that tend to be the sparks. News items. Overheard snippets of conversation. Somewhere that looks like an interesting place to put a body (what do you mean, normal people don’t think like that?).
But that’s not the whole answer to the question of where ideas come from. Because the small sparks are not ideas in themselves. The idea comes when the spark triggers big ‘what if?’ questions.
So with that swimming hole, the idea of a dead teenager in the water was all very well. But what if she never swam there? What if she was a strong swimmer? What if she was, in fact, an Olympic hopeful? Then it gets much more interesting. What was she doing there? How did she come to die? And suddenly my cops have a mystery on their hands.
So back to The Blood That Binds and that piece in the free newspaper. If I told you what it was about, it would be a massive spoiler. But the important point is that the spark got me thinking about what would happen after the case to the people involved. What if…?
Small sparks and big what ifs are what give me the basis of the puzzles I set for Archer and Baines. After that, I sit on their shoulders and watch them investigate. But I don’t make it easy for them (or the readers trying to beat them to the answers). I chuck a lot of obstacles in their way.
Well, they have to earn their keep, don’t they?
Thank you Dave – really enjoyed that one. And, do you know, I think I might just enjoy your books too! Wishing you every success with this one.
Do follow the other stops on the blog tour, everyone, won’t you?
About the author
Dave’s civil service career took him to exotic places like Rhode Island USA, Cyprus, Brussels, Northern Norway and Sutton Coldfield. Along the way, he moonlighted variously as nightclub bouncer, bookie’s clerk and freelance writer, as well as picking up a first class honours degree from the Open University. Writing has always been his passion and, since giving up the day job, he has launched a second career as a novelist.
The Scars Beneath the Soul, the first book in his popular Archer and Baines crime series – set in Buckinghamshire’s Aylesbury Vale – and the follow-up, Dead in Deep Water, both hit the top three in Kindle’s ‘Serial Killers’ chart. The Blood That Binds is the fourth in the series featuring DI Lizzie Archer and DS Dan Baines.
Dave has also won prizes and publication with his short fiction, written for newspapers and magazines, and writes material for the amateur stage.
Dave lives in Buckinghamshire, England, with his wife, Chris.
Fab interview, good to see you here Dave, and thanks Anne. Much success to both.