It’s always a bit frustrating when I hear about a book I really want to read, take a look at my diary, and then realise there’s no possibility of fitting it in until next year. Retribution! by Elizabeth Ducie was published on 1st September, now available for kindle (free via Kindle Unlimited) and in paperback, the fourth in her series of Jones Sisters thrillers set in the murky world of international pharmaceuticals. Not my usual reading, I know, but this is a series I’ve thoroughly enjoyed – gripping, exciting, unpredictable, every book a real page-turner, with a particular authenticity to the world created by the author and the most wonderfully drawn characters. I’m delighted to welcome Elizabeth as my guest today to tell us about the evolution of the Jones Sisters…
Little did I think, when I wrote a 6K word story as an MA assignment, back in 2012, that it would grow and evolve over the next twelve years into a four volume series of international thrillers.
A scientist by education and training, I turned to creative writing after thirty years in the international pharmaceutical manufacturing industry. By that time, I’d written millions of words in the form of audit reports, training modules and technical text books. Every word I’d written had been true.
If I was to write fiction, I needed to learn how to write things that weren’t true; as my website strapline says, I tell lies for a living. I enrolled for an MA in Creative Writing at Exeter University. Being a mature student after forty years away from the campus was an experience – but that’s a story for another day.
I’d started writing my debut novel some years before and had never got past chapter six. So I decided to use all the assignments during the two-year course to work on different aspects of the book. Except my tutor, Philip Hensher, wouldn’t let me. “I want you to write something different,” he said.
So, against my will, I wrote Caveat Emptor, a short story about a regulator from the UK trying to stem the tide of fake drugs being sold in Africa. She was naïve, she thought she was completely right. But as the story develops, we’re reminded that the situation is not always clear cut. Sometimes good people do bad things for good reasons.
I don’t remember what mark I got, but I do remember the story stayed in my mind and once I’d finally finished and published my debut, Gorgito’s Ice Rink, in 2014, I revisited Caveat Emptor and realised I could turn it into a novel. It became the basis for Counterfeit!, set in southern Africa in 2004 and, while almost completely fiction, includes a couple of incidents taken from my working life in the region. It features Suzanne Jones, the rather prissy regulator mentioned above and her sister, Charlie, who is a bit of a tear-away, plus an old school friend of theirs, Francine Matheson, who is an MP at the start of the book.
As was so often the case, I had the ending for that book in my mind before most of the story was written. But once it was finished, I realised there was far I could do with it. I went on to write Deception!, set in Latin America in 2007; and Corruption! set in Russia and Ukraine in 2010.
I was a big fan of The Women’s Murder Club series by James Patterson, which feature the same small group of strong female protagonists, with a different one taking a lead in each book. I originally called my series The Suzanne Jones thrillers, but soon changed that to The Jones Sisters thrillers. Charlie took the lead in Deception! and Francine in Corruption! Each book was a standalone, but there was an over-arching story that covered all three.
By the time I published Corruption! in 2018, I’ve been writing about the Jones sisters for six years. To be honest, I was a bit fed up with them. I tried to write something different but Charlie, in particular, wouldn’t get out of my head. In the end, I retired her and her family to a pub in Devon where they became the focal point of my new series of cosy crime novels.
Fast forward to 2023, when I was beginning to plot the story for the fourth in the cosy series. The opening scene, which I’d had in my head for a long time, was Charlie being arrested for murder on her wedding day. As I plotted out the chapters, I was hit by the realisation that this wasn’t a cosy at all. This was the fourth part in the thriller trilogy!
Set in 2024, it brings the story of the Jones sisters right up to date and also delves into Charlie’s past. It’s lighter on humour and cooking; heavier on car chases and explosions. My characters had taken over my head once more and told me how they were going to behave.
Although I prefer writing cosy crime these days, I had great fun revisiting old faces and old stories one more time. Anyone who’s read the earlier books will recognise some of the characters. Although it can certainly be read as a standalone.
And there’s one scene in particular that I am particularly proud of. I’m offering a (small) prize to the first person who can correctly identify which scene that might be. Drop me an email if you think you know what it is: elizabeth@elizabethducie.co.uk
Elizabeth, thank you – and if you’d like to buy a signed paperback copy direct from the author, do email her on the same address. Let me share the book’s blurb…
Punish the guilty. Protect the innocent.
Framed for murder on the day of her wedding, Charlie Jones is living a nightmare. While her sister, Suzanne, and their friends search for the true killer, Charlie is forced to confront her past: a past she’s kept hidden for more than three decades. Can Charlie save herself without losing everyone she loves. And who is the man in the black jacket?
The final explosive investigation for the Jones sisters.
I never did manage to catch up with Counterfeit!, the first in the series – an endorsement that each book is entirely readable (and enjoyable) as a standalone. But if you’d like to read my reviews of the other two books, you’ll find my review of Deception! here, and my review of Corruption! here. I’ve reviewed all the books (so far…) in Elizabeth’s cozy mystery series too, the Coombesford Chronicles, also very much recommended – you’ll find all the reviews if you pop her name into my search box. But I’m very much looking forward to reading this one – hopefully I’ll be able to share a review in a few months’ time!
About the author
Elizabeth Ducie trained as a scientist and worked in the international pharmaceutical industry for nearly thirty years before deciding to give it all up and start telling lies for a living. She now writes fiction and creative non-fiction more or less full-time. As well as the Jones Sisters international thrillers, Elizabeth also writes the Coombesford Chronicles, cosy crime set in a typical English village and the Author Business Foundations series of how-to books for authors running their own business and/or beginning the route towards self-publishing.