Kevin R. Doyle is back! This time he brings us an excerpt from his mystery Heel Turn. He's also going to give us a sneak peek into some changes he is making in his life. I remember when I made a similar decision in mine! (Best of luck to you, Kevin!) Enjoy and download your copy of the book before you follow the tour to get to know him even more. Check out the great giveaway as well!
Released from prison for one murder, only to be arrested for a second, Sheila Hampton has no one to turn to save Sam Quinton, local private eye, who sets out to prove her innocence and uncover the knot of corruption that entangled its victim for over two decades.
Read an excerpt:
Across from me, in the back row on the other side of the room, sat a cluster of five women perched forward in their seats, their eyes locked on the proceedings. They all looked to be in the forty to fifty-year age range, with teased, 1980’s style hairdos and tight-fitting clothes. I wondered if by chance they were friends of Sheila’s from back when, come to either show their support or, more cynically, bask in a moment of catty superiority.
My life may not be great, but at least I didn’t end up like poor Sheila over there.
I did, however, feel someone checking me out, and turned to look straight ahead. About two rows in front, a tall fiftyish woman with long blonde hair had her arm propped on the back of her seat, her body twisted enough to put me right in her line of sight.
Outside, she silently mouthed to me before turning back to watch the proceedings. I tuned into what was happening just as, as expected, the judge denied Sheila bail and ordered her held until trial.
As the deputy guarding her led Sheila away and Bernie walked over to speak to the prosecutor, I glanced over where the woman who’d motioned to me had been sitting. She was already up and half out of the courtroom, pausing only long enough to bat her eyes and nod her head towards the outer doors.
What the hell?
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Guest Post
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” is a cliched question always asked of young people. In the last several months, lots of folks have asked me a common variation on that question.
See, in less than a year, I’m going to face a rather drastic change in my writing career, not to mention my life overall.
For the last quarter century, I’ve worked as an English and communications teacher at both the high-school and community college level, while spending what spare time I had (and it wasn’t much) writing fiction. For the biggest chunk of that time, I was focusing on short stories, so the time commitment away from teaching was minimal.
However, about ten years ago, my work began stretching out longer and longer, and before I knew it I was writing novels almost exclusively, with an occasional short story thrown in here and there. Along with the shift in length came an unexpected shift in genre, from primarily horror to primarily mystery. (Although I did shoot out one horror novel, The Litter, that I’m fairly proud of.)
It probably goes without saying that writing novels around a teaching schedule is a bit more of a challenge than writing short stories around the same schedule.
However, all of that ends next May, when I hand in my last grades and end-of-year paperwork, shut my classroom door for the final time, and head off into retirement.
To say I’m looking forward to this change in life would be an understatement.
However, I have to admit that I’m also starting to feel a little trepidatious at the same time.
The interesting thing is that as more and more people ask me, “what are you going to do when you retire,” unlike some I have a ready-made answer. Three years ago, Camel Press and I began the Sam Quinton mystery series with Squatter’s Rights. (Is it shameless plugging to mention that it was shortlisted for the 2020 Shamus Award for Best First PI Novel?)
This was followed at a steady pace by Heel Turn and Double Frame. Last fall, while Double Frame was going through the editing process, Camel reached out to me about doing more in the series. After a short discussion on a Saturday afternoon, we ended up agreeing to continue the series for another three books, taking it through at least number six.
(For even more shameless plugging, or maybe this is just bragging, they suggested offering me a deal for five more books and even suggested they’d be willing to look into doing a second series. However, I felt even more trepidation at doing five more books than I do facing retirement, so we settled on three.)
Thus, when folks ask me what I’m going to do after I retire, I answer that, for at least two years, I’m going to be writing Sam Quinton’s. It helps ease all the belly wobbles to know that I’ve got something to keep me occupied.
And with an adequate pension coming my way, I won’t have to worry about being a starving fiction writer.
So, you know, the best of all possible worlds.
More from Kevin R. Doyle on ABR:
A high-school teacher, former college instructor, and fiction writer, Kevin R. Doyle is the author of numerous short horror stories. He’s also written three crime thrillers, The Group, When You Have to Go There, and And the Devil Walks Away, and one horror novel, The Litter. In the last few years, he’s begun working on the Sam Quinton private eye series, published by Camel Press. The first Quinton book, Squatter’s Rights, was nominated for the 2021 Shamus award for Best First PI Novel. The second book, Heel Turn, was released in March of 2021, while the third in the series, Double Frame, came out in March of 2022. Links:
Web site: kevindoylefiction.com
Kevin R. Doyle will be awarding one physical copy of the book, U.S. only to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteAndi, I've been on the road unexpectedly the last few days and am just getting caught up with things. Wanted to drop a quick note and say thanks for hosting me.
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