Book Details:
Genre: Crime Fiction Published by: Witness Impulse, an imprint of HarperCollins Publication Date: 2/11/2014 Number of Pages: 513 ISBN: 9780062301758
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Synopsis:
This moody and arresting thriller is perfect for fans of Tana French. On a beautiful, eerily quiet May morning, a girl is found brutally bludgeoned to death. When Detective Marjory Fleming arrives, the silence of the scene is broken only by the ringing of the girl's cell phone. The nearby community is small and close-knit, but the veneer of contented prosperity conceals nasty secrets and deep betrayals. When another corpse is discovered, Fleming quickly realizes she must watch her own back while she searches for the link between the murders. As she uncovers layer upon layer of intrigue and deceit, it becomes apparent that, while the dead can't tell lies, the living most certainly can.Read an excerpt:
The wind had dropped with the sunrise. It was a beautiful May morning, with the soft, pearly light so typical of the south-west corner of Scotland, but it was cool still; vapour clung to the tops of the trees and there was a sweet, damp, earthy smell after a heavy dew. He got up to have a chilly shower – he must see if something couldn’t be done about the hot-water supply – then dressed in his working jeans and checked shirt and went down the rickety staircase and across the living room to open the door.
The wooden shack, his home since he was freed on licence six months ago, had walls weathered by time and the elements to a soft silvery grey. It stood in a clearing surrounded by rough grass studded with the stumps of felled trees, crumbling and mossy now. Beyond that, a tangle of undergrowth formed a natural enclosure: at this time of year the grass had feathery seed heads and thecreamy flowers of hawthorn and cow parsley gleamed against the lush dark green of nettles and docks. From a snarl of brambles, a robin was shouting a melodious challenge to all comers. Sitting down on the dilapidated bench outside the back door, he drank in the peace and freedom which remained a novelty still.
Author Bio:
Aline Templeton grew up in the fishing village of Anstruther, in the East Neuk of Fife. She has worked in education and broadcasting and was a Justice of the Peace for ten years. Married, with two grown-up children and three grandchildren, she now lives in a house with a view of Edinburgh Castle. When not writing, she enjoys cooking, choral singing, and traveling the back roads of France.Guest Post:
What are 10 things that are near you right now? When/How do you use them while writing? (assuming she writes on computer)
- A yellow fine-point Bic pen. I don’t feel comfortable writing with anything else.
- A loose-leaf file. It has sections marked ‘Dates’, ‘ Places’ ‘Characters’ and so on – much quicker to flip through for details like the color of someone’s eyes than coming out of one computer file and going into another.
- A New Yorker cartoon calendar. It gives me a smile every day when I sit down to work.
- A mug with Louisa Alcott’s words, ‘She is too fond of books and it has turned her brain.’ For the essential cups of coffee.
- A turquoise Tiffany box. This is where I keep the scraps of paper I jot my ideas down on. When I’m thinking about a new book I tip it upside down on my desk and sort through for the one that gives me the spark.
- A large abstract painting on the wall above my PC, in dark blues and greens with light grey and dark sepia. I can stare at it and see something different every time.
- A birthday card from my daughter. It has a cartoon of a cheerful looking PC saying, ‘Hello! This is your computer speaking. You don’t know what you’re doing, do you?’
- A photograph of my two granddaughters having a dollies’ tea-party, little fingers gracefully elevated. When the writing is sticking it cheers me up.
- A pair of jade Chinese lions. They remind me of Nietzsche’s words, ‘Laughing lions will come’ and it gives me confidence.
- The Bible. I have to have it near me, when all else fails.
Thanks so much for introducing us to this author. What an entertaining and diverse list of desk items, and how important many are to her writing process.
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