Authors Ramblings

I’m off and running . . .

January 21, 2021 by MK Turner Filed Under: Authors Ramblings, Giveaways, Information on books, My Books 20 Comments

Hello & Happy New Year,

Remember me? It’s been a while since my last confession, and there’s a reason for that – I didn’t want to come back with no news. Again. So, I’m chuffed to be able to tell you that I have actually FINISHED a book – yes, one that I’ve written. Not a Bearing Witness or a Meredith & Hodge, which many of you are chasing me for, but still, it’s finished. And, I will confess that eighty per cent of it was written quite a while ago, but most of it had to be rewritten or tweaked, so I’m counting it. It was going to be a one off, but I might just pull together a mini-series, as I have a couple of ideas for stories with a similar set up. The working title is An Unexpected Turn of Events, but it’s more likely going to end up being called, Who Killed Charlie Birch? Which of these two titles would grab your attention in the first instance?

An unexpected chain of events, has resulted in Charlie Birch holding a group of people hostage in the village pub. He didn’t intend to, events took over, and it seemed like a good idea when he bolted the last door. It wasn’t. Within hours, Charlie is dead. But who killed him?

As always, the clues are there, in what is a light-hearted murder mystery.

It’s gone off to the editor, so as soon as it’s ready for advanced copy readers, I’ll be shouting for volunteers. This is a cover I put together for this newsletter, I can’t show you the actual cover because my previous designer has retired and I’m in the process of finding someone new, if anyone has any recommendations, please don’t hesitate to shout.

I’m now back to Meredith & Hodge, as yet untitled, and hoping to get it finished in the next couple of months. My ability to focus has been so bad this last year, I’ve now started giving my self daily targets. I don’t meet all of them, but it has certainly kept things moving along.

AUDIO NEWS

The BIG news this time, is that The Cuban Conundrum, narrated by the talented Lee Beddow, went live on audio today. I will be sending out codes to those who are on the ‘every time’ list, but if you would like a FREE code and haven’t heard from me, please let me know and I’ll get one off to you. Click the track below to hear a sample. I’m sure the ladies will like Alberto’s voice, and Clara is guaranteed to raise a smile.

In other news, feedback on Witness for Wendy audio has been fabulous, Nikki Loy has definitely picked up more than a few fans, on this, her first audio book. If you did enjoy it, I would be grateful if you would also take the time to review it on Audible or Amazon to let other listeners know too. 😊

Excerpt below if you would like a preview

I still have FREE codes for most of the books out in audio in both US & UK, if you would like to try one, let me know and I’ll get codes off to you.

That’s it for now, I hope you are all safe, well, and coping with this seemingly never-ending pandemic. Things are awful here in the UK at them moment, and I think it will get a little worse before it starts getting better, but, with the vaccine being rolled out at a rate of knots, there is now light at the end of the tunnel.

Happy reading,

Follow me on BookBub and you may choose a FREE ebook from my list of novels. ( boxed sets excluded) Simply click here and you’ll be taken to my author page, and will find the follow button on the top right. If you don’t use your own name for BookBub please drop me a line and let me know what it is and I’ll be in touch.

January 21, 2021 by MK Turner Filed Under: Authors Ramblings, Giveaways, Information on books, My Books 20 Comments

Well, it is nearly Christmas!

December 1, 2020 by MK Turner Filed Under: Authors Ramblings, Giveaways, Information on books 6 Comments

Hello one and all,

The drizzle and mist have cleared, and it’s bright and sunny, if a little chilly, here in Bristol UK.

Christmas is coming, and without a doubt it will be different for all of us this year, but given the devastation that 2020 delivered, I think this year in particular it really is the time to be thankful for what we have and to make the most of it. Which of course, is just what Meredith did when he got stuck in a remote Scottish castle last Christmas. I doubt Linda will ever be allowed to forget her choice of location!

In recognition of the approaching, if somewhat reduced, festivities, Quite By Chance is reduced to only 0.99 for the week. So, grab yourself a bargain, settle yourself down and find out how Meredith & Hodge dealt with their unexpected Christmas. To find out more, click HERE.

If you would rather listen to the story, I do have FREE audio codes available for both US & UK. I only have a limited number so it will be first come first served. I also have a number of codes on all the Meredith & Hodge novels in the UK and for most of the later ones in the US. If you would like to listen to any of them please shout.

In other news . . . . a reason to be grateful in 2020 was provided by my niece Lucy and hubby Adam. They are expecting, and their Lockdown surprise will be joining us mid-April. Can’t wait. By then I might even be allowed a cuddle. My writing progresses slowly, but at least it’s progressing, and on the audio front, narrator, Lee Beddow is reaching the end of production of The Cuban Conundrum. For those of you who have read it, he ‘does’ a wonderful Clara!

That’s it for now, get back to me promptly if you would like any audio codes, and enjoy spending Christmas with Meredith.

Happy reading,

December 1, 2020 by MK Turner Filed Under: Authors Ramblings, Giveaways, Information on books 6 Comments

Tis like buses . . .

November 20, 2020 by MK Turner Filed Under: Authors Ramblings, Information on books 10 Comments

Hello again,

And I’m back, but I’ll keep it brief. Within hours of sending the newsletter regarding the audio release of Witness for Wendy, I had an email from Audible, confirming that Not If You Paid Me, the latest audio in the Meredith & Hodge series had also gone live, so apologies for appearing in your in box again so soon, but I know many of you are awaiting this news.

As always I have UK and US codes available for those happy to leave an honest review. Please shout should you want one.

I’m off to do some writing, or this will end up the last in the series!

Happy listening

November 20, 2020 by MK Turner Filed Under: Authors Ramblings, Information on books 10 Comments

It’s a murder mystery, but not as you know it . . .

November 18, 2020 by MK Turner Filed Under: Authors Ramblings 6 Comments

Good Evening one and all,

And finally . . . Witness for Wendy is now available in audio. I loved working on this one with my old friend and work colleague Nikki Loy, I think if anyone had told us we would be collaborating on such a project ten years ago, we’d have thought they were mad. But here we are, and I love this!

I’m not sure if any of the Meredith & Hodge fans are aware of the Bearing Witness series, but it’s a little bit different. There is a mystery and a murder, but the detectives are a tad unusual. I won’t say more, you’ll need to read/listen to find out.

Because this isn’t a Meredith & Hodge, and as codes are more limited these days, I haven’t sent any out to the usual suspects, but if you would like a code, and are willing to leave an honest review, please shout and I’ll get one off to you.

Fingers crossed Not If You Paid Me should be out by the end of the week.

Happy listening,

November 18, 2020 by MK Turner Filed Under: Authors Ramblings 6 Comments

What made you happy this month?

October 29, 2020 by MK Turner Filed Under: Authors Ramblings, Book reviews, Friends, Information on books 6 Comments

Good Evening from a very damp and blustery Bristol.

Which ever part of the world you are living in, and whatever personal achievements or wonderful delights have occurred in your life this year, it has to be acknowledged that 2020 is going to be the year that everyone would like to forget, but which will be spoken about for many, many moons into the future. Politics and Covid-19 have dominated our world, both getting nastier and more destructive as the year has gone on. I for one will be glad to see the back of it – although, I should admit I said that about last year . . . Little did I know.

Because of this I think we should celebrate what we can, and if I take this month as an example I can immediately think of three things that made me happy, and gave me good reason to forget about the nightmare that is 2020 for a while.

The top of the list, has to be the fact that my daughter has been given the all clear on cancer, so we can relax for another year! Here she is pictured awaiting her MRI scan, and as she put it, “Still rocking the hospital gown, but this year with an added accessory!”

The second is the arrival of my great-niece Nyah. She was almost two weeks overdue, and gave her poor old mum more than a rough time before she finally put in an appearance. But I’m sure like the rest of the family, mum and dad now think those hours . . . and . . . hours and hours were worth it! Here she is a few days old, the bruising from the forceps almost gone. She is, without a doubt, one of the prettiest newborns I have ever seen. All I want now are my cuddles, not sure how long it will be before I get them . . . but let’s not go back there.

Finally, and less momentous but still something to drown out 2020, despite the subject matter, I found my “Read of 2020”. Written way back in 2001 when I had far fewer laughter lines, and by one of my favourite authors, I can’t believe it passed me by. A Place of Execution, by Val McDermid, is set in the 1960’s around the time the Moors Murderers were still at large. It even makes reference to them, and is written in such a way I had to check that it was a work of fiction, and that Ms McDermid hadn’t wandered from the path of fiction to dramatise a true event. I thoroughly recommend it.

I have done quite a lot of reading, and not much writing lately – although more of that later – and have just got the reviews of those books I enjoyed up to date. You can see some of what kept me from the laptop HERE. Don’t forget to review those books you’ve enjoyed reading.

What made you happy this month? Drop me a line and let me know – I need to keep this smile going 🙂

I’m sorry to confess, that the latest Meredith & Hodge is not flying by any stretch of the imagination, despite the fact that very unlike me, I’ve planned the next few chapters. It seems to me that they’ve been playing me up since the wedding! However, what has grabbed me again, is something I started three or four years back. Currently titled An Unexpected Turn of Events, it is a collection of short stories I wrote many years ago while on a writers workshop course, and I’ve tweaked them, interlinked them and have a murder on my hands!

I’ll keep you posted as to its progress.

Finally, the latest two audiobooks are due out any day now. The latest M & H – Not If You Paid Me, narrated by the wonderful, Lee Beddow, and the first in the Bearing Witness series, Witness for Wendy, narrated by my old work colleague and friend, the very talented Nikki Loy. I think Audio fans will love it. I will announce their arrival via my Audio Mailing List, so if you want to be added to that, please shout and it shall be. I still have a few free codes knocking about if anyone would like to give audio a try.

That’s it for now, dinner to prepare, and hopefully a coupe of hours writing coming up later.

Stay safe, happy reading,

October 29, 2020 by MK Turner Filed Under: Authors Ramblings, Book reviews, Friends, Information on books 6 Comments

The Making of Meredith

August 14, 2020 by MK Turner Filed Under: Authors Ramblings, Book reviews, Giveaways, Information on books 8 Comments

Good Morning, from a grey but very muggy Bristol,

I hope you are all coping with whatever life has thrown at you this week. Here in Bristol, UK, we’ve moved from glorious sunshiny days, to just about bearable heatwave (for us), to spectacular thunder storms. We are currently in a lull and if it wasn’t for the temperature, when you look out of the window, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was November. That’s the weather dealt with! I’m not going to talk about the pandemic, I think we all hear enough about that, other than to say, whatever your views, I hope you and yours stay safe.

Now to all things Meredith. Love him or hate him, that man gets under your skin, and I was getting so many emails about him that I thought it was time I shared his past, and wrote The Making of Meredith. His chequered past brought in a few comments I can tell you. Here’s what some of them said:

“When I fished this book, I literally said out loud, “wow.” It was that good. While I have enjoyed every book in the Meredith and Hodge series, I think this one was the best so far, in that it allows us to understand just how Meredith ended up being Meredith. I have always found him to be complex and interesting, now, even more so. With a keener understanding of who he really is…”

“…. It’s a story of how the character Meredith might have come to be, beginning from his early childhood,. The story doesn’t make excuses for Meredith’s behaviour, rather it provides examples of how family, teachers, friends, neighbours, economic and social circumstances shaped who he became. This story is quite believable, although may be somewhat tragic for some readers. While I enjoyed Meredith’s many talents throughout the mysteries, I didn’t admire his behaviour in some instances, The prequel puts his behaviour into context and resolved my misgivings regarding his adult character.”

And even: “I have enjoyed all of the Meredith and Hodge series thus far, so it is nice to get to see what has made Meredith the arrogant bastard that is Meredith. As always well written and thought provoking. Looking forward to more.”

This one made me smile: “So, I know why I fell in love with the gorgeous Meredith! Written with total empathy for the character. I wept alongside him for joy and sorrow. Another masterpiece. now to re-read the rest.”

Why am I dedicating this newsletter to Meredith? Because out of the blue this morning I had an email from Audible telling me The Making of Meredith was live. I think the audio fans here will really enjoy hearing Meredith grow up. Lee Beddow the narrator has done an excellent job taking Meredith from a seven year old through to the man he became. It’s wonderful hearing his voice gradually change as he negotiates his way through adolescence to the Meredith we know and love. Simply click here if you would like to hear a sample.

AND to celebrate this latest arrival the e-book version will be FREE from the 15th August to 19th August, so if you’ve yet to meet the young Meredith click here.

I think that’s enough for now, except of course to say, thank you to all those readers/listeners who have taken the time to leave reviews. They are important. Please remember to leave a review if you have enjoyed a book you’ve read or listened to. Not only does it give other readers an insight into what’s to come, it also gives the author a huge boost and effects the ratings on Amazon etc. OK, OK, enough of the nagging, here’s a cute kitten to help convince you 😉

Happy reading,

August 14, 2020 by MK Turner Filed Under: Authors Ramblings, Book reviews, Giveaways, Information on books 8 Comments

Drum roll . . . Ta Daaa

June 17, 2020 by MK Turner Filed Under: Authors Ramblings, Information on books Leave a Comment

Good morning,

I won’t keep you long, I’m sure you’re busy, BUT it’s here! Not If You Paid Me is live, and available in an Amazon store near you.

The first reviews are in from the Advanced Reader Team, and I can relax. Nothing more I can do except keep my fingers crossed that you lovely lot like it!

It will remain on offer at 0.99 for another week, and then it will go back to full price, as will all the boxed sets which are on offer at half price at the moment to celebrate.

That’s it, grab yourself a bargain, put your feet up with drink of your choice in hand, and relax!

Happy reading

PS: Before I go I should just mention that Lee Beddow is about half way through the narration of The Making of Meredith, and it’s fabulous – It should be out at the end of next month, and even if you don’t usually do Audio, I think you will love it.

June 17, 2020 by MK Turner Filed Under: Authors Ramblings, Information on books Leave a Comment

When it’s all over bar the shouting…

June 12, 2020 by MK Turner Filed Under: Authors Ramblings, Book reviews, Information on books Leave a Comment

Hello, and welcome new subscribers,

With the writing, editing and prep of Not If You Paid Me done, I’ve spent the last couple of hours trying to ensure all my reviews are up to date. I’m a “do them in batches” reviewer. There were ten to do, which is more than usual, so I’ll blame that on being distracted by world events. In tracking them down, I discovered over fifty unread books on my kindle – to be fair that does include the six I purchased this week – not sure if they count . . . How do you stop buying books? Answer: You don’t. 😊 So many of them have caught my eye it might be a while before I start writing again! If you want to see what I’ve been reading, pop over to Reviews & Recommendations. Are your reviews up to date?

It’s now only five days to go until Not If You Paid Me is published on the 17^th June, and despite the positive response from the advanced readers, this is the time I start to get nervous, all the more reason to get lost in a good book!

Some of you were kind enough to contact me to let me know that the links I put in the last newsletter only went to the UK, so I’ve now got some ‘smart’ links which will take you to the Amazon store in your personal location. To pre-order at launch price simply click HERE. Want to know how it all began? You can read the first chapter HERE.

As always to celebrate the launch of Not If You Paid Me, I’ve put some other books on special offer. This time I’ve gone with the boxed sets, all of which will all be half price for the next two weeks. I’ve even included the Bearing Witness series. So, if you need to catch up on any of the books in the series now’s the time do it. Simply click on the covers of the sets to see which books are included in the set.

Whatever you’re reading at the moment, I hope you’re enjoying it 😊 That’s it for now.

Happy reading,

June 12, 2020 by MK Turner Filed Under: Authors Ramblings, Book reviews, Information on books Leave a Comment

What’s in a name?

May 31, 2020 by MK Turner Filed Under: Authors Ramblings 6 Comments

Good Morning from sunny Bristol,

When naming a character, I can spend ages trying to come up with the right name. One that fits the character, one I haven’t used before, one that’s not associated with anyone famous, the list goes on. Even when I think I’ve sorted it, I often realise that name didn’t suit, so I change it. Take Louie Trump for instance, I didn’t name him, my best friend, Jane, did. We were away for a weekend of pampering and I was talking about Ill Conceived the second in the Meredith & Hodge series. I explained that a rather posh chap would be joining Meredith’s team and I hadn’t got a name for him. I described him and she came up with Louie Trump. This was almost eight years ago, I liked it, and Meredith’s side kick was named. Of course, had she suggested that name today, I would have rejected it, and I’ve had more than a few comments from readers since, but back then . . . who knew?

I think I got it right with John Meredith though. BUT other than a few vague references, his height, the fact he has hair (!) I’ve not really described him, and I’m often asked who I picture when I’m writing. It has been known to vary, but usually it’s the actor Philip Glenister. When I asked the readers on Facebook, I got lots of different answers, and the only similarity? They are of course, all very good looking!

I’ve shared some of the pictures of those suggested here, who do you think looks most like ‘your’ Meredith?

In other news: Not If You Paid Me has been sent out to the ARC team, and the first reports are back. They like it. One said, “Not sure why you struggled with this one, it’s a cracker!” I hope you like it too. It will be available on the 17th June and can be pre-ordered HERE.

That’s it for now, don’t forget to let me know who your Meredith is.

Stay safe & happy reading

May 31, 2020 by MK Turner Filed Under: Authors Ramblings 6 Comments

It’s a bit like buses . . .

May 21, 2020 by MK Turner Filed Under: Authors Ramblings, Book reviews, Information on books 6 Comments

Good Morning,

I hope everyone is keeping safe and well, coping with lockdown life, and staying sane in what feels like an increasingly insane world. If you are a key worker, THANK YOU! Your efforts are very much appreciated. We are living in strange times, with things going on that in our previous lives ‘we couldn’t make up’. Although there are many heroes out there, we’re finding that patience and common sense has not been distributed evenly throughout the world’s population. So, all I will say is, please stay safe, this virus is going to be with us for a while yet.

BUT, I’m sure you are all overloaded with CV-19 stuff, so in other news: Once I’d stop watching every news update, and now just dip in once a day for a dose of depression, with no work to go to, and not being able to look after my grandchildren, I started writing ‘properly’. The result, after many months of broken promises, is that the next in the Meredith & Hodge series, Not If You Paid Me, is written, finished, done! Almost. Now with the editor, it’s then off to the proof reader, a little time for some rewriting etc., and it will be available on 17^th June 2020 and is available to pre-order HERE.

AUDIO NEWS: I’m delighted to say, that Audible has finally caught up with its back log, and both Mistaken Beliefs and Quite by Chance are now live. Narrator, Lee Beddow, has almost finished Family Matters too, so with a fair wind and fingers crossed, that should be available next month! Nikki Loy is making great progress with Witness for Wendy, and I’ll keep you updated with regards to a release date. You’re going to love it! I still have FREE promo codes for the earlier books, please shout if you fancy trying one.

So, as the title says, it’s a bit like buses. Nothing for ages and then it all arrives at once!

I have also almost caught up with the reviews on the books I’ve read recently, and you can check them out HERE. Please remember how important your reviews are to authors, and when you have a moment, get them up to date. You don’t need to write an essay, just a couple of words will put a smile on an author’s face.

I’m going to have a week or so away from writing (Have you seen the state of my house!) and then I’ll be back at it. I have a vague story line for both Meredith & Hodge and the ladies in the Bearing Witness series, but not quite sure which way to jump at the moment. Hopefully applying some elbow grease to the house will focus the mind!

Stay safe, and happy reading,

May 21, 2020 by MK Turner Filed Under: Authors Ramblings, Book reviews, Information on books 6 Comments

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