Thrilled today to be sharing an extract from Blood Loss
'...in the same league as Ian Rankin and L J Ross...' Graham Rolph
'. My arms broke out in goose-bumps! Wow!' Susan Hampson, Books From Dust Till Dawn Kerena Swan’s brilliant novel explores how honest mistakes and human frailty can have terrifying and long-reaching consequences. It’s a tale of family ties and loyalty, revenge and redemption that you won’t want to put down. Sarah With one eye on the rear view mirror and the other on the road ahead, Sarah is desperate to get as far away from the remote Scottish cabin as she can without attracting attention. But being inconspicuous isn't easy with a black eye and clothes soaked in blood... ... and now the fuel tank is empty. DI Paton When a body is discovered in a remote cabin in Scotland, DI Paton feels a pang of guilt as he wonders if this is the career break he has been waiting for. But the victim is unidentifiable and the killer has left few clues. Jenna With the death of her father and her mother's failing health, Jenna accepts her future plans must change but nothing can prepare her for the trauma yet to come. Fleeing south to rebuild her life Sarah uncovers long-hidden family secrets. Determined to get back what she believes is rightfully hers, Sarah thinks her future looks brighter. But Paton is still pursuing her... ... and he's getting closer.
I was inspired to write this novel after reading a news article about people who undertook DNA tests to find out more about their heritage with shocking results.
Blood Loss is book one in a series featuring DI Paton and his son Tommy, a boy with Down’ Syndrome. After writing Who’s There? I was asked many times to write a sequel with the main character, Arnold. Tommy is a reincarnation of Arnold with a few subtle differences. You can discover the characters in a free novella available on my website. www.kerenaswan.com DI Paton Detective Inspector Dave Paton disconnected the call to his mobile and looked at his son who was pulling on his coat. This wouldn’t go down well. ‘I’m sorry, Tommy, we can’t go bowling today after all. Something has come up at work. I promise we’ll go next Saturday instead.’ Paton couldn’t deny the shiver he’d felt across his skin when the Chief Inspector said a murder victim had been discovered, and he couldn’t quite decide if it had been alarm or excitement. He longed for a case to challenge him and help him get promotion. Something that would prove he was capable of being the senior investigating officer. After all, he was forty-eight now and if he didn’t achieve this soon it would be too late in his career. With the demands his family placed on him he’d never had the opportunity before. Would this be his chance? Tommy paused with one arm in a sleeve. His flat face and slanted eyes, typical of a child with Down’s syndrome, gave nothing away but his voice was aggrieved. He was nearly as tall as his father and he looked him straight in the eye. ‘You promised, Dad.’ Paton grabbed his car keys. ‘I know, son, but this is important. I’ll take you to Auntie Ursula’s instead and Mum will pick you up when she finishes work.’ Tommy might be fifteen but he couldn’t be left alone. To Paton’s relief, Tommy nodded. He was a nice-natured boy and he understood his dad had important work to do. The cold air pinched Paton’s cheeks as they rushed to the car outside. Scotland always seemed much colder compared to Weymouth in the south of England where he grew up. ‘Get in the back please, Tommy. We need to collect Cheryl.’ Ten minutes later Paton pulled up at the kerb and Detective Constable Cheryl Campbell scrambled in. ‘Hi, boss. Any more info?’ She clipped her seat belt on quickly as he accelerated away. He did have more information, but he couldn’t tell her yet. ‘Hello, DC Cheryl.’ She swivelled in her seat to look behind her. ‘Tommy! I didn’t realise you were with us.’ She smiled at the boy then glanced across at Paton with her eyebrows raised. Tommy leaned forward and patted her shoulder. ‘I’m coming to work with you.’ His round face was creased into a wide smile and his thick tongue muffled his speech. ‘Sorry. Not today, Plodders.’ Paton flashed Tommy a quick smile, using the nickname he’d earned as a small boy when he’d insisted on being called PC Plod. ‘I’m dropping you at Auntie Ursula’s like we agreed. We’ll do some investigating another day. Perhaps we can track down the thief who’s been raiding the biscuit jar.’ ‘Oh, Dad, I know it was you.’ Tommy laughed and sat back in his seat. ‘He ate all the Fox’s Crunch Creams again,’ Tommy told Cheryl. ‘Mum will be cross.’ ‘How is your mum?’ Paton glanced sideways at Cheryl. She knew about Wendy’s bouts of depression which confined her to bed for a week or two and sometimes longer. In fact, his whole team knew but he wasn’t keen on discussing it in front of Tommy, or at all for that matter. Paton’s private life was just that. Private. He couldn’t have people feeling sorry for him and thinking he couldn’t do his job properly. They got by… just, although it was difficult at times. ‘Mum’s upset. She found three grey hairs the other day,’ Tommy said with a small shake of his head. Cheryl grinned. ‘I wish I could come to work there again. Where are you and Cheryl going, Dad?’ Paton looked at his son in the rear-view mirror and felt a rush of affection. Tommy had his heart set on being a detective like his father and Grandfather and had recently been given the opportunity of two weeks’ work experience in the police station staff canteen, He was devastated when it finished. He’d even helped solve a problem case for Paton, albeit unwittingly. ‘Will you need your handcuffs? Is someone stealing again?’ Tommy pulled a plastic set of cuffs from his pocket. ‘You can borrow mine if you’ve forgotten yours.’ He dangled them between the front seats. ‘I won’t, but thanks for the offer.’ Paton stopped outside his sister’s house. ‘Come on, out you get. Maybe Mum will buy you fish and chips when she finishes work.’ Paton’s stomach growled at the thought of food and he sighed. ‘Tell her I’ll grab a sandwich somewhere.’
Purchase Links
US - https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Loss-Paton-Investigates-Book-ebook/dp/B08ZLPV615/ UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blood-Loss-Paton-Investigates-Book-ebook/dp/B08ZLPV615/ Blood Loss will be just 99p for a limited time only! About Kerena Swan We are thrilled to be introducing DI Dave Paton and his son Tommy, the stars of the first novel in Kerena Swan’s new series, to the world. Before coming to Hobeck, Kerena had published three novels, Dying To See You, Scared to Breathe and Who’s There? and has built a solid fan base around her writing career thus far. She is a juggler extraordinaire: driving forward a successful care business she runs with her husband yet finding time to write. She loves to write, here and there and everywhere when she’s not working. We don’t know how she does it but we are glad that she does! Kerena talks about her writing, her influences and how she came to Hobeck in this video. Social Media Links Website: https://kerenaswan.wordpress.com/ Twitter: @kerenaswan Facebook : @kerenaswan · Author
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Publisher: Head of Zeus
Publication Date: April 2019 Series: The Detective’s Daughter #7 Purchase link Amazon uk Trudy Wates stopped inside Stella’s porch. The front door was ajar. She had two choices. Step away and call Stella –better still the police –or venture inside and check the place herself.Since she’d started working as Stella Darnell’s a year ago ago, Trudy knew that she had a hard act to follow. Her predecessor, Jackie Makepeace, had anticipated Stella’s every requirement before Stella realized what she required. Trudy had set about proving herself a match for Jackie (now running Stella’s fledgling detective agency). Trudy intended to exceed expectations.Stella would hate to be interrupted while she was deep cleaning for a client. Trudy must present Stella with a problem solved. She tipped open the door with a gloved finger.The ground floor –living room and kitchen –appeared untouched. Easy to tell because of course Stella kept her own house as clean and tidy as she did her clients’. Trudy climbed to the half landing.The first door was shut. A burglar could be lying in wait.‘Who’s there?’ Trudy hadleft the front door open so that she could be heard from the street. She was in her forties but went to a boot camp twice a week and walked whenever possible. She carried a penknife, an unwanted present from her husband that, since his death, she treasured. It was her talisman.Trudy flung wide the door. No one in the bathroom. One down. Two to go.She climbed the stairs to the top landing and approached the room that faced the street. If there was someone in there she would confront them. She didn’t want to be surprised from behind by trying the door of the closest room.Stella’s bedroom. Her bed was neatly made without a crease. Trudy found no one inside the built-in wardrobe. A lingering whiff of Stella’s perfume was distantly reassuring. She caught herself in triplicate in the three mirrored doors. She looked rigid with tension. Since becoming a widow she had aged years. She gripped the knife and went back along the landing.Later, Trudy would tell the police (they sent Chief Superintendent Cashman, presumably because Stella was a copper’s daughter) that the intruders had only been in Stella’s study where they’d tried to steal Stella’s computer and her printer. The monitor lay by the door, wires trailing. Paper files were strewn on the floor. Cashman
BiographyLesley Thomson is a Londoner. Her first crime novel A Kind of Vanishing won The People's Book Prize in 2010. The Detective's Daughter is a number one bestseller and Sainsbury's ebook for 2014. Ghost Girl, the second in the The Detective's Daughter series (2014) went to number one in Sainsbury's e-chart and is another bestseller. The Detective's Secret was published in 2015. The Runaway, an ebook short about Stella Darnell (the detective's daughter) came out in July 2015 and the fourth in the series, The House with No Rooms in 2016. The Dogwalker, another case for Stella and Jack, in 2017. In 2018 The Death Chamber was published. The Playground Murders came out in 2019.
Lesley lives in Sussex with her partner and her dog and is working on The Mermaid Murder, a story set in Newhaven that features Fred Power, a female mobile fishmonger. |
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