The Bride, the story of a young woman whose husband disappears on the return journey from their Canary Island honeymoon, is my first whodunnit. All my other thirteen books have been how and why done its, in which the killer’s identity is revealed early on in the story. The tension and suspense then come from that knowledge. But not so with The Bride, in which there is always an element of doubt right to the very end. The Bride is a twisty story, full of surprises. And in truth, strangely enough, I never intended it to be that way. The story only became a whodunnit after the original draft was read by my new Boldwood Books editor, Isobel Akenhead. Her great ideas led to significant changes to a story set in West Wales and Lanzarote, which I hope readers will agree were very worthwhile. It’s a very different book now, and I think much better for it. I’m excited to find out what my brilliant readers think. Reviews and other reader feedback are always very much appreciated.
I found the writing of The Bride particularly enjoyable, setting the scene, and creating the characters, some manipulative and others not. Some writers carefully plan a story before writing, and others don’t. For me, the story develops as I write it, the book almost taking on a life of its own. I sometimes don’t even know what will be on the next page, let alone in the next chapter, almost as if the story is being dictated in my head by somebody else. And as crazy as that may seem to some, I’ve heard other writers say the same thing. Thankfully, this way of writing works for me. For some books, I write quickly as if driven to get words on the page, while others take longer, as I seek to develop the story to the best advantage. Either way, I let it happen rather than try to force a style that doesn’t feel right. I can’t see that changing anytime soon.
Like all my books, The Bride draws to some extent on my real-life experience. And it is those experiences that shape many of my storylines rather than research. I worked as a police officer before training as a social worker, spending most of my career in child protection and heading up the service for Carmarthenshire before early retirement. I dealt with and later managed many complex investigations, working on a multiagency basis and encountering all manner of people, some of whom have been a rich source of inspiration when creating fictional characters. And without those sometimes painful experiences, I don’t think I’d ever have become an author. Life can sometimes take an unexpected turn for good or bad. When it comes to my writing, I’m glad that it did.
Make sure to get your copy today and start reading: https://mybook.to/thebridesocial