# 9 Someone to #Lean on- is #Zaan trustworthy?

Friday means it's time to give those supporting secondary characters a bit of the limelight!

Today's character is one of my own from Topaz Eyes. My mystery thriller has a large cast of characters to choose from but if charged to find the most supportive character, who aids the development of the story, I'm choosing Zaan. That role is not always obvious at the beginning of a mystery, it sometimes takes a little time to persuade the reader about allegiances- especially in a novel of intrigue. 

At the outset of the novel, Keira Drummond isn't sure who she can trust in the quest to locate the Tiru Salana collection of emerald jewels. She pairs up with Teun Zeger, a Californian of Dutch descent, but as in life it takes a while for her trust of him to be absolute, (and vice versa) even when she is definitely drawn to Teun as a future lover. 

The cast of characters includes a large number of third generation cousins of Teun who are also charged with finding the missing family jewellery. Teun knows none of them and because of highly irregular happenings just before this extract Keira is alarmed that Teun can't even trust Zaan, the one cousin that she favours as being the most trustworthy of the bunch that she meets in Heidelberg at the beginning of the novel. 

Keira thinks Zaan is a good guy. In this extract you can read what Teun's thinking about Zaan...

Her mobile rang some time later, as she sipped a nightcap in the hotel bar beside a very reflective Teun. Dinner had been necessary to sustain them, though neither of them had done justice to the meal. 

“Hello, Zaan.”

While she listened, Teun whipped out a pen and pulled a napkin toward him. He scribbled something before pushing the paper back toward her. Say nothing about the jewels, or about Adam’s death. Looking grim, he stared. Though surprised by his order, his glare had her nodding her head. It was just as well Zaan’s monologue still continued since she didn’t need to answer at all at that point. That gave her time to compose herself, and try to act as though absolutely nothing untoward had been happening to her. As Zaan burbled on, his call became distraction from her own sad mood.

Zaan hadn’t found Tanja’s hairpin as easily as he’d first imagined. He’d made the visit to his cousin in Brussels. The woman had clarified the brooch she’d been given did look like the one Tanja wore in the photograph of the three sisters, but she’d sold it. She’d confessed to being surprised by the gift from her aunt—Zaan’s mother—but it hadn’t been something she felt she’d ever wear; not her style. The good thing was she’d taken it to a reputable jeweller, so chances were high it could be traced. Zaan sounded positive and was pursuing it.

www.1123rf.com

With regard to verification of the Tiru Salana collection, Zaan had news on that front, too. He’d made contact with the descendants of the Amsterdam jewellers, the Koopmans, who’d been named in the 1815 newspapers. Though their company name had changed a number of times, and the business had considerably downsized, they were still trading as jewellers in Amsterdam.

“They have records in one of their premises dating back to the early eighteen hundreds. Jensen has arranged for an archivist from the university to help us trawl through the paperwork in their stores, though it will take her some time. That’s my update. Anything new at your end?”    

“Not really.” Keira hedged an answer but had to tell him something innocuous. “Though, I’m so pleased to have met Teun’s dad. He’s a lovely man…”

After some general chit-chat about Duluth, she found the conversation difficult to maintain and, at Teun’s gesture, she handed her mobile over. He had been absorbing her one-sided conversation with Zaan, and had looked so serious. She still couldn’t figure out his mistrust of Zaan, but had come to respect his caution: the person dogging their tail had convinced her of the need for vigilance. Something underhand was going on and they didn’t know who had set it up. Till they did, it was right to be watchful. She admired how economical Teun was with the truth.

my ideal Teun- www.123rf.com

“Yeah. We’re going to New York tomorrow.”

Teun’s declaration to Zaan came as a surprise since they’d been careful only to mention Duluth. Zaan had no idea they were currently in Rochester, did he?

“I’m hanging around the East Coast for a few days, but Keira’s going straight back to Edinburgh.”

So, that was it? Teun had used her to find the jewels and she was being packed off home? She seethed quietly while he finished the call. When he gave her the mobile, she couldn’t even look at him.

He grabbed her hand and led her out to the bank of lifts, his voice low though there were only a few patrons around and about the foyer. His scan of the area wasn’t secretive. She followed his every glance and satisfied herself that she recognised no-one as they stepped into the lift. Tacit silence ruled till they were in their room.

“I’m not fed up with you, Keira. I know it’s what you’re thinking, but that’s not what I’m doing. Listen while I explain, please?” He rifled his fingers through his hair as she turned toward him. “I’m… so bloody furious… about the things that are happening. You have to admit there are too many sinister events happening.”

“How do you mean?” She wasn’t prepared to forgive him yet. He needed to come clean, about everything.

“Maybe menacing things happen around you every day, Keira, but they don’t damn well happen to me. I can’t help being bloody suspicious.”

“You didn’t want Zaan to know about Adam, since you’re still not sure if he had anything to do with it?”

“I can’t get past the fact we visited Adam a few days ago. I thought someone had been in his house the other night, and, for Christ’s sake… now he’s dead. We visited my father a few days ago. He has a mysterious visitor who gets him so wound up he has a heart attack. Do those happenings not seem malicious to you? Someone has been trying to get information about the jewels—or even the jewels themselves—and my relatives have been harmed because of it. And I did nothing to prevent it!”

I've used images for Keira and Teun in various promotional material, and thought I had one for Zaan but can't locate him. I see a tall, blonde guy but what would your Zaan look like?
I hope you enjoyed the extract. You can get the novel by clicking HERE if you're interested in reading more...It's a real snip at 99p.

Have a good weekend!

Slainthe! 

#Crime? Well actually, yes!

Thursday News! 

Elgin Library- in the daylight! 

Last night, I achieved something I've been aiming for all year and that was to attend a session of the Elgin Writers Group which I've been a postal member of for approximately a year. 

It's a round trip of about 100 miles for me to get there, but apart from a little hitch in not easily locating the Elgin Library venue in the dark, in the park, it was great to be there and meet up with the 15 other attendees. 

I really enjoyed listening to the others read their work and it was the first time for a very long time that I've been required to create a Haiku on the spur of the moment! The last time would have been me leading a class lesson on Haiku during a project on Japan with my 11-12 year old pupils probably more than a decade ago. 

Here's last night's attempt given around a >5 minute slot to compose it. 

There was no exact theme but since the Haiku form is essentially about 2 (opposing) profound statements encapsulated in the moment what I produced was highly influenced by my recent 'heavy' time spent re-editing my Celtic Fervour Series. The Haiku is bound by rules, the most common form being 3 lines with syllables of 5, 7, 5 ..or a similar variety. 

Before all was calm

Chaos descended in lines

Traditions now gone

The resulting poems around the room were extremely varied but very enjoyable.

Today...as well as getting on with my re edits to Book 3 of my Celtic Fervour Series After Whorl: Donning Double Cloaks (I've completed those for Bks 1 & 2) I was off on a virtual visit to the blog of Val Penny a fairly new Crooked Cat author. Val featured recently with her crime novel Hunter's Close so since crime is her current writing genre I decided to show how crime is never far away from my novels - though they are definitely not crime novels that would be put on the crime shelves of the high street bookstore. 

This is the link to Val penny's Blog HERE I'm sure she'd love you to pop in and say hello.

Here's a REBLOG of my post since it's quite an important aspect that I often need to deal with when in front of the general public.

"

Is it a crime novel?

I start with a very broad question because you write crime novels, Val, but it’s one which I’ve been asked more than once while selling my novels at Book Fairs, Craft Fairs and events like Highland Games up in North East Scotland. Potential customers have asked me - What are your novels about?  I give them an initial overview that I write Historical Fiction; Contemporary Mystery/ Thrillers and Time Travel Historical. I then say that although my novels would not fully fit the ‘Crime’ genre on Amazon they do have crime in them to varying degrees. Though, perhaps they’re not the crime novels they are looking for.

My first century A.D. historical Celtic Fervour Series isn’t a series of whodunits set in northern Roman Britain (roughly from Yorkshire northwards) but they do have battle scenes where the intent is effectively genocide on the part of the Roman generals who invaded the north. Back then, it was bow to the dictates of Rome or they annihilated any Iron Age tribes who resisted them. That could be said to be very big crime indeed but it’s not what would normally be in a reader’s mind who is interested in ‘police detective led procedural’ crime. Killing one warrior or killing many, in battle, isn’t treated the same as murder would be in a detective novel, yet it is premeditated crime of sorts. Are the police involved? No, but they weren’t invented in Roman Britain! In my historical novels there are also situations of retaliation on the part of the invaded ‘Celts’ when they raid Roman convoys and steal the goods; and when the ‘Celts’ organise ambushes of Roman patrols and kill the auxiliary escorts, but is that crime? There are reports of rape and the death of innocent children in the novels but does that make my story fit the crime genre?

If someone picks up a copy of my mystery novels and reads the blurb they can see that although my mystery thriller Topaz Eyes wouldn’t be classified as a crime novel it does have strong criminal elements. There’s acquisition of goods (jewellery) by devious means; there’s intent to kill; there’s stalking with intent to murder; there’s theft: there’s murder; and there’s accidental death during an aggravated criminal situation – yet my story Topaz Eyes is not considered to be a crime novel because it is primarily a mystery thriller. Are the police involved? Yes, in more than one city but is it a crime novel? Errr…not quite.  Topaz Eyes has also been called a treasure hunt mystery; a romantic mystery suspense that ‘weaves a plot of intrigue across Europe’; ‘A velvety trip packed full of history, mystery and suspense’ and many other wonderful 5* comments. But it’s not a crime novel.

What about my other mysteries published by Crooked Cat Books? Well, funnily enough they also have crime in them but again not the type that gets them classified as crime novels.

Monogamy Twist is a fairly simple mystery that centres on a plot that’s a combination of a quirky Dickensian-style bequest of a dilapidated Yorkshire mansion house and a somewhat shady ancestral tree. There’s fraud; there’s intended deception and possibly even a touch of benign coercion- all of which might court prosecution today- but essentially it’s a slightly humorous ancestral romantic mystery. Are the police involved? No, but the main female character has to be an amateur sleuth to solve the mystery.

Take Me Now is what I call my ‘Corporate Sabotage’ mystery so yes, there’s definitely crime involved but it’s a light-hearted, fun romantic comedy mystery. There’s intent to cause bodily harm; there’s malicious and wilful damage to property and people; there’s attempted murder- though, again it isn’t called a crime novel. Are the police involved? Yes, they are. Is there an amateur detective involved? Yes, but she’s also one of the main characters in the romance. 

My point in all of this seems to be it’s actually quite hard to write a novel without any kind of crime in it! The next time I sell my books at a Fair of any kind perhaps I should get a large pop up banner to proclaim – I’m not actually a crime author but… J with a lot of *wink, Winks* and smiley faces.

I'll back again tomorrow with something a bit different... 

Slainthe! 

Cold? It's time for A Cold Retreat!

Tuesday greetings to you! 

Brrr... it has been cold! 

The snow in my part of the world is now melting but the last week's confinement has meant a lot more writing for me (mostly re-edits for new editions of my Celtic Fervour Series) and it's also been a great time to catch  up with some fiction reading. 

I often step out of my comfort zone regarding the genres I read, but I have to confess I don't often read psychological thrillers bordering on the horror genre that are also mysteries. But not reading a sub-genre very often doesn't mean I can't appreciate a well written novel. 

Today, it's time for a short review of a novel that I think would fit well into the psychological thriller, crime, mystery, or perhaps even the horror category. 

The author Jim Ody hasn't visited this blog before but it's lovely to welcome someone new! I haven't been involved in a Blog Tour for quite a while but check out the bottom of this post where you can see the other blogs A Cold Retreat is being featured on. 

Here's the Blurb first:  

As a child, Penny dreams of being a princess. She knows life isn’t exactly like fairytales, but she hopes it can be similar.
The future isn’t so kind to Penny. The princes in her reality turn out to be evil. Battered and bruised she hits rock bottom.

Here's what I thought as I read it....

A Cold Retreat

You know those times when you're reading a mystery, or a thriller, and think you know the ending and then something else pops up to surprise you? Well, this novel was definitely one those for me. I don’t often read this kind of thriller horror but A Cold Retreat is very well written, gripping and took some attention to detail. 

Multiple points of view can be sometimes repetitive, and I felt this happened at times, but mostly I found it to be a very good way of describing what’s happening as seen from the other perspective of a situation. I think it works well int his novel because there are multiple viewpoints to be considered and multiple characters to understand- or at least try to understand! 

The multiple characters each have their strengths and weaknesses, some are likeable and some cause a good dose of revulsion. I didn't feel drawn to any one in particular but neither did I feel the opposite, each character demanded my time fairly equally. 

Feeling a victim. Out of control situations. Retribution. Payback. Reading a situation wrongly. Memory perhaps not always sharp or accurate over time- There are plenty of themes and other aspects to 'chew' over by the end of this nightmarish novel... which if I describe them any more it would be a ‘spoiler’ and I always try to avoid them!

Did I enjoy the novel? I'm not sure, but I was very engaged while reading it. 

I'm sure readers of thrillers and horrors would love to add this 5* read to their collection! 

You can BUY A Cold Retreat  HERE  from Amazon 

Jim Ody

Here's a bit about the author

Jim was first published in an English School Textbook in 1987. He won a competition to draw a dog-walking machine. Having won an art competition the year before, he felt that at the age of eleven he had peaked and consequently retired from art.

For 10 years Jim wrote for a number of websites reviewing and interviewing bands in his own unique way, as well as contributing dark poems and comedic features.

Jim likes to write psychological/thrillers that have endings that you won’t see coming. He also favours stories packed with wit.

Zombie Cupcake Press have published his two books 'Lost Connections' and 'The Place That Never Existed', and will release his third 'A Cold Retreat' in January 2018. He also has a short stories in a number of anthologies with Zombie Cupcake Press and Bloodhound Books. Next year will see the release of a haunting novella, another psychological thriller and the start of a comedy/crime series (Caper & Dice).

He has a very strange sense of humour and is often considered a little odd. When not writing he will be found playing the drums, watching football and eating chocolate. He lives with his long-suffering wife and three beautiful children in Swindon, Wiltshire.

Here's where you can also find A Cold Retreat during the blog Tour. 

Thanks to Jim Ody for featuring, and to Simon Leonard for organising the visit today. Best wishes with A Cold Retreat!

Slainthe!