I am very excited to be working alongside The Coffee Pot Book Club to bring you some great ideas for your next book to read. Today, I had the pleasure of interviewing Len Maynard who is the author of Three Monkeys (DCI Jack Callum Mysteries Book 1). First things first, let's check out the blurb for Three Monkeys:
1958.
A girl’s body is found in Hertfordshire.
Her eyes and mouth have been sewn shut. Candle wax has been poured into her ears to seal them.
DCI Jack Callum, policeman and dedicated family man, who cut his teeth walking the beat on the violent streets of London, before moving his family away from the city, to a safer, more restful life in the country, leads the investigation into this gruesome crime that shatters the peace of the sleepy English town.
Images of three monkeys are sent to the police to taunt them: see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. Something more sinister than a mere isolated murder seems to be going on as more victims come to light.
Who is doing this and why?
At the insistence of the first victim’s father, a local dignitary, officers from Scotland Yard are brought in to bring about a speedy conclusion to the case, side-lining Jack’s own investigation.
In a nail-biting climax, one of Jack’s daughters is snatched. Before she can become the next victim, Jack has to go against the orders of his superiors that have constantly hampered his investigation, and risk his own career in an attempted rescue at the killer’s own home.
What inspired you to start writing?
During my teens I’d developed a deep love of bass guitar and playing in various bands. When I hit twenty I found myself married with a baby son and the life of an itinerant musician lost its appeal. Writing gave me a creative outlet I so badly needed.
What was the hardest part about writing this book?
This sound almost arrogant but the book nearly wrote itself. Remember I’d been writing for over thirty years when I started the Jack Callum series. Having a hero I could totally identify with, and writing about a period of history that I had a profound interest, I found that the words poured out. The same can be said for most of the other books in the series. In fact, the sixth book (Into the Fire) took just over a month from start to finish.
Does one of the main characters hold a special place in your heart? If so, why?
Yes. Two actually. Jack and his wife Annie. I admire Jack, his integrity, his good heart and his courage. I’m in love with his wife, Annie. She’s everything I ever wanted in a wife and failed to get, and I’ve tried it twice.
If your book was to be made into a movie, who are the celebrities that would star in it.
I won’t deny I have tried fantasy movie casting in my head many times over the years. The obvious choice for Jack Callum would be Roger Allum (Fred Thursday in the Endeavour series. Though I should state categorically that Jack Callum appeared first in print before Endeavor hit the screens. As for the rest of the cast, we are fortunate in this country to be blessed with some of the finest character actors in the world so I would be pretty happy with whomever was cast.
What do you hope your readers take away from this book?
Hopefully that they have had one hell of a ride and they have discovered characters that will want to follow from book to book as the series progresses.
Buy this book
Len Maynard
Len Maynard was born in North London in 1953.
In 1978, a book of short ghost stories, written in collaboration with Michael Sims, was published by London publisher William Kimber. For the following forty years the pair wrote ten more collections of ghost stories before moving into novels in 2006, completing over thirty more books, including the successful Department 18 series of supernatural/crime crossover novels as well as several standalone novels and novellas in the supernatural and crime genres.
Always a keen reader of crime novels, and with a passion for the social history of the twentieth century it was fairly inevitable that, when he decided to branch out and write under his own name, some kind of combination of these two interests would occur.
The six DCI Jack Callum Mysteries were the result of several years of total immersion in the world he created for Jack Callum, his family, his friends (and enemies) and his work colleagues.
He has also written a trilogy of adventure thrillers set in the Bahamas (also available from Sharpe Books)
He is currently at work on the seventh book in the DCI Jack Callum series.
Social Media Links:
Website, Website “The DCI Jack Callum Mysteries”, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook
No comments:
Post a Comment