Shirley Wells, Murder & Mystery!

Murder, mystery and mayhem....oops, sorry, no mayhem, just murder and mystery...laugh! This week sitting around my pool drinking champagne and talking about her latest book and Blog Tour is the lovely Shirley Wells. Shirley, as you know, is famous for her detective novels and whilst she is lounging around here in the sunshine, Shirley is going to tell us more about her Dillan series. But before we begin, let me pour you another glass of amber nectar, can't let this heat dry up your throat! Cheers, now you can take it away!

Firstly, thank you for inviting me to your lovely sunny abode, Pauline. Phew, it’s hot!
For those of you who don’t know, Pauline and I are Facebook Friends and Twitter-ers. Writing is a solitary occupation so it’s wonderful to enjoy a few laughs. I moan about the weather in the UK and Pauline sends me sunshine from Lanzarote. Oh yes, and we also talk about books and writing.
I suppose, for me, the most exciting part of being a writer is The Call. After months spent writing the book, you have to send it out into the big wide world. Then, if you’re lucky, an editor phones, writes or emails to say they love your book and can’t wait to publish it. It’s time to splash out on ridiculously expensive chocolates and champagne.
For me, the last ‘call’ I had was tempered with a little anxiety. I’d already sold five crime books featuring forensic psychologist Jill Kennedy and DCI Max Trentham to Constable & Robinson in the UK but, for my Dylan Scott mystery, I wanted a new publisher. After a lot of thought, I sent it to Carina Press, the brand new (so new they hadn’t released a single book!) digital-first imprint of Harlequin.

Naturally, I was thrilled when I heard they wanted my book, but I had a few concerns. Were e-books really the way to go? Would my book be well produced? Would people think Carina Press = Harlequin = Romance? I had a million concerns.

Carina Press published their first book on June 7th 2010 and my mystery, PRESUMED DEAD, was published on 26 July 2010. My concerns vanished. The book looked fantastic, and Carina Press, I soon discovered, is the ultimate in professionalism.
The good news just kept on coming, too. As much as I love e-books and read almost nothing else these days, I was delighted when I heard that PRESUMED DEAD was being produced as an audio book by Audible.com. As if that wasn’t enough, it then appeared in paperback for readers in the US and Canada. For an author, nothing quite compares with holding a ‘real’ copy of your book.

Perhaps the best news of all was knowing that Carina Press liked my private investigator, Dylan Scott, so much that they wanted to see him in another story. I’d realised a long time ago that I had the best publisher ever so I was more than happy to oblige. Dylan’s second outing, DEAD SILENT, is available for download now. The third book in the series, SILENT WITNESS, will be published in March 2012.

Despite my initial doubts, getting the call from Carina Press was one of the best things that ever happened to me.

Thank you so much for inviting me to your beautiful home, Pauline!

Having had several hundred short stories, ten serials and ten novels published, Shirley Wells is finally getting the hang of this writing lark. She’s lived in Orkney, Cyprus and the Cotswolds, and now lives in Lancashire in the UK where the Pennines, with their abundance of great places to hide bodies, provide the inspiration for her popular mystery novels. She shares her home with her husband, two dogs, two cats and any other stray animals that fancy being pampered.

For more information, visit Shirley's website follow her on Twitter or find her on Facebook

Her latest Dylan Scott mystery, DEAD SILENT, is available from
 Carina Press  Amazon US  Amazon UK  Barnes & Noble and all good e-book retailers.