Interview - Co-Vid 2020 by Mike Scantlebury #CrimeFiction #MysteryThriller

Hi, Mike. Please tell us your one line pitch or teaser for this new book. How are you trying to grab a reader’s attention with one line?

The line is: “It’s the biggest buried treasure in the North of England. Who wants it?”

That tells you a lot. It tells you the location, (Northern England), and it tells you the challenge: everyone is trying to find a ‘Buried Treasure’. That tells you the story is - at the very least - Action Adventure, with maybe some Crime Fiction, and maybe it’s a Thriller or maybe it’s a Mystery as well. It also sets a conundrum: why on Earth is the book called ‘Co-vid 2020’? How could a worldwide pandemic fit into such a Treasure Hunt? (Even stranger, where did Co-Vid19 go? Has it been superseded?)

Please tell readers a little about your main character or characters.

This is Book 21 in a series called ‘Amelia Hartliss Mysteries’. Amelia, or Melia to her friends, is also nick-named ‘Heartless’ - to friends and foes alike. She is a feisty young woman, tall, attractive, with long, auburn hair and a nice line in leather jacket and boots, tight sweaters and a confident manner. She is (mostly) single, but has an on-off relationship with a big man called Mickey, (who has his own series of adventure novels). Sometimes they work together, sometimes they are apart. For instance, in this new book ‘Co-Vid2020’ Mickey is away and Melia has met a startlingly handsome young man called John while on holiday in Spain, and that is one of the most important strands in this story, starting with him asking her to do him a seemingly innocent favour when she gets back home to Britain.

Melia works for British Security, but is based in the North West of England, far away from the capital, London, which gives her a surprising amount of free rein, especially as she has a reliable team around her, from her boss, Captain Gibson, right down to the computer technician, Terry. (These are some of the regular characters in the novels.) She is based in the North West Regional Office, but that provides its own problems, as they have a spiky relationship with Head Office in London. At the start of ‘Co-vid2020’ London has forced Captain Gibson to retire and has sent in a hopeless younger man, who fails at his very first anti-terrorist operation, causing derision from the regular team. Melia wasn’t there to see it, but it puts her on her guard - will the new boss back her up when things start getting hot, as Captain Gibson reliably did?

Also, as well as the ‘regulars’, I like to re-visit old characters from previous adventures. In ‘Co-Vid2020’, the novel opens with Jan Branch, a grandmother from the 2013 ‘Amelia Hartliss Mystery’ novel ‘The Golden Chip’, which involved a bank heist by local gangster family, the Batters. Members of that family re-appear in this novel. In fact, it is Jimmy Batter’s ‘Treasure’ that everyone is looking for.

Right, Mike. Please tell us where you like to write? Do you have an office or writing nook?

I work from home, so you might expect me to have a nook or den. In fact, since all my books are plot heavy, I spend most of my creative time sitting at the kitchen table, shuffling around small pieces of paper, notes, character studies and locations. Once I have them in a workable order, I can pick up my laptop and start typing - anywhere, including the bedroom, bed, outside in the back garden, or even the shed. The most important part of ‘writing’ for me is actually not the typing - it’s finding plot ideas, conflicts, incidents and cliff-hangers, that come to me anytime and anywhere. Until recently, I had a lively dog, and dog walking sparked off lots of ideas. Since Lock-downs started in 2020, I find it less easy to get out and enjoy the fresh air, but riding buses and trains was always a sure way for me to find plot points. If you’d seen me on a bus, or in a pavement cafe, or simply walking, you’d have noticed me staring off into space. No, not daydreaming, but starting off the whole ‘writing’ process.

What is one of your best marketing tips for other authors? 

I have many short videos on YouTube filled with advice for authors, and one of the best is called, ‘The Answer is Yes’. My point is that aspiring writers keep asking me questions like ‘Do I need a website? A blog? A presence on Social Media?’ and I think the answer to all of those questions is always ‘Yes’. Sure, you need to be everywhere on the internet - just so people can find you.

However, the next video in the training programme is called ‘Curb the social media’. Just because it helps if you’re there on Twitter and Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, I think the suggestion that you need to feed these monsters every day is simply absurd. Just put a Post out there when you have something to say - a new book, a cover, a question. Think of it from the readers’ point of view. They ask you, ‘You’re an author? Are you on Social Media?’ and I think the answer needs to be ‘Yes’, but not ‘Of course. I’m tweeting four times a day.’ They might justifiably ask: ‘So much tweeting. When do you get time to write?’

My tip is this: ‘Marketing is what you do when you’re not writing. Writing is more important.’

Any more advice for aspiring writers?

I recently saw a fitness video on YouTube called ‘Keep the Position’, and I realised that this applies to writing too. The fitness regime involved stretching muscles such as arms and neck, shoulders and legs, stretching, stretching, until it’s uncomfortable (but not painful). Then, the next step is to relax. But before you start doing that, remember the injunction: ‘Keep the position’. Most people start from a slumped position, shoulders rounded and chest caved in, then they stretch their arms and when the instructor says, ‘Relax’, they actually collapse again. No. Keep the position and simply relax the stretched muscles. It’s brilliant. You’re sending a message to your brain that says you can relax in any position, even standing up straight, or with arms out. Then you build ‘muscle memory’, so your body learns how to be bigger and wider, but not uncomfortably.

Now, let’s apply that to writing. I have an example. In a book I wrote some time ago called ‘The Curse of the Bone Key’, I wanted Mickey to meet up with his old friend, the industrialist Charlie Corsh amid the Roman ruins in the middle of Castlefield in downtown Manchester. My vision was that Charlie would then climb into his company’s helicopter, it would take off, then falter, and crash into the River Irwell, killing all on board.

This was a real stretch for me. I’d written a few ‘action’ sequences in my time, but nothing so detailed, or catastrophic. I had to reach for new words, new emotions, new revelations. I built myself up to it, and then - first draft unimpressive - had to ditch it and move on to a series of further attempts to try to make the incident come alive. But then, having stretched, I found that when I relaxed, the new achievement became part of my repertoire. I could do it again, (and I did). There have been many set-pieces since then - and even many helicopters!

So that’s my advice. New writers, keep reaching for the words or descriptions that might flex your muscles. Right now they might seem out of reach, but if you get there, then ‘Keep the Position’, because the next time you need to rise to heights, your ‘writing muscles’ will remember how you got there the time before, and it will be easier. It might seem hard to believe right now, but, believe me, the effort will be worth it. The sense of satisfaction is very rewarding.

Co-Vid 2020

Amelia Hartliss Mysteries

Book Twenty One

Mike Scantlebury

Genre:  Crime Fiction mystery thriller
Publisher: Draft2Digital.com
Date of Publication:  27th August 2020
ISBN:  9781393529453
ASIN:  B08SVPGY8K
Number of pages:  88
Word Count:   26588
Cover Artist:  Mike Ather

Tagline:  “It’s the biggest buried treasure in North West England. Who wants it?”

Book Description:  

Melia is facing yet another change of boss. Somehow the government doesn't seem happy unless they're shaking up British Security Services and making the agents uncomfortable and insecure. Captain Gibson isn't around. Some say he has been sent for 're-education'. Meanwhile, a jumped-up little idiot from London has been sent up north to Salford to show the natives how to do stuff. So far, according to all reports, he has been a miserable failure.

Meanwhile, an older woman from Melia's past, Jan Branch, re-appears after many years away. Jan's mother has died and she is there to clear her old house and tidy up loose ends.

Unfortunately, she is not the same person she was when she left town. Where she lives now, in the East Indies, they call her the 'Gun-running Granny', for that is her new profession. She hadn't planned on staying long back in England, but two things delay her departure. One, there is an Arms Fair in the city and she sees an opportunity to do some deals and make some money. Second, she hears that a successful property developer, Jimmy Batter, has amassed a fortune which he intends to divide amongst his ungrateful family. Unluckily for them, the 'Treasure' is hidden, and although various relatives are falling over themselves to find the money, Jan thinks she has a much better chance than most. After all, she used to be a film-maker, and captured Old Jim on video, back in the day. Those films, made by the group known as 'Co-operative Videographers', maybe provide all the clues necessary to unearth the fortune.

Melia might care, but she has other things to do. After the trauma of the last few months, a holiday in Spain led to a liaison with a young man who wants to save an unfairly imprisoned journalist. Melia is eager to help, and for one reason only - she is in love. She doesn't want anyone to know, but John Lewis has stolen her heart. She would do anything for him, and before long, we find out exactly what that is.

Amazon

Excerpt

Jan Branch stared at this greasy little man. Him? Him? Surely he wasn't capable of murder! Bim Turkay?

"Me," Bim said, just so there was no misunderstanding. "I was offered the job, and I took it. I was handed a pre-prepared file, photos and everything. I am now an assassin. It fits in well. I’m here in Manchester for the Arms Fair, so it’s like killing two birds with one stone."

Jan Branch was dumbfounded. She liked Melia. She couldn't imagine anyone would want her dead. And yet this little weasel had promised to do it –

Then Bim Turkay said something even stranger, confounding her completely.

He said: "I'm sure you're good for ten grand, Jan. You want to chip in to the pot? I'm sure you hate Ms Hartliss as much as the rest of them."

Why? Jan demanded. What on earth would make you think that?

"Well, she did kill your husband."

Jan blanched. That was never proved! she wanted to say.

Of course, she knew nothing for certain. She'd packed her bags and left the country before it happened. She heard - from old neighbours, keeping in touch - that Mark had been accused of murdering someone at the Irwell Arts Centre, down on Salford Quays, opposite the BBC complex. There had been several unexplained deaths, she was told, and Melia had been around at the time, looking into some other mystery.

Completely coincidentally, she had been with him that dark night, up on the roof of the Arts Centre, when he went over the edge and plunged to his death. But, so what - what happened? Was Bim saying he might have been pushed? By Melia?
That sounded completely unbelievable!

Bim went on: "Well, I can't speak for you, of course, but I've been assured that his first wife hates Melia too. Oh, and her God-daughter. They don't have the money to join the Consortium and pay for this job, but they've been told about the plan, and offered their approval, apparently."

Jan couldn't think what to say.

His first wife? She never discussed that bitch!

As for 'hating' Melia - No, she might resent her a little. Melia had been a bit standoffish, over the years. They weren't really 'close friends', but -
Bim had only one more thing to say.

"Look, Jan, I've been honest with you. So, tell me, now you know what my contract is asking me to do, you want to stop me? Do you want to pay me to NOT do it?"
Jan Branch was floundering.

She supposed that if she'd known about this little 'plan' earlier, she might have had a chance to develop some sort of point of view about it, maybe some opinion. But, having it all sprung on her like this - she wasn't really sure what she thought.
The only thing she was certain about was that this latest news only made her despise Bim Turkay more than before.

No, she wouldn't be contributing to the consortium’s fund, purely because of that. She didn't like the man, and wanted distance from him.
But he couldn't let it alone.

"After all," he said, "we both know we've done similar things in the recent past."

She gasped. He was going to bring that up?

He was untrustworthy!

Sure, the Arms business was no ice-cream stall. There had been plenty of threats, rivalries and outright promises of retribution. Sometimes Jan Branch had been forced to act before someone acted against her. But she hadn't killed anyone!

Not directly. Not with her own hands.

"When are you planning - " she started.

"Oh, not immediately," Bim assured her. "I have another 'Mission'. Something personal. A private little obsession of my own to take care of."
Jan noticed, for the first time, that he was holding a plastic carrier bag, down by his side. He lifted it now, and let her peek inside.

It was half-full of hand grenades.

"I need to get down to Irlam," he said. "Time is wasting, and I need to get started."

Jan Branch nodded, no longer surprised by anything the man said.

Except - that would make it 'three birds', she was thinking.

About the Author:

What can you say about Mike Scantlebury -that isn't taught in schools already

Well, he says he was born in absentia (the small town on the Bay of Biscay), beside the dock of the bay, but moved to England when  young, and not yet able to navigate astutely. His family settled in the West Country of England, near a cross cultural crossroads called Temple Cheney, where his father became a map maker and mushroom farmer.

When the borders were changed in the 1980s, and old maps became outdated and invalid, Mike packed a service record and moved to an apartment in the nearby city of Bristol. This is where he first got involved in folking, flaking and faking. Later, he became disenchanted and moved to the other extreme, the North West of England, where he encountered education.

One of the books he read was by Raymond Chandler. It started him off in an exploration of Private Eye fiction, (which he doesn’t do), Police Procedural and cosy mysteries, (which he can’t write), and romances set in exotic parts of the world like Los Angeles. When Mike met the lost angels of Manchester he decide to set his novels around that area, using their stories as a bedrock. His action adventures have never strayed far from the North West of England, but then, what happens there today, happens elsewhere tomorrow, as they have always said.

Website:  http://www.Salford.me

Twitter:  https://Twitter.com/MikeScantlebury

Facebook:  https://www.Facebook.com/mikescantlebury99/

Blog:  http://www.mikescantlebury.blogspot.com/

GoodReads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5404567.Mike_Scantlebury

YouTube:

 https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UChNCqTPL_K8u7wGBTGNw-0A/playlists

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