Book Extract: The Revenge Pact by Liz Mistry

I’m pleased to be welcoming Liz Mistry to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her book, The Revenge Pact.

TWO DEATHS

Tommy and Markie Jones are found dead at the side of a main road in Scotland.

TWO RIVALS

Detectives Jazzy Solanki and Annie McQueen are on the scene where the bodies are identified as the nephews of Jimmy Nails, head of a notable gang in Glasgow. The turf war between the gangs of Glasgow and Edinburgh has existed for years, but these murders are seen as an escalation in violence.

ONE UNFORGIVABLE BETRAYAL

As the investigation unfolds, there’s suspicion about a leak within the police force, and to her dismay Jazzy is asked to keep a watchful eye on someone close to her.

With distrust mounting on all sides, can the pair uncover the truth before someone else is killed?

Liz has shared an extract from The Revenge Pact with us today. We hope you enjoy it. 

*****beginning of extract*****

The Turf Wars Begin

This is an extract from Chapter 1 of The Revenge Pact which sets the scene for the violence that the turf wars between Edinburgh and Glasgow organised criminal gangs are perpetrating in West Lothian.

It also reintroduces us to my two wonderfully unique and formidable, yet very different female detectives, Scottish Indian DS Jazzy Solanki who is in her mid-twenties and because of past trauma is more reserved and finds it hard to trust. DC Queenie (Annie) McQueen is in her early fifties and despite her own share of past trauma, she’s loud, brash, verging on obnoxious, but absolutely hilarious.

Chapter 1

‘As warfare between gangs in Edinburgh and Glasgow peaks, a new report into the extent of criminal gang activity in our cities and proposals to combat it will be published today by the Scottish Government. Later on we’ll have an MSP spokesperson to comment on the impact of the report as well as . . .’

The drive from Livingston police station to the Lang Whang – otherwise known as the A70, which stretched between Edinburgh and Ayr – should have taken no time, but it was rush hour and it was February in Scotland.

‘Bloody gangs!’

DS Jasmine ‘Jazzy’ Solanki waited, knowing full well that her partner DC Annie ‘Queenie’ McQueen was just getting started on a rant that had become ever more frequent in recent weeks. And cue . . .

‘Bloody clarty wee toerags, that’s what they are. Mucky wee scumbags, filthy wee bawbags who need a sharp kick up the jacksie. Bloody Loanie Gibbs and Jimmy Nails, who the hell do they think they are? The eejits in Holyrood, with all their proposals and reports and committees, haven’t got a bloody scooby.’

Couple of lowlife gangsters? Jazzy hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting either the Edinburgh gangster Loanie Gibbs nor the Glasgow one Jimmy Nails, although their reputations were known to everyone in Police Scotland. Gang warfare had become a regular occurrence over the past few months and it seemed that no one – not even with their ears on the ground – could pinpoint what had caused it. For decades now, only minor scuffles had arisen between the two cities’ criminal underbellies and those had been swiftly squashed, diverting police attention away from the respective gangs’ covert criminal activity – drug dealing, prostitution, fraud, money laundering and such like. Talk of turf wars, possibly involving gangs from outside Scotland or from the north of the country, had been mooted, but no concrete motivation appeared to have been established.

Jazzy didn’t disagree with Queenie. How could she? The gangs were becoming the bane of Lothian and Borders Police’s life and the all-out antagonism between the two cities’ gangs was diverting valuable policing away from the more rural areas. Livingston was only one of the stations feeling overworked and getting the sharp end of the local folks’ tongues for delays in responding to their demands. Only the previous week a known Edinburgh criminal had turned up murdered in Peebles and that had landed in Lothian and Borders Police laps. Thankfully not Livingston, but still it had implications for the entire division.

‘. . . the Scottish Cold Case Unit are repeating last year’s appeal for information regarding the unidentified male, dubbed Cairnpapple Man, who was found in a shallow grave near the prehistoric burial site near Bathgate over three decades ago. Forensic artist, Dr Hazel McLeod, from Glasgow Caledonian University, has expressed her optimism that the rerelease of this facial reconstruction created using techniques like those used on the Woman in the Bin might finally result in Cairnpapple Man being identified.’

‘Barlinnie! That’s what they deserve. A stretch in the Bar-L, a wee incarceration in the Big Hoose, a length o’ time in the Bar, eh? What do you say, JayZee?’

Again, Jazzy couldn’t disagree. Things were becoming intolerable for officers on the streets and the sneaking suspicion that the crime scene they were heading to was an extension of the open warfare that had leached from the cities’ borders and into the surrounding areas was preying on her mind. Since her near-death experience last year, Jazzy had been reinstated to her previous role of sergeant. It had come with the proviso that she, Queenie and the rest of D team remain on office duties at DCI Dick’s convenience. Of course, the dickless wonder – as D team not so affectionately called him – had rubbed his hands in glee, and, despite the obvious need for more detectives working active cases, he’d kept them relegated to desk duty.

This small taste of freedom sent adrenalin rushing through Jazzy’s system. Should she have deflected DCS Afzal when he directed her and Queenie to take the call? Was she storing up a shedload of grief by defying her DCI’s specific instructions to ‘stay in the office and leave the policing to those who are able’? She exhaled and tried to ignore Queenie’s relentless chuntering. She’d acted on a direct order from the big boss, so DCI Dick could swivel on it. Besides, she’d been cleared by her consultant to return to her role as a detective, providing she stuck to observational and light duties.

‘. . . Here at Radio Lothian, you’re listening to Kirsty Ndibanje and now here’s one from our very own Paolo Nutini. “Through the Echoes”, one of my favourites . . .’

 ****end of extract*****

About Liz Mistry –

Liz Mistry moved to West Yorkshire in the late 1980s. Her gritty crime fiction police procedural novels set in Bradford embrace the city she describes as ‘Warm, Rich and Fearless’ whilst exploring the darkness that lurks beneath. Yet, her heart remains in Scotland, where childhood tales of bogey men, Bible John and grey lady ghosts fed her imagination.

Her latest work, The Solanki and McQueen crime series is set around West Lothian, where she uses the distinctive landscape, historic heritage and Scottish culture as a backdrop to her gritty yet often humorous stories.

Struggling with clinical depression and anxiety for many years, Liz often includes mental health themes in her writing. She credits her MA in Creative Writing from Leeds Trinity University with helping her find a way of using her writing to navigate her ongoing mental health struggles. The synergy been creative and academic writing led Liz to complete a doctorate in creative writing researching the importance of representation of marginalised groups within the genre she loves.

Her husband, three children and huge extended British Indian family are a constant support to her. In her spare time, Liz loves visiting the varied Scottish and Yorkshire landscape, travelling, listening to music, reading and blogging about all things crime fiction on her website blog, The Crime Warp.

Say hello to Liz via her website, X, Facebook and Instagram.

The Revenge Pact is book two in the Solanki and McQueen crime series and was released by HQ Digital on 21st November 2024. Click here to buy on Amazon UK, Waterstones and Amazon US. 

by

Laura

I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.