Hi Ian, thank you so much for joining me today and inviting Novel Kicks onto the blog tour for your latest book. Can you tell me about your novel, Blood Matters and what inspired it?

Blood Matters is the tenth book in my Carmichael whodunit series. It’s set in rural Lancashire (as they all are) and starts with the discovery of a body down a dark unlit road. The murder victim is not from the area but is known to some of the residents of the small hamlet where he’s discovered. It quickly becomes apparent that the deceased was seen by the young man who found him and countless other people, less than 30 minutes earlier in the local pub, having a heated argument with one of the village residents.

The book was inspired by a twist I thought of when I was driving about 18 months ago.

What were the challenges you found when writing your novel, especially when it’s part of a series?

The main challenge when writing murder mysteries in a series is to come up with ideas for a plot, characters and a twist that are not just different from anything else in previous books in the series but that aren’t similar to whodunits written by other authors.

Which songs would make up a playlist for your book?

I’d go for tracks from the 80’s or 90’s.

From idea, to finished book, what’s your writing process like and how long does it typically take you?

It’s remarkably haphazard in that I write ferociously at times, but I can also not put finger to keyboard for a week or two if I’m mulling over how to tackle something I find tricky that’s coming up soon. I only write in the mornings and rarely write more than 1000 words a day (usually more like 500). Despite my seemingly chaotic approach I generally take about 1 year to write the first draft then 6 months recrafting parts to make them ready to share with my copy editor.

What’s your favourite word and why?

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