Psychological Police Procedural

Okay. I promised last month (LAST MONTH - I'M ONLY BLOGGING ONCE A MONTH?) to say something about Trust in Time, the book I've just finished. It is winging its way through cyberspace as we speak to agents and publishers. Now maybe you're not interested, but I've spent nearly a year writing this 'romantic suspense' as it's called and then there were all the edits which took even longer, so listen up. I deserve an audience.

The book is set in New Zealand which is where I hie from - a great little country, very beautiful, but not much of a place for ambitious young people since there are no big corporations or manufacturers based there. But it's a great place for tourists to go and see a microcosm of terra firma all wrapped in one gorgeous little parcel. I'll try to post some pictures of New Zealand on my blog when I manage to work out how. Considering my track record, this may take a while.

ANYWAY (you can see I get sidetracked a lot) my heroine, Celie, gets thrown into the witness protection unit after she stumbles over the aftermath of a vicious crime. And Celie mistrusts everyone in the Unit. She doesn't do co-operation and trust and all that jolly stuff very well. She's a loner and she's got good reason to be.

But the hero, Brand, laps up that co-operation and chummy trust stuff really well. He's a police psychologist, and his strength is getting people to confide in him.

These two mismatched people are thrown together and have to get along, whether they like it or not.

There are a couple of gruesome murders in the book and the pressure goes on when Celie realises her dysfunctional family is involved.

And that's all I'm going to tell you right now. When some nice publisher sends me a contract (about the time Hell freezes over), I'll let you know. Then you can buy the book and find out how Celie and Brand outsmart a murderer who is right on their doorstep.

Now I purposely labelled this 'Psychological Police Procedural' because the main label my book is being touted under is 'Romantic Suspense.' What a vague description. It covers everything from Karen Rose to Dick Francis. But I guess there are so many labels out there at the moment that any more will sink the publishing boat.

And without a doubt, the mother of contemporary romantic suspense is Mary Stewart. Do you remember her books? Great stuff. Cerebral without being preachy. Softly romantic without sex getting in the way of a good story. My favourites are My Brother Michael and Airs Above the Ground. Now, if I could only write like that...