When I wrote my first story featuring Josef Slonský, Lying and Dying, I had plans for a further two up my sleeve. Now the eighth has just been published, and I still have ideas for further plots. Woven around those plots are stories of the characters’ lives, so for each one I have had to create a biography. Not everything that is in the biography immediately gets onto the page. For example, Lucie Jerneková’s difficult relationship with her father was always in my mind but is coming out in stages. Slonský’s own past is revealed as it becomes necessary, though most of it is provided by the man himself, who may be an unreliable narrator.
The comments I receive from readers suggest that they value this fleshing out of the characters. It makes them feel real — except, of course, that they are not. They are all imaginary — but I hope they are consistent.
Take the police headquarters as an example. The building I describe is in the same place as the real one, but it looks a little different. The police are reluctant to let visitors wander through the corridors, so I have created an internal architecture that probably bears no resemblance to reality. The only thing I will claim is that the building is the same size and has the same number of floors.
Similarly, it is unlikely that the detection of homicides in Prague is in the hands of just six officers. I had to simplify the police ranks system (do we really need three grades of lieutenant?) and give Sergeant Mucha a lot of shifts on the front desk. He is rarely not there.
But sometimes characters write their own story. Rajka was only supposed to appear for a few moments in one book, and found himself appointed Slonský’s new boss. I needed to explain how Mucha could leave the desk at short notice, and thus Officer Fintr came into being. Now that Navrátil and Peiperová are married, we see less of their mothers, though rest assured, they are still there.
The latest book, The Ladies’ Lounge, came about when I saw a sign saying just that over a doorway. What kind of place was behind it? In no time, the idea of a communist-era club for successful women was born. The kinds of women who would join produced my cast of characters, and they needed backstories too. Again, only part of their history gets into the pages, but it all has to be written.
I hope you enjoy The Ladies’ Lounge. If it never existed; perhaps it should have. It is very real to me.
Congratulations to Simon Michael, whose absorbing courtroom drama, The Fall Guy, is out now!
The Fall Guy is the tenth book in the Charles Holborne Legal Thrillers series.
London, 1969
The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who … Tin Pan Alley is the heart of London’s music scene.
It is also the dark heart of a ruthless business tainted by sex, drugs and corruption.
When a young fan is found dead from a heroin overdose at an American rock star’s accommodation and the band’s manager is charged with her murder, Charles Holborne, barrister, must defend him.
But Holborne is getting married in two weeks, and for some reason DS Sean Sloane, his best man, refuses to speak to him.
Has Sloane been turned? What has a select group of corrupt Met officers known as ‘the Team’ to do with the case?
And is Holborne’s client the unscrupulous venal businessman he is portrayed or is he, perhaps, The Fall Guy?
Set in 1960s London, Simon Michael’s Charles Holborne Legal Thrillers follow a barrister with a tough past as he becomes embroiled in dangerous cases.
The first nine books in the series are already published, and we are delighted to announce that we have now signed up the tenth instalment.
In Simon’s words:
“I’m absolutely thrilled to be publishing my tenth Charles Holborne legal thriller with Sapere Books! When my previous publisher went bust four books into the series I feared my writing career had hit another brick wall, but Sapere were absolutely brilliant, offering to republish the first four books and continue with the series. Five years later, book 10 is taking shape. Regular readers will be aware that having worked throughout the 1960s, in Nothing But The Truth Charles’s nemeses, the Kray twins, were finally outwitted. Nonetheless, there are still plenty of evil men and topical social issues for Charles to confront. Thank you, Sapere!”
Congratulations to C. V. Chauhan, whose heart-pounding thriller, The Right Time To Die, is out now!
The Right Time To Die is the third book in the Inspector Sharma Thriller series: gritty urban police procedurals set in Leicester.
DI Sharma is caught in a lethal race against time…
Tensions are running high in the city of Leicester. Recent conflict between groups of Hindu and Muslim youths has led to violence on the streets, which the police are struggling to control.
Despite these events, Sunil Kumar, a Bollywood superstar has been invited to switch on the lights along the Golden Mile for the festival of Diwali.
DI Rohan Sharma is one of the thousands of onlookers that have arrived to enjoy the celebrations.
But Sharma is aware of social media tip-offs that suggest the happy atmosphere could turn deadly…
And his suspicions seem to be confirmed when Sunil Kumar collapses on stage.
With the police chiefs mistakenly believing Sharma could have inside knowledge on the local hostilities, he takes the lead on the investigation.
But when a spate of killings occur, in seemingly unrelated circumstances, Sharma finds himself in over his head.
Sucked into a dark world of race hate and extremism, Sharma uncovers a deadly plot.
Can he stop more murders from occurring? Will he unmask the fanatical killers?
Or will a catastrophe engulf the city of Leicester…?
Congratulations to Simon Michael, whose exciting legal thriller, Death, Adjourned, is published today!
Death, Adjourned is the ninth crime novel in the Charles Holborne Legal Thrillers series — gritty, hard-boiled mysteries set in 1960s London.
London, 1969
The Kray twins, the nemeses of Charles Holborne, barrister, are finally convicted of multiple murders and sent away for the longest prison terms ever imposed by a British court.
But with London in the grip of a housing crisis and unscrupulous landlords hiking rents, there are new ruthless enforcers terrorising destitute East Enders.
When a tenant dies during a violent altercation with bailiffs, Charles is instructed to represent the businessmen charged with conspiracy to murder. There is motive, an eyewitness and a confession – seemingly an open and shut case.
But Charles suspects his clients are pawns in a much more dangerous game being played by shadowy Establishment figures.
But are his instincts wrong this time? Is he being manipulated into defending a guilty man?
And as dark secrets are revealed, will he have to choose between moral integrity and professional success?
Congratulations to C V Chauhan, whose gritty urban thriller, Shattered Dreams, is published today! Shattered Dreams is the second book in the Inspector Sharma series.
When a body is found in Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire, Detective Inspector Rohan Sharma is called to the scene.
But before he can get there, a young woman arrives on his doorstep, saying she is scared for her life and asking for his help.
Before he can take down her details, she runs away.
And when Sharma reaches the crime scene, what he finds leaves him bewildered.
The prone body lying on the ground is of a man in full diving gear. He looks to have been dead for a while, but there is no obvious cause of death.
And before long, a second body is discovered, this time in the local river. It is a naked woman, with her head and hands missing.
Her build is similar to that of the mysterious woman on Sharma’s doorstep. But there is nothing to identify her.
Are the two deaths connected? Can Sharma and his team discover the identities of the two victims?
Or could they be about to unravel something even more disturbing…?
Congratulations to Simon Michael, whose page-turning gangland thriller, Nothing But The Truth, is published today! Nothing But The Truth is the eighth book in the Charles Holborne Legal Thrillers series.
London, 1967
The psychopathic Kray twins rule London’s underworld, aided by their government connections, corrupt police and extreme violence.
Finally, Detective Superintendent “Nipper” Read’s taskforce has a chance to take them down.
The catch: Read needs barrister Charles Holborne to testify against them, while the Krays have evidence against him which would end his career and send him to prison.
Caught in the middle, and with his pregnant partner’s life and his career at stake, this time Charles has no choices left.
Can Charles put his past behind him once and for all? Will the Krays twins’ criminal hold over London finally be put to an end?
Or will everything come crashing down for Charles Holborne…?
Congratulations to C V Chauhan, whose page-turning serial killer thriller, The Dance of Death, is out now!
The Dance of Death is the first book in the Inspector Sharma Thriller series.
When a young Asian woman is found murdered in a particularly brutal fashion, the Leicestershire police force are put on high alert to find the killer.
The body was positioned in the shape of swastika and instantly points to racist motivations.
Newly promoted homicide detective Rohan Sharma is given the case – a surprise both to Sharma himself and his more experienced colleagues.
Desperate to prove himself, Sharma works around the clock – and soon discovers connections to the death of a young Somali woman that occurred the previous year.
But with his resentful colleagues working against him and his private life falling apart, Sharma struggles to keep his head in the game.
And when he starts to receive strange anonymous messages, he realises the killer may now be tracking his every move…
Can Detective Sharma stop the killer before he strikes again?
Or will he find himself trapped in a vicious dance of death…?
