JL Merrow

For the final stop on the Heat Trap blog tour (sniffle/give a rousing cheer, as appropriate) I’m visiting the amazing Josh Lanyon, whose interview questions are just as entertaining as his books (and let me tell you, that’s pretty darn entertaining). Why not pop on over and find out the answers to such weighty questions as the origins of Tom Paretski, and what I really think about tea?

There be prizes. I think you know the drill by now.

You can find details of previous blog tour stops here, and the interview with Josh is here.

The Heat Trap blog tour continues today over at the lovely RJ Scott’s blog, where I’m talking about a place that features in the book and may be more familiar to you than you think: St Albans Register Office. Or, as it is sometimes known, HM Slade Prison!

Why not pop on over and let me know about all the weird–and weirdly appropriate–places you’ve heard of people getting hitched?

All commenters on the guest post will be entered into two prize draws – one for an ebook of winner’s choice from my back list, and one for the blog tour grand prize of a signed paperback copy of book #2 in my Plumber’s Mate series, the EPIC award finalist Relief Valve, plus a pair of rainbow-coloured merino wool blend wrist-warmers, hand-knitted by the author.

You can find details of previous blog tour stops here.

Good luck!

The Heat Trap blog tour continues with an exclusive excerpt over at Elisa Rolle’s blog.

All commenters on the guest post will be entered into two prize draws – one for an ebook of winner’s choice from my back list, and one for the blog tour grand prize of a signed paperback copy of book #2 in my Plumber’s Mate series, the EPIC award finalist Relief Valve, plus a pair of rainbow-coloured merino wool blend wrist-warmers, hand-knitted by the author.

You can find details of previous blog tour stops here.

Good luck!

Yes, after a short(ish) break to top-up my geek factor (Birmingham ComicCon was fabulous, btw. Tom Mison gives extremely good panel, as does 2000AD creator Pat Mills) I’m happy to say I’m back on tour, and today I’m over visiting my very good friend and fellow UK Meet organiser, Charlie Cochrane, who’s been asking me all sorts of questions about writing mysteries.

Why not pop on over and find out about how I first turned to crime?

All commenters on the guest post will be entered into two prize draws – one for an ebook of winner’s choice from my back list, and one for the blog tour grand prize of a signed paperback copy of book #2 in my Plumber’s Mate series, the EPIC award finalist Relief Valve, plus a pair of rainbow-coloured merino wool blend wrist-warmers, hand-knitted by the author.

You can find details of previous blog tour stops here.

Good luck!

As Heat Trap is the third book in my Plumber’s Mate mysteries, I’m taking the opportunity to talk about what it’s like writing a series about the same main characters in today’s guest post over at The Novel Approach, Series Business.

Why not pop on over and share your thoughts on the subject? All commenters will be entered into two prize draws – one for an ebook of winner’s choice from my back list, and one for the blog tour grand prize of a signed paperback copy of book #2 in my Plumber’s Mate series, the EPIC award finalist Relief Valve, plus a pair of rainbow-coloured merino wool blend wrist-warmers, hand-knitted by the author.

Good luck!

Yay! Heat Trap, book #3 in my Plumber’s Mate mysteries featuring Tom the plumber and Phil the private eye, is finally out in ebook and paperback !

And to celebrate, I’m going on a blog tour, which kicks off today at Sinfully Addicted to All Male Romance where I’m delving into the deep, dark underbelly of… houses, pubs and other buildings. Yep, I’m talking about cellars, and you can find the post here: Down in t’ cellar ’ole.

There will be prizes! I’m giving away an ebook at each blog I visit, plus a grand prize of a paperback copy of Relief Valve and some hand-knitted rainbow wrist warmers.

You can find a full list of blog tour dates and destinations here.

The wrong secret could flush their love down the drain

It’s been six months since plumber Tom Paretski was hit with a shocking revelation about his family. His lover, P.I. Phil Morrison, is pushing this as an ideal opportunity for Tom to try to develop his psychic talent for finding things. Tom would prefer to avoid the subject altogether, but just as he decides to bite the bullet, worse problems come crawling out of the woodwork.

Marianne, a young barmaid at the Devil’s Dyke pub, has an ex who won’t accept things are over between them. Grant Carey is ruthless in dealing with anyone who gets between him and Marianne, including an old friend of Tom and Phil. Their eagerness to step in and help only makes them targets of Grant’s wrath themselves.

With Tom’s uncertainty about Phil’s motives, Tom’s family doing their best to drive a wedge between them, and the revelation of an ugly incident in Phil’s past, suddenly Tom’s not sure whom he can trust.

The body in the Dyke’s cellar isn’t the only thing that stinks.

Warning: Contains British slang, a very un-British heat wave, and a plumber with a psychic gift who may not be as British as he thinks he is.

Available in ebook and paperback from:

Samhain |   Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | ARe

There’s an e-copy of Heat Trap, book #3 in my Plumber’s Mate mysteries, up for grabs over at Stumbling Over Chaos – just comment on the giveaway post to be in with a chance. Good luck!

And here’s the blurb, in case your appetite needs whetting:

The wrong secret could flush their love down the drain.

It’s been six months since plumber Tom Paretski was hit with a shocking revelation about his family. His lover, P.I. Phil Morrison, is pushing this as an ideal opportunity for Tom to try to develop his psychic talent for finding things. Tom would prefer to avoid the subject altogether, but just as he decides to bite the bullet, worse problems come crawling out of the woodwork.

Marianne, a young barmaid at the Devil’s Dyke pub, has an ex who won’t accept things are over between them. Grant Carey is ruthless in dealing with anyone who gets between him and Marianne, including an old friend of Tom and Phil. Their eagerness to step in and help only makes them targets of Grant’s wrath themselves.

With Tom’s uncertainty about Phil’s motives, Tom’s family doing their best to drive a wedge between them, and the revelation of an ugly incident in Phil’s past, suddenly Tom’s not sure whom he can trust.

The body in the Dyke’s cellar isn’t the only thing that stinks.

Product Warnings: Contains British slang, a very un-British heat wave, and a plumber with a psychic gift who may not be as British as he thinks he is.

Due out in ebook and paperback from  Samhain Publishing 17th March 2015.

Available to pre-order:  Samhain |   Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | ARe

How about a whole library of ‘em? Including one by me and two by Charlie Cochrane. There’s a copy of Pressure Head up for grabs, along with Charlie’s great contemporary mm mystery The Best Corpse for the Job and Lessons for Survivors from her wonderful Cambridge Fellows series. Plus books by more award-winning, NYT-bestselling crime writers than you could shake a blunt instrument at!

Altogether there are 41—yes, 41—paperback copies of thrillers up for grabs for one lucky winner in International Thriller Writers’ amazing giveaway Homicides of March (bookshelves not included). Just click on the pic and follow the instructions to enter. You can also earn extra entries by following the referral instructions.

Good luck!

Oh, and sincere apologies to anyone else who now has that song from Frozen stuck in their head:

Do you wanna win a thriller?

There’s a prize of forty-one….

It’s a big month for Tom and Phil, the boys from my Plumber’s Mate mysteries – book #2, Relief Valve, comes out in paperback on March 3rd; book #3, Heat Trap, is out in ebook and paperback on March 17th, and book #1, Pressure Head, is up for book of the month on Long and Short Reviews — all right, it’s up for February book of the month, as it was reviewed in February, but hey, details!

If you feel minded to vote for Tom and Phil, (or of course any of the other books) you can do so here:

LASR Book of the Month Poll

Voting is open until, I believe, the end of Monday March 2nd (US time).

Many thanks!

Ta-dah!

Draft blurb:

When solicitor’s clerk George Johnson moves into new digs in the winter of 1920, it’s under an assumed name, and with a secret goal: to find out if his fellow lodger, Matthew Connaught, was responsible for a betrayal that cost the life of George’s adored older brother Hugh during the war. But the more he gets to know his quarry, the more George begins to lose sight of his mission—and his heart.

Matthew, a clergyman’s son who works in advertising, seems open and honest. He’s irrepressibly cheerful despite having lost an arm in the Great War, and soon makes it plain he’s attracted to George.

As the two become firm friends, George tries to tell himself his brother’s death was nothing more sinister than the luck of the draw, and to forget he used to be Roger “Conchie” Cottingham, who shamed his family by going to prison rather than take up arms against his fellow men.

But as George’s feelings for Matthew grow, so does the need to know the truth about what happened that day in Ypres.  He has to prove Matthew innocent—even if in the process, Matthew will find out how George has deceived him.

Due out in ebook and print 22nd September 2015

Now, if some of that sounds familiar, there’s a reason for it: this novel is a re-imagining and major expansion of my 2010 short novella Dulce Et Decorum Est, now out of print. Although my MCs are the same, they have a rather different plot to follow, and the cast of characters has been greatly extended. George’s motivations, for example, are very different in To Love a Traitor to what they were in Dulce.