My new book The Cellist can be purchased direct from me via my website. I will sign and post your book out to you.

Simply go to my website and click on the HOME PAGE, buy books should appear. Click on that and go to paypal or pay by card, leave instructions regarding signing then wait for the postie to arrive. 10% of books purchased this way will go to charity:- Fan Dance-Scope Brighton.  
(UK Only)

www.kevinmarshnovels.co.uk

The Witness a psychological thriller

The Witness is the first of a series of books where places and characters overlap.  The books in this series are not designed as sequels, but it would be a good idea to read them in order.  This will avoid spoilers and also give you a greater understanding of the characters and their situations.

Synopsis

Josie MacDonald, a landscape artist is visiting her aunt Molly who lives in the peaceful village of Garmouth in Morayshire.  On a painting trip early one morning she is witness to a horrific murder.

Forced to flee the psychopathic killer she has to bear the brunt of psychological torment and anguish as one by one her friends are drawn into the nightmare.

She must return to the scene of crime in order to discover the truth.  With time running out and a killer on the loose, she has to prevent her abducted friends from becoming victims whilst surviving long enough to bring their terrible ordeal to an end.

A taster of my reviews

 I love a book that starts into the action from page one and doesn't let up until the final page and this is one of those books. The lead character, Josie is a landscape painter and who'd have thought that there could be any trouble resulting from that? Sometimes trouble has a habit of finding people that weren't looking for it and unfortunately for Josie, she has attracted the attentions of a killer and like a dog with the proverbial bone, he will hound her from one end of the UK to the other and back again, as many times as it takes for as long as it takes until he snags her. We are with her all of the way, which is edge of the seat stuff and the author doesn't cheat by making a bad guy's actions appear to be anything other than bad, no matter what his childhood was like.

I thoroughly enjoyed 'The Witness' by Kevin Marsh. It is such a well written and engrossing story. It starts off dramatically and does not let you down as the story progresses. As you get to know the characters, I found them 'all' likeable! I know, even the killer known as 'Mr. Mac' is written with such realistic psychological insight, that I couldn't hate him. I didn't pity him either, which is a true credit to the writing of the author. Instead, I wanted to find out what made him tick and why he targeted Josie. Of course, the reader knows most of the why or at least we think we do!

This is a real page-turner. I had to keep reading to find out what would happen! Highly recommended.

The Witness - a thrilling book that grips you from the start. You really get to know and feel for the characters, and can't wait to find out what happens next. A totally different read to The Belgae Torc, although I was just as engrossed in that! Couldn't put this book down, loved it. Well done Kevin - Look forward to the next one!!

 The Witness is currently presented as a paperback and kindle.

The price for a paperback from Amazon is £6.99 or $9.99.

Kindle prices are £2.16 or $2.84

The Cellist release date

Good news!

My new book The Cellist will be available from Amazon in both paperback and Kindle format from 1^st November.

Look out for it to appear on Amazon and order your copy.

                Mia Ashton, a hard working young cellist has always dreamt of playing to large audiences.  With a series of classical concerts designed to help boost her career and the support of an agent, her desire to become a top class musician is finally within her reach, but then tragedy strikes.

One of her colleagues is found dead soon after performing with Mia and this sets off a chain reaction that threatens to destroy everything that she has worked for.  Living in the shadow of a serial killer stirs memories from her past, pushing her ever closer to breaking point. 

Will Mia find the strength to carry on or will the killer put an end to her dreams?

Perhaps the price of fame is too great.

Happy Reading

The Belgae Torc

The Belgae Torc is the first book in The Torc Trilogy. 

The story of the Belgae Torc begins in the Iron Age and the first 10% of the book is dedicated to events that describe the beginning of an epic journey.

Don’t be put off by this because the plot soon develops and you are brought up to date with Orlagh and the modern day characters.

Synopsis:-

England 50 BC - A Celtic symbol of power and wealth, a Torc wrought from white gold, a trophy for a king.

Luain Mac Lanis, warrior turned metal smith, is commissioned to make a magnificent Torc, but he knows nothing of the curse surrounding the strange metal.  The only way to lift the curse is to offer the Torc to the Gods in a sacrificial ceremony.

Two thousand years later the Torc is listed on the inventory of a sunken ship.  Dr Orlagh Gairne, a leading archaeologist, is sent to work with Jack Harrington and his crew of salvage experts.  It’s Orlagh’s job to identify the Torc and ensure its safe delivery to the National Museum, but the operation is not as straightforward as expected.  Aided by his team of mercenaries and an historical expert, Jack unearths a wave of hatred spreading across Europe.  With the past weaving tightly with the present, they must infiltrate the terrorists’ lair in order to prevent a worldwide catastrophe.

  ISBN 978-01-908341-82-2

The Belgae Torc from Amazon:-

 Kindle £1.99 Paperback £9.99

 Kindle $2.57 Paperback $14.99

The other books in The Torc Trilogy are:- The Gordian Knot and Cutting the Gordian Knot (The Final Solution).

See my website for further information.  www.kevinmarshnovels.co.uk 

The Cellist, how it all began.

A quick review of how The Cellist became the next story in my 'Thriller' series.

The Cellist began life as a modern day/historical novel.  I completed a few chapters several years ago before setting it aside to write The Gordian Knot, the second book in The Torc Trilogy.  It was always my intention to return to this novel and complete it so with that in mind I wrote notes on how the plot was to develop and made up comprehensive character profiles.

When I eventually picked up the file and began to familiarise myself with the story I discovered that other ideas were beginning to develop.  It’s true that certain characters appear as real people in the mind of their creator and often drive the plot, sometimes with alarming consequences.  I’ve had characters in previous books end up in some strange and rather unexpected situations leaving me to come up with a solution to get them out of it.  Anyway, out went the historical element along with some of the principle characters from that part of the story.  Most of the modern day characters remained.  Mia underwent a surname change don’t ask me why, it was probably something to with the plot lurching in a completely different direction.  Who am I to question the Principle character?

The Cellist was always going to be linked with The Witness, I see it as book two in a series of stories that share characters and places.  Although not a sequel, The Cellist does seem to answer some of the questions left open at the end of The Witness.  It would be an advantage to have read The Witness before tackling this book as you will have a greater understanding of where previous characters and events fit.

Many interesting subjects have been explored in The Cellist and I had fun researching certain aspects of the plot before weaving a story around my findings.  It was never my intention to alienate specific groups of society so hopefully I have dealt with issues sympathetically.

I’m planning to write further thrillers that link these books together so some of my characters will appear again.

The Cellist update

The PDF version of The Cellist has just arrived by e-mail from my publisher.  All I need to do now is read it (again), and iron out any problems caused by the PDF process.  Once that is done the book will finally be ready for publication.

I want to share with you some pictures of the writing process, how the book was created.

I prefer to write the story by hand first in notebooks.  Once the first draft is done, I then re-write by hand before typing.  This is the begining of the editing process.

The two manuscripts that you can see are the second typed draft and the copy for the proof readers.

This is the first typed draft, heavily red penned and edited.  The book is edited at least three times before the proof reader gets to read it.  Then further edits and corrections are made before it is ready for the publisher.  Once it has gone through the PDF process I still manage to find and correct the odd error or typo, even then some still seem to find their way into the finished product.

This little notebook is most important, I usually carry it with me when writing the book.  It contains ideas, thoughts and research notes many of which did not get into the book.

I use black BIC pens to write my stories, red BIC pens for editing.  I usually get through about ten pens per book.

I prefer to use these pens because a) they are cheap and can be bought in boxes of 50 and b) they are the best quality cheap pens I can find.

One of the many, next stop the re-cycling bin.

The Cellist is due out later in October as a paperback and on Kindle from Amazon.  It can also be ordered from good bookshops.  

More details to follow.

Warning

Warning, do not read this book without having read the two that precede it.  

Cutting the Gordian Knot is the final book in the The Torc Trilogy

Authors note

In Greek mythology, King Gordius of Phrygia tied a knot that defied all who tried to untie it.  An oracle prophesised that anyone who could undo this Gordian Knot would rule Asia.  Alexander the Great simply cut the knot with one stroke of his sword, hence the saying ‘to cut the Gordian Knot’, meaning to solve a difficult problem by a simple, bold and effective action.

When I began writing The Gordian Knot, I already had an idea for the title of the next book.  Cutting the Gordian Knot became my working title which I thought very apt because of the intractable problems facing my characters.

This final book is the story that concludes everything.  Like Alexander the Great, my characters will have to solve all the problems by a simple, bold and effective action.

I was a little worried that this title would be too close to that of the previous book so I decided on a change and it became Cutting the Gordian Knot (the final solution)

With book one, The Belgae Torc, I tried to establish a sense of history that would remain throughout the trilogy.  The mysterious torc and the powers surrounding it is a reminder of just how significant symbols like this once were.  I used this novel to establish the main characters and to get a feeling for their individual personalities.  I also set in motion a relationship between Orlagh and Jerry that would develop through each novel.

Book two, The Gordian Knot continues with the historical references but I wanted to bring these closer to home.  By introducing Harald and Freya, a direct connection could be made between the events of 1940s Germany and the Phoenix Legion.  I wanted to do this using the human element; this was also the first step in drawing many of the characters together.  We are all influenced in some way by our pasts and history has a habit of repeating itself.

For more information about this and the other books in the trilogy check out my website, www.kevinmarshnovels.co.uk