Hey you!
In a possible bout of insanity, I have started a free weekly newsletter. Not for everyone, but maybe it’s just right for you? Sign up at https://edjames.substack.com and you’ll get a blast from the innards of my skull straight into your inbox. Starting tomorrow. Get to it!
Ed
PS Hunter 3 is on preorder now. Out 1st December. Preorder on Amazon now!

He’s back.

A brutal murder. A haunted detective. A case that unearths monsters.
When a young woman is killed, squashed between a London bus and a white van, DI Simon Fenchurch is called in to investigate, soon discovering the case has deeper roots than initially appears.
With new gangs wrestling to take over east London and a fresh wave of innocent victims exploited by new monsters, Fenchurch must work with old friends and new foes to unpick a web of lies and deceit.
As Fenchurch and his wife Abi struggle to reconnect with their daughter, Fenchurch comes face to face with his worst nightmare — the man who allegedly abducted Chloe eleven years ago, now out having served time for another murder. But is Fenchurch just playing to his own prejudices? Is he looking for the real killer? And will he have to pay a high price to catch a brutal murderer?
Available now from Amazon on Kindle (read for free using Kindle Unlimited) and paperback.
https://mybook.to/EJMessenger
And thanks for all of the support over the years — I couldn’t do this without you.
— Ed
 
 

So I thought I was finished with Fenchurch. I really did. But no.
I finished my contract with Thomas & Mercer with the August release of “Kill with Kindness”, and left Fenchurch and his family in a good place. Certainly compared with where he was when we met him in “The Hope that Kills”, it was almost like Fenchurch had found happiness.
But.
When I was editing it, I found a little plot hole in book four, “In for the Kill”, that I wanted to plug with a novella. And novellas are nice and simple, no complexity, just fifteen to twenty chapters, 30,000 words. Easy.
Yeah, right.
I should’ve known myself by now. Two Cullen novels, book 3 “Fire in the Blood” and book 6 “Liars and Thieves” (previously known as “Windchill”), started out as novellas, but grew arms and legs as I explored them. Just like this one has.
Chronologically, the action occurred between books 3 and 4 but, rather than open up the numbering or lose some commercial jiggery pokery, I decided to put in two “bookend” chapters in, set after book 5, where Fenchurch arrives at court to give evidence on a case, then the drama was his testimony.
But.
A few bits and pieces kept growing. Some opportunities presented themselves as I wrote. Before I knew it, my thin bookend chapter at the end had become three. And they didn’t really flow that well. So I had another look at the whole thing, and I could shift some of the drama out of the flashback section, partly because there wasn’t enough reaction and reflection between certain plot points, and…
Well, “Kill the Messenger” is a full novel now. Two parts. One set in the past between “What Doesn’t Kill You” and “In for the Kill”, and the second after book five, “Kill with Kindness”. It’s also a bit of an experiment to see if the self-publishing model works for a series this far advanced — if enough people buy this, then I’ll do more books. Simple. I’ve got ideas on how to make Fenchurch more miserable than he already is.
And it’s on pre-order now, with release on Feb 27th, 2019. For the whole of December, you can buy it for £1.99 (or the local equivalent) on Kindle, after which it’ll go up to £2.99. Which is a bargain. There’ll be a paperback on day one (Amazon don’t allow print-on-demand paperback pre-orders), but sadly no current plans for audiobook (the previous narrator has retired!). And if you’re in Kindle Unlimited, you can read it for free when it comes out.
Anyway, hope you enjoy it when it comes out.
UK Amazon link — https://amzn.to/2BJwhWn
Rest of work — http://mybook.to/EJMessenger
And in case you’ve missed them, the rest of the series is 99p this month (UK, AU, DE only):
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B079RTGTD6/
And you have read the latest Cullen, right?
https://amzn.to/2PaODCX
— Ed

You lucky, lucky people!
“Heroes & Villains”, the eighth Scott Cullen novel, will be released on 3rd November, 2018.
Pre-order it now:
Amazon UK | Rest of the world
Book blurb:
After a previous case got him sidelined to a drugs investigation, DS Scott Cullen of Police Scotland’s Edinburgh MIT closes in on a long-time adversary. Dean Vardy, Edinburgh’s latest drug kingpin, and notorious rapist. Every time they close in on him, he gets off, aided and abetted by his lawyer, Campbell McLintock. But this time Vardy goes too far.
Or does he? After a witness dies, Cullen is soon desperately trying to hold the case together, with Vardy’s conviction dangling by a thread. Will McLintock get Vardy off yet again?
But soon, Cullen and his team are facing a different threat. A brutal vigilante, doling out frontier justice and obeying no laws. Can Cullen catch a killer who could be one of their own?

A sadistic killer. An infamous victim. A crime that gets darker and darker…
The body of a young woman is found in a London hotel room, the victim of a suspected poisoning. Called in to investigate, DI Simon Fenchurch soon discovers the case is far more sinister than he could have imagined.
He should have recognised the woman at once—a teacher at a local school, her scandalous affair with a pupil has been splashed across the tabloids. As Fenchurch interrogates those closest to her, a web of suspicious connections begins to emerge.
Meanwhile Fenchurch’s own life is still in turmoil: his family fragmented, his baby son in intensive care, and his mentor replaced by an unsympathetic new boss. The streets of London are in chaos too, with a spate of acid attacks on seemingly random victims.
Struggling to hold on to hope on both fronts, Fenchurch faces the toughest few days of his career. Can he keep his family safe and catch whoever is behind the murder before more lives are lost?
Buy it now!
UK — https://amzn.to/2nhcxkL
Rest of world — http://mybook.to/Fenchurch5

Hello you.
Quick new post from me to update you on what’s happening in my world. Realise that I’ve been very quiet since April, so let’s fix that.
Fenchurch
Most of my time in 2017 was spent on that old rascal. Two novels, now called IN FOR THE KILL and KILL WITH KINDNESS, out in April and July respectively. They progress the Fenchurch story in a satisfying way, given what happened in book three, hopefully enough to buy me a little time and not have to write any more of him for a while. You’ll forgive me in time. I know you will.
Cullen & Hunter

I’ve started work on the eighth Cullen book, HEROES & VILLAINS. Given the release of the two Fenchurch books, it won’t be out until October. I’m trying something new with this one, so hopefully it’ll work well. There won’t be a Hunter book this year, but expect one next year assuming that book 2 keeps selling as well as it has.
Vicky Dodds
Watch out for a new edit of book 1 to drop in the new month or so. New cover, a ton of editing (it’s almost a new book, goddammit) and hopefully enough energy to make people want a sequel. Book 2, FLESH AND BLOOD, will be the next Scottish cop book I do after Cullen 8. Both are long overdue, but Cullen is the one I get messages about every day, so . . .
What else am I doing?
Aha. Two big things. New things. As for what they are, you’ll have to watch this space, but they’re both going to be brilliant, even if I do say so myself.
Hope 2018 has been good to you.
— Ed

I’ve been doing a daily blog called Morning Splurge. I’ve just put in a new books update which might shut you lot up about Cullen 8. Though it probably won’t.
— Ed

Hey there.
Hoping that you’re all enjoying the first Fenchurch book, “The Hope That Kills”, which came out last month (ish).
A quick note from me to say that book two, “Worth Killing For”, is out next Tuesday, 11th October 2016 —
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Worth-Killing-Fenchurch-Novel-Book-ebook/dp/B01CGBC70G
I *love* that cover. Can’t stop looking at it.
Also, a little bit of news… I finished the third Fenchurch book last month, “What Doesn’t Kill You”. It’s due out on the 16th March 2017 and oh looky, while there’s no cover art yet, it’s ready for pre-order now —
https://www.amazon.co.uk/What-Doesnt-Kill-Fenchurch-novel-ebook/dp/B01M1EOQDS
News on some other releases soon — I’m working on the second Craig Hunter novel right now, “Hunted”. Hope you enjoy that London stuff.
Cheers,
Ed

Interview with me over at Rebecca Bradley’s blog, where I splaff about my writing process. Might be of interest to some of you…
https://rebeccabradleycrime.com/2016/06/10/whats-your-first-draft-like-ed-james/
And a spooky coincidence was, while I was doing that interview, my other half told me she was reading Rebecca’s debut novel (she recommends it highly).
— Ed

Apologies for how late this has been, but I’ve been flat out with stuff since the start of October and it’s only now that I’m resurfacing. Hurgh. Anyway, I did a review of my TV watchings of 2014 in, erm, July, so here’s 2015’s in March.

Let’s start with something I missed from 2014, Silicon Valley (HBO, Sky Atlantic). Just the funniest, geekiest programme you’ll ever see. Set in the titular Silicon Valley, it features a gang of start-up millenials, who accidentally stumble upon an app everyone wants. As someone who loves following all that geek culture and is fascinated by the way the Googles and Amazons have changed the world, it’s pretty much perfect and shows HBO can still produce brilliant shows.

One of the best binges I had last year was Six Feet Under (HBO, DVD), which was the most astonishingly good thing I’ve ever watched, I think. Set in an LA funeral home, it tells the story of the Fisher family, initially dealing with the loss of the patriarch, but expanding into rich territories. The writing and acting was pretty much perfect, setting a standard few shows have ever met. In fact, few artworks have ever met. Classic HBO.

Unlike True Detective season 2 (HBO, Sky Atlantic) which was just horrible on so many levels. A lot of words have been written about how bad it was, but I’d say it’s largely because HBO dispensed with their tried and trusted method of an Exec Producer Showrunner, i.e. lead writer, supported by a writer’s room and put too much on the shoulders of Nic Pizzolatto. Nothing worked. The world-class acting from season one was replaced by fumbling performances by Colin Farrell and Vince Vaughn. The misogyny might’ve been lessened but at the expense of suspense, mystery and anything you would care for. Just terrible and an example of how not to do story and plot and character. If there’s to be a third season, I hope they let it stew for a while.

Showing how it’s done were two shows I watched on Netflix. Fargo (FX) and Better Call Saul (AMC). I was never a fan of the Fargo film, but the TV show was incredible. It had everything — comedy, action, tragedy, suspense, mystery, and excellent performances from Martin Freeman and, especially, Billy-Bob Thornton. Such incredible writing — the scene where the two henchmen argue in sign language was just, wow. And I was a huge fan of Breaking Bad. So much so that I was concerned about BCS. The first couple of episodes might’ve been a bit too cute with the BB references, but the series evolved into one of the richest and most heart-wrenching stories I’ve ever read/watched. Just sublime. [Note, I’ve watched the second season of Fargo and it’s just as good, and the second season of BCS might be even better — time will tell]

Another Netflix gem, this time a self-produced one, was Daredevil (Netflix). You’ll know that I’m an uber-geek and fell out of love with Arrow as it got blander. No such worries with DD, capturing the darkness and brutality of the comics after Frank Miller’s work, arguably perfected during Brian Michael Bendis’ run on it. The show does away with a lot of the camp of superheroism but still retains warmth and humour. It’s arguably a better crime story than superhero, but it’s still brilliantly watchable. [Note, a lot less convinced by Jessica Jones]

Other comics-related stuff is my devouring of The Walking Dead (AMC, Amazon Prime/Fox). Don’t be put off by the zombie setting, this is about people and how bad they are. There’s gore, yes, but it doesn’t really follow horror tropes, instead focusing on selfishness and alienation. There are plotting problems, mainly to do with the pace and frequency African-American characters are killed off, but it’s ludicrously compulsive watching.

Not so good was Fear The Walking Dead (AMC, AMC), which shifted the action from rural Georgia to LA and promised to show the apocalypse happening, something the parent show skipped over with Rick’s coma. Well, it did and it didn’t. Suffice to say, there must’ve been studio interference because they did the old time-jump trick just as things got interesting. Other than that, the show was okay. I didn’t really attach to any of the characters, which is the real strength of the other series.

I had a good bit of sci-fi catching up to do and watched Firefly and Stargate Universe, both of which were entertaining, if heavily flawed. Another great comedy show we watched all of was 30 Rock, Tina Fey’s seemingly autobiographical series set behind the camera on a weekly sketch show. Funny and insightful, what more can you ask for?

Terrestrial watching highlights were few and far between. British TV has got so bad that The Bridge III was the only decent thing worth watching and that was Scandinavian. Thanks for that, Tories. Everything else we tried was either scene-chewing Shakespearean tedium (focusing on the language rather than the stories) or just shit. Sorry. A decent gem was The Fall, an authentic Northern Irish serial killer drama starring Gillian Anderson, which stuttered a fair amount in the second season but was still pretty compulsive viewing.

And I’ll end on one of my highlights, The Good Wife. It must rank as a guilty pleasure, but it’s so very good. Really strongly written and tightly plotted, reflecting current events and breakthroughs. Makes you care about a firm of scumbag lawyers. Really. Unlike Damages (FX), which did the opposite — every character in it is horrible. One of the things that irk me about it is the creation of false suspense by a tedious flash-forward device — gruesome scenes are peppered in amongst some fairly low-key law-y stuff. Shows a real problem with the writing, in my opinion. Glenn Close is decent as an immoral lawyer but everyone else, meh. But watch The Good Wife. I’ve got seven eps of the final season ticking around.

And there you go.

— Ed

Hope you’re all gearing up for Newtonmas, not long now.
Anyway, just to let you know SNARED was selected as one of Amazon Publishing’s top-selling books of 2015 and is on sale at £1.49 (also in the Australian deal, too). If you haven’t bought it, well now’s your chance. Linky and the deal page is here (some crackers on that list)
Oh, and in other news… I’ve signed a three-book deal with Amazon Publishing’s Thomas & Mercer imprint, home of SNARED among many others.
What? Who?
The deal is for the first two books in the DI Simon Fenchurch series, THE HOPE THAT KILLS and VICIOUS CYCLE, hardcore police procedurals set in that London. The east end mainly, though Islington features heavily. And it’s also for the second in the DS Vicky Dodds series, FALLEN, picking up eighteen months after SNARED. What’s happened to Vicky in that time? Well.
When?
Tentative dates, which will be updated in due course, are THE HOPE THAT KILLS in May/June 2016, VICIOUS CYCLE in September 2016 and FALLEN in January 2017. I’ve delivered the first two books and I’m going through edits for HOPE just now. Done an outline for FALLEN, but not put finger to key yet.
Why?
Because they’re a brilliant publisher who treat authors as people and not like cattle. I love working with them. They seem to like me, too. I know a lot of other authors with the imprint and nobody has anything even vaguely negative to say. Plus, they’re one of the few publishers who know how to really sell ebooks (I’d add Bookoutoure to that small list). And I’ve loved the process of publishing and selling SNARED.
Wow! Erm, what about Cullen?
Ah, yes. That publishing schedule is aggressive as hell and shows a huge amount of support for me and my scribblings. There’s a knock-on effect for the Cullen series, which means there won’t be any new Cullen novels until next Christmas, dependent on that publishing schedule. Happily, this matches my own thoughts (as outlined in the afterword for COWBOYS). With series books, especially self-published ones, there’s a law of diminishing returns. Think of it as a funnel, wide at the start but tapering off. The Cullen books have got better as I’ve written them and improved my craft, but the sales need a bit of time to catch up. Hence why I’ve started another two series. Hence why I’ve slowed down publication of Cullen (first three were nine months apart, last two were ten). I still love/hate the bugger as much as ever, and I hope you enjoy the Fenchurch books as much as I have writing them. And, of course, Ms Dodds sophomore adventure.
Yeah, so there we are. Happy Newtonmas when it happens. I’ll probably do year-end stuff over the next few weeks.
Oh and I’m properly on Schoolbook now. Sorry, Facebook. Friend me there, or whatever it is the kids do these days.
— Ed