‘Where There’s a Will’ the fourth book in the new Delamere series, is now at 75,000 words of the first draft and we’re entering the final reel. The writing is going smoothly, though will need some editing because of my ‘condition of repeatedness’, as Will might say. My habit of putting in notes to myself as I go to ensure the reader has got the point. Later, I take these out. They are tricky enough not to write in a standard mystery, but this one has so many details, I find myself doing a whole paragraph of reminding the reader of what we already know. So, I’ll have to make sure and look out for those as I go through the MS for draft two.

Still, we’re getting to see the world from Will’s point of view, starting to understand some of his ‘condition of preciseness’ a little more, and he is growing as a person, detective and character generally. It’s also interesting to see his view of his brother as we’ve not had much of that, and to learn some of their history that we may not know already.

Soon, I shall have to start thinking of the blurb and the cover design, but I will save that until I am into the second draft and sure of the story. I usually commission a drawing for the inside, but I have done the three main characters from the Delamere series (Jack, Larkin and Will) and most of the characters in Where There’s a Will are only going to appear in this book, though there is one I may reuse, he’s not a vital player in this story. There might, instead, be a map of Templar Island, where the story is set. I’ll think about it.

Meanwhile, this series, and the others are doing very well thanks to the two promos I am taking part in this month. First there’s:

Academia Romance of all genres as long as academia is involved.

Then, there’s:

Historical fiction, all periods pre-1950 and all available on Kindle Unlimited.

Click the pics to find the offers and titles.

This week’s work-in-progress blog is about Where There’s a Will, the 4th book in the new Delamere Files series of detective novels. I’m very pleased that the series is going so well so far. The current promo…

… has given the series a boost, and the first three books are currently top of my sales chart, with Deviant Desire not far behind. It’s always good to have popular series starters because they can lead to more sales. Numbers do drop off though, so out of every 100 Deviants I sell, I probably only sell 80 Twisteds, and then 70 Unspeakables, and so on. What I also find, though, is that people will read the first one or two books and either not bother because it wasn’t what they were after, or, will carry on all the way through and buy who whole rest of the series in one go.

But, anyway, where was I… oh yes, I was meant to be telling you about Where There’s a Will. Someone wrote in a review that they hoped Will got his own book as the main character because we’ve had three of his brother Jack. Well, good news. Where There’s a Will is about Will (Merrit) being sent to attend the opening of a will (legal document), with his brother, Jack (now finally settled with his sexuality and his new job).

The reading takes place at a castle on a private island, in the presence of twin brothers (the heirs), the dead father’s ancient nanny and her brother, the mute boatman, a couple of the servants, and a friend of the youngest twin. Charles de Marisco (the youngest twin) fancies his friend, Barrett Newton, but Barrett takes a shine to Jack. That’s the human underscore for the investigation which is a mystery in itself. Why have private detectives to the reading of a will? The reason becomes apparent when the solicitor reads the legally binding will and presents the character with a race against time.

I’ll say no more for now, except that I am 45,000 words into the first draft, so just about halfway, and things are looking good. Will is the main character, but we also have Charles de Marisco’s point of view. More news in future blogs.