New Year and a New Excerpt

The New Year is well and truly here, and as usual, it’s as depressing as hell. It doesn’t get light until half past eight and it’s dark again by quarter to four, and the weather is crap.

Still, it’s not all bad news. We’re flying off to the Canary Islands on Thursday… someone has to go there.

I’m also forging ahead with the next STAC Mystery, Death in Distribution. It’s set in a world I know well; haulage and logistics. It sees Joe & Co spending an Easter weekend in Blackpool, fun capital of the North of England.

As a special treat, before I zoom off to the Grand Cannery, here’s a snippet from the early chapters.

The STAC bus has been hit by a lorry and Joe and driver, Keith Lowry, have to go to Ballantyne Distribution’s depot to report on the matter. When they get there, they’re faced with intransigent security staff more concerned with improper dress than Joe’s irritation.

***

Joe announced them. “Joe Murray and Keith Lowry. We’re here to make a report on an accident with one of your vehicles.”

Reg, short but no less rotund than the man on the main gate, looked him up and down. “So you’re the ones without hi-vis vests?”

“Not you, too?” Joe tutted. “I can’t speak for Keith, but I am wearing vest. It’s under my shirt and it’s plain white, not hi-vis. Right? I need it to keep the chill of my chest. Now can you get someone here to see us?”

The guard took out his pen. “Everyone on this site has to wear a hi-vis vest. It’s a breach of health and safety regulations to be without one. I’ll have to log it in my book.”

Joe glanced at his watch. “Now listen to me, sport, I’m here for a weekend break. I’ve already had some little Hitler on the main gate giving me earache about searches, and I’ve had arguments with one of your tug drivers, so I’m not really in a mood for your nitpicking.”

“But it’s a breach of regulations to be without a hi-vis vest,” insisted the guard.

“I don’t care if it’s a breach of the peace or a breach of the nuclear proliferation treaty or breach of your britches. Get someone out to see us.”

“I have to make a note of this.” The guard leaned on his counter. “Name?”

“I already told you my name. Joe Murray and he’s Keith Lowry.”

“Department?” asked the guard.

“What?”

“What department do you work in?”

“We don’t work in any department,” Joe said. “Or are you considering hiring me just so you can fill in your forms?”

Poring over his incident book, the guard scratched his head. “It says here, I have to log your department, but if you don’t work here, how can I?”

“You’re saying this as though you think I should give a toss,” Joe said.

The guard turned away from Joe. “Sandra, this form’s all wrong. It’s only for employees. Don’t we have one for visitors?”

Sandra, who between periods of watching the CCTV, had her nose buried in a magazine on hair care, shrugged. “Dunno.” She did not stop reading to reply.

Using his pen, the guard dug out a chunk of earwax and aimed it at the waste bin. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to about this.”

“See your doctor. He’ll syringe your ears.”

***

Will the doctor clear Reg’s ear wax? Will Joe and Keith ever get to make the report? What level of anger lurks in the warehouses and offices of Ballantyne Distribution?

You’ll have to wait until the spring to find out.

In the meantime, if you’re new to the STAC Mysteries, you can find them in all e-reader formats on Amazon, Smashwords, Crooked Cat Books and most other e-book retailers. And if you want to catch up on the series before the release of #11, why not start with the very first STAC Mystery, The Filey Connection?