Plotting The Play

The Mike Malone Mysteries #12

by Milly Reynolds

When the safe of a TV personality is stolen in a bizarre burglary, Detective Inspector Mike Malone and his Detective Sergeant, Alan Shepherd, find that maybe, this time, they need a little extra help. Enter Dog Dollond, a retired colleague of Mike's from his days in London. As usual, solving the crime is never straightforward, especially as there seems to be a link to a gruesome murder in a nearby town. When a murder occurs on Mike's watch, he discovers a surprising thread running through all the crimes. But does it get him any closer to solving the puzzle?

ebook

First published May 2, 2015

About the author

Hi

As you may have already guessed, Milly Reynolds is not my real name. Like my 'hero' Detective Inspector Mike Malone, I also hide my real identity.

I live in Lincolnshire and love the flat, endless landscapes and I want these to be seen in my books. Mike Malone has moved from the city to Lincolnshire - unlike me, I was born here and haven't moved.

In my full-time, job I teach in a secondary school. I teach 11-16 year-olds and as you might imagine, sometimes it is a real pleasure to come home and murder someone on paper. It certainly releases the tension after a stressful day in the classroom.

So why Mike Malone? I love all things detective and wanted to create my own series. However, I have decided not to go for the deep, dark thriller - how can I compete with the masters of that genre? I adore the books by Jo Nesbo - a real genius. Therefore I came to the decision that Mike Malone would be off-beat. I like to think that there is humour in my books. I don't want to scare people, I want to make them chuckle - there is not enough laughter in the world at the moment.

However, although Mike was my first creation, he is not the only one. I have also recently created Jack Sallt, another DI. Jack is grittier than Mike and there is not the humour in his stories that there is in the Mike Malone stories. I wanted to write a more 'grown-up' detective story. The first Jack Sallt should be released Oct/Nov 2011.

Not content with crime, I also decided to try my hand at a romantic novel and my first stand-alone novel 'The Unseen Sky' was published August 2011.

I'm lucky, I enjoy writing and find it just as relaxing to sit and create as it is to read. I hope you like my books.