A Clear Conscience by Frances Fyfield
Book Tour: November 12 – 18, 2013
Title: A Clear Conscience: A Helen West Mystery (Helen West #5)
Author: Frances Fyfield
Genre: Mystery, Crime, Thriller
Publication Date: November 5, 2013
Publisher: Witness Impulse, an imprint of HarperCollins
Cover Designed By:
Synopsis
Helen West, Crown
prosecutor in domestic violence court, is working up a good case of
burnout: justice-by-the-book doesn’t seem to be working for the women
she represents. Plus, Helen’s love affair with Police Superintendent
Geoffrey Bailey is losing its fire. Things suddenly heat up when Helen
learns that humble Cath, her cleaning woman, is being beaten by her
husband. Cath has no family-her beautiful brother, Damien, has recently
been brutally murdered-and needs all the help she can get. But as the
truth of Cath’s young life, marriage, and her brother’s murder begin
to take shape, help and justice seem hard to come by . . . and may prove
forever beyond reach
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About the Author
I grew
up in rural Derbyshire, but my adult life has been spent mostly in London,
with long intervals in Norfolk and Deal, all inspiring places. I was
educated mostly in convent schools; then studied English and went on
to qualify as a solicitor, working for what is now the Crown Prosecution
Service, thus learning a bit about murder at second hand. Years later,
writing became the real vocation, although the law and its ramifications
still haunt me and inform many of my novels.
I’m
a novelist, short story writer for magazines and radio, sometime Radio
4 contributor, (Front Row, Quote Unquote, Night Waves,) and presenter
of Tales from the Stave. When I’m not working (which is as often as
possible), I can be found in the nearest junk/charity shop or auction,
looking for the kind of paintings which enhance my life. Otherwise,
with a bit of luck, I’m relaxing by the sea with a bottle of wine
and a friend or two.
Mini Interview
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THE MYSTERY
GENRE, OR DID IT CHOOSE YOU?
The mystery genre chose me rather than the other way round. Always
wanted to write from the days of composing gloomy, teenage poetry and
winning the essay prize in school, but it took a while to know what
to write about. I became a criminal lawyer, with a wild ambition to
write romance as an antidote to the daily diet of homicide, theft and
lives of quiet desperation.
I came to write mystery fiction because I wanted to explore the unfinished,
incomplete stories that unfold in a court room, where no one knows more
than half of what really went on. Storytelling, the use of compassionate
imagination, penetrates the darkness and squares the circle of half
truth like nothing else.
It also allows for wit, humour, irony and romance, and you can always
include the enduring power of love, in which I heartily believe. This
genre is the best. What better to write about than Crime and Redemption?
WHAT IS YOUR MOST TREASURED PAINTING,
ETC
Don’t get me talking about paintings, or you’ll be here a while.
I’ve collected oil paintings, sketches and drawings for as long as
I can remember, and every time a book or a short story is produced,
I find something new. The latest one enchants me. It’s a small oil
sketch, painted circa 1890 by a British artist not known and depicts
a woman wearing either a dressing gown or a kimono, sitting at table,
reading by the light of a shaded oil lamp that throws a huge shadow
of her head against the wall behind. She is entirely unconscious of
the shadow, or her own beauty: she is not posing, but is entirely unselfconscious
and absorbed in her book. The painting glows in the dark and is utterly
serene. Which I am not. I like her so much, I get up in the night to
look at her.
WHAT’S THE TOUGHEST CRITICISM
YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED?
From the first Agent to whom I sent a full-length script, these lines;
‘We could be in business here, if only you delete all the introspective
crap and cut it down by a third.’
She was right. I cried for three days and then did it. The story is
all that matters. I have kept mine lean every since. They aren’t about
me; they are about my characters.
WHERE’S THE BEST PLACE TO FIND
INSPIRATION?
The Sea, the Sea, always the Sea. Many of my books feature the Sea.
My writer’s work room faces the English channel. It’s inspiration
and distraction, I breathe alongside it, fear it and love it. Only problem
is, every time I hear a dog bark or steps on the shingle, I’m up there,
looking out, so the bulk of the work is done after dark, in winter,
to the sound of it. The sea laughs and cries and twinkles like an old
flirt on a good day, roars otherwise, I might do the same, sometimes,
Giveaway
Ten free downloads of A Clear
Conscience. Winner must have access to Bluefire Reader and have
an Adobe account to receive free download.
Tour Schedule (link to the
tour banner)
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