Category: coming soon

The Midpoint

Posted on by Tony McFadden in ARC, Author talk, coming soon, preorder, structure, writing

I’m in the middle (literally) of the first draft of my next Nick Harding book. I don’t have a title yet. The premise is pretty straightforward: The story opens with Nick regaining consciousness in a barn somewhere in rural suburban Sydney. He’s been whacked on the head. He can tell by the painful lump on the back of his skull and the low-grade, behind-the-eyes headache he’s sporting.

He’s got no recollection of what happened or where he was when it did happen.

Davie and Lucy, worried about his disappearance, are on their own hunt to track him down, encountering a special group of people trying to stop them. People they’ve never met before.

Odd-numbered chapters are first-person, Nick’s POV, and his efforts to get through the mess. Even-numbered chapters are third-person, POV of whatever characters I need to drive the rest of the story. Mostly Davie and Lucy, but as the story unfolds, more are added to the tale.

Right now, I’m at the midpoint of the first draft. My favourite part of both the plotting and writing process. If I do my job well, I’ve led you down a path where you think you know what’s going on, where you start having a shade of an inkling of a possible ending.

Then I give you the midpoint, and you hurt your back changing direction.

I think this one has a good midpoint. Thought about how to set it up for months.

And even though I’ve warned you, when you read the final product, it’ll still make your brain lose traction on the turn.

Sometime in July or August, the Nick Harding book I haven’t named yet will be ready to ride.

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Pre-Orders available

Posted on by Tony McFadden in coming soon, preorder, writing

Is it preorder or pre-order?

Anyway, pre(-)orders are a boon to writers. They stack up and show as sales on the release date. If you’ve read previous books in these serieses (English is hard), or just have an abiding interest in Aussie-based, fast-paced crime fiction, check them out.

Fast Track can be preordered now at:  Amazon | Apple | Kobo | Barnes&Noble

Do Not Pass Go can be preordered at: Amazon | Apple |  Kobo | Barnes&Noble

“Fast Track”

Posted on by Tony McFadden in ARC, coming soon, preorder

Fast Track is Mac Durridge’s latest case.

On the NSW Central Coast, Mac Durridge has been asked by Sophie, his on-again, currently off-again girlfriend, to look into the disappearance of her friend, Central Coast Network News reporter Linda Carmody.

Linda has been on extended paid leave from CCNN while she runs down a news story. She regularly disappears for weeks at a time, investigating this story. This time, though, she missed a mutual friend’s hen party with no excuse. Very out of character.

As an author, I was faced with a bit of a problem. I enjoyed writing two series featuring two different P.I.s: Mac Durridge, an ex-NSW cop now flogging his wares as a PI in a small coastal town, and Nick Harding, an ex-AFP Financial Crimes investigator who is now flogging his wares as a PI in a much larger coastal town (Sydney).

I didn’t know which one to work on next.

I split the baby and decided to write both. One huge crime spanning the state. Each PI gets pulled into the case independently. In fact, the first half of each book has no reference to the other PI at all. They connect at the halfway point, and by the third act, they’re quasi-partners.

All of the regular characters from past books are there, and a couple of new ones are added.

Like young Josh Cole, a thirteen-year-old, who hires Mac to find his stolen coin collection. A seemingly trivial case to open the story, yet the conclusion pivots on the information he gains from helping the young lad.

Cynthia Tanner and Joe Mason are state and federal employees, respectively, working hard on the development of Australia’s first high-speed rail network.

It’s now my most popular Aussie-based PI book

You can buy now at Amazon | Apple | Kobo | Barnes&Noble

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Introduction to Mac Durridge, PI

Posted on by Tony McFadden in coming soon, preorder, writing

Back in, I don’t know when, while I was living on the Central Coast of NSW, we took the scenic route home along the beach through Budgewoi, and I spotted a cheap sign advertising “PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR” in white letters on black paint, with a mobile number listed below it.

I don’t remember which town. If I could find the place again, I’d take a picture of that sign and use it as a cover. Maybe all my covers for this series of books.

But I wondered—what the hell would a PI do for work in a small town of 3,000? Definitely nothing undercover. After a short time, he’d know all the town’s secrets, as well as those of the surrounding towns.

And thus was born Malcolm Durridge, a former NSW Police Senior Sergeant who left the force under mysterious circumstances. (Perhaps something for a future book. Perhaps.) He now operates a one-man PI shop above a TAB betting establishment in a small, fake town on Tuggerah Lake.

Mac’s cases vary from bank fraud and international conspiracies to a 13-year-old kid paying him $25 to find his stolen coin collection.

He got an old attorney friend whose help he frequently needs, an ex-wife (who is well on her way to becoming a doctor) and Barry (Baz), an indeterminately aged man who chooses to live homeless. Baz serves as his invisible (to the rest of society) source, keeping an eye on things when things need an eye or two.

E-books can be found on Amazon here, with more e-retailers coming soon.

Paperbacks (including Large Print) are on Barnes & Noble: Mac D | A Step Too Far | Hunter/Prey and other good and evil bookstores.

Subscribe (at the top right of this page) to be notified when the next in the series, Fast Track (18 July), is available for pre-order.