Written by Liz Mistry
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2025 Blog Tour #13
Today I welcome author Liz Mistry to my blog and am delighted to have a short extract from the 3rd novel in her The Solanki and McQueen Crime series, Deadly Reckoning to share with you. Thank you Liz for joining me today and providing the extract.
Deadly Reckoning is on a blog tour organised by Rachel of Rachel's Random Resources. Why not follow the tour which has reviews, guest posts, extracts and interviews on the blogs shown below?
Deadly Reckoning is on a blog tour organised by Rachel of Rachel's Random Resources. Why not follow the tour which has reviews, guest posts, extracts and interviews on the blogs shown below?
The blurb:
Deadly ReckoningA DEADLY DISCOVERY
Enjoying a rare day off, DS Jazzy Solanki’s peaceful spring walk is interrupted when a body is discovered along her path. Instinct tells her it’s not a coincidence.
A HIDDEN THREAT
Could Jazzy’s estranged, vengeful stepsister – consumed by grief over their brother’s death – be sending her a deadly message?
A RACE AGAINST TIME
Then a child goes missing. The crimes appear unrelated, but Jazzy’s gut insists there’s a sinister connection, one that points straight at her. With time running out, Jazzy and her team must uncover the truth before the killer finds them.
Crime Fiction
Psychological Fiction
This extract is from the prologue and shows the reader quite clearly from the get go that Jazzy’s sister Mhairi is back with a vengeance… and no doubt she’ll leave chaos and mayhem in her wake.
Extract
Prologue
May
Mhairi
Prologue
May
Mhairi
With the salty water lashing my face, its stinging droplets like acid on my flesh, and the wind tugging mercilessly at my hair hard enough to yank it right out, I stand with my back to the receding island and look to the future. My future. A future that might constitute my end game or equally a new beginning. Either way, I’m up for the challenge, ready to march onwards like the soldiers I so like to taunt. I’ve enjoyed shocking their sensibilities these past weeks, but although for now they’re scratching their heads in perplexed confusion, I’m savvy enough to accept that a bit of hair dye, body-fattening disguises and the like won’t protect me for much longer. But c’est la vie.
I pull my jacket tighter round my body, savouring the push and pull pounding my bones as the freezing squall buffets me – an inconsequential piece of flotsam in the ebb and flow of life. But at least I’m alive. These last months have been trying – not the end of the world, I agree – after all, living here, albeit in a basic cottage, beats being tossed in the nick. Although it’s not been pleasant, on a positive note, it has been safe – well, safer for me. That’s what comes of having a muddied past – it’s hard for them to follow all the interwoven threads that m Is it working what the voice recording for yes it’s really good I had to do AQ and A to take me forever and I just spoke what I thought and it was easy I mean I have to go back and edit it no but if you speed things up yeah and when I’m writing the other day it’s just as quick as the thoughts come quicker than I can time over a week oh well just start from a new scratch there you can always do for you So and what’s the time I’ve set my so about 5:00 o’clock can you cheque what the time is to Herlesfield Town Hall I see sperm of lock too so I’m just doing good Flash I’m what are you Observe a set what are you doing you’re just getting one of these cheese plants down 1 of these cheese plants I’m bringing down oh so it needs reported why what you do what did you do pardon What You’re standing what about door plants today Sucking nail ight have led them here.
I mean, who would ever link me to a step-great-grandad from Skye who was as canny as me when it came to putting things down on paper? No, the auld bugger, on his death bed, just slipped me the key when I was twelve. My adoptive mum – totally lame bitch that she was – had moaned and groaned about trekking up there. The only reason she made the hike, I reckon, was because she thought the auld bugger would leave her something in his will. No, that was a bit harsh. Deep down she probably cared for him. He didn’t though – leave her a sodding thing that is – and boy, did it piss her off. Instead, he left it in trust to the community, with the proviso that his step-great-grandchild (no name ever stated) had the key and was entitled to use it for their lifetime.
Like I said, the auld yin was well canny and with the locals viewing both him and his land with fear, augmented by the multitude of creepy bogeyman stories that circulated for years, they kept well clear, allowing it to slip into disuse, only to be awakened on my infrequent visits. This was the only thing that belonged just to me. Not even Simon knew about it, and as for Jazzy? Well, it was all the more special to me because she hadn’t tainted it with her presence.
Course, I never told anyone about my windfall, not even the cowbag, and it’s come in handy over the years. A bolthole to escape to when I needed it and no passport or ID necessary; although, I managed to get a fake ID using his name – McCullough – just in case, and I kept up with the utilities over the years, so no one had any cause to gripe. Besides, I doubt anyone in the ‘community’ really wanted a battered – little more than a bothy – hovel in the middle of nowhere. Not even the village kids thought to use it for their illicit drinking or weed smoking seshes. Too far to trek to when you’re high and besides, I think fear of the ghost of my cantankerous auld step-great-grandad Stuart McCullough was enough to frighten them off.
Every time I visited over the years, I made sure to be in disguise. I value the importance of forward planning, and even at that young age I realised that there would come a time when that hideaway would be of use. But now it’s time to leave the safety of the island and return to the limelight. It’s time to put an end to this once and for all. Thankfully my network of acquaintances, apostles and hangers-on have been helpful and the use of satellite phones for communication purpose has decreased the chances of detection. I know sister dearest has been excluded from the investigation and that fills me with joy. She’ll hate being on the sidelines but it only serves her right; besides, she won’t be on the outside looking in for very much longer. She’s got a lot to answer for, has my sister – such a lot, but her time has come, so she better watch out, for this is a duel to the end.
On a whim, I raise my arms to shoulder height and stretch them out to my sides and, channelling my inner Kate Winslet, I yell into the waves, ‘I’m coming for you, Jazzy Solanki. I’m coming for you!’
| Author Bio – Liz Mistry |
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 Liz Mistry moved to West Yorkshire in the late 1980s. Her gritty crime fiction police procedural novels set in Bradford embrace the city she describes as ‘Warm, Rich and Fearless’ whilst exploring the darkness that lurks beneath. Yet, her heart remains in Scotland, where childhood tales of bogey men, Bible John and grey lady ghosts fed her imagination. Her latest work, The Solanki and McQueen crime series is set around West Lothian, where she uses the distinctive landscape, historic heritage and Scottish culture as a backdrop to her gritty yet often humorous stories. Struggling with clinical depression and anxiety for many years, Liz often includes mental health themes in her writing. She credits her MA in Creative Writing from Leeds Trinity University with helping her find a way of using her writing to navigate her ongoing mental health struggles. The synergy been creative and academic writing led Liz to complete a doctorate in creative writing researching the importance of representation of marginalised groups within the genre she loves. Her husband, three children and huge extended British Indian family are a constant support to her. In her spare time, Liz loves visiting the varied Scottish and Yorkshire landscape, travelling, listening to music, reading and blogging about all things crime fiction on her website blog, The Crime Warp. Liz is represented by Lorella Belli literary agency. For rights enquiries contact lorella@lorellabelliagency.com You can contact the agency at: info@lorellabelliagency.com |
| Social Media Links – | |
| Web site | http://lizmistry.com/ |
| @liz.mistry | |
| Facebook Author Page | https://www.facebook.com/LizMistrybooks |
| X | @LizMistryAuthor |
Thanks so much for being part og my blog tour. It's much appreciated, Best Lizxx
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