Front Page Fridays Week-16
Welcome to Front Page Fridays Week-16. On Fridays I highlight a new book by showcasing the first page.
My Front Page Fridays Week-16 guest is Jo Furniss. I invited Jo to take part after I had the delight of reading and reviewing a NetGalley early copy of her new police procedural, Deal Mile, set on a gridlocked motorway. Here is the first page:
Chapter One
5.00 p.m.
Friday afternoon, and the traffic was bloody murder. Belinda ‘Billy’ Kidd should have known better than to take the motorway at rush hour. Plus she wasn’t feeling tip-top after a long-haul flight from Australia. As a police sergeant – soon to be former police sergeant – she was well aware that ‘a can of Red Bull and I’ll be fine’ could lead to ‘but I only rested my eyes for a moment’ and carnage.
But what choice did she have? There was no welcoming party at Arrivals. No public transport to her village. So here she was in a hire car. Aircon set to Arctic. Black coffee in the centre console. White knuckles on the steering wheel.It should only take an hour to drive home. One little hour. An easy drive she’d done a million times. A road she’d patrolled back in the day, though it had been upgraded since then to a three-lane ‘expre’ route that clogged up every Friday into a joyless conga, plodding towards the weekend. Billy hovered in the middle lane even though it wasn’t moving any faster than the others. She’d like to put the radio on but couldn’t bring herself to glance away from the road long enough to work the unfamiliar stereo. The only sound was the drumroll of wheels.
Wheels skidding, tyres bursting— Stop it, Belinda.
Dead Mile by Jo Furniss. Published in ebook 20 June, paperback 4 July 2024 by Zaffre.
Purchase Links
https://mybook.to/DeadMile — this is a Universal Amazon link
https://www.waterstones.com/book/dead-mile/jo-furniss/9781804183441
About the Book
Friday afternoon, and the traffic is bloody murder.
Sergeant Belinda 'Billy' Kidd is driving home from the airport, jet-lagged and ready to resign from a career that has left her traumatised. Menopause has robbed her confidence too - now she's a traffic cop who's afraid to drive. When brake lights haemorrhage up the motorway, the cars grind to a halt. Moments later she finds a dead driver in a black sedan.
He has a metal skewer in his neck. But how? The killer can't have left the scene without being spotted by the dozens of witnesses - so he must still be there, among them. If the traffic jam stays put, they're all in danger; if the traffic clears, she'll lose her suspect. The clock is ticking, but she doesn't know how fast.
About the Author
Jo Furniss is originally from the UK, but spent much of her adult life overseas, living in Cameroon, Switzerland and Singapore. She’s now back home, beside the seaside in England. Her novels include the survival thriller, All the Little Children, which was an Amazon Chart bestseller in the UK and US. Jo has contributed short stories to the Afraid of the Light anthology series, which was nominated for the CWA Dagger Awards in 2021/22, and raised thousands of pounds for British charities. A former BBC broadcast journalist, Jo also writes for the award-winning Short History Of podcast from Noiser Productions.
Social Media Links
JoFurniss.com
IG = @jofurnissauthor
Twitter = @Jo_Furniss
https://www.facebook.com/JoFurnissAuthor
I hope you enjoyed reading Front Page Fridays Week-16. Please come back next time when I’ll be featuring a different author and the first page of their book.
And please take a look at books already featured on Front Page Fridays:
Blood Ribbons by Lin Le Versha – https://www.rachelsargeant.co.uk/front-page-fridays-week-1/
Fatal Blow by Brian Price – https://www.rachelsargeant.co.uk/front-page-fridays-week-2/
Can I Trust You? by Rob Gittins – Front Page Fridays Week-3 – Rachel Sargeant
The Last Bird of Paradise by AJ Aberford – Front Page Fridays Week-4 – Rachel Sargeant
Never Forgive You by Hilly Barmby – Front Page Fridays Week-5 – Rachel Sargeant
The Mists of Pencarrack Moor by Terri Nixon – Front Page Fridays Week-6 - Rachel Sargeant
The Thief of Joy by Stacey Murray – Front Page Fridays Week-7 - Rachel Sargeant
Edge of the Land by Malcolm Hollingdrake – Front Page Fridays Week-8 - Rachel Sargeant
The Mind of a Murderer by Michael Wood - https://www.rachelsargeant.co.uk/front-page-fridays-week-9/
The Midnight Man by Julie Anderson – Front Page Fridays Week-10 - Rachel Sargeant
Dark Road Home by Sheila Bugler – Front Page Fridays Week-11 - Rachel Sargeant
Her Charming Man by Rachel Sargeant – Front Page Fridays Week-12 - Rachel Sargeant
Wedding Bells at the Lakeside Hotel by Linda Huber – Front Page Fridays Week-13 - Rachel Sargeant
Dark Island by Daniel Aubrey – Front Page Fridays Week-14 - Rachel Sargeant
The Shame by Maureen Myant - Front Page Fridays Week-15 - Rachel Sargeant