Front Page Fridays Week-24
Front Page Fridays Week-24
Welcome to Front Page Fridays Week-24. On Fridays I highlight a recently published book by showcasing the first page.
My Front Page Fridays Week-24 guest is a returning guest, Brian Price, and his brand-new crime novel, Fatal Image.
Here’s the opening:
It was actually going to happen. The nods from the Whips’ Office. The whisper from Number Ten. The knowing glances in the Commons tea room – they all meant that the ministerial post would be his. He’d worked hard for it, after all. He’d voted how he was told to, given the right interviews to the Daily Mail, backed the right candidate for party leader and kept quiet about his colleagues’ numerous indiscretions. The job was his by right, and then what next? One of the Great Offices of State? He quite fancied being Chancellor – a post which sometimes held more power than the Prime Minister. And he would be able to repay the chaps who had supported him financially all this time, ensuring the contracts and tax cuts went where they should. But there were obstacles: six to be precise.
The image was clear in his mind: a mental snapshot of what some people called depravity and he called fun - one of Marnie Draycott’s special parties. Seven guests in a plush room in Mayfair, redolent with the smells of champagne, cannabis and sex. Little clothing in evidence and no orifice left unexplored. Everything was consensual but, should anything about his participation reach the press or the internet, he knew his journey towards high office would be irrevocably derailed. Their phones had all been taken away at the door but, nevertheless, people could talk. And he couldn’t trust them not to, especially with the lure of money from the tabloid press once he became well-known. He couldn’t afford to pay for their silence and there were no bonds of friendship.
There was only one option. For him to realise his ultimate ambitions, at least six people had to die.
About the Book
RUTHLESS AMBITION
Hugh Ventham MP, tipped for high office, can’t shake off the mental image of a sordid party he attended many years ago. Any one of the people there could derail his career if they talk about it. So he must eliminate them all.
A COMPROMISING PHOTO
But someone took a photo. And one of the attendees will stop at nothing to ensure it is never discovered. If they fail, they will face ruin.
A BAFFLED POLICE FORCE
As the murders mount up, Mexton CID struggle to see the connection between them. Are they random killings or is there a link? If so, who would want to kill such a disparate group of people? And who is the mysterious figure in the background with their own lethal agenda?
With police resources stretched to breaking point, DC Mel Cotton and her team face deadly challenges as they hunt for the killer. And when the mysterious figure strikes, will she get out alive?
Purchase links
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DHPHWQQP
https://www.waterstones.com/book/fatal-image/brian-price/9781915817662
About the Author
Brian Price is the author of the DC Mel Cotton thrillers, published by Hobeck books, and Crime writing: How to write the science, a guide for authors on how to avoid scientific mistakes. A chemist and biologist by training, he has worked in a hospital pharmacy, as an environmental consultant, as an Open University tutor and for the Environment Agency. As well as writing thrillers, he advises other authors on such matters as poisons, knockouts, and DNA. This is the fifth DC Cotton novel. Brian is currently working on an anthology of short stories involving poisons.
Social media
https://www.facebook.com/brian.price.16100/
Twitter/X @crimewritersci
https://www.threads.net/@briancrimewriter
I hope you enjoyed reading Front Page Fridays Week-24. 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:
1. Blood Ribbons by Lin Le Versha – https://www.rachelsargeant.co.uk/front-page-fridays-week-1/
2. Fatal Blow by Brian Price – https://www.rachelsargeant.co.uk/front-page-fridays-week-2/
3. Can I Trust You? by Rob Gittins – Front Page Fridays Week-3 – Rachel Sargeant
4. The Last Bird of Paradise by AJ Aberford – Front Page Fridays Week-4 – Rachel Sargeant
5. Never Forgive You by Hilly Barmby – Front Page Fridays Week-5 – Rachel Sargeant
6. The Mists of Pencarrack Moor by Terri Nixon – Front Page Fridays Week-6 - Rachel Sargeant
7. The Thief of Joy by Stacey Murray – Front Page Fridays Week-7 - Rachel Sargeant
8. Edge of the Land by Malcolm Hollingdrake – Front Page Fridays Week-8 - Rachel Sargeant
9. The Mind of a Murderer by Michael Wood - https://www.rachelsargeant.co.uk/front-page-fridays-week-9/
10. The Midnight Man by Julie Anderson – Front Page Fridays Week-10 - Rachel Sargeant
11. Dark Road Home by Sheila Bugler – Front Page Fridays Week-11 - Rachel Sargeant
12. Her Charming Man by Rachel Sargeant – Front Page Fridays Week-12 - Rachel Sargeant
13. Wedding Bells at the Lakeside Hotel by Linda Huber – Front Page Fridays Week-13 - Rachel Sargeant
14. Dark Island by Daniel Aubrey – Front Page Fridays Week-14 - Rachel Sargeant
15. The Shame by Maureen Myant – Front Page Fridays Week-15 - Rachel Sargeant
16. Dead Mile by Jo Furniss – Front Page Fridays Week-16 — Rachel Sargeant
17. The Violin and Candlestick by David Jarvis – Front Page Fridays Week-17 — Rachel Sargeant
18. New Memories by S.E. Shepherd – Front Page Fridays Week-18 — Rachel Sargeant
19. Young Blood by Victoria Gemmell – Front Page Fridays Week-19 — Rachel Sargeant
20. Private Investigations by Rob Gittins – Front Page Fridays Week-20 — Rachel Sargeant
21. The Car Horn revolution by A.J. Aberford – Front Page Fridays Week-21 — Rachel Sargeant
22. What Lies Beneath by Maureen Myant – Front Page Fridays Week-22 — Rachel Sargeant
23. A Safe Place by Stephanie Carty – Front Page Fridays Week-23 — Rachel Sargeant