Ahead of the launch on 13 May, JEP readers will have the chance to read a series of extracts from the book, starting today. Left You Dead once again features Detective Superintendent Roy Grace returning for another crime-fiction tale, this time investigating the case of a missing person.
‘Left You Dead is very much what people like in my work – a twisting Roy Grace thriller with conflict, surprise, nail-biting, edge-of-the-seat reading,’ said Mr James.
The story centres on the disappearance of Eden Paternoster who on the way back from a day trip with her husband, Niall, insists that she needs to make a stop at the supermarket. Eden tells Niall to wait in the car. She kisses him goodbye and never returns.
The background to the plot is an idea that has been in the author’s mind for some time.
‘The whole concept of missing people struck me nearly 20 years ago when I spent a day at a seminar for UK police forces on missing persons,’ said Mr James. ‘It was an extraordinary presentation – at that time 230,000 people were reported missing every year. The vast majority would reappear four or five days later, but those who didn’t return after 30 days would never turn up again.
‘That really fascinated me – who were these people and what happened to them, were they in debt, had they changed identities, had an accident, not been reported or been kidnapped?’
The first of the six extracts of Left You Dead is on pages 24 and 25 of today’s JEP and there is a competition to win a copy of the book and an invitation to an online meeting with the author.
