In The Morning I'll Be Gone

locked and bolted from the inside...

I finally finished the page proofs and copy edits of the third book in my Sean Duffy series In The Morning I'll Be Gone this week. The very last thing I had to do was get the permission of Tom Waits to use a verse from his song "I'll Be Gone" as the book's epigraph. Tom Waits doesn't always give permission for his stuff to be used in other contexts so I was pretty relieved when the rights came through last weekend. You can listen to the marvellous I'll Be Gone, here. (It's from the album "Frank's Wild Years" and in my opinion it contains some of funniest lines in all of twentieth century popular music.) 
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The bulk of my In The Morning I'll Be Gone is taken up with a locked room mystery. I've never written a locked room mystery before but I've read several over the years and designing one has been an extremely enjoyable intellectual exercise. And rest assured that I'm not the kind of bastard who will cheat you with a supernatural solution or who won't give you enough information to solve the puzzle for yourselves. I certainly won't insult your intelligence and lie to you (the unforgivable sin of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo's locked room portion.)
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You can read the first draft of the first 6 chapters of In The Morning I'll Be Gone, here. The book has changed a little bit since this first draft: it's tighter and I think funnier but these first draft chapters certainly give you a little of its flavour. And you can of course get the first two volumes of the, ahem, award winning, Duffy series on Amazon, Audible, Book Depository or at all reputable book shops. This may be the last (Duffy) book I ever write so hopefully you'll enjoy this swansong, if it is the swansong...