Hello! I hope everyone is well. I can’t believe I’m still writing this sentiment almost a year after the pandemic started. I pray we will get back to some kind of normal soon. The good news for me is that I’m in the over 50 bracket so I ‘should’ get my vaccination soon.
Whether you’re for it or against it, everyone is entitled to their thoughts, I can’t wait to get mine. I yearn for a bit of normality – and seeing more than my husband for the past year. It’s like being under house arrest! (hope my joking doesn’t offend anyone. It’s hard to know what will and won’t these days)
Anyway, I just wanted to let you know a few things that will be happening this year in the land of Mel Sherratt.
Firstly, during 2014-2015, I published four books with Thomas and Mercer, Amazon Publishing. Most of you will have read them all I’m sure, so I wanted you to know that I have been given the rights back to these books and over the next few months I will be re-publishing them.
I thought I’d show you the new covers as even though you can’t buy books that you’ve already bought on Kindle, these will be on new identification numbers so Kindle won’t warn you. I don’t want anyone to download them thinking they are new books because of the cover changes.
Here are the new covers – what do you think?
The ebooks are now priced less – for example at £1.99 in the UK, rather than £3.99 that they used to be with the publisher, so if you know of anyone who might like to catch up with the antics of DS Allie Shenton or read a standalone psychological thriller, I’d be chuffed if you’d pass on this information.
And if the three books start to sell well again, I may do more Allie Shenton books. If you’ve read any of the DS Grace Allendale series, you will know that characters in that series cross over and Allie is now a Detective Inspector.
Taunting the Dead is the first one to be republished - the old cover may still be hanging around for a while yet though as Amazon catches up.
Good Girl
My latest book, Good Girl, was published in ebook on 10 December and I have to say thank you so much for all your comments, messages and reviews on Amazon. This is the last in that series and it has definitely gone out with a bang. The book already has over 500 reviews and 76% of them are 5 stars. As above, if I do write any more Allie Shenton books, Grace will feature in them too.
I know a lot of you are waiting for the paperback version of Good Girl, which is out on 18th February, and will be stocked in Asda, online at Amazon and online at Waterstones until they reopen. I am so disappointed that, like with Liar Liar in March last year, I can’t get out and meet readers. I love interacting with you at panels, book signings and festivals. I’m sure most meet-ups will get cancelled again this year but for now, staying safe and well has got to come first.
New books news
While I have been staying at home, I’ve been beavering away writing the first book of a new two book deal. This time, I am working with Bookouture, who published the DS Eden Berrisford books, and I have signed with them for two psychological thrillers. The first one will be out at the end of June and the second at the end of November.
I am really excited about these books – although I enjoy writing police procedurals, my heart has always been in characters rather than solving murders to a rigid formula. I love nothing more than getting under a character’s skin, figuring out their motives, their emotions, the reasons why they want revenge etc. It’s like car crash TV. I’m really hoping you will enjoy them, and I’ll tell you more about them in future emails.
Finally, I need your help. I am looking for a name of a children’s charity for my latest book. It’s only a small mention and I came up with the name on my early draft of Butterfly Dreams. It was the first thing I thought of but knew it wouldn’t last past that draft. In a nutshell, the charity will be for young, vulnerable children and teenagers set up for them to have a voice, someone to speak to when times are tough.
So as I was trying to think of a better name, I thought maybe you could come up with something for me? If you fancy having a go, pop your answer in the comments below. If I pick your name, I’ll give you a shout out in the acknowledgements, and send you a signed copy of the book.
I’ll let everyone else know the charity name I choose in a future blogpost.
