A Burnham-On-Sea author is set to publish his fourth crime novel next month.
Damien Boyd is set to unveil his long-awaited fourth novel in his DI Nick Dixon crime series.
“It’s been a long time coming but I am delighted that ‘Swansong’ will finally be released on Tuesday 7th April 2015,” he told Burnham-On-Sea.com.
His popular crime thrillers follow the exploits of Nick Dixon, a detective inspector in Avon & Somerset Police, based at Bridgwater. The third novel in the series, Kickback, was published last year.
“Since then it’s been a bit of a fairytale, really,” said Damien. “What started out as a hobby to keep me occupied on the long, dark winter nights exploded into something beyond my wildest imagining.”
“In the weeks that followed the publication of ‘Kickback’ I was approached by a TV producer, two literary agents and then latterly by a publisher who made me an offer I couldn’t refuse!”
“The end result is that the series is now published by Thomas & Mercer, an imprint of Amazon Publishing UK, which I hope explains the delay in the publication of ‘Swansong’.”
“The first task was the re-launch of the first three books in the series, ‘As the Crow Flies’, ‘Head in the Sand’ and ‘Kickback’, with professional copy editing and proofreading and all that entails.”
“The books are all now available in the various audio formats too, which take time to produce. ‘Swansong’ follows on from that. ‘As the Crow Flies’ is even being translated into German,” added Damien.
Set in a fictional boarding school in Taunton, and with much the action taking place in and around the town, ‘Swansong’ follows DI Dixon as he goes undercover.
“Isobel Swan, a sixth form student, has been murdered. First, her ring finger is severed, then her throat is cut. With the investigation going nowhere fast, Detective Inspector Nick Dixon is sent undercover as a trainee teacher into Isobel’s boarding school.”
“But to find the killer, he must first confront his inner demons and lay to rest the ghosts lurking in his own past – if he can. As Dixon digs deeper, the stakes have never been higher and a murder has never felt so personal.”
“Early feedback has been overwhelmingly positive,” added Damien. “And I hope that fans of the series will think it has been worth the wait!”
To mark the publication of the fourth instalment, Damien will be signing copies of ‘Swansong’ at GW Hurley in Burnham at 10am on Saturday 11th April.
