Murder in Maspalomas - meet the characters

Murder in Maspalomas is a crime fiction novel which starts in Dublin where Matt, an ordinary contract accountant finds himself contacted by the Sullivans, a notorious drug gang who are chasing a debt.

The gang are led by Anto, a thirty something who came from a broken family, he broke it. His enforcer, Ciaran is his second in command and a right nasty piece of work who carries a piece wherever he goes. Rocky, in his early twenties wants to be Ciaran and wants to get tooled up. He carries some menace, is unpredictable and is watching and waiting his moment to slip into Ciaran's shoes. Frisby is the teenage runner for the gang. He carries drugs, messages and weapons without question. He's street wise but has a lot to learn about life. This trip will test his mettle and prove his worth to the gang.

Matt is married to Louise and together they ordinarily live in West Dublin in an apartment block on the fourth floor and life is the normal type of living, days at work and bills to pay. Once the drugs gang trace his whereabouts and seek a sum of money Matt hasn't got things get hot in Dublin and force Matt into skipping the country. Trouble is, Louise is totally unaware of the gang and the debt. Matt will get round to telling her but just not now. She believes she's just going on a holiday brought about by her incessant moaning about Irish winters. How wrong could she be?

Other characters enter the fray throughout the book and Fran, Anto's girl and Rodriquez's an old pal of Matt's play pivotal roles in the story as it develops. You'll just have to read the book to find out who does what to whom and who lives and who dies.

Maspalomas Hotel sun loungers in February

Murder in Maspalomas - now in Barnes & Noble, Kobo,

Murder in Maspalomas, my first crime novel has now been granted a wider distribution and is available in the following stores and websites by just following the links:

• OverDrive

• Kobo 

• Barnes & Noble 

It's also available in iBook format

Take advantage of the coupon offer for July only and buy this entertaining murder mystery story for a mere $2.99 using the coupon. To avail of this special offer please enter the coupon code RE39R prior to completing the checkout. Click here to purchase

Mark Rice interviewed

What books are on your summer reading list this year?
 Mark Rice John Connolly's "A song of Shadows" is one that I'm currently reading. A bit dark but I'll stick with it.
How do you deal with writer’s block?

Mark Rice Writer's block is an issue for all writers and in my case I only write when I have something to write about. I'd rather not put pen to paper if I have no decent story to tell. If I encounter writers block during a story I'll go for a run and I can guarantee you I'll return with ideas. I then grab a piece of paper and scribble them down before I forget them!

What’s the best thing about being a writer?
 Mark Rice It's early days to my writing career but so far the best thing about writing is the ability to capture life's incidences, big or small, that I see as interesting and to record it for ever in a short story or novel. Then to have readers respond with praise is a bonus I always enjoy and am grateful for.

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?
 Mark Rice Becoming a writer is a precarious career choice so start with writing as a hobby and only take the leap full time when you have another source of income or savings. To start with I'd recommend you set up a free Blog site and post regularly. Then when you want to self publish use Create Space.com which will take you, for free, from a word doc manuscript to a published book, bar coded, ISBN no. and distributed in all formats on Amazon and Kindle. Don't forget that Amazon is only 50% of the world's book sales so publish on Smashwords too as it distributes to the rest of the world. Of course promote your book on Goodreads.com!

What are you currently working on?
 Mark Rice My first novel "Murder on Maspalomas" is out on 30th June 2017 so I am finalising the marketing of this book. I have another murder story to tell and I will get my teeth back into that one in the coming days. I'll let you guys know when it's due for release.

How do you get inspired to write?
Mark Rice Life inspires me, unknowingly. I watch the world go by and just notice things that others see but dismiss. I write it so I don't lose it forever.

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?
Mark Rice I was sitting at the airport and waiting for my wife to return with a coffee and I began to write what was going on around me. The diary I kept of our holiday in Maspalomas in the Canary Islands formed the basis of my book "Murder in Maspalomas" with my vivid imagination adding the murderous happenings and creating the characters involved.

Thanks for reading this piece and I hope you will feel inspired to write a blog, a story,  a book or a poem as I truly believe we each are unique and have many stories to tell. Tell yours today.  I look forward to hearing from you.

Murder in Maspalomas – 10 days to go

This Irish crime murder mystery novel starts in a wet and cold Dublin, Ireland in February. It picks up on events that changed Matts life in the previous December when he’d make the mistake of getting involved in a business deal with an old childhood pal.

Matt was just an ordinary guy, slogging along through life working contracts 9 – 5. Declan his old pal was a diametrically  opposite personality who lived life in the quick lane, liked the quick buck and had a gambling habit. Really if Matt had done the right thing I wouldn’t have a story to tell. But Matt, despite knowing Declan as he did still gave in and got involved in a deal that led to murder in the Canary Islands.

Money, the root of all evil, you better believe it!

It’s 10 days to the release date and I’m pretty excited about the book. You’ll find it on Amazon and Smashwords who also feed into Apple books and Barnes &Nobles book stores.  Click here to read and buy my earlier books.