Blog Tour – The Major Minor Murders

Title: The Major Minor Murders

Author: Jim McGhee

Synopsis:

There’s been a murder. And the only suspect has vanished.
Even his own brother, DI Barney Mains, thinks he’s guilty.
But when the missing man’s teenage daughter begs Barney to help, he has no choice.
And before long he starts to question whether the criminal brother he hasn’t seen for ten years could actually be innocent this time.
It’s just that everyone seems to be in an all-fired hurry to pin the killing on him.
Despite there being a pair of highly visible alternative candidates – a tall ex-army type and a sidekick built like a tank.
The trail leads Barney to the South of France and the gated world of the super-rich.
For only there will he discover whether his brother is a killer on the run.
Or the next victim…

Teaser Extract

As Barney now registered the age in his father’s face, he knew that no-one had ever made the mistake of describing John Mains as an easy man. He’d always been fast to anger. Yet he’d been left to raise the two teenage boys when cancer claimed their mother.

‘So what’s the story, dad? You’ve been giving your ex-mates a hard time, I hear.’

‘Useless shower of bastards that lot! See when I was in the polis, you could talk to your muckers on the QT. No problem. Because everyone knew it wouldn’t go any further. Now it’s all regulations, bloody procedures. Dae this, dae that, lick this arse, that arse, stand in line and wait yer fuckin’ turn!’

Barney couldn’t stop himself smiling as his father ended his rant by angrily throwing back the rest of his whisky then snarling some obscenity while reaching for the bottle to pour another.

‘Well, I must say,’ said the respectful son, ‘it’s good to see you’ve calmed down so much in your old age.’

John, his face still red with anger, seemed to reflect as he sat back with his glass.

‘Aye well, it’s no’ been easy, you know. Bugger all from the polis, press hammerin’ on the door. Ye know what they’re sayin’, those tossers, do you?’

Barney had been wondering whether he needed to warn him. ‘You mean what’s coming out in the papers tomorrow? Load of shite,’ he said, sounding more convinced than he felt.

‘Aye, vultures, the lot of them. There’s no way my boy’s a sodding shirt-lifter. And can you see your wee brother shootin’ any bugger? He doesn’t have it in him.’

‘I hear what you’re saying,’ said Barney. ‘But I’m here now and we’ll get through this.’

He then told his father everything that had happened that day; his surprise meeting with Abbey, his telephone call with Ffiona and an edited version of their meeting in the pub.

He saved the best to last. ‘They want you to do an appeal with Abbey.’

John almost choked on his whisky. ‘Abbey? She’d have nothing to do with me.’

What he didn’t say, Barney noted, was that he wouldn’t have anything to do with her. Or that he wouldn’t make an appeal on behalf of a son he’d given up on long ago.

Maybe Barney had found something other than a brand of whisky and a football team which he and his father had in common: an awakening sense of guilt.

Author Info:

Jim McGhee’s a former award-winning environmental journalist.
Based in East Lothian, near Edinburgh, Scotland, he spends much of each year (in normal times) in the South of France, the main setting for the DI Barney Mains series, with tolerant wife Jean and rampant Irish Terrier, Jack.
After a full-on career as a campaigning newspaper reporter, he and Jean launched their own recruitment company in central Edinburgh and for twelve fun-packed years worked closely together alongside their brilliant team – without spilling a single drop of blood.
The Alpes-Maritimes and Var departments, on the other hand, have provided a host of dramatic locations just perfect as inspiration for the odd spot of fictional gore.
Locals, blessed with scenery ranging from unspoiled mountain villages to the classic palms-and-marinas coast, claim that they can be swimming one moment and skiing a little over an hour later.
Though when not writing or travelling en famille, Jim’s more likely to be off on a hike in the hills with his ever-ready buddy, Jack.

Follow him at:

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/bigbarneymains

Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/bigbarneymains

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bigbarneymains

Website : https://www.jimmcghee.net/

Buy Links

Amazon UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Major-Minor-Murders-characters-knife-edge-ebook/dp/B09L1GYXDM

Amazon US – https://www.amazon.com/Major-Minor-Murders-characters-knife-edge-ebook/dp/B09L1GYXDM