A Suitable Lie (35 page)

My huge thanks to:

My very first readers on this book all those years ago: Stuart, Nan, Jackie, Sheila, Alison and Angela – see what you guys started!

Maggie Craig and Douglas Skelton for helping me all these years later to see that there was something worth pursuing with this story.

Sam, my sounding board.

All of my colleagues in the crime scene and fellow scribes. The shared moans and giggles are what keeps me sane (along with the coffee).

The unflagging Karen Sullivan for believing in this book and being able to see through that first draft to the real story beneath – and for helping me chip away at it until we found it.

And, above all, YOU the bloggers, reviewers, booksellers, librarians and readers – without you guys this is just a block of paper and a bunch of squiggles.

Michael Malone is a prize-winning poet and author who was born and brought up in the heart of Burns’ country, just a stone’s throw from the great man’s cottage in Ayr. Well, a stone thrown by a catapult. He has published over 200 poems in literary magazines throughout the UK, including
New Writing Scotland, Poetry Scotland
and
Markings
. His career as a poet has also included a (very) brief stint as the Poet-in-Residence for an adult gift shop.
Blood Tears
, his bestselling debut novel won the Pitlochry Prize (judge: Alex Gray) from the Scottish Association of Writers. Other published work includes:
Carnegie’s Call
(a non-fiction work about successful modern-day Scots);
A Taste for Malice; The Guillotine Choice; Beyond the Rage
; and
Bad Samaritan
. His poetry includes:
In The Raw
,
Running Threads
and
Lip Synch.
Michael is a regular reviewer for the hugely popular crime fiction website
www.crimesquad.com
. This novel marks a major departure for Michael Malone.

You can follow him on Twitter
@michaelJmalone1
and on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/themichaeljmalonepage/
, or visit his website:
mjmink.wordpress.com