In today’s blog I am absolutely delighted to be able to post about my plans for DI Bliss. On 9 March 2020 I will publish Bliss #6, Endless Silent Scream. This book brings together both the scourge that is the county lines trade in drugs, with the discovery of a body murdered during the most fractious year in the city’s recent history.
In August 2020 I hope to release Bliss #7, Slow Slicing, in which Bliss and the team lead a multi-region task force into the hunt for a serial-killer whose focus appears to have an ex-colleague in their crosshairs.
Finally, I aim to write my first novella. This will be a Bliss standalone, taking us back to 1991, shortly after he became a detective. For the first time the readers will meet Bliss’s wife, Hazel, at a point in their lives during which they were starting to get serious. As for Bliss, he’ll be throwing himself into the deep end as per usual.
Earlier this year I decided to concentrate my time on writing about Jimmy Bliss until the series reaches its natural conclusion. I think I have the final scene in mind, but I have no intention of writing it just yet. Across six books so far I’ve become rather fond of the old curmudgeon, who considers himself misanthropic but is actually anything but. As my readers will know, many people mean an awful lot to Bliss, and I enjoy spending my days with him and his team.
Aiming my focus on my Bliss series does not mean that I have closed my mind to other ideas. If that light bulb moment occurs and an absolute barnstormer of an idea pops into my head, then I won’t ignore it. I would also like to find time to write a third and final book in my Mike Lynch series, and I already have the storyline for it. The main thing is to enjoy my work, to look forward to each day of writing, finding comfort in doing something creative, and striving to improve with each piece of work I produce.