My first Crime Fiction book, The Fall, came out last weekend. So far, this has been my quietest release in terms of sales. I’d by lying if I said that I wasn’t disappointed by that, but it is the way it goes sometimes. Really, I’m more disappointed because this is, without question, my best book yet. My writing improves with each book I write, and this one is pretty solid. I wanted to talk a little about the book because there’s a lot going on.
What’s new about The Fall? Well, for starters, it’s a genre change for me. It is my first Crime Fiction book. Usually, I write Sci-Fi, but I can write crime fiction. I’ve long been a fan of Sherlock Holmes and crime-solving books and TV, so I’m not a total stranger to the Genre.
I wanted to add my own, unique twists to the genre. For example, one thing that does frustrate me is that the crimes in most crime shows are always so easy to solve. They talk to two witnesses, get one single shred of evidence, run it through the magic forensics computer, and bada-boom, bada-bing, there’s the bad guy. And we know exactly where they are, too! Real life police work is a lot more challenging. I wanted to bring some of that frustration into the story. Granted, it’s still a story, and there still has to be entertainment value, so I had to speed things up a bit. But, by and large the case isn’t as cut and dry as some other crime novels.
Without giving away too many spoilers, the book opens with Detective Riley Schiller, a homicide detective with the NYPD 61st Precinct. He’s been grieving over the loss of his partner, who died in events prior to the start of the book. The police Captain gives Riley a new partner, Katelynn Martinez (a hot-shot detective from the Vice Squad). Riley protests, but he doesn’t have any say in the matter.
Their very first case together is to investigate the murder of a 5-year old girl. She was found dead in an office building in the middle of the night. The investigation uncovers that she was killed from a fall, which is what the cover image hints at. Many people assume the name of the book is also from this event, but it’s actually a double entrendre. The Fall refers both to death of the little girl, and also the message from the terrorists, who wish to bring about “the fall of America”.
So how does the case get from the murder of a small girl to terrorists? Isn’t that kind of a big leap? You’ll just have to read the book. But I promise you, it makes sense.
I do have about a dozen other ideas for more books in this series, and I have the next two already outlined and the covers done. But, I’ll be honest, if people don’t read this one, I won’t work on the next ones. I write because I like to. But I’d also like to make this my full-time profession. To that end, I’m focusing on books that people like. So, if you have read The Fall and you want my to write more in this series, please leave a review somewhere and let me know that.