Spreading the Word

On Monday 3 June 2013 I was thrilled to read from my first novel, In Desolate Corners, Shadows Crouch, to a group of writers and readers in NonaLou's Tearoom, Dumfries. Coffee and cakes were free - always a good incentive for people to turn up - but what was best of all was the encouragement and support of the audience who came, when I'm sure they could have been doing other things. The event was supported by Carolyn Yates, Literature Development Officer for Dumfries and Galloway, and this was greatly appreciated too.

The book is set in the wild places of Northumberland and Cumbria, drawing on my own experiences of living there. The story is one of loss, family conflict, and redemption and it uses the plot of a missing child and subsequent manhunt to explore some deep, dark issues. Doug Watts of Jaqui Bennet Writers' Bureau says of the novel,
 "A seam of jet-black humour runs through the narrative. It feeds on the pathos and painful details..."
 and one of the reviews on Amazon states, 
"Kriss Nicholl has written a page-turner of a novel whose characters draw the reader in. There's a convincing curve of suspense too, and the book, with its complex and ambitious emotional background, becomes also a tightly written crime novel. If I had to pick, then I'm not sure present tense all the way totally works, it's so hard to keep the momentum, and it forces certain vivid events to be recounted rather than lived. But it really isn't critical. I'd recommend this as an authentic, involving Good Read."