OMN Welcomes Crime Novelist Shirley Wells

Omnimystery News is pleased to welcome Shirley Wells, whose second Dylan Scott mystery, Dead Silent (Carina Press, August 2011 eBook), is published this week.

Today Shirley writes about detectives, amateur sleuths, and private investigators — the characters that compel us readers to return to the series that feature them.

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Photo provided courtesy of
Shirley Wells

I fell in love with sleuths at a very early age. As a teenager and a Brit, my favourite was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s creation, Sherlock Holmes. I loved Holmes’s lightning-quick brain, his energy, his impatience and the way he made the police look like imbeciles. I was also an Agatha Christie addict and a fan of the polite, perfectly correct Miss Jane Marple who concentrated on her knitting while solving the latest murder case. Dapper Belgian and retired police officer, Hercules Poirot, was another I couldn’t resist.

When we Brits were treated to re-runs of American shows, a whole new world opened up. Columbo was totally different to anything we’d seen before. In Columbo, we knew exactly who the killer was because we saw the murder being committed. Yet viewers remained gripped as the disheveled detective hunted his prey.

Spenser: For Hire, the TV series based on the character created by Robert B Parker, was another must-see.

These days, mystery books and TV shows have become grittier and darker perhaps, but no less addictive. I’m eagerly awaiting the next series of Dexter. A blood splatter analyst working for the Miami Metro Police Department who just happens to be a serial killer? Great stuff!

This love affair with detectives and investigators meant that, when I started writing, I’d soon have a sleuth of my own.

The hero in my latest book, Dead Silent, is reluctant private investigator Dylan Scott. Dylan used to be a detective sergeant in the police force with a bright future ahead of him. Used to be. All that was lost to him when an habitual criminal accused him of using excessive force during an arrest. The force was keen to show the public that complaints about their officers were taken seriously and Dylan spent time behind bars and lost his job. Is he bitter? Hell, yes.

Dylan is a chauvinist and a poor excuse for a husband, but he’d lay down his life for his wife and son. He loves Arsenal Football Club and good beer. He despairs of the “dope-smoking irritation” he’s forced to call mother.

And, like all the best sleuths, he’ll stop at nothing to unearth the truth.

To find out more about Dylan Scott or me, visit my website or connect with me via Twitter or Facebook.

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Multi-published author Shirley Wells was born in the Cotswolds and lived in Cyprus and Orkney before settling in Lancashire, the UK, where the spectacular Pennine Hills provide the inspiration for her popular mystery novels. She and her husband share their home with two dogs, two cats and any other strays who fancy a pampered life.

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About Dead Silent: Ten months ago, Samantha Hunt set off for work … and was never seen again.

Despite the statistics of cold cases, Dylan Scott wants to believe the young woman's alive—and not just because her father, his client, is desperate to find his missing daughter before he dies of cancer. By all accounts Sam was a lovely girl, devoted to her younger stepsisters, well-liked at her work, in love with her boyfriend.

But as usual not everything is as it seems in sleepy Dawson's Clough. Sam's boyfriend has a violent past. She may have been having an affair with her boss. And Dylan can't shake the feeling that her stepfather is hiding something. Meanwhile, someone is trying to scare Dylan off the case.

Who wanted to silence Sam, and why? The truth turns out to be worse than anyone expected …

Dead Silent is available to download from Amazon.com (Kindle edition), Barnes & Noble (Nook book), Kobo eBooks, and other retailers of eBooks.