Northodox Press have allowed me to give subscribers to my blog a preview of my latest novel. So in the days running up to launch date on the 18th of May I will be posting the first three chapters here. The first two are quite short, the third quite a bit longer. You can use the Pre order link to make sure you are the first to get the book.
Chapter 1
DI Cooper
12.10am, Friday, June 24th, 2016
Swirling, flashing, blue and red lights lit up the empty streets
as the ambulance raced. No siren blared, but lights screamed
through the darkness, waking neighbours in quiet dread as the
engine roared through to the end of the estate, the end of the
street and the end of a life.
‘Junkie, Sir. But you said to let you know.’
‘For Christ’s sake, I had to get out of bed for him? What did
the paramedics say?’
‘Not much, but syringes in the living room, marks in his arm
and his heart had stopped. Body cold, grey skin, blue lips. If
Dulux did junkie it’d be this colour.’
DI Cooper shivered. ‘Cold is right,’ he said, walking through
the disorder. Chaos was normal for an overdose. He came down the carpeted stairs and gave his instructions. ‘Tape up the door to keep the rats out. There’s plenty of crime here, but not the overdose. The Coroner will write it up as
accidental. The paramedics can take it to the Royal to join the queue for the pathologist.’
‘Can you sign off on it?’
He scribbled his signature on the waiting paperwork, then walked toward the front door, but something about the quiet, empty house made him stop.
‘Who called us?’
‘Paramedics, dead on arrival.’
‘Who called them?’
‘Don’t know, Sir.’
Lights enlivened the chill night air as the ambulance filled the road outside. There would be an audience for the removal; neighbours in dressing gowns and behind curtains watching the living drama. Better than the TV, he thought. He pulled away in his unmarked service car, heading away from the estate. A warm
bed in his clean, organised flat awaited. He left death behind.
Pre order here;
https://www.northodox.co.uk/product-page/before-the-storm
Jack Byrne 
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