Tag Archives: lesbian

It’s here! My new romance novel has been published today

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I’m thrilled to introduce my latest book to the world!

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In the dark heart of the city, a dirty little war is about to begin

Evie Baedeker knows her place in the world. Born into a life of organised crime in the gritty East End of London, she has endured nothing but hardship and disappointment. Then one night, in a sleazy bar, fate sends a dangerous opportunity her way.

Carmen Trogan, daughter and heir apparent to a rival business, has no idea who Evie is when their eyes meet across the dance floor. But Evie knows all about her. The chance to bring the rich and beautiful woman to her knees – both figuratively and literally – is too good to pass up.

Sparks fly from their first kiss, but Evie is playing a dangerous game. There are consequences that come with spending the night with a woman like Carmen.

Will she be able to walk away from the best night of her life, or will she risk it all to see Carmen one more time?

A standalone lesbian romance novel, this has all the bittersweet joy that comes with forbidden love. You can pick up a copy over at Amazon now!

Big changes ahead

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As I’ve indicated a couple of times this year, I’ve been in a crazy place when it comes to work and life. The good news is, a few key projects that have been consuming so many of those projects have finally begun to wrap up.

What does this mean? It means that after a year of not publishing any fiction, I will be in a position to begin putting my time and effort into this again to a much greater degree. I still intend to work on other projects, but my C. K. Martin fiction is some of my favourite. I love to spend the hours creating these women and their lives, so the prospect of being able to indulge myself is really very exciting.

It has been a year since my last book, which in independent author terms is sometimes seen as the equivalent of being dead. My current goal is to get back to the publishing rate of three books per year, which I was on course to do until the last twelve months hit. I spent a significant amount of time over the past weekend working out how I get to schedule my time in a way that works for me and helps me to achieve a higher quality output. September to December will be the real test of this. If it doesn’t work, then I may have to go back, tweak the approach and continue to push forwards.

Dirty Little War

The most exciting thing now is the thought of finally being able to share characters and stories with you that have been more neglected over this past year than I would like. So there are exciting times ahead. Next week, I’ll be publishing my first lesbian romantic standalone novel and I’m a mixed bag of nervous and excited about the response. Regardless, I’ll be opening a bottle of wine when it appears on the kindle store, as a way of marking a new chapter in my life if nothing else.

Why I wanted to write a lesbian detective

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In my latest book, The Crochet Killer, the main character is a lesbian detective named Teddie McKay. I wanted to write this character for several reasons, and not just because all the lady police officers I know also like the ladies. I’m sure that’s just coincidence. Also, if you’re reading this, she’s totally not based on you. Honest.

Firstly, and most importantly, she came to me that way. There was never any doubt from the moment I pictured the opening chapter, with her diving into the pool on vacation in the Caribbean, that she was gay. It was just who she was, and that wasn’t a problem. It also wasn’t going to be a big deal.

In life, it shouldn’t be a big deal. So why should it be the one and only personality point of my character?

For most of the story, who she sleeps with is not a primary focus anyway. There is romance, but it is not the main theme or driver to the narrative. That would be the killing bits, obviously.

Other than times when a protagonist’s sexuality is front and centre to the narrative, it seemed to me like writers tended to default to straight. That’s not necessarily a problem, but a character being gay doesn’t have to make a point. The Crochet Killer isn’t a gruesome, terrifying thriller, designed to make you puke your guts up and unable to sleep at night. It’s for the kind of people who enjoy watching Castle, whilst having a secret hankering for seeing Beckett make out with a girl (again, if you’re reading this, you know who you are).

I suppose, what I am trying to say is that I wanted to write a lesbian detective because I wanted a regular, slightly mal-adjusted main character who just also happens to be gay. Will it narrow my audience? Probably. And if it does, then I’m okay with that. Because I would rather keep the character with the integrity she came with and the story she has to tell (and will continue to tell over the course of the series) than sell out by aiming for the safety of the middle ground.

That’s where everyone else is. I’d rather give a detective who isn’t white, straight and male a chance for once.

(Even though it’s set in Portland, Maine, for any British Kindle readers, you can find the UK edition here.)