Wednesday, May 18, 2022

Welcome back to Alex Dunlevy and his upcoming release The Stone Skimmers.

 



Welcome back to author Alex Dunlevy! 

 


Alex abandoned a career in finance at the age of forty-nine and spent a few years staring at the Mediterranean, contemplating life and loss. Finally, he accepted what his heart had always known. So, he joined a local writing group and he began to write.

He has now completed three novels in a series of crime thrillers set on the island of Crete and featuring British protagonist Nick Fisher. The Unforgiving Stone was the October 2020 debut. Beneath the Stone followed in 2021. Both were awarded B.R.A.G. medallions and rated 4.5 out of 5 by Amazon readers. The Stone Skimmers is the third in this series, released in May 2022.

Alex has also published a collection of short stories, The Late Shift Specialist. These are quite different from his crime writing. Uniquely personal - they are quirky, funny or sad - and written straight from the heart.

He has also been toying with other ideas which will now receive more serious attention. These include a black comedy set in the world of corporate finance and a bitter-sweet coming-of-age story set in the 1960s.

Born in Derbyshire, England, Alex now divides his time between Wiltshire, England and Crete, Greece, where he has an old, stone house in the central south of the island, between the Amari Valley and the Libyan Sea.

 

Website: www.alexdunlevy.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/Alex-Dunlevy-583302162346450

Twitter: www.twitter.com/@AlexDunlevy

Instagram: www.instagram.com/alexdunlevyauthor

 

Latest Release

I am about to release (May 16) the third novel in my Nick Fisher series. These are intelligent (I hope!) crime thrillers set in and around the island of Crete, Greece, and featuring British protagonist Nick Fisher. The latest one is titled The Stone Skimmers and follows The Unforgiving Stone and Beneath the Stone. It is topical, absorbing and exciting.

Working On Now

After launching The Stone Skimmers, I will be taking a break. Then, I intend to focus on something different for a while: a darkly comic novel set in the world of corporate finance which I will probably call Dead Cat Bounce. There will be more Nick Fishers in due course, I’m sure.

Who Encouraged Me?

There have been four major sources of encouragement. Since I was a teenager, my late brother David encouraged me to write. He was an artist and a songwriter and was keen for me to develop my creative side, even as I insisted on pursuing a career in business. Sadly, he didn’t live to see my books - just some bad poetry! Also, my former partner and long-time friend Stevie Brown was always a burr under my saddle. Every time we met, she would ask me pointedly when I was going to start writing. More recently, it has been the members of the writing group I joined in Wiltshire and my good friend Leonie, a Kiwi who has ambitions herself to be a published writer.

Strengths as an Author

·       Readable and engaging; readers find my books easy to read and hard to put down

·       Good quality prose with few errors

·       Good scene setting

·       Original stories and strong characters 

Writing Routine

I try to write most weekdays and to write 1,500 words, however long that takes. On the rare occasions when it takes less than four hours, I carry on until the four hours are up. Once in a while, I might write well over two thousand words in that time. I normally start at ten and write till two or later. A carrot and stick approach works best for me. I live in Crete much of the time, so I can promise myself a trip to the beach once I’ve done my work. I will write at weekends, too, if I get behind. For any book, I have a day-by-day, week-by-week programme through to launch. This isn’t set in “stone” but is only changed with great reluctance and much guilt (even though it’s only for my benefit!) There were four changes to the programme for The Stone Skimmers - it was a tough one... 

Five Years Hence

I would like to have extended the Nick Fisher (series of crime thrillers set in Crete) to at least five novels, but I would also like to have written at least two novels in different genres. I have solid ideas for these and have already written 50k words of one of them. One is to be a black comedy set in the world of corporate finance and the other a bitter-sweet, coming-of-age story based around a European tour in 1964. I also enjoy writing short stories, even though they are a tough sell, and would like to release a second collection. If I achieve all this, I will have nine books published, five years from now. In my dreams, one or more of these would have been picked up by a mainstream publisher or spotted by a TV or film producer!

 


THE UNFORGIVING STONE

Nick Fisher and his son have not spoken for years.

But, when the boy brings the girl he is about to marry to the island of Crete, Nick is persuaded to travel to the remote south-west coast, seeking a reconciliation.

Instead, he discovers that a body has been found on the beach. His son has disappeared and is now prime suspect in a murder case.

In a race against time, ex-cop Nick must call upon his old skills and instincts to find his son, then convince the Greek police of his innocence. To do that, he must seek out other suspects and track down the one who was driven to kill. The one who reached their breaking point.

Only success can save his son. It might even restore Nick’s own self-belief.

https://www.amazon.ca/Unforgiving-Stone-Nick-Fisher-Novels-ebook/dp/B08KTN2MK5

 


BENEATH THE STONE

When Nick Fisher agrees to work with Leo’s feisty, young protégée Náni Samarákis, he doesn’t bargain on facing death or finding love or hurting his son again.

A missing person case morphs into a grisly murder when a body part is found in the sea. But who would carve up the body and why? Were they the killers or was it that mysterious, hooded man, if he even exists? And why does the tracker dog lead them to a stone wall?

In a dark village with a tortured past where resentment festers, Nick and Náni must work together, despite their differences, to peel back layers of complex relationships, some leading back to wartime Crete.

Only then will they find out why a young man had to die.

https://www.amazon.ca/Beneath-Stone-Alex-Dunlevy-ebook/dp/B0913H88KP

 


THE STONE SKIMMERS

When fishermen find the body of a young African off the coast of Crete, local police are stumped. But Bel Saidi, an investigative journalist, thinks it validates her theory: migrant smugglers are using a new route.

Nick Fisher is recruited to an elite team tasked with verifying the route, identifying those involved and bringing them to justice. But, after more tragedy, things become complex and dangerous. They need to grasp the true motives of the shadowy figures operating from Turkey and Albania and the ruthless owners of that powerful motor yacht, ploughing its way across the Mediterranean.

Nick must watch himself with old flame Bel. And he needs to control his anger and sharpen those technology and firearms skills. They might get one chance to bring these guys down. Will intuition, a nose for a scam and good, old-fashioned guts be enough, this time?

https://www.amazon.ca/Stone-Skimmers-Nick-Fisher-Novels-ebook/dp/B09YP2KB7X

 


THE LATE SHIFT SPECIALIST

A collection of seventeen short stories. These are not crime writing. Uniquely personal, they are funny, sad or quirky but always written straight from the heart.

https://www.amazon.ca/Late-Shift-Specialist-Alex-Dunlevy-ebook/dp/B08PPQN1M7

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