Avenge the Dead (DI Frank Farrell #3) by Jackie Baldwin | Blog Tour Guest Post | #Giveaway (open worldwide) #AvengeTheDead

Publisher: One More Chapter
Available in ebook (28 February 2020) | Paperback (20 April 2020)
410 pages

My thanks to Emma of damppebbles for the invitation to take part in the tour and to Jackie for providing the guest post. There is also the opportunity for one entrant to WIN An Avenge the Dead signed Prize Bundle featuring all three books in the DI Frank Farrell series. Open to international entrants, the entry details are below, but first more about the book…….

ABOUT THE BOOK

Sometimes murder is the only way to get even…

Four friends with dark secrets. One killer out for revenge.

DI Frank Farrell and DS McLeod are tasked with investigating the brutal murder of a defence solicitor’s wife in Dumfries.

It’s been over a year since they left the town after an investigation robbed them of a dear friend. But now they’re back and must find a way to move on.

When the son of another defence solicitor is murdered, a strange tattoo etched on his body, the case takes them into darker, more disturbing territory.

It leads them back into the past – to a horrific fire in a cottage that took a woman’s life, to four friends harbouring dark secrets – and finally to a killer waiting patiently for revenge.

Be More Zen
by Jackie Baldwin

I’ve never been one for anything with a designer label. It mystifies me why anyone would pay through the nose for a product to then provide free advertising for the company. Splashing out on a handbag for me means spending twenty quid tops. So, to put it mildly, I am not one for keeping up with the Joneses, (or the Kardashians either for those of a younger vintage.)

In 2016 I became a published author. I had made it! Cue champagne and dancing! Well, a bottle of Tesco prosecco and a bit of a ‘headbang.’ I was on top of the world! Until I wasn’t…

Slowly but surely the scales fell from my eyes as I found out stuff about the book industry that would make your toes curl. Disillusionment set in as I realised that far from being at the top of the mountain I was still standing at the bottom with a long slow climb ahead of me weighted down by my expectations. Younger, fitter, lighter, writers clambered past me. The feeling of success slowly evaporated and feelings of failure crept in. How could this be? I was living the dream, wasn’t I?

As a digital author, I had been dragged kicking and screaming on to social media which I hadn’t been interested in before. Everything on there seemed larger than life. People were literally squealing with excitement and authors on there seemed to be in a frenzy of success and happiness. I started comparing myself unfavourably to others. I was always happy for them but slowly and inexorably feelings of failure nibbled at my toes.

One of the things that saved me and stopped these insidious feelings getting a real grip was a wonderful Facebook group for published authors. It was a revelation. People in there were honest and supportive and what struck me more than anything else was that everyone was stressing about something. People that were further advanced in their writing careers than me were in turn raising their eyes skywards and worried they weren’t selling enough, doing enough or being enough. Imposter Syndrome raged like a fever. It gave me perspective.

On 28th February my third book will be published and I have learned so much along the way. I now try and live in the present and enjoy all the special little moments along the way. Some of these have involved chatting to readers who are as emotionally invested in my characters as I am. I have met and befriended some fabulous readers, writers and bloggers who I wouldn’t otherwise have known. I have even come to enjoy some aspects of social media. My biggest thrill to date has been seeing Dead Man’s Prayer stocked in Waterstones and also finding a copy in Foyle’s in London. If I achieve nothing further these things alone will have made the whole crazy ride completely worth it.

***GIVEAWAY***

**WIN**
An Avenge the Dead Prize Bundle featuring all three books in the DI Frank Farrell series signed by the author plus extra treats!

Terms and Conditions:
The giveaway will end at 00:00 (GMT) on Sunday 15th March 2020 and is open internationally. The winner will be contacted by email on Monday 16th March 2020 and will need to provide their postal address which will be passed to Jackie Baldwin for dispatch of the prize. No personal information will be stored as a result of this giveaway. There is no cash alternative. Good luck!

This giveaway is organised by Damppebbles Blog Tours and My Reading Corner is not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jackie Baldwin is a Scottish crime writer. Her debut crime novel, Dead Man’s Prayer, was published by Killer Reads on 2nd September 2016. The second in the series, Perfect Dead was published on 15th June 2018. For most of her working life, she has been a solicitor specialising in Family and Criminal Law. She later retrained as a hypnotherapist. Married with a grown family, she recently moved from Dumfries to East Lothian.