It’s been quite a year. Back in January I received the best email of my life, the one that said that The Book Guild wanted to publish Dead Man Singing, my first novel. I’ve been overwhelmed with the positive responses of readers and reviewers to the book, and I’m delighted to say that the year is ending as well as it started, as I’ve just had my second novel, Foul and Fair, accepted for publication, again by those lovely people at The Book Guild.

Foul and Fair intertwines the storylines of two main characters. Both of them are trying to reconcile a desire to ‘do the right thing’ with the demands of their professional lives, family life, and with their respective sons’ involvement in grassroots children’s football. It’s a story of dirty tricks, soul-searching and hard-fought sporting spectacle: Roy of the Rovers meets House of Cards, if you like.

I’m a football coach. My day job involves going into local primary schools and running lunchtime and after-school sessions. I also spent seven years coaching at grassroots level. In that time, I met many fantastic volunteers who gave so much time and energy to ensure that children had a great experience of playing football. I also met a number of less impressive figures, who seemed more focused on living out their own football dreams than on the wellbeing and enjoyment of the children in their care. Foul and Fair was born out of that dichotomy. The tone and pacing of the book is similar to Dead Man Singing – I’m aiming for readable, page-turning fiction with plenty of plot twists to keep the reader on their toes. I’ll not say any more than that, as you’ll have several months to wait before you can get your hands on it – provisional publication date is 28th July (just in time for the new football season). To be kept up to date, keep checking back here, or sign up to my mailing list. Expect more football-themed posts to start cropping up on this blog, along with the music ones, particularly as we get closer to publication.

And, just in case you’re interested, I’ve already started writing novel number 3…