Extract from Chapter 41 of Mine to Avenge

I am currently going through the proofs for the second time. The first time I found over 50 errors needing correction. This time around I am just on half way through and only have 5 corrections. It has been a long slow process but I am aiming for a good quality production, and ultimately I believe it will pay off to be so fussy.

I am beginning to turn my attention to promotion and marketing and am grateful for the many experienced writers so willing to share their knowledge and expertise in this area.  I have read so many different ideas on what a book launch should look like that it seems to be an individual thing once you have a venue and a date. If anyone reading this has strong opinions on what a book launch should or shouldn’t incorporate, please feel free to comment below.

Meanwhile please enjoy an extract from Chapter 41 of Mine to Avenge:

As Linus came to the library door, he saw that it was ajar and hinged on the same side from which he was approaching. He realised that he would be able to see into the library through the crack in the door. He was certain that his grandfather didn’t know he was there. If he had known Linus was there, he would have come out by now to meet him, or called out to him to come in. He tiptoed to the crack in the door and peered through. His grandfather was standing by a bookcase against the opposite wall, his back to the door, flicking through a book.

Linus glanced up at the video monitor, on top of the bookshelf. It was turned off and he breathed a sigh of relief. He remembered that his grandfather often switched the monitors off for privacy if he was going to be in a room for any length of time. With the library monitor off, Linus knew that things were in his favour for getting the gun as soon as possible but he had to find out where the gardener was first, and he also needed to switch off the kitchen monitor.

He knew the gardener was somewhere in the grounds because he could hear the faint but distinctive hum of a concrete mixer. He continued on through the house, following the sound of the mixer, and came out into the conservatory. He went over to the window and peered through the potted palms grouped together against the glass. The gardener was shovelling dirt, with piles of broken concrete littering the ground around him. He remembered his grandfather asking the gardener to repair the concrete paving at the back of the house. Linus hoped he would be busy here for a long time yet, because the constant turning of the mixer would at least obscure a gunshot from him.

Turning, he strolled casually back to the front of the house. As he neared the kitchen, the housekeeper appeared, pushing a trolley with coffee and toast. She smiled at him and headed in the direction of the library. Food and coffee meant that his grandfather planned to be in the library for a while, and Linus breathed a little easier.