Introducing author Juliet B Madison

Hello Juliet and welcome to Rukia Publishing. Thank you for taking part in our author interview feature.









Firstly, would you mind telling us a little about yourself Juliet.
Hi. I’m Juliet B Madison & I’m the author of the DI Frank Lyle Mystery series. It’s a British based police procedural thriller series set in the imaginary city of Ashbeck, which is loosely based on my hometown.
I read a lot of British crime fiction. My favourite British crime authors include Agatha Christie, Peter Robinson, Peter James, P D James, Ruth Rendell, Peter Lovesey, Ian Rankin, Stuart MacBride and Colin Dexter.
I have joined a few FB crime writer groups and made a few new friends. I love Indie crime books especially by my good friends, John Holt, David Menon and Babs Morton.
I am single with no kids, by choice, and have a mind-numbing crap paid office cleaning job. While I’m at work I always think about my books and attempt to resolve plot problems as anything is more interesting than cleaning, apart from cricket which always sends me to sleep.
I hope that you will like my hero Detective Inspector Frank Lyle as he is thorough, dedicated, humane and compassionate, not to mention being gorgeous to look at.

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Let's start with a few questions about you and your writing.
What are you currently reading and why did you choose it?
I’m reading A Song for the Dying by Scottish crime fiction author Stuart MacBride. I like to read crime novels set in other countries especially Scotland because, although it’s part of the UK, police procedures are so different from the ones DI Frank Lyle is bound by.

What made you decide to become a self published author?
I had a bad experience with a small press a couple of years ago and decided that self publishing would give me control over my copyright and content. I can also choose when to release books, I don’t have to wait around on what they think is best for me.

If you could share one thing about yourself that you would like readers to know what would it be?
I have had Type I (Insulin Dependent Diabetes) for 35 years so any scenarios in my books concerning the condition come from personal experience.

If you wrote your autobiography what would the last line be?
Watch this space!
Great answer!

Now about your books and your writing.
How long have you been a writer?
Well I’ve been scribbling stories etc from childhood, but I think that I decided to give it a go in 2011 after my partner, David, died in 2008. I wrote a series of racy historical novels under my own name which do okay, but then I adopted the pen-name Juliet B Madison and turned to a life of crime.

Do you have any formal writing training?
Absolutely none!

What genre do you write?
I write mystery/thriller Police procedural novels.

What is the biggest source of inspiration in your writing life?
Human nature, the good and the bad, that I read and hear about. I also watch a lot of TV crime drama and read a lot of crime fiction, both traditionally published and Indie.

How much real life goes into fiction writing?
Crime fiction has to be forensically and procedurally accurate because people are so much more crime scene savvy these days due to TV shows like CSI. Also, the DI Frank Lyle Mystery series is set in the 1980s and early 1990s. When I was growing up so I have to make sure my forensic detail is correct for the time so I don’t get called out on it. So far so good on that score.

Do you have a favorite time of day for writing and why?
I prefer to write in the late afternoon and early evening but unfortunately I can’t due to a criminally low paid mind-numbing office cleaning job. I’m looking for something else.

Do you have a writing aspiration that you would like to share with us?
I’d like to be a member of the CWA (Crime Writer’s Association), but suspect they look down on Indies so never tried to join.

How many books have you written so far?
As far as the DI Frank Lyle Series goes I have written 5 novels and 2 volumes of novellas (The DI Frank Lyle’s Casebook Series)

Are they standalone stories or part of a series?
The casebooks are stand alone stories. The full length novels have different investigations but there is an ongoing back story about the lives of DI Lyle & his team so the answer to that is both.

How important are reviews to you as an author?
It’s nice to read that people liked my work, but some reviews would make a kindergarten student’s “What I did in the holidays” essays look like Tolstoy.

Do they influence your development as an author?
I would write whether I got reviews or not, so no.

How do you engage with your readers?
By making my characters and their situations as human as possible, even the bad ones. I like to write about characters that people might relate to.

How do you conduct the research for your books?
By reading a lot & watching crime stuff on TV. I did a theory course in Forensic Science earlier this year which I passed. Anything related to Diabetes or the loss of a loved one I can write about from personal experience.

What inspired the title of ‘Best Served Cold’?
The old saying that revenge is a dish best served cold. No one actually knows who originally coined this phrase, but in actual fact it is that revenge is a dish best served in cold blood, yet another of those things people always misquote.
This is the book’s blurb
DI Lyle is about to get a glimpse into the murky world of political activism and hate crime; the murder of a prominent city councillor is just the tip of the iceberg.
The city of Ashbeck is on high alert when news breaks that convicted triple murderer and paedophile Bob Kenyon has escaped from custody.
Can DI Lyle and his team get to the bottom of this murky mess before another atrocity occurs?

Who is your target audience for this book?
People who have suffered at the hands of others and feel that the system has somehow let them down, these are the kinds of people featured, but my regular readers as well although I do hope to gain new ones.

What are 3 of your favourite lines/quotes from your new release,‘Best Served Cold’?
It’s a standing DI Lyle series joke that the police canteen coffee is barely drinkable so I like these lines.

I’ll have coffee, milk with two sugars.” James said.

“DI Lyle?”

“I’ll have the same; at least that stuff is just about drinkable, unlike the police canteen sludge.”

“Yeah, Thomas is always telling me it should be done under Trade Descriptions.” James smiled.

I don’t want to share anymore because I don’t want to give anything away.

When will Best Served Cold be released?
23rd September 2014. I chose that date because it’s the 6th anniversary of my partner, David’s death. I have dreaded this date for the last few years so felt it would be good to have something else to focus on.

Would you like to tell our readers more about the pre-order opportunity you currently have available?
It’s a new feature from KDP where you can set the book up for a scheduled date and it will be delivered to the Kindles of everyone who pre-ordered on release date. It also means you can get the book’s link earlier and share it about. I would advise all Indie authors to use this feature as the more people who do the less chance is that it will be taken away from us. 
You can pre-order Best Served Cold at http://bookshow.me/B00MRIZQRU

Thank you Juliet for taking part you have been a lovely guest author.

Sarah Jane

Author and book links: 
Twitter handle: @JulietBMadison
DI Frank Lyle Efanzine http://julietbmadison82.wordpress.com/di-frank-lyle-efanzine-launch/
Facebook page(s): There are a lot of DI Lyle pages on Facebook so I have just selected a few although typing DI Lyle into Facebook search will give you a complete list.
https://www.facebook.com/servedcold/

https://www.facebook.com/Lylefanzunited/

https://www.facebook.com/JulietMadisonCrimeAuthor/

https://www.facebook.com/TheDIFrankLyleMysterySeries/

https://www.facebook.com/JLyleTFox/

Amazon links:

These are redirect links which will take you to your “local” Amazon Store

Second Chances http://bookShow.me/B00DNGS0A0

Heir to Misfortune http://bookShow.me/B00EQBAKC2

Unholy Alliance http://bookShow.me/B00GVGFNHW

DI Lyle Mystery Box Set http://bookShow.me/B00HMUHYVE

Murder in the Wings http://bookShow.me/B00KY8RZDS

Best Served Cold http://bookshow.me/B00MRIZQRU

Casebook Vol 1 http://bookShow.me/B00FG57O0I

Casebook Vol 2 http://bookShow.me/B00J16ZPHC

Blog: http://julietbmadisoncrimeauthor.wordpress.com/

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