Today, I'm excited to be featuring a new mystery – or rather historical mystery – author. Meet Jack Byrne and his new novel Under the Bridge.
Under the Bridge is the first book in The Liverpool Mystery
Murders.
This post is part of a blog tour,
organized by TheWriteReads, and features an exclusive author interview with Jack
Byrne.
First a little bit about the book and
series:
Genre: Mystery
Length: 360 Pages
Publishing: 18 February 2021
Find the book on Amazon and Goodreads.
Synopsis for Under the Bridge by Jack Byrne
1955 - Escaping violence in Ireland and fresh off the boat, Michael falls in with Wicklow boys Jack Power and Paddy Doyle, who smuggle contraband through the docks putting them at odds with unions while they rally the dock workers against the rackets and the strikebreakers. A story of corruption, secret police, and sectarianism slowly unravels. But will the truth out?
As the conflict heightens, Michael questions the life sprawling out ahead of him. In the present, Anne races to solve the mystery, but is she prepared for what she’ll find?
Now for the interview where we
talk about the book and series and Jack offers some writing advice for aspiring
authors.
Q: Can
you tell readers a bit about yourself and how you got into the mystery genre?
Jack
Byrne: I was born and raised
in Speke, Liverpool to an Irish immigrant father and grandparents. I am an
advocate of Irish and Liverpudlian history. The Liverpool Mystery Series,
including Under the Bridge and Across the Water follow our
heroes, Vinny and Anne, across Liverpool and Ireland as the mysteries of the
past collide with their investigations in the present.
Q:
Is The Liverpool Mystery Series more like a CSI or Criminal Minds, or
what kind of mystery is it?
Jack
Byrne: I write
social and historical novels that are structured around a mystery. In Under
the Bridge a body is unearthed near the docks in Liverpool. Anne and Vinny set out to uncover its
identity, in doing so they learn a lot about themselves and the city they live
in.
Q:
I like the idea that there are two timelines in Under the Bridge. Was
that hard to maintain while writing?
Jack
Byrne: We all exist
with two timelines, what is happening now and what got us to this
position. In the historic narrative we
follow the lives of two Irish immigrants who were part of the wave of Irish and
black immigrants who rebuilt England after the war. Forgetting our real history
is part of the reason the country is doing so badly at the moment.
Q:
Do you have any writing tips or advice for aspiring mystery writers?
Jack
Byrne: Don’t think you need a
perfect plot worked out before you start. For me the story develops as it
grows, you can add layer upon layer of complexity once you have the bare bones
laid out. Start writing and see where the characters take you.
Q:
If you could meet or have lunch with any author (dead or alive), who would it
be?
Jack Byrne: I would go for a pint with Dickens, Zola, Steinbeck, Jack London, and hopefully end up in a pub with Connolly, Castro, Guevara, Mandela, Thomas Sankara and Toussaint L’Ouverture – if you don’t know any of them Google it will be worth your while.
About Jack Byrne
I was born and raised in Speke Liverpool, (Paul McCartney lived in the street behind us for a while) although my parents first lived ‘Under The Bridge’ in Garston, and all my family goes back to Wicklow in Ireland.
The Liverpool Mystery Series will be four novels. Under The Bridge is the first. I am writing Fire Next Time now, and The Wicklow Boys will follow next year. You can find The One Road prequel a collection of short stories on Amazon.
Want to meet more mystery authors?
Check out my interview with HS Burney and read the excerpt from The Lake Templeton Murders.
Read my reviews of:
What We Bury by Carolyn Arnold
Crime Scene Connection by Deena Alexander
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