By Mark Eklid @MarkEklid
Published by Spellbound Books https://www.spellboundbooks.co.uk/ @SpellBoundBks
290 pages ISBN TBA
Publication date 30 September 2023
I was sent an electronic copy to enable be to participate in this Blog Tour. I would like to thank Tracy @Tr4cyF3nt0n from Compulsive Readers for the opportunity to take part and of course the author and publisher.
The Cover
Couldn’t be better, a photograph of a blood splattered mechanical typewriter, Shakespeare’s very own no less, with the title on a sheet in the carriage. Then there is the dreadful but brilliant pun in the strapline, oh I do approve!
My thoughts
The mess all begins when Ronnie Bridgman is on a night out with his wife to celebrate their anniversary. It doesn’t go as well as they hoped, mainly down to his uncouth behaviour. So he’s in a bad mood when he gets home and shortly is going to be incandescent. His high-end security system has been breached and some thieving toerag has had the temerity to burgle his house. They’ve got away with jewels, expensive watches, cash and the contents of his special safe. He is determined that someone will pay dearly for this, and he is determined to get one item in particular back; it is essential he gets it back. You see, Ronnie is very wealthy, a successful businessman, a special kind of businessman, one with contacts.
Dan Khan is unemployed and lives with his girlfriend Shannon in a council flat in Sheffield. She is the breadwinner, working at Asda, whereas he is drifting through life unable to stick at anything. One afternoon after a few games of pool at the local pub, The Swan, he returns with an object that is going to change his life. Fingerless Frankie has sold him an old typewriter, but not any old typewriter but the one that William Shakespeare wrote his plays and sonnets on. How cool is that! There is even a letter of authenticity from an Oxford university professor so it must be genuine. Frankie must be a mug to let it go for just £50, it must be worth thousands.
Only now things start to get complex and a little bit dangerous for all concerned.
A ludicrous premise beautifully played out. Shakespeare’s typewriter (well all know he used a biro), surely nobody would fall for that, but believe me these people walk amongst us. Here the people on the lower rungs of society are accurately but kindly portrayed. Go into certain pubs during the day and you will find these people on the fringes; in some places you will be offered an array of goods of dubious provenance. Frankie’s nickname is perfect being simultaneously ridiculous (because he has fingers) but also holds some logic. His exasperation and bewilderment as he desperately tries to buy the typewriter back from Dan is almost tangible. That Dan thinks that he can summon the spirit of the Bard himself by using his typewriter and write a crime novel (with no knowledge of the process itself) is funny enough; his efforts which he takes seriously are comic genius. Like ‘Springtime for Hitler’ in The Producers so awful they are poetic, leaving me wanting to read more. As for his leading lady, well she’s quite a woman and deserves a novel of her own, I’ll say no more than that.
The plot is simple, somewhat linear but perfectly judged. Dan and Shannon have something that someone wants and is determined to get. It all goes to show that in the end it is down to the story telling and here we have a cracking little story. It starts of funny, even a little bit silly as the situation is set up. Then it gets more serious as searching and chases develop with a sense of danger and some casualties before a starkly pleasing conclusion. The blend of comedy and action is well mixed and includes just the right amount of menace when needed, not slapstick style but with some violence.
The language and dialogue are fabulous, pitched perfectly for each level and the descriptions are wonderful; Fingerless Frankie “the burglar who left with less than he broke in with.” There also some colourful side stories such as how Roger came to change his bar snack provider and the Messi shirt. Just the sort of nonsense stories that come out in the hour before closing time, I’ve heard hundreds of them over the years. Remember this is grim South Yorkshire not the cosy Cotswolds.
It is the characters that are so well judged they bring the story alive. Some are slightly mad, somewhat larger than life but at the same time remaining believable, well almost. It’s nice that a prominent role has been given to a character with a disability but developed properly and not include for the sake of being woke. I think the true test for a reader is would you like to read more about these characters and I this case it is a resounding yes, even if it were just a cameo in some future and not a full follow up.
Blood on Shakespeare’s Typewriter is a pitch perfect comedy crime caper.
Blood on Shakespeare’s Typewriter can be purchased from Amazon here
The author
Long before Mark Eklid first became a published author, writing was his living.
His background is as a newspaper journalist, starting out with the South Yorkshire Times in 1984 and then on to the Derby Telegraph, until leaving full-time work in March 2020.
Most of Mark’s time at the Telegraph was as their cricket writer, a role that brought national recognition in the 2012 and 2013 England and Wales Cricket Board awards. He contributed for 12 years to the famed Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack and had many articles published in national magazines, annuals and newspapers.
Writing as a profession meant writing for pleasure had to be put on the back burner but when his work role changed, Mark returned to one of the many half-formed novels in his computer files and, this time, saw it through to publication.
The Murder of Miss Perfect (July 2022) was his first novel for SpellBound Books, followed by Blood on Shakespeare’s Typewriter (September 2023). Mark had previously self-published Sunbeam (November 2019), Family Business (June 2020) and Catalyst (February 2021).
All five are fast-moving, plot-twisting thrillers set in the city of his birth, Sheffield.
Mark lives in Derby with his partner, Sue. They have two adult sons and have been adopted by a cat.
Source: Amazon profile
Don’t forget to check out the other great reviews on this Blog Tour:
Peter turns the page 