“HI,
NORA! STEVEN SPIELBERG ON THE LINE!”
I was on the phone last night to Steven Spielberg. We were discussing my latest crime *t*hriller, Retribution, which he’s optioned to direct and scheduled for a glittering Hollywood red carpet première in spring 2014.
We talked
about all the usual stuff – investors and rights, casting and locations. I said
my own production company (‘Nora-Johnson
Productions Ltd’) would deal with the
investment/ production issues and have sole commercial rights for spin-offs, franchises etc. “The movie’s a sure-fire winner,” Spielberg kept repeating
excitedly – “an opportunity for everyone
to invest early on and make pots of money.” (To get involved, simply send a
cheque made out to ‘Nora-Johnson Productions Ltd’, address on my website: (www.nora-johnson.com).
As for casting, I suggested Kate Winslet to play the investigative journalist, Alice Myers. Brad Pitt to play the police investigator, DI Neil Hunter, and Ryan Gosling the criminal profiler and Alice’s ex-lover, Dr Jake Leighfield.
As for casting, I suggested Kate Winslet to play the investigative journalist, Alice Myers. Brad Pitt to play the police investigator, DI Neil Hunter, and Ryan Gosling the criminal profiler and Alice’s ex-lover, Dr Jake Leighfield.
When Spielberg proposed filming in Martha’s Vineyard for its unrivalled coastline, I emphasised the importance of the novel’s setting – an isolated, inward-looking community in the New Forest, Hampshire (pictured) that refuses to move with the times despite the arrival of second-home owners from London in its more accessible parts. But he still preferred Martha’s Vineyard – where he’d set his blockbuster Jaws. Those shark’s teeth then suddenly came into painfully sharp focus - and woke me up with a start!
Yes, that was just a dream – but the novel is real. My just-published crime thriller, Retribution – next in the series featuring the journalist, Alice Myers, from Soul Stealer - deals with the puzzling death of her closest childhood friend.
Sixteen years ago, Ellie suddenly breaks off their friendship in the New
Forest. And Alice’s father inexplicably moves the family to London. All these
years later, everything changes.
Now back on the death of her grandmother, Alice is still recovering from
failure both personal and professional. But when a body is found washed up on
the rocks, the deeply-buried secrets of the past threaten everything and she
soon becomes caught up in intrigue, murder and mystery.
Could the victim be Ellie? Alice has to confront so much she left behind
that summer. Why did Ellie reject her? Is Alice to blame? Why did her father
abandon the family so soon afterwards? And what secrets have Ellie’s family and
friends been hiding?
When Alice
is persuaded to write an obituary about her talented friend, this is for her as
much a way of dealing with her own writer’s block as unravelling the mystery of
Ellie’s death. But it is only when she and DI Neil Hunter join forces that the
truth starts to emerge about this close-knit community’s harrowing past and present.
As she
peels back the layers of deception surrounding this and subsequent murders, Alice unearths secrets and confronts truths
she can hardly believe.
LIKE MYSTERY/CRIME THRILLERS? LIKE HELPING CHARITY?
Want to achieve both aims at the same time? Well, here’s my answer to that dilemma! As my website (www.nora-johnson.com) indicates, all profits from the sale of my novels go to Cudeca - see sidebar opposite (www.cudeca.org). This Costa del Sol (Spain) cancer hospice offers completely free treatment/ hospice care to all in/outpatients but, like charities everywhere but especially in Spain, is suffering considerable hardship in these tough times.
Want to achieve both aims at the same time? Well, here’s my answer to that dilemma! As my website (www.nora-johnson.com) indicates, all profits from the sale of my novels go to Cudeca - see sidebar opposite (www.cudeca.org). This Costa del Sol (Spain) cancer hospice offers completely free treatment/ hospice care to all in/outpatients but, like charities everywhere but especially in Spain, is suffering considerable hardship in these tough times.
So, dear readers (at just £0.86 / $1.16 per eBook or $0.99 per iBook – a steal!) with all profits to charity please download now onto your Kindle, iPad or palm of your hand. I don’t mind!
See sidebar or click HERE (Amazon UK), HERE (Amazon.com) and HERE (Goodreads) for reviews and further shameless self-promotion! Thanks so much for your support!
DO YOU LIKE MYSTERY/CRIME THRILLERS?
Do tell me! And do check out other posts @ Jenny Matlock-Alphabe-Thursday, Monday Mellow Yellows, Ruby Tuesday, Rednesday, Outdoor Wednesday & Wordless Wednesday.
And, finally, thank you to all dear readers who visited or commented.
Enjoy!
NORA
& LOLA:)
