by James Hazel
‘Only once.’
‘What did you do?’
William sat perfectly still for a moment before throwing the dice across the board.
‘I turned myself in. My work was complete.’
*
Outside Fen Marsh, the rain had let up. Priest walked across the car park, head down, his hands thrust deep into his mac. Okoro was standing by the car, arms folded.
‘How was he?’ he asked as Priest approached.
‘Not too bad. I beat him at Risk. He’s losing his touch.’
‘It’s a game of chance, Priest.’
‘Isn’t everything?’
‘Hmm.’ Okoro opened the door to the passenger seat and motioned for him to get in.
‘Can’t I drive?’
‘My car? No, Priest. You can’t drive my car. You can barely walk. You’re exhausted. When was the last time you slept?’
Reluctantly, Priest climbed in the passenger side. Okoro sat behind the wheel. Everything smelt of new leather.
‘If you think about it,’ Okoro said, ‘McEwen told us about the Mayfly right from the start. Why did he mention it? He didn’t need to.’
‘Arrogance, stupidity. I think McEwen just liked knowing more than we did.’
Okoro looked over, his finger hovering over the start button. ‘So, what next, Priest?’ he asked.
Priest reached inside his coat pocket and picked out a hip flask. He unscrewed the top and let the last swig of warm malt whisky slide down his neck.
‘Drop me off at home, Okoro. I’ve got a date with a former client to get ready for.’
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Thank you to the three most influential people in my life – Oliver, Grace and Archie. Without your inspiration and encouragement, this book would never have been written. I accept of course that, Archie, you had no idea I was writing it, but you helped invaluably in your own way. I only ask that you all remember me when you are famous.
Thank you also to Pat Hazel – your support and attention to detail were second to none. Dad would have been proud of us both.
To Richard and Denise, thank you for your encouragement, generosity and support. You accepted a dishevelled moppet with a dream of becoming a writer into your family all those years ago and, for that, the moppet is eternally grateful.
I am indebted to Nicki Richards and the good people at Totally Entwined, whose skill and inexhaustible patience taught me how to write.
It has been a privilege to work with the team at Bonnier Zaffre, whose tenacity and passion run through the spine of this book, and I wish to pay particular tribute to the hard work of my editors, Katherine Armstrong and Kate Parkin.
Finally, to my wife, Jo, I owe you the biggest thanks of all. Mainly for continuing to put up with me.
The Holocaust remains one of the darkest periods of modern history: a genocide so unfathomable, it has been referred to as a tear in the fabric of time. I read widely when researching The Mayfly but I was particularly influenced by Doctors from Hell written by Vivien Spitz, a harrowing eyewitness account of the Nuremberg doctors’ trials.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Before turning his hand to writing, James Hazel was a lawyer in private practice specialising in corporate and commercial litigation and employment law. He was an equity partner in a regional law firm and held a number of different department headships until he quit legal practice to pursue his dream of becoming an author.
He has a keen interest in criminology and a passion for crime thrillers, indie music and all things retro.
James lives on the edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds with his wife and three children.
A conversation with author James Hazel
Your background is in the law. How did you get into writing? Have you always written?
I’ve always been fascinated by stories and how the idea of telling a story has pervaded human evolution since we developed language. It is one of the few things that every civilisation, every culture, every race and creed have in common: we all tell each other stories.
What’s also fascinating is that, throughout history, billions of people from different backgrounds and cultures have basically told the same stories, in their own ways, sometimes with astonishing similarities. Every religion has a story of creation, for example.
I’ve always enjoyed creative writing (most lawyers will tell you that this represents a good percentage of their trade anyway!) but I only started writing serious in my mid-twenties, at a point when I felt ready to do so. And what started out as a therapeutic outlet turned into a hobby, which turned into an obsession, which turned into a life-goal – and this eventually became The Mayfly.
How do you write? Are you a plotter or a starter (i.e. you just get on with it)?
I would love to pretend that I plan everything meticulously, every twist and every revelation, mapping out each novel in storyboard form before even thinking of typing the words ‘Chapter One’.
I can’t say that, however, because that’s not the case. So I guess that makes me a starter. Hit the keys with determination and vigour, and see what happens, with only the vaguest of notions of where everyone will end up.
Having said I’d love to say I’m a plotter, I heard that Stephen King wrote Misery in a similarly unplanned way, a lot of the first few chapters on a hotel napkin; so perhaps there’s something to be said for starters.
Charlie Priest is a whip smart, wise-cracking protagonist that readers will really enjoy getting to know. Where did the idea for him to have dissociation disorder come from?
I guess the idea developed from the desire I had for Charlie to have an unusual vulnerability to something; I wanted him to have his own personal kryptonite. In the absence of something like that, I thought his heroism might become predictable. In that sense, Charlie had to be flawed. At the same time, I was looking for a way for Charlie to have a connection with William that would partly explain their relationship and feed Charlie’s biggest fear: that he might be just as capable of killing as William was. It’s a useful teaser to have them share a psychological condition.
Charlie and William as brothers obviously have the same background, yet one became a lawyer and the other a killer. What do you think about some geneticists’ belief that people can be born with an evil gene – that they are predestined to be violent because of their DNA? With many cases, particularly in America, exploring this option as a defence, where do you think that leaves the UK legal system – not to mention crime fiction?!
Apparently, there is evidence that a variation of a particular gene that produces low levels of an enzyme called monoamine oxidase (MAOA) can, in certain circumstances, increase the prospect of a person developing antisocial tendencies in later life. Thus, I suppose we are not a million miles away from discovering an ‘evil gene’.
There are examples of genetic evidence persuading juries in the American legal system to downgrade murder to manslaughter.
It seems to me to be a chilling ideology that the accountability a man has for his actions might be diminished, or even extinguished, because of his biology. I cannot accept that our genes mean we are predestined to do anything; to do so would mean I have to accept that the concept of free will is an illusion.
However, that is not to say that there is no debate to be had. Making the subject taboo would impede further research, from which a lot of good may come.
The English legal system will eventually have to address the point of the evil gene. I don’t profess to be a moral philosopher on any scale but, it seems to me, that if we don’t condemn William for his crimes because of his genetic makeup, we can’t then call Charlie a hero either because his benevolence is also undoubtedly the product, at least in part, of genetics.
Which authors inspire you?
I’m a huge Jo Nesbø fan and one of the people who felt they had found a soulmate in Harry Hole. It’s a real disappointment to end each book and remember he’s only a fictional character.
I grew up reading James Herbe
rt, Iain Banks, Stephen King and Terry Pratchett and anything fantastic and gothic. H. P. Lovecraft occupies a particularly dear place in my writer’s heart, if for nothing else than his extraordinary vocabulary and pioneering monsters. How extraordinary that we are still reinventing his ideas a hundred years after they were first spawned.
There are too many crime fiction writers to mention that I am both admiring and envious of in equal measures: James Patterson, Martina Cole, Chelsea Cain, Karin Slaughter, Lee Child, Sarah Hilary, Chris Carter, to name but a few.
What next for Charlie and the team?
The second Priest novel will pick up six months or so after the end of The Mayfly and chronicle a new case for Priest & Co. Expect more adventure, more devious plans, more Georgie brilliance, more socially awkward moments and a rival for Jessica!
If you enjoyed The Mayfly why not join the James Hazel Readers Club by emailing me at [email protected]?
Turn over for a message from James Hazel . . .
Dear Reader
The Mayfly took me two years of writing late at night, usually after the kids were in bed and the lights were out. Writing was, and still is, my obsessive passion, but I never actually considered what might happen if I was published. It all seemed too much of a pipe-dream.
So, thank you. Because now my book is finished. Not when I wrote the last few words, or my editors straightened out the last few kinks. When you finished reading it – that’s when the book was properly complete.
After all, a book without a reader is just . . . well, paper with symbols on it.
Charlie Priest and his motley crew have lived inside my head for years before I was able to properly unleash them on the world. I hope you enjoyed their emancipation. There’s lots more to come and you’ll soon get to hear about a new Priest & Co adventure with even more cutting one-liners, socially awkward moments, and raw heroism from Charlie. And, yes, more Georgie brilliance.
If you want to be the first to hear about it, then you could join the James Hazel Readers Club. You can do so by visiting www.bit.ly/JamesHazel to sign up. It only takes a moment to register and, to say thanks, I’ll send you a free short story. There’ll be regular updates about forthcoming titles and some exclusive VIP content, including details of a competition to become a character in a new Priest novel! (don’t worry: you get to be a good guy).
It’s also a really great way to get in touch. I’d love to hear from you and get to know what you liked and what you didn’t like. Writing is a pretty solitary pursuit so it’s nice to know I’m not totally on my own here.
Your data will never be passed to a third party and I’ll only be in touch now and again. You can unsubscribe at any time. I hope you stay with me though, because we’ve started this adventure together, you and me, and it’s going to be a great ride!
I’d also love it if you were able to spend a few moments leaving a review on Amazon or Goodreads, or anywhere else that supports reviews. All authors appreciate fair and constructive reviews but first time writers like me live or die by them, so anything you can do would be fantastic. If you liked Priest, spread the word, people value a good book recommendation.
Once again, thank you for reading.
With best wishes,
James Hazel
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP
First published in Great Britain in 2017 by
Zaffre Publishing
80-81 Wimpole St,
London W1G 9RE
www.zaffrebooks.co.uk
Copyright © James Hazel, 2017
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
The right of James Hazel to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-78576-300-7
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-78576-297-0
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-78576-296-3
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Zaffre Publishing is an imprint of Bonnier Publishing UK, a Bonnier Publishing company
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