Everyone benefits from reading a good book.
The benefits which Val McDermid identifies are impressive. She says she has noticed that people who read fiction make better leaders, while citing several current examples, including her friend Nicola Sturgeon. She notes that Boris Johnson never reads fiction. I thought he created some, but I digress. Val claims reading fiction helps you think analytically and to interact with other people’s ideas. Of course, some people just enjoy reading!
What benefits apply to New Money?
I do not claim it will make you a great world leader. I do not aspire to such dizzy heights myself. However, I hope you get some of the following from my latest novel, New Money.
- It’s a fascinating whodunit with several possible motives as well as suspects.
- My hero, Frank Hill, experiences new developments in his relationships with his wife, Sian, and their children, Ian and Jane.
- The Pembrokeshire setting evokes lovely images for me. I hope they work for you.
- There are explorations of racism from more than one point of view.
- The hero meets dangers involving horses, the sea and, of course, people.
I have set out the benefits of reading my other recent novel, DOWN in a previous blog.
Is brevity a benefit?
At 190 pages, New Money is shorter than its predecessors in the Accounting for Murder series, Old Money (417) and Double entry (339). Some prefer a longer book to get their teeth into, but sometimes a quick read is what you want. My other recent novel, DOWN, Is only 189 pages long. The choice is yours: enjoy one of them, hopefully all of them.
Tenby beach, near the fictitious setting for much of New Money
