LJ Ross, the international bestselling author of Holy Island has launched her latest DCI Ryan thriller, Angel, at the iconic Angel of the North.
Angel, the fourth outing for DCI Ryan, is available for pre-release now, with the e-edition becoming available to read on August 26th, to coincide with the Bank Holiday.
The latest book sees DCI Ryan’s life finally beginning to return to normal after a spate of murders on Northumberland’s Holy Island and Hadrian’s Wall.
He is looking forward to spending an uneventful Easter weekend with his fiancée Dr Anna Taylor. But, on Good Friday morning, he is called out to a crime scene at the largest cemetery in Newcastle.
The body of a redheaded woman has been found buried in a shallow grave and the killer has given her wings, like an angel.
Soon, another woman is found at a different cemetery, followed quickly by another. Panic spreads like wildfire across the region as a new serial killer is born, and Ryan’s band of detectives must work around the clock to unmask him before he can strike again.
Angel is the fourth DCI Ryan thriller. The first, Holy Island, shot to the top of the Amazon charts upon release while follow-up publications Sycamore Gap and Heavenfield are still regularly in the top ten.
Louise, who writes under the pseudonym LJ as a thank you to her husband James for his unstinting support, said: “I’ve been absolutely overwhelmed by the feedback from readers who have already enjoyed all three of my previous DCI Ryan books and were clamouring for the next one. While I’ve suffered from writer’s block with the best of them, encouragement from readers through social media has kept me going.
“Everyone has developed such a connection to DCI Ryan, his love interest Dr Anna Taylor, and his loyal sidekick DS Frank Phillips, so I felt a huge responsibility not just to fans, but to the characters themselves. While Angel doesn’t follow on from the previous DCI Ryan trilogy, it sees favourite characters embroiled in a new investigation and I can’t wait to see readers’ reactions.”
LJ, who grew up in Ponteland, gave up a lucrative career as a regulatory lawyer in the city to become an author.
A chance comment to her husband during a train journey along the East Coast to Edinburgh led to her writing Holy Island. Pointing out that she was surprised no-one had set a novel there as the couple passed the island of Lindisfarne, LJ started drafting a plot there and then.
Eschewing offers of traditional publishing deals, LJ went down the self-publishing route favoured by the likes of 50 Shades author EL James.
All three of LJ’s first books have been mainly based in Northumberland, with grisly murders taking place in Holy Island and on Hadrian’s Wall, while DCI Ryan’s latest outing is heavily set on Tyneside.
She said: “I hadn’t been completely happy at work for some time. Falling pregnant with my son Ethan provided the catalyst for change and I haven’t looked back. To have found my voice, and most importantly, a strong readership, as an author is incredible and I can’t wait for fans of DCI Ryan to be able to get stuck into Angel.”