Blood From Stone by Frances Fyfield (Author Guest Post / Book Review / Contest Giveaway)

In association with Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tours, Jersey Girl Book Reviews is pleased to host the virtual book tour event for Blood From Stone by Author Frances Fyfield!

Author Guest Post

How To Make Crime Pay

Or

How I Became A Liar

By: Frances Fyfield

I’m an honest and upright citizen, born, raised and fully trained in the necessity of honesty. (I learned about honesty for the first time when I pinched a plastic ornament from Woolworths, aged five. My mother marched me back to return it to the Manager. I never stole anything from a shop again. )

Later, when I trained to be a lawyer and worked for the Prosecution, I was steeped in the need to tell the Truth at all times. You can’t invent evidence: you can only present facts, although you might put them in order.

BUT, Telling the truth all the time, lets face it, can get a little wearisome. Never let the truth get in the way, someone said. I was strangled by the Truth. I often consult the Oxford English Dictionary for inspiration, and sick of sad facts, that’s what I did then. Mid career, I was looking up the definition of a STORYTELLER. It said, a Storyteller is a teller of tales, of legends..also, A LIAR.

YES! In an instant, I glimpsed my true vocation. Which was to be a teller of stories. All I really wanted was an excuse to be a Liar. And now I had it.

Besides, there was this other thing I’d come to realise. Cases that came to court with a dozen truthful witnesses, all seemed to amount to the Truth, but it was never the complete truth. At some point when the evidence unfolded through testimony and reports, it became clear that nobody knew more than the half of it. 

The only way you can ever know what really happened is by making a story out of it; putting yourself in other peoples’ shoes, imagining the scene, and by use of imagination and empathy, discovering the other angles which are not made visible through individual testimony. It’s by shutting your eyes and thinking what was it like to there?

We need imaginative stories to square the stone circles of reported fact. Nothing else can fill the gap. We need stories to get behind the lies; to make sense of the truth and bring stuff out of the shadows. Imagination allows us to look round corners, and at the least, add a dash of pity.

That why I write stories.

I found another way to make crime pay and this way, I can add in a bit of redemption.

All the same, I’m still not very good at telling lies.

About The Author

"I grew up in rural Derbyshire, but my adult life has been spent mostly in London, with long intervals in Norfolk and Deal, all inspiring places. I was educated mostly in convent schools; then studied English and went on to qualify as a solicitor, working for what is now the Crown Prosecution Service, thus learning a bit about murder at second hand. Years later, writing became the real vocation, although the law and its ramifications still haunt me and inform many of my novels.

I’m a novelist, short story writer for magazines and radio, sometime Radio 4 contributor, (Front Row, Quote Unquote, Night Waves,) and presenter of Tales from the Stave. When I’m not working (which is as often as possible), I can be found in the nearest junk/charity shop or auction, looking for the kind of paintings which enhance my life. Otherwise, with a bit of luck, I’m relaxing by the sea with a bottle of wine and a friend or two."-Frances Fyfield


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Book Review

Blood From Stone by Frances Fyfield

Publisher: Witness Impulse

Publication Date: November 26, 2013

Format: e-Book - 336 pages / Kindle - 589 KB / Nook - 492 KB

ISBN: 9780062301864

ASIN: B00CGZXQHG

Genre: Crime Thriller

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Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book from the author / publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review and participation in a virtual book tour event hosted by Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tours. 

Book Description: 

Marianne Shearer is at the height of her career, a dauntingly successful barrister, respected by her peers and revered by her clients. So why has she killed herself? Her latest case had again resulted in an acquittal, although the outcome was principally due to the death of the prime witness after Marianne’s forceful cross-examination. Had this wholly professional and unemotional lawyer been struck by guilt or uncertainty, or is there some secret to be discovered in her blandly comfortable private life? Her tenacious colleague Peter Friel is determined to find out of that last trial held the reason for her taking her own life. The transcript holds intriguing clues, but it is another witness at the trial who holds the key to the truth.

Book Excerpt:

The trial had gone wrong on her, with the right result, certainly, one achieved through exploitation of weakness, legal argument, bullying, manipulation and luck. The suicide of the prime witness could only be called a misfortune. A thoroughly professional hatchet job on her part, in other words. It was for the prosecution to prove their case and for her to destroy it; she had done the latter but the result would not cover her with glory simply because it would be seen as an outrageous piece of cruel luck, rather than advocacy.

She would not want to say goodbye. She would never want to see him again, but he was fresh out of jail and for the first time he was leaving the court via the front door and not via the prison van. The prison van, he had told her, was an exquisitely uncomfortable mode of transport, like traveling on the inside of a human time bomb complete with molded plastic seats and manacles.

My Book Review:

Blood From Stone is a riveting crime thriller set in London that follows the unraveling of an intricate web of secrets and search for the truth behind ruthless criminal defense attorney Marianne Shearer's apparent suicide. After successfully defending a man accused of the kidnap, rape and torture of women in a high profile case, Marianne leaps to her death from a sixth floor balcony of a Kensington hotel. What would cause this cold-hearted and ruthlessly successful attorney to kill herself? This was the question that prompts her colleague Peter Friel to search for the answer with his own investigation into Marianne's private life, an investigation that will uncover coincidences and clever clues that will connect the threads in the intricate web that would eventually lead to her death.

Blood From Stone is an multi-layered intricate psychological crime tale that takes the reader on a thrilling roller coaster ride. Author Frances Fyfield weaves a chilling tale that easily draws the reader into the story as an amateur sleuth trying to figure out why Marianne would end her life.

This compelling story has a large cast of characters whose lives intertwine and connects with enough coincidences and secrets that keeps the readers on their toes. There is a lot of suspenseful twists and turns interwoven with cleverly placed clues throughout the story that makes the many coincidences the primary essence behind the mystery of Marianne's death. The investigation into Marianne's private life will reveal a troubled woman's inability to deal with her conscience from the ruthless choices she made in her professional life, while also uncovering the truth from her last case.

Blood From Stone is a riveting crime thriller that is simply hard to put down.


RATING: 4 STARS ****

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