“What is the link between the abduction of a little girl and a dead prostitute?

When the body of a prostitute is discovered DI Gus McGuire is handed the case. But what first appears to be a simple murder soon turns into an international manhunt for the members of a twisted child trafficking ring.

McGuire who is suffering with problems of his own, he must pick his way through the web of deceit and uncover the truth in time before the body count rises.

Can McGuire identify The Matchmaker before it’s too late? And can he trust those he is working with?

Unquiet Souls is the first book in a dark and compelling new police series.”

I am delighted to welcome you to my stop on the Unquiet Souls blog tour.  I am so excited about this book and I can’t wait to read it.  This is Liz’s debut novel and the first in a new series featuring DI Gus McGuire (the first…I’m starting at the beginning for once!).

Without further ado, here is Liz’s guest post explaining why she loves reading and writing crime fiction:

Why Crime Fiction does it for me

I write gritty crime fiction and I love it!  My debut novel Unquiet Souls is the first in a series of police procedurals set in Bradford featuring DI Gus McGuire and I loved writing it.  I loved getting into the mind of the villains and trying to suss out what made them tick.  I also loved working out how my hero would eventually ‘put the world to rights’ and, for me, crime fiction ticks all the boxes, both as a crime writer, and as a reader.

Crime fiction is the largest selling genre for many reasons.  It takes us to a world where the ‘goodie’ usually triumphs over the ‘baddie’.  It allows us to explore the darkest aspects of humanity from the safety of our sofas and it stimulates our ‘sleuthing’ skills. It provides the same satisfaction that playing Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians or British Bulldogs did in our childhood.  It allows us, through the pages of a book, to bring some of the evil that exists in the world into our own home, take charge and make some sort of sense of it, secure in the knowledge that most of the time the baddie will get his or her comeuppance.

For me crime fiction, in all its many guises, is an exploration of the things we see as being wrong in the world and our attempt as crime fiction writers to highlight them and express our shock in them.   Whether you’re a cosy crime fan or a gritty thriller lover you can always, on the shelves of a good book shop, find something for you.  The increase in sub-genres under the crime fiction umbrella is a constant source of joy to me.  I can pluck a JD Robb off my shelf and be transported to New York of the future where interplanetary movement is routine.  Or, I can grab a gritty police procedural by Caroline Mitchell and find myself thrilled with paranormal activity.  Or, if I’m feeling a bit romantic there’s Beverley Barton or Mary Burton at hand to dart a Cupid’s arrow in my direction.  This means that crime fiction as a genre never goes stale – there are always surprises, always new places to visit whether it’s Vaseem Khan’s, Mumbai, Martin Holmen’s, Stockholm or Deon Meyer’s South Africa.

Read, or write crime fiction and you travel the world, experiencing good and bad, love and hatred, joy and sadness, highs and lows, and you do it arm in arm with the best and the worst of humanity.  Mmmm!  Just my cup of tea!

An absolutely BRILLIANT post Liz, thank you.  I’m a hardcore crime fiction fan and I’m often asked why I love the genre so much.  For me, you have hit the nail on the head and in future I’ll just point the asker to this post. THIS is why I love crime fiction!  BRILLIANT!

Unquiet Souls by Liz Mistry was published in the UK by Bloodhound Books on 30th July 2016 and is available in eBook format.

Liz Mistry was born in West Calder, Scotland and educated at Stirling University before moving to Bradford for her PGCE, where she settled with her husband, Nilesh, her three children, Ravi, Kasi and Jimi and her two cats.  Liz taught in Inner city Bradford schools for many years.  Suffering from depression for many years, Liz used her writing to help her through the darkest times.  She is currently part-way through an MA in Creative Writing from Leeds Trinity University, which she acknowledges as being instrumental in developing her confidence as a writer.  Liz is co-founder and main contributor to The Crime Warp Blog (http://thecrimewarp.blogspot.co.uk/)