I am super excited to be hosting Marnie Riches THE COVER UP blog tour today with a #kickass guest post on KILLER WOMEN from Marnie! I have this book on my TBR and it is making it’s way to the top – I loved the first book in this series, you can read my review here: BORN BADSo it’s no wonder, I am pretty excited to see what is next in store for Sheila O’Brien! Enough from me though, how about we find out a bit more about the author and this fabulous book!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marnie Riches grew up on a rough estate in Manchester. She learned her way out of the ghetto, all the way to Cambridge University, where she gained a Masters degree in German & Dutch. She has been a punk, a trainee rock star, a pretend artist and professional fundraiser. Previously a children’s author, now, she writes crime and contemporary women’s fiction.
Marnie Riches is the author of the best-selling, award-winning George McKenzie crime-thriller series, published by Avon at Harper Collins. The Girl Who Wouldn’t Die – the first outing for crime fiction’s mouthy, kickass criminologist – won the Patricia Highsmith Award for Most Exotic Location at the Dead Good Reader Awards 2015, whilst the series was shortlisted for the Tess Gerritsen Award for Best Series in the Dead Good Reader Awards 2016. With the fifth title in the series – The Girl Who Got Revenge – due out in April 2018, the books have garnered both a loyal readership and critical acclaim. All five books will finally be available to buy in print from April onwards!
Her brand new Manchester series – a must-read for fans of Martina Cole & Kimberley Chambers – is available in paperback as well as digital and audio formats. Born Bad was released in March 2017, quickly obtained bestseller status and was described by the Guardian as “impressive”. In Autumn 2017, it was featured on CBS Reality’s series, “Written In Blood”. The Cover-Up is already available to pre-order via all good e-tailers.
In her spare time, Marnie likes to run (more of a long distance shuffle, really) travel, drink and eat all the things (especially if combined with travel) paint portraits, sniff expensive leather shoes (what woman doesn’t?) and renovate old houses. She also adores flowers.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Watch your back. Everyone else will be.
How far would you go to protect your empire?
Manchester’s criminal underworld is reeling from the loss of its leader, Paddy O’Brien. In the wake of her husband’s death, Sheila O’Brien takes charge of the city, and for once, she’s doing things her way.
But she hasn’t reckoned with the fearsome Nigel Bancroft, a threat from Birmingham who is determined to conquer Manchester next.
As a power tussle begins, Sheila is determined to keep control of the empire she has won – even if it means she has to die trying…
A heart-stopping read with a gritty edge, perfect for fans of Martina Cole and Kimberley Chambers.
The Killer Women of Manchester by Marnie Riches
What better topic to discuss on Crime Book Junkie’s blog at the publication of The Cover-Up – the second of my Manchester gangland series – than that of killer women?! One of the reasons why I gravitated towards writing crime fiction was that it lends itself as a genre to really kickass and interesting female protagonists. In my George McKenzie series, it has been an absolute hoot to write about a feisty, surly criminologist who does not suffer fools gladly and who is more than prepared to stick the steel-toecapped boot in whenever she comes into conflict with the bad guys. She’s brilliantly clever, too but deeply, deeply flawed. George suffers from mild obsessive compulsive disorder as a response to her difficult past and she’s also very slow to trust, with an abrasive tongue. I wrote George as a standout tough cookie who would intrigue readers enough to want to see her character develop across a number of books. I gave her a family that will be instantly recognisable to readers with larger-than-life relatives who have to grapple with their own dysfunction.
Now, though, The Cover-Up is in shops and this second Manchester book really showcases my two new leading ladies, Sheila O’Brien and Gloria Bell. It was tremendous fun to write simply because this is a story of two strong-minded women who both came from the wrong side of the tracks but who didn’t have the benefit of academic brilliance, growing up. They’re fighting for supremacy on Manchester’s mean streets using their wits and sheer bloody-mindedness alone.
I guess that the major difference between Sheila and Gloria in my Manchester books and George McKenzie from my The Girl Who series is age. It was energising to write about a much younger woman in George, who could physically do things that the middle aged can’t necessarily do anymore and who could take risks in offending all and sundry without fear of repercussion because of her youth. You have less to lose when you’re young, after all. But Sheila and Gloria are both in their forties and both mothers, as I am. They have suffered abuse but they have the wisdom and confidence with which to deal with life’s challenges. I know, as a 46 year old woman, far more about the world and the people in it thanks to setbacks, loss, disappointments, betrayals, hardships and many triumphs that have been experienced during almost five decades of living than I knew in my 20s. And I take far less shit than I did. So, painting a picture of Manchester’s most wanted women had to be a subtler art than drawing George.
Sheila – the pampered widow of a crime boss – and Gloria – her ex-cleaner, super-religious business partner – have been the victims, but now, it’s time for them to scramble to the top of the heap, treading on the carcasses of their enemies, to plant their flag for all to see. They are the Queens of Manchester, and where George McKenzie operates on the right side of the law, Sheila and Gloria most certainly don’t. Still managing to be fabulous in the Mancunian drizzle, they are the ultimate anti-heroines in a man’s world. Ruling the roost? No problem. Gun-toting? Of course! They wield it along with PMT and aren’t afraid to use their perimenopausal rage to good effect. Showing the bad boys who’s boss? Naturally and with aplomb!
If you like your heroines flawed but killer-women-formidable, I suggest you give The Cover-Up a try and see how it compares to The Girl Who…
Love this post! Thank you so much, Marnie! I had a sneak peek of The Cover Up and can tell it’s going to be a cracking read! My review will be up soon! Make sure your follow the rest of the tour too!
