Blind Chess
by Cristelle Comby
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Interview:
Crystal: Today I have the pleasure of hosting Cristelle Comby. Welcome Cristelle! I'm so happy to have you here today. Would you share a little bit about yourself with us today?
Cristelle: Well, what can I say, I’m a thirty something Swiss writer. I’m an overall nice girl, with an uncomplicated life and an (healthy) addiction to chocolate (it’s in the genes). I’m the writer of the Neve & Egan cases, a series of novels centred on a duo of Private Investigators in London.
Crystal: Do you have a favorite scene you would like to share with us?
Cristelle: I love the ending of Blind Chess, when Neve and Egan are finally reunited. I spend quite some time editing it, until I got the tone right.
Crystal: Where did you come up with the idea for Blind Chess?
Cristelle: It is the direct continuation of Danse Macabre, book three of the Neve & Egan cases. It picks up where the other left off, with Neve badly wounded and in the hospital. Egan’s on his own and he has to pick up the mantle and investigate alone.
Crystal: What are you currently working on?
Cristelle: I’m taking a break from this series and working on something new. I’m trying out a new genre, Urban Fantasy and mixing in a little bit of Greek Mythology. It’s shaping up nicely.
Crystal: Do you have any special routine that you follow when you are writing?
Cristelle: Yes, I’m very meticulous about outlining. I spend a long time on it; it helps me have a clear vision of where the story’s going. I only start writing when the outline’s finished – it’s a personal rule of mine.
Crystal: Did you have to do a lot of research for this book or any other? If so do you have a fascinating fact that you have learned you would like to share with us?
Cristelle: I’ve been to London a couple of times, locations scouting. This year I tried walking about the Tube with my eyes closed (to enact a scene from the book). It was a little scary and totally surreal. I felt like a fish, swimming in a bank of fishes. I just followed to current and let it carry me in the right direction.
Crystal: Who are some of your favorite authors that you like to read?
Cristelle: Jim Butcher, his Dresden Files series is a personal favourite. I also love Patrick Rothfuss’ Kingkiller Chronicles and Brandon Sanderson’s Reckoners series. My greatest discovery of 2015 was A. G. Riddle’s Departure.
Crystal: Is there a genre you haven't written that you would like to try?
Cristelle: Urban Fantasy which is a favourite of mine and I’m trying it out right now. I love this genre. It’s the ‘it’s so close to real life, it could happen’ genre. Real-life with a sprinkle of supernatural.
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BLURB:
It is supposed to be Neve and Egan. Two partners, a team. What happens when a member of this team of Private Investigators is shot, prognosis unknown?As Alexandra Neve lays comatose and defenceless, Ashford Egan must take on their enemy alone, and find the cagiest criminal Scotland Yard has seen in decades. Determined to succeed, Egan will stop at nothing. He’ll hit on married women, plant bugs, hire hitmen. And he’ll do it all blind, which makes things ten times as difficult.
Double-crossed by friends, convinced there is corruption in those sworn to uphold the law, Egan is forced to form unlikely alliances as he moves forward in a game that requires skills, nerves of steel, and a willingness to play against all odds.
GENRE: Mystery & Detectives
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EXCERPT:
The journey to the Lantesks’ home gives me time to weigh my options. There are two ways to play this: continue to pretend to be Mr. Bono, the nice accountant, and flirt some information out of Mrs Lantesk; or use the weapon in my pocket and approach the situation in a considerably less charming manner.
I entertain the possibilities of option one while I walk up the main street, but decide on option two as I turn into the Lantesks’ drive. I don’t have time to be gentle anymore; I can’t afford it.
I tighten my grip on the weapon, straighten my back and force a resolve I don’t feel onto my face.
Car doors are being slammed in the distance as the first commuters start their daily routines. The hour is still early though, and the chances I’ve been seen are slim. The wind keeps up its assault as I take the last steps towards the house, gun in hand, safety catch on.
I smile as I think of DI Langford. He’d have a fit if he could see me. So far, I am only a thief on the run, but I am about to add a few more charges to my rap sheet. ‘Eyes on the prize,’ I remind myself as I reach for the doorbell.
My finger is inches away from it when I hear the gravel screech behind me. Someone is walking up to me. No, I mentally correct myself instants later—several individuals. I count at least two pairs of feet.
This isn’t good. I turn around, extend my weapon, finger on the trigger, as I do my best to guess where to aim.
The weapon is kicked out of my hand in a matter of seconds. I can’t even understand how. All I know is that my fingers hurt, my wrist feels like it is broken, and the weapon has tumbled to the gravel at least a foot away on my right.
An instant later, someone’s fist hits me in the shoulder. It sends me tumbling backwards and I hit the Lantesks’ house wall violently. My cane flies out of my hand and I feel some of the wall plaster come loose upon impact. It crumbles to dust under my fingers as I try to get back up on my feet.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Cristelle Comby was born and raised in the French-speaking area of Switzerland, in Greater Geneva, where she still resides.Thanks to her insatiable thirst for American and British action films and television dramas, her English is fluent.
She attributes to her origins her ever-peaceful nature and her undying love for chocolate. She has a passion for art, which also includes an interest in drawing and acting.
Blind Chess is her fourth new-adult novel in the Neve & Egan series.
Links :
Website: http://cristelle-comby.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Cristelle
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Cristelle%20Comby&search-alias=digital-text&sort=relevancerank
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/CristelleComby
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Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteLove the excerpt.
ReplyDeleteThanks for having me.
ReplyDeleteHappy 2016!
Cristelle
if you could forget one book to experience it all over again, which one would it be?
ReplyDeleteThe Lord of the Rings trilogy. And I'd like to forget the films too, so I could discover the books as Tolkien had meant them.
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