Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Dead or Alive
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.kenmccoy.co.uk/
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY: British
http://www.kenmccoy.co.uk/bio
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born in Leeds, England; married Val; children: five.
EDUCATION:Attended Leeds College of Technology.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and builder. Owner of a construction business.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Ken McCoy is a British writer and builder. He owns and runs a construction business. McCoy attended the Leeds College of Technology. He has written novels in various genres, especially crime fiction.
"Mad Carew" Series
McCoy is the author of the “Mad Carew” series, which stars Sam Carew, a private investigator and former police detective. The first volume in the series is Mad Carew. Carew lives in the industrial town of Unsworth, England, where he works in construction at his father’s company in addition to running his own private investigation service. One of his construction coworkers comes upon the body of a murdered teenager. The worker is so unsettled by the body that he unintentionally kills Carew’s father when he surprises him. The worker is charged with both killings and is convicted due to circumstantial evidence. However, Carew is sure that the worker is not responsible for the murder of the teenager. He determines to find out who the real killer is. Carew begins investigating, obtaining additional information from one of his old police buddies, Owen Price. Though his meddling leads him into danger, he is eventually successful in finding the murderer. Library Journal critic Rex E. Klett described the volume as “a fine crime debut that may appeal to fans of British procedurals.”
Tripper is the second volume in the “Mad Carew” series. In this book, Carew is sent to Barbados on a private detective assignment. He is happy to leave the dreary town of Unsworth behind for a while. When he returns, Carew is asked to look into the death of Ron Crusher. Crusher apparently jumped to his death from a building in downtown Unsworth, but his brother is certain Crusher was not suicidal. Carew and his partner, Sally, begin investigating the circumstances behind Crusher’s death, which leads them to dangerous interactions with the city’s mobsters. Meanwhile, a side narrative is set in 1967 and focuses on two young siblings who experience difficult life events. Geoff Jones, a reviewer on the Euro Crime Web site, suggested: Tripper “is a well-crafted, tense thriller. The action is fast paced, very violent but relieved by doses of good humor.”
In Hammerhead a gorgeous woman asks Carew to help her prove that her father is innocent of a crime for which he has been convicted. Captivated by her beauty, Carew agrees to investigate. The crime for which the woman’s father has been accused is murder. The victim was killed by a blow to the head with a hammer. As Carew investigates, more bodies appear that have been killed in the same way. His search leads him to suspect someone linked to the Robinson crime family. Meanwhile, Carew dodges attempts on his own life. Writing on the Euro Crime Web site, Terry Halligan commented: “Ken McCoy writes in a very gripping style and the pages of this fairly long book just zoom by. It is so entertaining you just don’t want it to end.” Sunnie Gill, a critic on the Reviewers Choice Web site, described the protagonist as “very endearing.” Gill added: “There is violence in Hammerhead, but it is counteracted by Sam’s witty and irreverent banter.”
Loser finds Carew investigating the murder of a wealthy lawyer named Alistair. Alistar is part of a golf group called “The Syndicate.” One of the members of his golf group, Jim, is the person who discovered his body. Jim is charged with Alistair’s murder, but he swears he is not the killer. Jim’s wife implores Carew to help find the real murderer. Halligan, writing again on the Euro Crime Web site, remarked: “The author gives his characters background and makes them very much flesh and blood. The plots are very intricate and you are almost on the edge of your seat reading to see what will happen next.”
Free as a Bird and Dead or Alive
Set during the 1950s in England, Free as a Bird focuses on Lola and Evie Lawless, two sisters who may have been responsible for the death of their abusive father. They are happy not to have their father in their lives anymore, but their mother pays the price for his murder. Also, their uncle Seth, their father’s brother, determined to avenge his brother’s death, puts the two girls’ lives in danger. David Pitt, a reviewer in Booklist, commented: “McCoy keeps a tight rein on his characters … never letting them drift into B-movie melodrama.”
Septimus “Sep” Black is a detective and the protagonist of Dead or Alive. After a particularly stressful series of events, Sep is admitted to a psychiatric ward. When he leaves the ward, he determines to find two missing children and to right other wrongs in his life. Dead or Alive received mixed reviews. “McCoy hits every note for a gritty procedural … but this everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach never rises above cliché,” suggested a contributor to Publishers Weekly. However, Booklist writer Don Crinklaw asserted: “McCoy tells his tale with great dash … and he brightens it with doses of English-major wit.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, January 1, 2008, David Pitt, review of Free as a Bird, p. 48; October 15, 2016, Don Crinklaw, review of Dead or Alive, p. 19.
Library Journal, January 1, 2005, Rex E. Klett, review of Mad Carew, p. 84.
Publishers Weekly, August 29, 2016, review of Dead or Alive, p. 70.
ONLINE
Euro Crime, http://www.eurocrime.co.uk/ (September 29, 2007), Geoff Jones, review of Tripper; (August 3, 2008), Terry Halligan, review of Hammerhead; (August 3, 2008), Terry Halligan, review of Loser.
Ken McCoy Home Page, http://www.kenmccoy.co.uk (June 14, 2017).
Reviewers Choice, http://www.reviewers-choice.com/ (June 14, 2017), Sunnie Gill, review of Hammerhead.*
Welcome to my website
KenThanks for taking the time to visit my site. If anyone’s vaguely interested in my personal history click on the bio page. It’s a fairly abbreviated biography as I don’t want to get sued by anyone. Hopefully you’re here to check on my books rather than my level of sanity. My editor, commenting on Hammerhead, did wonder what sort of writer begins a book with two of the most violent villains in crime fiction driving round in a car, wearing Looney Tunes masks (Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck). If you want to know the answer, buy the book.
Although I'm a great lover of the traditional book and I'm sure they'll never go out of style I have to admit to also being a huge fan of ebooks which are incredibly versatile, convenient and green. Just 16 of my books are published traditionally in paperback and audio, with another 6 on Amazon Kindle, (although all 22 are on Kindle). For those who like my sagas I've just had another one accepted by my publishers, Little Brown. It's called NEARLY ALWAYS, it's set in Leeds starting in 1937 then moving on to the the mid-fifties. I haven't got a publication date yet but it'll be sometime this year. I suspect it'll be out on Kindle first.
Right now I've got two books on the go. Never written two at the same time before. One's a saga set in World War One...okay, I admit it, I've jumped on the centenary bandwagon. This is a story with a difference insofar as it's set in two locations: 1: Pontefract (West Yorkshire) and 2: Germany where we follow the fortunes and misfortunes of newlywed Tommy Birch who has joined the army; and the trials and tribulations of Rita, his bride, back in Pontefract. Rita finds that life for a soldier's wife isn't all plain-sailing, especially as she receives official notification that Tommy's missing, presumed dead. Rita refuses to believe that her lovely husband is dead, hence the title TELL ME IT'S NOT TRUE. Her denial of Tommy's reported death is a theme that runs all through the rest of the book, but does Tommy come back from the dead and is Rita waiting for him, if and when he gets back? Two seperate questions and at this stage I only know the answer to the first one. Who knows the answer to the second? Not me, not yet. I give my people such strong characters that I just can't predict where they'll take my story. Yes, I know I'm supposed to be in charge, but you try telling them that. They're very disobedient at times. That's the trouble when you give people strengths and weaknesses and a mind of their own, they tend to write their own stories. Anyway I should have a better idea how it turns out after I've written the last 30,000 words.
The other book's a new Mad Carew story which, to be honest, I shelved when I got more than halfway through in favour of finishing the saga, although I keep going back to it to take a look and maybe add a occasional chapter or two (maybe I'm worried what the characters are up to while I'm away). It's not easy keeping two storylines in your head at the same time, but going back to the saga after not thinking about it for a week or so does refresh the mind. I fact I think I'd recommend this to those who get writer's block... leave the book that's blocking you and start another, it's amazing how you build up a flood of ideas for the book you're not writing. The trick is to make a note of all those ideas, which is easy when you're tapping away on a word processor.
Right now, as well as writing two books, I'm trying to get something produced on television, which is a long shot and a completely different ball game. I've had talks with a couple of production companies and have attracted the interest of Screen Yorkshire who would be the ideal executive producers of my work.
Anyway, back to my books. If you want to take a look at the first dozen or so pages of any of them, or to check on the prices, or better still to buy, just click on any one of these titles.
Kindle Only :
Second to None
The Darkness Deepens
Behind The Door
Good Luck Bad Temper
This Town Must Die
Domingo
Sagas: Published by Piatkus (Littlebrown)
Cobblestone Heroes
Hope Street
Annie’s Legacy
Two Rings For Rosie
Catch A Falling Star
Cleopatra Kelly
Jacky Boy
Change For A Farthing
Perseverance Street
Almost a Hero
Published by Severn House:
The Fabulous Fox Twins
Free As A Bird
Crime:
Mad Carew Series (All published by Allison & Busby):
Mad Carew
Tripper
Hammerhead
Loser
Read and follow my blog here.
You can follow me on Twitter @TheRealKenMcCoy and to check out a blog the Romantic Novelists Association did of me recently, click here
And click here to take a look at an article I wrote for WRITING HISTORICAL NOVELS website.
You are welcome to contact me by email here: ken@kenmccoy.co.uk and I will reply as soon as I can. Or if you want to know where to buy my books without nipping out to the shops, go to the links page and buy them over the Internet. Personally I prefer to browse the bookshops, if only to reposition my own books so they’re face on.
Also if anyone requires an after dinner speaker click on to my After Dinner page. Most of the highly complimentary letters are from golf clubs and corporate dinners. You’ll gather from the letters that I’m not a speaker to be taken too seriously. Providing you don’t want anyone too erudite I also do library talks, literary festivals and the like.
Bio
THE REAL McCOY
email: ken@kenmccoy.co.uk
CRIME BOOKS & SAGAS
I’d never heard of Ken McCoy but now I want to read everything else he’s written ...The best thing about this enjoyable book is the sharpness of the writing and the dry humour, which adds to the pace of the plot. It is no surprise that Ken McCoy can add after dinner entertainment to his list of activities. If he speaks as well as he writes he’ll wow them on the conference panels.
SHERLOCK MAGAZINE on MAD CAREW
2I’m a Yorkshire builder who’s had a few books published, well 14 altogether. Went into the industry when I left school at 16; started my own construction business at 26. I suppose you could say I’m an accidental writer insofar as I began writing by accident, and it wasn’t even my accident, it was my wife’s. She’s always been a tower of strength to me. One day she went into hospital, sound in wind and limb, and came out with a broken leg. It’s actually not a bad place to break your leg, the service is quite good. She was coming out of a door and fell down a step that shouldn’t have been there. I knew it shouldn’t have been there. With me being a builder I knew most of the building regulations. Had I built that illegal step I’d have been taken to the cleaners by the owner of the broken leg. Never got away with anything, me. Anyway, I pointed out the illegality of the step to the hospital and eventually they paid her damages. Not too many people would have twigged that the step was illegal and my tower of strength showed her gratitude by buying me a computer. This was back in December 1996. I had no idea how to use a computer but was instantly impressed by Microsoft Word.
2
Right now, apart from my 14 published books I’ve got a crime novel, GOOD LUCK BAD TEMPER which is coming out as an ebook, priced at £4.40 or $6.99. It’ll be in Amazon’s Kindle Store and Apple’s iBookstore by early September 2010.
The Amazon Kindle reading device has come down in price and gone up in quality by leaps and bounds over the last few years. It’s now priced at £109. It can store up to 3,500 books and is amazingly convenient and readable. Like most authors I was very sceptical about it when ebooks first came out but have come round to thinking that ebook sales might well surpass hard-copy books before much longer.
To buy GOOD LUCK BAD TEMPER click here:
Take a look at the bottom of these pages to find out more about this book.
Tripper is one of the best private eye stories I’ve read in a long time; it’s fast paced with a great cast of strong characters, a generous a mount of wit and murder aplenty. It’s The Real McCoy.
YORKSHIRE EVENING PRESS (Simon Richie) on TRIPPER
Like many people I’d always dabbled with writing but it never occurred to me to embark on a whole book. I couldn’t type, so to scribble 100,000 illegible words in long hand was never going to be the best use of my time. I had too many other things on the go. Microsoft Word changed all that. To me it was a thing of great magic, still is. By March of 1997 I’d written a book called The Fabulous Fox Twins. It would turn out to be my fourth published book. It got me a literary agent who told me I could write and persuaded me to write sagas to get me started. I’ve since turned to crime but I do have another saga on the go. Three other books would precede Fox Twins into the book shops: Cobblestone Heroes, published by Piatkus in 1999, Hope Street in 2000 and Annie’s Legacy, which was WH Smiths saga of the month in October 2001. In 2002 I had three books published: The Fabulous Fox Twins, Catch a Falling Star and Two Rings for Rosie ...
Many a reader will be able to relate to the hard times that brought out the good and bad in people. The vivid and descriptive characters make this compelling reading. Once again an excellent book by Ken McCoy who was born and still lives in Leeds.
YORKSHIRE EVENING PRESS (Georgina Haywood) on TWO RINGS FOR ROSIE
Like I said I’ve done other things in my time; after dinner speaking for one, still do that — just another name for posh, stand-up comedy. I’ve done a few theatres, worked with Roy Hudd doing the Good Old days at Leeds City Varieties. Odd bits of telly. I once got three lines as Lady Tara’s butler in Emmerdale. I’m also quite a good artist and I’ve done greeting card designs for most of the major publishers. In fact my large print publishers, Magna, asked me to do a couple of my own book covers for the large print and audio versions of Annie’s Legacy and The Fabulous Fox Twins. Not only that but the excellent Diane Allen at Magna asked me to utilise my “acting” talent and do the reading on my audio books. 13 of my 14 books are so far out in audio and I’ve done the reading on 12 of them. In a couple of weeks I’ll be in a recording studio working on the 14th. It’ll take me about three days.
We all found this story to be a laugh a minute and was addictive listening. The author’s role as a stand-up comic shone through. We’d love to read other books by him.
ACKROYD LIBRARIES READER’S GROUP on MAD CAREW audio
British author Ken McCoy is a man of many talents. His heavy British accent (What?) is perfect for the many characters. He’s got his voices down pat and his tempo is that of an experienced narrator.
AUDIOFILE BOOK REVIEW (U.S.) on LOSER audio
I must admit that during all the time I’ve been writing I haven’t done much building, well, none actually. I suppose I must have retired at some stage without realising. You can’t do everything, although I must admit I’ve had a good try. My wife keeps wondering why we’re not stinking rich, which is a bit of a poser — not being rich after doing all this stuff. Not sure myself but it’ll be my fault, it usually is. One thing I do know is that being a good writer is by no means a guarantee of becoming a best seller. Writers really need good marketing, but my books always had to speak for themselves. I got some lovely reviews, never a bad one, never even a mediocre one, but I never got reviewed in the nationals.
Must tell you this. The nearest my books got to the nationals was me being an answer to a quiz question in The Sun in 2003. The quiz was called The Name Game. They gave you clues that lead to a famous name:
Question 1: Ken, who wrote Two Rings for Rosie and Hope Street.
Question 2: James, the Hollywood legend who starred in It’s A Wonderful Life and Rear Window. So, there you have it! McCoy up there with James Stewart. I think they had a roll-over that day with no one getting all the questions right.
Digressing now, but talking of Hollywood legends I once worked on a Christmas special of Last of the Summer Wine where George Chakiris, an avowed Ken McCoy fan, (obviously) was playing a cameo role as a hussar in a circus. I played the prat in the hat (below left)
George is the one who got an Oscar for his part in West Side Story. I’m the one who didn’t. Had a nice chat with him about our respective show biz careers. Couldn’t believe he’d never heard of me. Where’s he been? Has he never called in the East Leeds Labour Club? I don’t actually have a photo of me and Jimmy Stewart (see how I get to call him Jimmy?) but I do have one of me on location with the Last Of The Summer Wine ladies, with whom I got on very well indeed — with them all being Ken McCoy fans, especially the smashing DameThora Hird whose favourite was Jacky Boy. The delectable Nora Batty preferred Cleopatra Kelly.
Hey, if you think I’m name dropping don’t hesitate to tell me.
The photo on the left is of Roy Hudd and me waiting backstage to do our bit on The Good Old Days at the Leeds City Varieties which is currently undergoing a massive and well-deserved re-furbishment.
People email me and write to me. Over the years I’ve had hundreds of them. Lovely letters. Telling me how much they enjoy my books. Some telling me how much they enjoy listening to me reading my books. Every year over 100,000 people borrow my books from British libraries.
Dear Ken, I just had to write to congratulate you. I was given your book Hammerhead as a present. I used to read quite a lot but have not done so for years. I started to read your book and I couldn’t put it down. The plot and dialogue had me enthralled from the first page until the last. I have since been and got all the other books in the Sam Carew series and cannot wait to start reading them even though the first book I read was out of sequence. Please keep up the brilliant work and more books in this series would be most welcome. Michael Hill.
Ken McCoy writes in a very gripping style and the pages of this fairly long book just zoom by. It is so entertaining you just don't want it to end, but end it must and it does so in a classic resolution that kept me guessing.
EUROCRIME on HAMMERHEAD (Eurocrime favourite read 2007)
I once worked out that in any minute of any day there are between three and four thousand people currently reading or listening to one of my books. Makes you think, doesn’t it? In fact I could go further: I started out in business as a road and sewer contractor then went on to house building. So, there are several hundred people living in houses I’ve built, thousands of people driving up and down roads I’ve built, and don’t get me started about the sewers. I’ve painted and drawn pictures that still hang on walls and I’ve raised the odd laugh at my after-dinner and stage acts. They send me letters as well...
Dear Ken, Thank you so much for last Friday night. Although it took longer to get you on than I had hoped you were more than worth the wait. You are unquestionably the best golf club speaker I have encountered by some considerable margin. You judged the mood of the evening and of the attendees perfectly and your delivery, wit and charm had them eating out of your hand. I have received so many compliments from those attending and every single one has had nothing but fulsome praise for your performance. Hardened old golfers, of which we have a number, have told me how they cannot remember a better after dinner speech... You were terrific.
Clive Richards. 2009 Captain: Hebden Bridge Golf Club
Writers tend to get together from time to time and it gives us a chance to meet our own favourites. A long time favourite of mine is David Nobbs (left), creator of Reginald Perrin and Pratt of the Argus. Henry Pratt is one of my favourite literary comic characters. I met David at an author’s lunch in Harrogate and had a chat about how he creates his works of comic genius. I did mention my own work of comic genius to him — my Mad Carew series. It’s not actually supposed to be funny, but I do find it a struggle to keep the comedy out of my work.
On the other side of the coin are the truly grisly crime writers, most of whom are women, and the queen of these is American crime writer, the great Tess Gerritsen (left). I’ve met Tess a few times. She used to be a doctor and has an unhealthy knowledge of pathology, with which she shocks the reader. She told me over a few drinks how she takes great pleasure from “grossing ’em out”. That’s the gentle sex for you.
Dear Ken,
I have thoroughly enjoyed Cleo Kelly and Jacky Boy - Both audio books. I am disabled with MS, and spend much of my time lying down so audio books are nice. Your voice is clear and easy to listen to as well! Thank you for giving me such pleasure. Mrs Ferol Ann Wright
My childhood was humble but happy, with nothing I’d ever wish to change. My education was at a Catholic grammar school and subsequently as a day release student at the Leeds College of Technology studying structural engineering, which was probably a dodgy path to take. I’d have been better off taking the path signposted Artists and Idiots. Still, I’ve had a varied life which cuts down on the research I need to do. Val and I have five great children, and eleven fabulous grand children, so I know a thing or two about family relationships.
Dear Ken,
I am 72 years old and was born and brought up in the Hunslet Carr district of Leeds. not the most glamorous area. Your books remind me of growing up in this working class area during the war years, and in spite of the hard times how much happier as children we were. I now live in Richmond North Yorkshire. Thank you for the pleasure your books have given me and please keep them coming.Mavis
Dear Ken,
I know you probably hear this all the time but I read your book called Annie’s Legacy and I just had to say you are a wonderful author and the story really moved me. Its like I was there in the house then to moving in with Leonard and at the church and then in that home. I have read many of your books but have to say that Annies Legacy really moved me even though its fiction things like that actually used to happen back then. I had given up on reading until my friend lent me your book. I’m so grateful and just wanted to thank you for helping me get back into reading. Lindsay Flory x
Did you see how I got a kiss from Lindsay? Among the friends and acquaintances whose knowledge I have on tap I can list coppers of all ranks, ex-army lads, teachers, doctors, a pathologist, captains of industry, tradesmen, workmen, actors and comedians. The construction industry doesn’t disqualify a man for having done time and I’ve employed my share of villains over the years. If they can do the job they get the job, providing they don’t cause me any trouble. I’m currently writing a book about a convicted murderer — Billy Byrne who served 25 years for a particularly vicious axe murder committed in Chapeltown, Leeds in 1977 — the very patch where the Yorkshire Ripper was then operating. Billy’s partner-in-crime was let out on life licence after 12 years, having pleaded guilty. Billy pleaded not guilty from day one and never changed his plea. This had the effect of him being classified as IDOM — In Denial of Murder. Parole boards tend to take a dim view of IDOMS and they certainly took a dim view of Billy. He eventually got out in 2002 on a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights. I strongly believe him to be not guilty. Either way his story is disturbing, fascinating, funny and tragic.
Dear Ken, I am a physically disabled person and I love reading particularly sagas... I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed reading Hope Street. I thought the plot was very good and I felt as though I was in a Working Men’s Club hearing the character Maggie sing... Anyway I hope to be reading more of your novels, especially if they are set in Yorkshire.
Andrew Houchin Nottingham
The various characters are very true to life as the author gives them background and makes them very much flesh and blood. The plots are very intricate and you are almost on the edge of your seat reading to see what will happen next. This very enjoyable, hard to put down book has some very witty parts as the plot twists and turns and all the various elements come together in an unexpected ending. This is the second book I've read in this series and I look forward to reading the further adventures of "Mad" Sam Carew. EUROCRIME on LOSER
Hi there Ken, started reading your books on the recommendations of your fellow author Sheila Quigley. I am now on Loser, so hurry and write another. I love Sam Carew and as a single mum with a busy three year old it is great escapism, so thank you. Julie Kouirat.
This last letter brings me neatly on to the subject of my mate, author, Sheila Quigley, who comes from Houghton-le-Spring up near Sunderland. Sheila’s a great laugh. We tour bookshops and libraries as Murder Ink, (A name dreamt up by one of Waterstone’s managers), doing what are loosely called “Events’. Well, with Sheila being who she is, and me spending so much time doing stand-up, it’s more of a comedy routine than an educational experience, but we draw good crowds. We’ve done a lot of events at Borders but that’s gone the way of all good book shops. This year we’re going to be joined by Matt Hilton, whose first book, Dead Man’s Dust, hit the best seller lists.
GOOD LUCK BAD TEMPER is the start of a new series. Just to give you a taste of it I’ve printed the beginning below. It’s set mainly in New York. The lead character is a bloke called Stryker, who’s a bugger when he gets going. Stryker is a former British commando who, during a ferocious fit of good luck and bad temper, won the Victoria Cross in Afghanistan. On leaving the army and just two days after he’s told that he was adopted as a baby, his adoptive parents are killed in a terrorist attack aimed at him. He then discovers that on the day he was born, his real father, Joe Corcoran, butchered to death the world light heavyweight boxing champion and his family. Stryker goes over to the States to see this monster who is his real father, now rotting in Sing Sing prison for his sins. Stryker soon realises his new-found dad was framed by vicious New York crime boss, Felix Watchman. Stryker infiltrates Watchman’s gang in order to prove his dad innocent.
He teams up with Watchman’s daughter, the beautiful Danielle DiCaro, who also has good reason to hate her father and together they set about trying to prove Joe innocent, which is a deadly task considering the merciless man they’re up against. Stryker soon proves himself to be Watchman’s most effective soldier, but will Watchman’s cunning and cruelty lead to Stryker’s and Danielle’s downfall? You’ll never know unless you read the book. To buy it, click here.
GOOD LUCK BAD TEMPER
9.00 pm. October 9th 1979. Long Island, New York.
A sharp gust of wind rattles through overhead branches and brings down a flurry of saturated leaves to
add to the suffering pouring from the black sky and down the neck of Watchman’s reluctant employee. It’s a poor night to be hiding behind bushes in someone’s yard; especially with what the job entails. Warm, dry cloth next to the skin is a must when swinging an axe at human flesh; anyone who knows anything about butchery knows that. But not Watchman.
This is what Watchman blithely dismisses as Wet Work, and he ain’t talking about the weather. Precision is required for such work, and precision requires comfortable working conditions. Watchman should know this, but he cares not for his employees’ working conditions. Do the job or die. These are his working conditions. He cares not a stuff about anything except his reputation, which has been besmirched by the idiot boxer who lives in the house — but not for long. He won’t be living anywhere for long. World champion or not, a man has to show respect to his mentor.
Felix Watchman would not be overly impressed if he knew his employee is using drugs to wash away the reluctance. It’s the only way; rendering the mind clear and the conscience absent. A syringe full of brown heroin and acid injected straight into the vein has just taken away all the rights and wrongs of tonight’s work. The euphoric rush has already been and gone, leaving behind it that good old, don’t give a shit about anything feeling, which will last maybe a couple of hours. Long enough. After that it’ll be happy confusion with the happiness leaking away, to be replaced by emptiness, panic, sickness and pain in that order — a crippling, racking pain which can only be relieved by another fix or maybe death. Either or — who cares? Right now nothing matters. Right now life is a passing joke. Wrong. One life matters. The precious life that must be saved at all cost. The life of the beloved.
Watchman is without a conscience. Watchman is a grotesquely evil man. He is also a most unsightly man. Some years previously a Brooklyn pimp describes him, with unwise accuracy, as being a big, ugly douchebag with a head like a hairy scrotum. Watchman, who has a down on pimps ever since he finds out his prostitute mother has been murdered by one, hears about this disrespectful behaviour and dispatches two of his employees to attend to the matter. Without bothering with anaesthetic they amputate the man’s testicles and invite him to eat them. After learning that Mr Watchman is offering the alternative of slow and painful death the man complies. This impresses Felix, who considers himself to be a firm but fair man. He keeps his word and allows the man to live — albeit a life of celibacy and chronic dyspepsia. The story quickly spreads through the five New York boroughs and people learn not to insult him. This also goes for the NYPD who have an unwritten rule about self-preservation.
According to received information the boxer and his wife will in be in bed within an hour and asleep fifteen minutes after that. Boxers need to keep regular hours when they’re in training. The reluctant employee pulls the hood up on the US Army parka, runs a finger across the blade of the weapon which has been honed to scalpel sharpness. The hand axe. Invented one point two million years ago and still existing without drastic change or improvement in design. It had totally changed Stone-Age man’s life. He could now kill animals, chop meat, chop trees — chop enemies. The most successful piece of human technology in history. Must watch and wait for the house lights to go out; first the downstairs lights then the bedroom. After that, go to work in forty five minutes, maybe half an hour if this rain doesn’t ease off.
‘You must carry out the job with extreme prejudice,’ are Watchman’s orders. He got the term from some Vietnam war movie. He’s a man who leaves no room for argument. His orders are strict. Do the kids first, then the parents. These are his instructions. As if it matters. How can Watchman possibly know if it is done the other way round? But he’ll know all right. That evil bastard knows everything. Jesus! It’s creepy the way he knows stuff.
The only good thing is that it will prevent the beloved from suffering the most sadistic of deaths, plus ten grand in the pocket. This is the one good thing about Watchman — he pays well. The only good thing. Everything else about him is most seriously bad.
Watchman’s employee watches the house and curses the lights for not going off. Tonight is a night for vigorous butchery. Tonight is a night for plumbing the depths but tomorrow is another day. Free and clear and in the money. It’s something to cling on to during the job. Tonight’s job will hit the media big time. It’ll go national and international within twelve hours, and sicken the hell out of a billion people.
Felix Watchman needs the world to know what happens to people who disobey him and he has his own unique way of conducting a publicity campaign…
QUOTED: "McCoy tells his tale with great dash ... and he brightens it with doses of English-major wit."
Dead or Alive
Don Crinklaw
Booklist. 113.4 (Oct. 15, 2016): p19.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
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Dead or Alive. By Ken McCoy. Oct. 2016. 256p. Severn, $29.99 (9780727886330); e-book (9781780108025).
McCoy offers his take on a familiar crime-fiction character: the policeman or ex-policeman with a chaotic private life and an overenthusiastic manner on the job. The troubled cop here is Detective Inspector Sep Black of the West Yorkshire Police, sacked after an obnoxious, boozed-up politician dies in his custody. Black's scheme for getting his job back requires suspension of disbelief: he disguises himself as a lowlife and offers to snitch for the cop who helped can him. Fortunately, the author notes with a slug of irony, Black's redemption is helped by kidnapping and white-slavery schemes. McCoy tells his tale with great dash-- plus plenty of tension and violence--and he brightens it with doses of English-major wit. Black and a therapist discuss Hamlet, a pipe-smoking prostitute wises him up on Socrates, and Black goes through his day reflecting on Woody Guthrie. And his interrogation methods, described in some detail, are fun to watch. "Dealing with lowlifes and being honest never work together," he says at one point, requiring one to "Tell the truth to start. Lie later." Familiar, yes, but satisfying, too.--Don Crinklaw
QUOTED: "McCoy hits every note for a gritty procedural ... but this everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach never rises above cliche."
Dead or Alive
Publishers Weekly. 263.35 (Aug. 29, 2016): p70.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
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Dead or Alive
Ken McCoy. Severn, $29.99 (256p) ISBN 9780-7278-8633-0
Det. Insp. Septimus "Sep" Black, the hero of this middling series launch set in Yorkshire from McCoy (Mad Carew), is having a bad week. He's convinced that a dirty cop has relocated just to bring him down, his estranged wife has accused him of beating her and won't let him see their young daughter, a politician accused of child abuse has died while in his custody, and a powerful criminal has kidnapped two children. After a violent outburst in a bar, Sep asks for help and is sent to a psychiatric ward. He's sure things can't get worse, but they do, and when he's released, he goes undercover to find those kids and clear his name. McCoy hits every note for a gritty procedural, including two sadistic henchmen that crack wise and kill with impunity, but this everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach never rises above cliche, and the violence often feels gratuitous. Disjointed storytelling--Sep goes from just taking a break from his marriage to never really getting along with his wife in a hot minute--further mars this ho-hum effort. (Oct.)
QUOTED: McCoy keeps a tight rein on his characters ... never letting them drift into B-movie melodrama."
Free as a Bird
David Pitt
Booklist. 104.9-10 (Jan. 1, 2008): p48.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2008 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
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Free as a Bird. By Ken McCoy. Feb. 2008. 256p. Severn, $28.95 (9780727865830).
This family drama, set in England about a decade after World War II, probably shouldn't work as well as it does. Lola and Evie Lawless are the two young daughters of Ezra, a policeman whose tendency toward violence and belligerence isn't confined to the workplace. One day, under circumstances that remain cloudy for years, Ezra dies, and Lola and Evie rejoice at the thought that they are free from his tyranny (even as their mother is convicted of his murder). However, they haven't reckoned on their father's brother, Seth, whose own foulness makes their father's look positively harmless. And as the two girls struggle to live ordinary lives, they are reminded at every turn that Seth isn't a man who will let Ezra's death go unpunished. This has ali the makings of an overwritten, overwrought thriller, but McCoy keeps a tight rein on his characters and his story, never letting them drift into B-movie melodrama, as so many revenge stories are wont to do. A solid thriller. --David Pitt
Pitt, David
QUOTED: "a fine crime debut that may appeal to fans of British procedurals."
McCoy, Ken. Mad Carew
Rex E. Klett
Library Journal. 130.1 (Jan. 1, 2005): p84.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2005 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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McCOY, KEN. Mad Carew. Allison & Busby, dist. by International Pubs. Marketing. Jan. 2005. c.280p. ISBN 0-7490-8310-7. $25.95. M
Sam Carew, ex-police, works in his father's construction company in grungy Unsworth, England, and runs a private investigation outfit on the side. When a valued employee discovers a teenaged murder victim and accidentally kills Sam's father when surprised, circumstantial evidence convicts him of two murders. But Sam, convinced of the man's innocence in the first killing, searches for the real murderer. With careful research, logical interrogation, and a little insider help from PC Owen Price, he corners a major suspect in a below-stairs, blues club/firetrap. The usual broken-family background and internal police department bickering provide credible filler: a fine crime debut that may appeal to fans of British procedurals. The author of six previous novels, McCoy lives in Yorkshire, England.
Klett, Rex E.
QUOTED: "is a well crafted, tense thriller. The action is fast paced, very violent but relieved by doses of good humour"
Reviews
McCoy, Ken - 'Tripper'
Paperback: 320 pages (Mar. 2007) Publisher: Allison & Busby ISBN: 0749081236
Private detective Sam Carew, ex-policeman and part owner of a building firm is given an interesting assignment in sunny Barbados. This seems a more interesting location than his home in wet West Yorkshire! His case successfully completed Sam is asked to investigate the death of a man who jumped from a building, by the man's brother, who believes he would not have committed suicide.
Sam's investigations take him into the brutal northern underworld and put both his and his partner Sally's lives in danger.
Ken McCoy is a Yorkshireman and obviously knows the county well. This is the third "Mad Carew" novel and is a well crafted, tense thriller. The action is fast paced, very violent but relieved by doses of good humour.
I enjoyed the book very much and it keeps your interest. Running alongside the investigation are details commencing in 1967 when a young brother and sister, abandoned by their mother, are taken into care and the tragic events that form their lives. These events have a bearing on the present day investigation.
Geoff Jones, England
August 2007
QUOTED: "Ken McCoy writes in a very gripping style and the pages of this fairly long book just zoom by. It is so entertaining you just don't want it to end."
Reviews
McCoy, Ken - 'Hammerhead'
Hardback: 418 pages (Mar. 2007) Publisher: Allison & Busby ISBN: 0749081341
This is the third book in this series featuring the hero "Mad" Sam Carew. Sam used to be a police detective but now he runs a construction company and a private detective agency. He still keeps in contact with the detectives he used to work with in particular his friend Owen but his former boss, DCI Bowman, he resents, as he blames him for the loss of his job in the police.
Sam is approached to help a beautiful woman because her father, she says, was framed. Anyway, Sam is enticed to help her and discovers that one of the framed father’s murder victims was killed by a blow to the head with a hammer. A series of grisly murders occurs all apparently carried out using a special hammer and Sam, as he uncovers more and more details, is attacked twice unsuccessfully by the murderer. He discovers that there is a crime family called the Robinsons, who are involved in prostitution, drugs, blackmail and even building, like Sam. What is their connection to the seemingly random murders?
The murderer seems to be receiving information from the police as a couple of nearly fatal mistakes occur and no one but the police and Sam knew the details. Is DCI Bowman informing as well as everything else?
Ken McCoy writes in a very gripping style and the pages of this fairly long book just zoom by. It is so entertaining you just don't want it to end, but end it must and it does so in a classic resolution that kept me guessing.
I enjoyed this title very much as Ken McCoy writes with the experience that he has had from 25 years of running a building company and many other jobs as well, before he took up writing. An experienced writer now this is his twelfth book.
Terry Halligan, England
August 2007
QUOTED: "very endearing."
"There is violence in HAMMERHEAD, but it is counteracted by Sam's witty and irreverent banter."
HAMMERHEAD
Ken McCoy
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Allison & Busby, this edition published March, 2007
Reviewed by Sunnie Gill
Sam Carew is an ex-copper. When he was kicked off the force he turned his hand to building after inheriting his father's business. But Sam misses the mental stimulation of an unsolved crime, so he moonlights part-time as a private investigator.
Sometimes the past comes back to haunt Sam. While he is having a drink in a pub one evening, the barmaid informs Sam that he arrested her father who was subsequently charged with murder. Sam remembers that there was something decidedly odd about the man's confession to two murders. Even the judge had doubts. But when a man pleads guilty, you don't question things too much. Sam knows he shouldn't touch this case with a barge-pole but when a beautiful young woman asks you to investigate, you can't say no, can you? At least Sam can't.
The method of one of the murders was very distinctive, involving the use of a ball-pein hammer. When he starts digging with the help of his mate, Detective Owen Price, Sam discovers that this wasn't the only death in this manner. There have been several others. It can't have been the man who confessed. He was locked up. So the question is, is there a serial killer out there, a copy-cat, or something else? Finding the answers to these questions leads Sam into trouble and danger as he finds himself confronting one of the nastiest crime families you're ever likely to meet.
Ken McCoy started his writing career with sagas, mostly historical in nature, about young people overcoming hardships. Somewhere along the line he changed tack and created Sam “Mad” Carew. Sam is intelligent and mouthy, two traits that haven't exactly endeared him to the local constabulary. Too often Sam has made them look silly with his wise-cracking and his ability to solve cases that have left them flummoxed. Sam's nickname is well-earned too, plunging in where lesser mortals (i.e. those with a strong survival instinct) fear to go.
HAMMERHEAD is the third in the Sam Carew series and I found something very endearing about him. He inspires loyalty in the few friends he has and never hesitates to do what he thinks is right. I liked his friends, too: his girlfriend Sally, recovering from being shot; his best mate, Owen Price, a womanising Police Constable who benefits from Sam's intellect; and his business partner, Andrew. There is violence in HAMMERHEAD, but it is counteracted by Sam's witty and irreverent banter which I found hugely entertaining.
I enjoyed every page of HAMMERHEAD. So much so that I have sought out and purchased the other two Sam Carew books McCoy has written and I am eagerly awaiting a fourth installment.
QUOTED: "The author gives his characters background and makes them very much flesh and blood. The plots are very intricate and you are almost on the edge of your seat reading to see what will happen next."
Reviews
McCoy, Ken - 'Loser'
Hardback: 288 pages (Apr. 2008) Publisher: Allison & Busby ISBN: 0749080841
Following on from his three earlier novels in this series featuring Sam Carew, the pace does not let up in this action packed new one either.
There are these five guys that play golf regularly together and as they also do the National Lottery they call themselves "The Syndicate". One of them, Alistair, is a lawyer and is the king-pin of the group but his badly beaten body is discovered accidentally at his house by Jim, another of the golfers, who arrives innocently following a telephone call. The police suddenly arrive and immediately arrest Jim who was been inadvertently stained with blood as a result of attempting the unsuccessful resuscitation of the deceased and they charge him with his murder.
Jim's wife, employs Sam Carew, to find out who really killed Alistair and our hero is an unusual sort of detective as he runs his PI business in parallel with a building business. Jim's wife was an old girlfriend of Sam and is happy to rekindle their relationship whilst he is resting from his investigations.
There is also another strand to the plot in that a local businessman asks Sam to look after the security of an old Dutch master as it is transported from Amsterdam to a local museum and during this an attempt is made to steal it.
An additional element to the plot is that Sam is attacked by three local gypsies and following this one of his friends who had the appropriate military training bombed all of the gypsy encampment and of course our detective is blamed and has even more hassle as a result.
The various characters seem very true to life as the author gives his characters background and makes them very much flesh and blood. The plots are very intricate and you are almost on the edge of your seat reading to see what will happen next.
This very enjoyable, hard to put down book has some very witty parts as the plot twists and turns and all the various elements come together in an unexpected ending. This is the second book I've read in this series and I look forward to reading the further adventures of "Mad" Sam Carew.
Terry Halligan, England
August 2008