I have news. My new book The Lornea Island Detective Club (the sequel to The Things you find in Rockpools) will be released at some point in the next few weeks and is available to pre-order now. All the early feedback has been pleasingly positive and we’re just doing some last minute proofreading now…

Writing this book was emotional. As I finished the first draft my faithful old dog, Grubby, became ill. He was nearly thirteen so it shouldn’t have been a shock, but when he died it still hit us hard. It meant the editing stage for the book took place while I was coming to terms with Grubby’s death, and a month later our decision to get a new puppy, Loki.

We thought Grubby was a pretty special dog. In fact we used to call him the ‘best dog in the world’. We always knew this wasn’t true in the literal sense of the word, but it was true for us. To put it another way, when innocent little Loki pattered into our house, at just eleven weeks old, he had a massive set of paws to fill.

And editing this book I came to realise a certain parallel. I wouldn’t dream of claiming The Things you find in Rockpools was the best book in the world. Yet it is the one I’ve chosen to write a sequel to. And the reason for that is unquestionably Billy, the 11-year-old protagonist. Unlike Grubby he doesn’t actually exist, and never did. He was just a pattern of thinking inside my head. But that became a string of words on a page, and now that the book has sold over 100,000 copies, those words have created a lot of patterns of thought inside a lot of other heads. I’m not saying that makes him real, but it does make him something. I realised I feel for him in a similar way to how I felt for Grubby. I’m proud of him, and I’m incredibly fond too.
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So just as it was important to me that Loki grows into a worthy successor to Grubby, I became aware of how it was important that the ‘new’ Billy was worthy of the old Billy.

It was something I couldn’t get right at first. In the new book Billy is three years older. I felt a lot of his original ‘charm’ came from his child-like naivety, and there’s a huge difference between an 11 year old and a 14 year old. If he’s suddenly a moody teenager, that’s a lot less charming. But at the same time, he has to move on. It wouldn’t be credible for anyone to go through what happened to Billy in the first book and not be affected by it. So it was a tricky balance to get right. And when you add in the other challenges of a sequel, such as building a new story in a recognisable world, where everything was supposed to be resolved (I didn’t originally plan a sequel to Rockpools), figuring how to make it plausible that a schoolboy could get mixed up in more murder and mystery, and trying to make the book work both as a standalone thriller, and be satisfying for those who read and enjoyed the original book. Well, it took me a while.

I can’t be sure I got there, but after 9 or 10 full drafts (more than I’ve ever done before) I finally feel like I have. Either way, I guess I’m about to find out. So I would be both delighted and honoured if you’d choose to pre-order The Lornea Island Detective Club on Amazon (for a special launch price of £1.99 or USD 2.99). I’ve set a launch date of December 20th, but the ebook will actually be sent out well before that. (I’m not sure yet about the print version because of Xmas delivery times, but I’ll let you know).

I’ll also send chapter 1 out in a few days as a little taster/teaser. Because I quite like chapter 1. So look out for that.

And finally, while I’ve been writing these words Loki has dug up all the soil from the pot plant in my office, and eaten one of Alba’s school shoes. Which is exactly what Grubby would have done when he was a pup. So while he’s a long way from best-dog-in-the-world status, I’m pleased to say that Loki is well on the way. He might even be a contender for best puppy…

I really hope you decide to give the ‘new’ Billy a go, and I hope you think he’s worthy!

Gregg