I wanted to be as accurate as possible with all the law enforcement and legal stuff, so I spent a lot of time reading case law and New York statutes. I had facts in mind and needed to find law that fit my facts.

Emily Donoho – 6 August 2020

The Back Flap

Alex Boswell is a veteran NYPD homicide detective, introspective, world-weary and cynical. He’s been on the job too long, but it’s the center of his life, and the last thing he wants to do is quit.

But strange things are happening that make him question his sanity. They play out against a tangle of cases: the death of an autistic boy in a care home, a deadly armed robbery in Harlem, and an assistant district attorney found dead in his Upper West Side apartment.

Alex feels like he’s losing his grip on reality in a police department culture prizing toughness, where a breakdown could end his career. Can he do his job while hiding his deteriorating mental condition from his colleagues and from himself, or will it overtake him in the end?

This is a sweeping story about death investigation, memory, mental illness, and accepting vulnerability, even when you’re a hardboiled New York police detective.

About the book

What is the book about?

It is about an NYPD homicide detective who has a mental breakdown due to the pressures of the job and things in his past, and it’s about the cases he’s investigating while his health deteriorates.

When did you start writing the book?

Somewhere in 2014. I published the first edition in May 2015. Then at the start of lockdown in March 2020, I decided to rework some pieces of it to make it line up with a sequel, which is currently a work-in-progress. I ended up spending the first two months of lockdown rewriting the whole thing.

How long did it take you to write it?

​ Over a year, at first. The rewrite took two months.

Where did you get the idea from?

To be honest, The West Wing season two episode “Noel,” where Josh Lyman has PTSD from the shooting that took place at the end of season one. The episode jumps between Josh in a therapy session, and flashbacks of what led him to said therapy session. It was a powerful episode, beautifully written and acted. I guess it stayed in my head for years afterwards, so when I sat down to write the novel, I had that in my head as the overall architecture.

Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?

I wanted to be as accurate as possible with all the law enforcement and legal stuff, so I spent a lot of time reading case law and New York statutes. I had facts in mind and needed to find law that fit my facts. There are also those parts where the plot needs to get from A to be B, but you have no idea how to get it there. You spend a lot of time staring at the screen, wondering how to fill the space, and procrastinating.

What came easily?

Dialogue. I really like writing dialogue.

Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?

They are fictitious, but they might have the occasional, small personality trait or quirk borrowed from someone I know.

Do you have a target reader?

Anyone who fancies a novel about policing that doesn’t follow the standard police procedural formula.

About Writing

Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?

I sit in front of my computer, start typing, and let the characters take me wherever they want to go.

Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just chapter headings and a couple of sentences?

I have an outline in my head. Sort of. A few key scenes or things I know need to happen. Then I free-associate my way between those scenes or events.

Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?

I drive straight through to a complete but rough first draft, and then I spend months, if not years, editing and rewriting.

Did you hire a professional editor?

No. I wrangled some volunteers to beta read it, but it’s 160,000 words long. Who can afford that? It would cost hundreds of pounds or dollars. I’ve been a freelance professional editor myself, so between myself and my beta readers, I was confident enough to deal with it myself.

Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?

No.

About Publishing

Did you submit your work to Agents?

No. I’m trying my hand at DIY for the moment.

What made you decide to go Indie, whether self-publishing or with an indie publisher? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?

The first edition was published by a small indie publisher I encountered while looking for beta readers. They seem to have stopped doing any publishing, so when I republished the revised edition this year, I did it myself. In part because I wanted to see if I could, as I appreciate the control you have over your book as an indie author, and there’s a lot less stigma now than there was five or six years ago, and in part, it was a book that was already out there, so I didn’t know if any publisher would accept it.

Did you get your book cover professionally done or did you do it yourself?

I had a vision for the cover, and I knew it would cost a lot to have someone else create that vision. So I did it myself.

Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?

So winging it. I have no idea what I’m doing, and this is the one thing I might yet pay someone to do.

Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?

Be prepared for marketing and PR to feel like pedaling a stationary bike. You will be working hard, but with the sensation of achieving absolutely nothing. It’s a trade-off between losing some creative freedom (not to mention the stress of sending your book to publishers, and then waiting for their response), and having professionals on hand who can market and sell the thing.

About You

Where did you grow up?

Colorado.

Where do you live now?

Glasgow, Scotland.

What would you like readers to know about you?

​This is like one of those mindbending job interview questions. I like mountaineering, horses, Irish traditional music, and self-deprecating, dry humour, which is why I find questions like this so difficult to answer.

What are you working on now?

The sequel, which is an even longer, more sprawling novel than this one. It’s about miscarriages of justice and why no one wants to be a whistleblower in the police department, so it seems particularly pertinent now, even though I started writing it a few years ago.

End of Interview:

For more from Emily, visit her Facebook page.

Get your copy of In The Canyons of Shadows and Light from Amazon US or Amazon UK.