Detectives In The Dock: Introducing AB Morgan's private detective, Connie Quirk

So, I'm delighted to introduce you to Alison Morgan who is one of the lovliest people you could hope to meet ... and she's a damn good author too. Today she's agreed to do a Detectives in the Dock article to introduce her new character and the first in the series is actually released tomorrow - Happy Book Birthday for tomorrow. Now over to Alison

Alison Morgan gives you: Connie Quirk

Tell us a little about Connie Quirk’s background:

Available here

Connie is one half of P.Q. Investigations. She and Peddyr are a husband and wife
team. They met in Hong Kong where she was born as Fen Fang Wong and where Peddyr worked as a British Officer in the Hong Kong Police. At the time, she was employed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office taking on hush-hush and secret squirrel translations. Even after having two children and moving to the UK she still carries out consultancy work and general translations as well as managing a business. She also has a long history of killing off pot plants. 

 The Fields of Wheat moment… What is the most rebellious thing Connie has ever done?

Marrying Peddyr was her first big rebellion. Her family did not approve of her choice of husband, a Manx man, a policeman at that, who rides motorbikes and enjoys a pint and a game of rugby was not what they had envisioned for their gifted daughter. Given their open criticism and dislike of him, Peddyr had to work hard to win her over. Connie strung him along for a while, but his sense of fun, adventurous nature, and drive to succeed matched hers and neither of them ever regretted the decision to marry. She is the Yin to his Yang, and they remain inseparable.

Which 3 items would Connie bring to a desert island … and why?

A set of kitchen knives would be Connie’s first choice. She is an absolute magician in the kitchen, making meals from whatever comes to hand. This is fortunate because Peddyr is hopeless as a chef and not much better as a kitchen assistant.

Her second item would have to be something to keep her mind occupied because it never stops. A giant puzzle compendium.

The third item would be one of those telescopes that tells you which stars you are looking at in the night sky. Much to Peddyr’s amusement, his wife is fascinated by both Western and Chinese horoscopes which have an ancient basis in astronomy. Being on a desert island for a while would give her the time to apply scientific accuracy to her obsession with the stars.

 What does Connie consider to be her worst trait?

Getting over-excited. Connie knows this all too well, but she just can’t help herself. As a natural optimist she finds the positive in most difficult situations and if a case is proving hard to resolve, she invents stories to fit a hypothesis in the hope of sparking an idea. At these moments she will gabble wild imaginings at turbo speed. Sometimes she talks too much in her rush to share a thought with Peddyr and he has to remind her to slow down. Her greatest excitement comes with news of their first grandchild. A whirlwind of excitement is our Connie and hilarious with it.

 How important is justice to Connie?

Hugely important. It’s why she and Peddyr are a team. She even shouts at the radio or TV when incensed by unfairness or prejudice. However, this does not necessarily mean she adheres strictly to the law of the land. There is natural justice, a sense of what is right to account for and Connie is not averse to putting her principles before her own safety in the search for the truth.

 What turns Connie on?

She’s a speed freak and loves to blow away the cobwebs by riding pillion behind Peddyr on one of his motorbikes or driving her car as if she were in a world rally. Naughty girl. Apart from good food, she’s also aroused by a mystery, her husband and Professor Brian Cox (not all at the same time, I hasten to add). Her favourite brain thrill is a game of Mahjong which she plays on her phone via an app because there are few players of enough skill where she and Peddyr live. A good job really because she does like a flutter…winning turns her on.

 In five words:

Connie's physical appearance: Slight, sleek, smiling and neat.

What Connie's friends think of her: Dynamic, dedicated, determined, decisive, dependable.

 Connie's Five Favourite Things:

Drink/Beverage: Tea

Beatle: George

Ice cream Flavour: Mint and choc chip

Song: Boom Bang a Bang by Lulu

Perfume: Happy from Clinique

 Connie would choose: 

A seedy hotel over camping.

A car chase rather than a shoot-out.

And prefers Sean Connery as James Bond – not Roger Moore, although she does like his eyebrow.

You can find Connie and her husband Peddyr in ‘Over Her Dead Body’ by A B Morgan which is the first in a new series called The Quirk Files due for publication by Hobeck Books on 5^th January (pre-order the e-book now on Amazon http://mybook.to/OverHerDeadBody )

 A little bit about the author

Alison Morgan lives in rural Bedfordshire with her engineer husband and bonkers dog. She spent several decades working on the front line of NHS Mental Health Services and latterly as a specialist nurse and clinical manager for a dedicated psychosis service across her home county. However, when a heart problem brought her career to a juddering halt, Alison needed to find a way of managing her own sanity. Her intention was to write a set of clinical guidelines, but instead a story that had been lurking in her mind for some years came spewing forth onto the pages of what became her first novel.

Since then she has become an established crime writer, unable to stem the flow of ideas. From a writing shack at the top of her garden she creates stories with memorable characters, always with a sprinkling of humour, often drawing on years of experience in the world of psychiatry where the truth can be much stranger than fiction.

www.abmorgan.co.uk

Facebook @ABMorganwriter

Twitter @AliMorgan2304