BRIAN PRICE chats to Paul Burke about FATAL SHOT, Mel Cotton, Chemistry, Biology and the Science of Crime, Terry Pratchett and common science mistakes by crime writers.

Fatal Shot: Pleasure or murder? Was journalist Jenny Pike seeking extreme pleasure or was she murdered? Mexton police and her partner are suspicious. Things just don't add up. Who would want Jenny killed and why? If she was murdered, then why was there no trace of the killer? 

Deadly weapons

A mystery gunman is injured as his weapon blows up in his face. Someone is making blank weapons lethal. Mexton police are baffled. Meanwhile, a ruthless gangster is after a stolen laptop, and he will stop at nothing to get it back. What is on that laptop?

A dangerous turf war

Soon Mexton is in turmoil with illegal firearms, a vengeful crime boss and an impossible crime to solve. A turf war between drug dealers looms and the police seem powerless to stop it. Can DC Mel Cotton and her colleagues solve the riddles facing them without getting killed? Can a lethal conflict be prevented, before someone gets seriously hurt?

Brian Price is a chemist and biologist who retired from the Environment Agency in 2016. He is the author of Crime Writing: How to write the science and runs a website offering tips on science for crime writers (www.crimewriterscience.co.uk). He taught at the Open University for 26 years. He has advised number of leading crime writers. Brian's first crime novel, Fatal Trade, was published by Hobeck Books in 2021. Fatal Shot came out in 2025.

Find out more about Brian at www.brianpriceauthor.co.uk

Recommended Bryan Mason, MW Craven, John Dixon Carr, Martin Edwards, Paul Durston, Mark Billingham, Kathryn Harkup, TG Reid.

Paul Burke is the editor of Crime Time FM, Aspects of Crime and is a CWA Dagger judge. 

Produced by Junkyard Dog

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