Maeve Gardner is visiting Ascroft, eh? to tell us a little about A Ghostwriter’s Guide to Murder.

Welcome, Maeve. Let’s get started, shall we?

Tell us about the novel that you live inside. Is it part of a series? If so, please tell us about the series too.

The story I live inside is my life, and sometimes as they say, life comes at you fast. I thought I’d done well ditching my cheating ex, Gavin. Cut him out of my life and moved on board my boat, the Writer’s Revenge. It was a fresh start for me and my canine companion Captain Jack. Until the Captain managed to unearth a load of cash hidden in a dock bumper next to our home. I reported it to the police but by the time they arrived it had gone missing. Just my luck. I thought they might not believe me when I said something was amiss. But when they found Gavin’s dead body floating face down in the water next to my boat, they seemed convinced. Unfortunately, they were also keen to believe that I had something to do with his presence there. Was it because I ghostwrite mysteries for a living? They were sure I’d gone from penning murders to perpetrating them. It took a long time to sort this out. May I say I almost died. Makes me hope that there isn’t any more adventure in my life for a while, but somehow, I have a sneaky suspicion that we didn’t get to the bottom of everything this time around.

Does the writer control what happens in the story or do you get a say too?

Well, as a writer myself I like to think I have the presence of mind to have some input here and there. She can try to tell my story, but sometimes I am faced with a situation that sends me careening off in a wild direction and the author person is forced to just follow along.

How did you evolve as the main character?

I’ve always been known as a hard worker. Keep your head down and plow ahead. Do the right thing, but finding myself a suspect in a murder inquiry made me sit up and take notice. When no one believes you and you are forced to fight for yourself you discover reserves of strength you didn’t know you had. Who’d have thought that all my years of writing about PI Simon Hill would give me some insights into my own situation. Questions to ask and mistakes to avoid. But I would never have made it without my friends, old and new.

Do you have any other characters you like sharing the story with? If so, why are you partial to them?

I have two friends who’ve been by my side for years and a new friend who lives off my forward bow. India is my best mate. She runs a floating bookshop and is loyal and no nonsense. The things she’s done over the past few weeks to support me I never would have believed. She’s the best. India lives in a tiny flat behind our favorite riverside pub, the Anchor. The Anchor’s landlord Paul is my other close mate. Paul would’ve made a great 80‘s rock and roller––a brooding lead guitar––taut and muscular with heaps of barely contained energy, like a coiled spring waiting for release. His hair’s close cropped, the vestiges of a stint in the navy from what I’ve been able to gather, but I know little else about his past. He’s our mystery man.

What I do know is he’s the perfect publican––serious minded, softly spoken and a good listener. The kind of man that never needs to shout but is always heard.  If you’re in trouble, Paul’s your man. Deeply dependable. Solid.

And our new friend is Ash. Ash is a video gamer and a computer whiz. A hacker according to some, a gifted security analyst according to others. Either way he’s given his all for my cause and I can’t thank him enough.

What’s the place like where you find yourself in this story?

I absolutely adore my home. I live on a narrow boat along the Regent’s Canal in London. The Writer’s Revenge is a narrow-beamed canalboat––five times as long as she is wide––painted a pale yellow with vibrant royal-blue trim along the roof line. We live full time on the canal behind Regent’s Park.

The canals have been a part of London’s history since the early 19^th century. Canal boats were used to transport goods from the docks in London to the four corners of the country. They were towed upriver by horses and raised and lowered as necessary through an elaborate series of locks. The system was the lifeblood of British commerce until the advent of the railway and from that time on the canals fell into disrepair––neglected and largely unused. 

But in the late 1970’s renewed interest in the canals spurred a renaissance for the old waterways. Regent’s Canal is now one of the most popular of the waterside neighborhoods. Cyclists use the towpaths to commute and a flotilla of residential longboats bob nose to tail along the sides of the canal like brightly painted circus caravans. It’s a magical place, when you aren’t being accused of murder that is.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell readers about you and the book?

My story is debuting in the world on July 29^th. If you are kind enough to read about my adventures in a Ghostwriter’s Guide to Murder and you want to know more about life on the canals, and me and the Captain, you can find the author person at the social media sites below.

Thank you for answering my questions, Maeve, and good luck to you and your author, Melinda Mullet, with A Ghostwriter’s Guide to Murder.

Readers can learn more about Maeve and her author, Melinda Mullet by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook, Goodreads, Instagram and LinkedIn pages.

The novel is available at the following online retailers:

Penguin Random House – Amazon – B&N – Bookshop.org – Books-A-Million

About Melinda Mullet: Melinda Mullet is a dual US/UK national. Formerly a lawyer specializing in communications, media, and entertainment law she is now enjoying a second career as a mystery writer.

Melinda is the author of the Whisky Business Mysteries, a six-part series of traditional mysteries set in and around a boutique single malt whisky distillery in Scotland. And coming in July 2025, the first of a new traditional series, A Ghostwriter’s Guide to Murder, set on a houseboat along the Regent’s Canal in London.

Melinda is a travel junkie and a life-long advocate for children’s literacy causes both domestic and international. When she is not in the UK, she lives just outside of Washington, DC, with her whisky-collecting husband and two wild Covid canines named Bailey and Captain Jack.