I am delighted to share an extract with you all today for A Thoughtful Woman by K.T. Findlay. Let me show you the synopsis and then I’ll share the extract…

They say revenge is a dish best served cold, but where’s the fun in that?
Artist Sally Mellors has planned the perfect revenge, but with two secret agents on her tail, and her best friends running the police investigation, getting away with murder is going to be tricky…

Everybody loves Sally. She’s a funny, generous, warm hearted friend, without a nasty bone in her body.
Isn’t she?

Unknown to her friends, Sally’s discovered another side to herself, cool headed and relentless, as she hunts down the three men who killed her husband. But Sally’s not the only one with an interest in the trio. Unknown to her, two agents have arrived in town, urgently hunting a missing man and his diary, which could blow their organisation apart. Their best leads are the very men that Sally’s hunting, and she’s getting in the way… 

The inspiration behind A Thoughtful Woman.
The justice system is an intriguing beast. We expect it to be fair, which is why we allow it to resolve our disputes instead of simply taking revenge ourselves, but watch an individual case play out in court and it can seem more like a high stakes game between lawyers than the pursuit of absolute truth. And if you think it’s a game, do you still accept the result if you lose? Is that still justice? At what point will a perfectly normal, perfectly decent person snap, and what happens when they do? Is it possible to plunge into the darkness of revenge and remain the normal, decent happy person you were before you started? Sally Mellors is about to find out. 

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K.T Findaly chose this particular extract because “it’s a nice stand alone vignette that doesn’t give away any spoilers, but is actually a crucial moment in the story. In this extract, the police are trying to track down a dominatrix linked to murder victim Andrew Holmes. Detective Inspector Peregrin McEwan is pursuing a lead” Here is the Extract…

They were sitting together in Holmes’s office on Friday morning because Jenny had phoned him first thing, to tell him she’d found a locked personal diary in Holmes’s office safe. Peregrin took just thirty seconds to open the pretty lock strap with a paperclip, taking care not to damage it.

‘Yuk.’ said Jenny. ‘He might as well not have bothered having a lock at all!’

Peregrin laughed. ‘More for show than anything else these things.’

He opened the book and began to read. After just a minute his raised eyebrows and gaping mouth caused Jenny to ask him what on earth was in it. ‘I have to say,’ he said slowly, ‘that if this had been my diary, and I was writing this kind of thing in it, I’d have bought myself a much better lock!’

‘But why? What’s it about? Come on, I found it!’ demanded Jenny, trying to read over his shoulder.

Peregrin closed the book. ‘Just how much do you know about Mr Holmes’s personal life?’

‘Not a huge amount. Lives in the best house in Ornamental Estate, has a live-in manservant called Algy, likes his cars, likes single malt Scotch whisky and goes to the theatre a lot. That’s about it.’

‘So you don’t know anything about his romantic life?’ asked Peregrin, ignoring her use of the present tense.

‘I wasn’t even aware that he had one. He never talked about having an interest in a woman, or going out to dinner with one, or anything like that.’

Peregrin tapped the diary. ‘This book is a hell of a lot more personal than any of that! It basically documents his sex life on a weekly basis. Mind you, sometimes it was so exciting he just writes an exclamation mark!’

Jenny put her hand up to her mouth but couldn’t hide her smile. ‘Golly! It would have been funny if I’d read that!’

Peregrin smiled fixedly back. ‘Or you might have been seeing a doctor to fix your jaw after it dropped through your desk! I’m afraid I’ll have to take it away. Sorry about that.’

‘Oh well, I suppose that’s why I called you.’ said Jenny wistfully.

Near the back of the book, amongst the empty pages, Peregrin found a phone number. Not wanting to use the phone at the lawyers, he went to the Dalton police station and dialled it from there.

‘Good morning. This is Miss Helen speaking.’ The voice was warm, matter of fact and confident.

‘Good morning Miss Helen. My name is Detective Inspector Peregrin McEwan. I’m calling you because I’ve just found your telephone number in the diary of a man who seems to have been one of your clients.’

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Peregrin returned to the MIR, and was instantly handed a list of professional ladies in Miss Helen’s line of work.

‘You might want to work your way through this little lot Perry.’ grinned Goodwin. ‘I’m sure they’ll give you something for your memoirs!’

Peregrin flicked quickly down the list until he came to Miss Helen.

‘I think I’ll start with this one if you don’t mind sir. I already have an appointment to see her at 1:15 this afternoon.’

‘Oooooeeeerrr!’ said Susan. ‘Aren’t you full of surprises?’

‘Ha ha ha.’ he replied. ‘Christ. It’s just like being back at school! As a matter of fact, I picked up Holmes’s diary from Jenny Wills this morning. It’s got Miss Helen’s name in it.’

Susan and Tony continued to laugh.

‘I’m sure I don’t know what you two are laughing at. You’re coming with me!’

Tony blanched, but Susan rubbed her hands together. ‘Oh goodie! Perhaps I’ll get some tips on how to keep you lot in line!’

Peregrine looked at her firmly, but that just made Susan laugh all the harder.

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Well, I don’t know about you but I am definitely intrigued and rather amused by this extract 😯😂❤ and it has made me quite sad that I didn’t have the time to read it for the Blog Tour!

K.T. Findlay lives on a small farm where he dovetails his writing with fighting the blackberry and convincing the quadbike that killing its rider isn’t a vital part of its job description.

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