A FORMER RTÉ senior promotions producer with strong ties to Kilkee has released her first crime thriller.
Gaye Maguire in June 2022 left behind a long and award-winning career in television to pursue her passion for creative writing and crime fiction. Her debut novel, ‘Blood Mothers’ an Amazon exclusive title, is available worldwide in Hardback, Paperback and Kindle editions.
Published by Inkubator Books, it featured in the Amazon Top 100 in its first week of publication. It’s also hit the number one spot in Irish Crime on Amazon. Book Bloggers and Goodreads have given it a five star rating.
Originally from Co Limerick, Gaye has a special place in her heart for Kilkee. She explained, “My grandfather Tom Honan was the Station Master in Kilkee back in the 40’s and 50’s before I was born. There were five Honan sisters and one brother and my mum Maura was the eldest girl, she became a national school teacher, married a Limerick man and moved to Dublin, where I was born. We went back to Kilkee every Summer on holiday, and it holds a special place in my heart”.
Both of her parents were avid readers with a penchant for crime fiction. “I remember being taken to the local library by my dad every Saturday from when I was only a toddler, and we were all mad about books. I graduated from Enid Blyton to Agatha Christie when I was nine or ten, so I think they would be very proud that I’ve had a crime novel published”.
Described as a fast-paced thrilled, ‘Blood Mothers’ is the first of a crime series introducing Detective Sergeant, Kate Hamilton. When a rich socialite is found hacked to death in her Dublin home, it marks the beginning of a killing spree that leaves five apparently unconnected elderly people brutally slain. Kate is described as a brilliant and ambitious detective, she soon uncovers the connection between the victims, they were all involved in an illegal and cruel adoption scheme originating in a private Mother and Baby Home many years earlier. When she discovers she has a personal link with both victims and murderer, Kate realises her own life is in danger, as never before.
Getting a book published was always a goal for Gaye who had been writing in her spare time for many years including taking creative writing courses, attending seminars and festivals.
On the idea behind her first book, she said, “I’m old enough to remember a time when becoming pregnant out of wedlock was considered catastrophic, I remember girls who disappeared from school with mysterious illnesses, but who I later found out had been pregnant, and had given up their babies for adoption. Families either sent them away or hid them away, it was a cruel and harsh world to be a young woman in”.
Already, she has been offered a four-book deal with Inkubator Books, the second book ‘Dark Waters’ will be released next June and focuses on young people who engage with strangers online and fall prey to online predators. “After a long career in TV, working for the BBC, ITV and finally RTE, I retired in June 2022. At my leaving do a colleague asked me what my plans were and I confided that I had completed my first crime novel during lockdown and was going to keep writing and trying to get published. He told me about Inkubator Books, I contacted them and within a few weeks they read my first novel and offered me a four-book deal”.
Authors that Gaye admires include Harlan Coben, Linwood Barclay, Steve Cavanagh, Jane Casey, Sam Blake, Catherine Ryan Howard and Arlene Hunt. She admits that she is still working on her own writing routine, “I try to be at my laptop by about ten most mornings, and I like to get between one and three thousand words done most days. I don’t always achieve that, but that’s the aim”.
She encouraged aspiring writers to take creative writing classes, there’s so much to learn about the craft. You might have the best story in the world in your head, but getting it down on the page in a way that readers will enjoy is a craft. You need to have a way with words and good ideas and perseverance, then just go for it”.
After a career in television, could her books end up becoming a series. “I would love to see my books adapted for a TV series. When I’m writing I can see the events unfolding in my mind just like on screen, and I love television with a passion after forty years working in broadcasting,” she responded.
Setting a novel in Clare is something that may yet occur. “I would love to set a novel in Clare, especially as I’d simply have to spend lots of time there, for research purposes of course! I’m working on ideas for book number 3 now, so it’s a distinct possibility. I love the sea, and there’s something about seaside towns that lends itself to murder, in my head”.
