Dubbo author penning third novel in crime/drama series

Then you’re in luck.

There’s a new novel available from Australian book stores and a box filled with copies of the novel on the lounge room floor of Dubbo author Toni Grant.

Mrs Grant’s debut novel Serpent Song now has a sequel called Serpent Sting.

Francesca Salucci remains at the centre of the crime/drama series, a work in progress.

“I haven’t put an end number on the series as yet,” Mrs Grant told the Daily Liberal this week. “I’m still enjoying developing the story.”

Serpent Song ends dramatically after Detective Salucci’s investigation into a biker’s death takes her from Sydney to Western NSW and Italy.

In the sequel, her previous affair with the son of a dangerous mafioso threatens her new life and son. 

Publisher of both books, Melbourne-based Brolga Publishing, says Serpent Sting “unravels one family’s desire for revenge and another’s quest for peace” from an Afghanistan war zone to Fiji and Venice.

While people bitten by the book are asking Mrs Grant about Francesca, she’s eager they give the complex character of ex-lover Nicholas a chance.

“I love writing Nicholas but I don’t know if I would really want to meet a person like him in real life,” she said. “But he is different in the second book. You’re shot. You’re nearly dead. You’re going to go through some mental changes.”

Serpent Song is selling in Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Asia. It went to the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2017 as will its sequel in 2018.

“That’s a big deal because that’s where the publisher gets the opportunity to sell the licence to publishers overseas so the book can be translated into different languages for different countries,” Mrs Grant said.

The author, who is writing a third book in the series, will find out the spread of Serpent Song when she gets her next royalty payment. On May 11 she will be signing her new book at the Book Connection in Dubbo from 11am to 1pm.