If you’d like to be included in this slot, please get in touch: estherchilton@gmail.com. Poems can be up to 60 lines and prose 2000 words. If you’d like to add a short bio and photo, then great. All I ask is that there’s nothing offensive.
This week’s guest, Graeme Cumming, may be known to you because of the help you gave him a few weeks ago with the blurb for his latest book, Borderline, which he is extremely grateful for. The paperback is out now, and the ebook is available to pre-order, so here’s an extract to whet your appetite:
“What kind of help are you looking for?” I asked. “And what makes you think I’m the person to provide it?”
Her head bowed a little. “When I met you last night, you didn’t seem like the kind of bloke who hangs around places like Ronnie’s.”
“Or people like Ronnie,” I put in.
“That was very obvious,” she agreed, looking up through the hair that had fallen across her face. “I’ve never heard anyone talk to him like that.”
And there was me thinking I’d been restrained.
“Everyone just seems to bow and scrape to him. You’re not like that. You weren’t rude, especially, just firm. But it wasn’t just that. It was what you did for Elizabeth.”
“Though you only heard my version of events,” I pointed out.
“That’s true, but there was something in your voice when you talked about it. And your eyes. Ronnie might have been paying you to do it, but you wanted the job, didn’t you?”
I couldn’t deny it. In truth, I’d even been tempted to turn Ronnie’s offer of money down and do it anyway. The money was dirty, whichever side of his business it came from. But then I’d figured it’d be put to better use by me than it would by him.
She reached out and rested her hand on the back of mine. “You’re a good man, Rand.” Which wasn’t strictly true but, since my ego needed stroking back to good health, I was happy to hear her say it. “Good men don’t show up very often in my life.” And that was something I could believe.
“So, going back to my first question, what do you think this good man can do to help?”
“My brother’s in trouble,” she said, sitting back and taking her hand with her. “And I need to find him.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“The police are looking for him.”
Not what I wanted to hear. I generally found it better to steer well clear of the police these days. Then again, it did present a possibility of letting me off the hook. “So why not let them find him? It’ll save you having to go to the trouble.”
Or save me the trouble, in reality. The look she gave me meant she was thinking the same thing.
“They have got much better resources than me.”
“But they’ll also make sure the press know when they find him.”
“The press?” Somewhere in the back of my mind, a distant alarm bell began to make its presence felt. “Who is your brother?”
She reverted to nibbling her lower lip, and her chest began to rise and fall more obviously again. When she eventually answered, I knew exactly why she didn’t want the police to get him.
Blurb
When the system isn’t working, work outside the system.
A search for a missing man thrusts Rand Scott into the dark realms of homelessness, drug dealing and sex clubs.
Kirsty Moore wants to find her brother Johnny, a one-time rock star.
The police also want him – for murder.
And there are others looking who don’t play nicely.
A simple job turns deadly as Rand uncovers a world where money talks louder than the screams of innocent bystanders.
Author bio:
Graeme Cumming lives in Robin Hood country. He has wide and varied taste in fiction, but a particular leaning towards the darker side – though he’s very pleasant when you meet him. Borderline, the first book in his new crime series was released in 2025 and already gained praise from readers.
When not writing, Graeme is an enthusiastic sailor (and, by default, swimmer), and enjoys off-road cycling and walking. He is a past President and Education Director at Sheffield Speakers Club. He also reads (a lot) and loves the cinema.
For more information about Graeme and his books, you can check his website www.graemecumming.co.uk.
Weblinks:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/Graeme-Cumming-1638108329841072/about/
www.twitter.com/GraemeCumming63
https://www.instagram.com/graeme_cumming_author/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2884537.Graeme_Cumming
Esther Chilton 
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