SW Publishing

Hi there !


Welcome to the website of SW Publishing.


It was set up to help me self publish a trilogy of crime thrillers set in and around The Derbyshire Dales and Chesterfield.


The first novel "An Accidental Death" was published in November 2021.


The second novel "The Burden of Evidence" will be published on 26th September 2023.


The third novel (as yet un-named) will hopefully be published in the summer of 2024. 

The author served with the police as a Detective in the Derbyshire Dales and brings to his novels a realism and authenticty to the characters and police procedures detailed in his novels. In his later service Steve specialised in National and International Fraud as well as Money Laundering investigations.

After leaving the Police Steve qualified as a teacher and taught Law and Criminology.  

Background to the Authors First Novel

In October 2020 during the Covid pandemic I was sat at home watching the rain hammering against the patio window and knew I was not going to be able to go out for my morning walk. My mind started wandering to the things I had always wanted to do before I shuffled off the plank of life and amongst that bucket list I  remembered that one thing I had always promised myself  was that I would write a novel. That day was as good a day to start as any and so I got my laptop out and started writing............

Of course it was plain sailing from that point and I typed out 100,000 words of story in no time......

Well actually it wasn't like that at all. I had a bit of an idea of a police investigation into a murder based in the Derbyshire Dales but after about a 1000 words it just ran out of steam....so I started again...and again...and again. Eventually in desperation for some sort of inspiration I sat down and wrote a basic plan with just a couple of characters and an ending. That gave me some momentum to continue and so I wrote a first chapter and the ending.

The story was developing but I realised that the story would have to take the characters from the first chapter to the final one. It would also need some extra characters to help the story along. I just started filling in the gaps and adding characters. I then had to re-write the ending to fit in with all the new characters.

It was at this point that I also had to ensure that none of the characters bore any resemblence to people I had either worked with or dealt with in my time in the police service.... yet more re-writing.

I had the characters and the story and was happy with what I had written and gave it to my partner to read through. Well all feedback is good including negative or should I say constructive !

I went back to the characters, I wanted them all to develop through the novel. I also needed an emotional theme running through the story.

I was talking to an ex-colleague one evening and we got talking about how we dealt with the really horrendous deaths and murders we had dealt with. The conversation sparked an idea for the theme of the novel... How do different people deal with death and loss.

I kept the story but re-wrote the novel. This time I tried to envisage how each of the characters would deal with the deaths emotionally in the story. That was just about it ..... other than weeks and weeks of re-writing and editing.

I had the novel just about written and needed some independent feedback as to whether it was any good as a read. I contacted some people that did not know me very well through social media and asked if they would read through the novel and tell me whether the novel kept them engaged and whether the story was good or not.


The feedback was very positive and so I decided to publish.


Next step ... I needed a cover and contacted a local graphic designer for the artwork. I had an idea for the front and book covers and she helped putting those ideas into reality.


I had a novel, a cover......all I needed now was a company to print it, an ISBN, a barcode, a website, a bank account, a facebook page, an online shop, a budget, advertising, a digital formatted copy, a kindle version, an audio book.......


5 Star *****

Being "ex job" I mostly avoid reading police fiction, and certainly avoid most police telly stuff. But in this case I decided to give the book a try.
I'm so glad that I did too. It's an excellent read, very fast paced, with interesting characters & an exciting series of adventures. The author is "ex job" too , which can easily be seen in the books content. I will definitely look for this new author, should he write any more books! MF

5 Star *****

Just finished reading " An Accidental Death" and thoroughly enjoyed reading it couldnt wait to get onto the next chapter to see how the many twists and turns evolve. I spent the 1st 27 years of my life living in Winster and attended school in Darley Dale so many of the locations were well known to me. However when I lived in Winster dont think anyone as bad as the "traynors" lived on Leacroft Road. Well done and look forward to your next novel.

5 Star *****

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It kept my interest from start to finish. A very good story with plenty of action, made even more enjoyable for me as I knew all the places mentioned. I've no hesitation recommending this book and I hope there will be more to come from this author. JH

5 Star *****

Hi Steve I've just finished your book. I started it xmas day and haven't been able to put it down. I highly recommend it and look forward to your next one. BD

Book Reviews

5 Star *****

I didn’t put it down, twists and turns, great characters and plot.
Looking forward to the next one. Buy it!  JC

Online Sales

An e-book is available from amazon book store here An Accidental Death eBook : Winnard, Steve: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

 

I am very happy to sign copies on request

An e-book is available from amazon book store here An Accidental Death eBook : Winnard, Steve: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store 

The paperback is available to purchase on the online shop below on this website.


Online Sales

An overdose…a drowning…a vicious rape… but can the evidence of each be trusted?


Twelve months after a series of murders in and around Bakewell, policing in the Derbyshire Dales has returned to the normal everyday grind of gathering evidence of property crimes and local drug dealing until the chance sighting of a local criminal leads Detective Mulvey and her colleagues in the Derbyshire Police into a spiral of historical murders and personal danger.


The explosive new thriller from Steve Winnard carries on from the fast paced and bloody murders in the Derbyshire Dales dealt with by Detectives Cath Mulvey, Dave Baker and John Dicks in his first novel “An Accidental Death”. This time the Detectives must solve a number of historical murders whilst also dealing with a group of violent ruthless criminals as well as corruption within their own Force.  


The Derbyshire Dales… where cops deal with every day jobs, and every day people.....until every day is not as it seems.

Acknowledgements

For the amazing help in designing the book cover to Emma Bradford at PersonalisedbyHumblebumbles . The way she took my design idea and put them into reality was absolutely brilliant