The Roadmap for Louise Miller
What the plan is for the Louise Miller books and the title of the fifth book in the series is revealed.
The Original Plan
When I decided on writing a series of crime novels based around a few characters, I wanted to make sure there was enough material to work with. Did I have enough stories to tell, and how could I make it interesting for readers and different to what other crime fiction authors were putting out?
I knew I wanted to set each book in chronological order, starting in 1987. I also knew I wanted the characters to age in real time as the books progressed. I was writing this plan in late 2020, right when the pandemic was at its height and I knew I wanted eventually to have the characters experience Covid-19 and lockdown, so I simply wrote down the years from 1987 through to 2025—that was 40 books (including a standalone).
With that in mind, I then began to note what I’d like each book to be about. This wasn’t neccessarily the crime that took place, but rather the theme of the book. Dirty Little Secret begins with the discovery of a child’s body in a public phone box, but the book is about spousal and family abuse. Cut And Shut, the third in the series, sees a trio of car thieves die but the theme is racial hate and bigotry.
Nine books have now been fleshed out, with three written and the fourth currently underway. It was a little arrogant and overly ambitious to say that I’d be able to write 40 books in the series, and now, after writing the first three, I believe that the nine book arc I have originally planned will be enough for Louise to deal with.
That is not to say there won’t be more books, it is just that right now, other than potential titles I don’t have any further stories to tell. At least not about Louise.
The plan is to release a Louise Miller book every November, starting with ‘TIL IT BLEEDS, the fourth in the series this year, 2025. Book 5, titled THE DEAD WITHIN, will release in 2026 and the rest of the first nine books, each year until book 9 in 2030.
Dirty Little Secret - available now
From Sorrow’s Hold - available now
Cut And Shut - available now
‘Til It Bleeds - November 2025
The Dead Within - November 2026
? - November 2027
? - November 2028
? - November 2029
? - November 2030
Each can be read on their own, with enough info given as to what has happened before, but I believe and hope you will get more enjoyment from reading the entire nine book story-arc.
What’s After That?
I do have a couple of ideas for more Louise Miller novels—a trilogy of books exploring her time in Manchester in the early 80s prior to her moving back home to Ossett is one, as is another trilogy of books that occur following the conclusing of book 9 (but I can’t say more as it would give away what is to come).
I also have a couple of standalones about other characters we have met—or are about to meet—that I’d like to write, as well as another couple of trilogies of books, one about social media murders and the other set during the pandemic.
Plus I have a very personal literary novel I have been wanting to write for over 20 years. I’m still not in the right place to write this yet, both in terms of skill or emotionally, and there’s a couple of other literary novels I’d like to tackle before I kick this mortal coil.
So lot’s to keep me occupied and for the next six years at least, a new Louise Miller novel every November.
Let me know what you’d like to see after the initial series is finished? What characters would you like to see further explored?
Cheers ~~JP