Race To The Kill by Helen Cadbury @AllisonandBusby #RacetotheKill #BlogTour

It is the middle of a long night shift for PC Sean Denton and his partner PC Gavin Wentworth when they are approached by a dishevelled-looking woman desperate that they follow her. 

She leads them to the old Chasebridge High School where they find the dead body of a Syrian refugee. 

The investigation which points to the neighbouring greyhound stadium finds Denton caught up in a world of immigration, drugs and sexual abuse, and one in which his private life becomes increasingly entwined.

Genre: Crime, Mystery & Thriller
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 9780749022464
Rights: World English
Pub. Date: 21st September 2017
Publisher: Allison and Busby






Race To The Kill by Helen Cadbury is published by Allison and Busby on 21 September 2017 and is the third in the Sean Denton series.

I am honoured to begin the Blog Tour for Race To The Kill here on Random Things.

The world of crime fiction was shocked and saddened to learn of Helen Cadbury's death in June of this year. Helen was one of  the most popular and friendliest authors around, she always had a big welcoming smile, she supported other authors, and bloggers with great advice and funny stories.

It was an honour to count Helen as one of my friends and although we didn't meet up in person very often, we had many online conversations. I miss her smile, her wit and her wisdom.

It's my pleasure to welcome crime author Nick Quantrill here to Random Things today; he's written a piece about Helen, and their friendship.

My friend Helen…

The first time I met Helen was in a tent at a small arts festival on the outskirts of Leeds. In some respects it was standard procedure, quickly bonding and finding some common ground before going on stage as part of a panel of writers. But as the sun started to set, we realised there was no lighting available, so Helen set about politely demanding audience members with bicycle lights handed them over so we could continue. I knew at that point I was going to like her. With our homes in Hull and York being such a short distance apart, and both of us writing very Northern crime novels, it was maybe inevitable that we’d team up for more events.

And so it proved. We shared numerous events in our own cities and further afield and would regularly meet on the road at various festivals. It would always end up with food and drink and talk of family, friends and the latest goings on in the crime writing world. I’m fortunate to have so many good memories, but when I started to arrange a launch party for my latest novel in Hull, it was natural it would be Helen who chaired the night. Generous to a fault, she not only gave up her time to do it, but recognising it was a special night for me, would only accept a drink in exchange for her time. It’s testament to her skill as an interviewer that she also sold out of books on the night, the audience eating out of her hand. I also learned that Helen’s sons knew the York band, Bull, who I’d asked to play a set to open the night. Missing their transport connection, Helen simply threw them and their mountain of equipment into the back of her small car and headed for home.

At that point, Helen was nearing the end of her first treatment cycle and we’d continue to meet in various places and talk about 2017; her hopes for future work, what events we could do together, the ways she could help with Hull Noir, a festival I’m working on, and our children – hers at university, mine just starting school - and everything else in between. The news earlier this year that the cancer had returned was just devastating, the further news it was terminal hard to make any sense of. Yet I was fortunate. Helen lined me up as a replacement for her writer in residence gig at ‘Mystery on the Rails’, a National Railway Museum exhibition in York, so we managed to meet up between treatments. The last time we did that was in Helen’s back garden, a fortnight before she died. We both knew what was coming, but sitting in the sun for a couple of hours talking about everything and nothing and putting the world to rights, was a privilege and something to be thankful for.

One thing we spoke about excitedly was the launch of the “Big City Read” programme, which centres on her first Sean Denton novel, “To Catch a Rabbit”. Helen being Helen, it wasn’t just about her moment in the spotlight, more that she knew how much readers would enjoy hearing from the line-up which includes so many of her friends. Reading “Race to the Kill”, the third Sean Denton novel, is going to be tough knowing there won’t be anymore, the forthcoming poetry collection tougher still. Regardless of genre, though, Helen’s work is packed full of heart and hope and that’s what I intend to remember and celebrate as I read them.

Nick Quantrill - September 2017

My thanks to Nick for sharing his memories of Helen, please do follow the Blog Tour over the next couple of weeks 

Nick Quantrill was born and raised in Hull, an isolated industrial city in East Yorkshire. His latest crime novel, The Dead Can't Talk is published in May 2016 by Caffeine Nights. The Joe Geraghty trilogy, Broken Dreams (2010), The Late Greats (2012), and The Crooked Beat (2013) are also published by Caffeine Nights. His standalone novella, Bang Bang You're Dead (2012) is published by Byker Books.

A prolific short story writer, Nick's work has appeared in Volumes Eight, Nine and Ten of The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime alongside the genre's most respected names. In 2011, Nick became the first person to hold the role of Writer in Residence at Hull Kingston Rovers, contributing sports-based fiction to the match day programme and assisting with the club's literacy programme. His first story for children is included in the Toad Tales anthology published by Wrecking Ball.

When not writing fiction, Nick pens reviews and essays for a variety of football and music websites. He lives in Hull with his wife, daughter and the constant fear that Hull City will let him down.

Find out more about Nick and his work at www.nickquantrill.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter @NickQuantrill

Helen Cadbury, Martin and myself - Harrogate Crime Festival July 2016

Helen Cadbury was a York based writer whose debut novel, To Catch a Rabbit, was joint winner of the Northern Crime Award. 

Helen was born in the Midlands and brought up in Birmingham and Oldham, Lancashire. 

Helen died in June 2017.