Fossils aren't dangerous, are they?
Jemma didn't think so.
When 'Jurassic' Jemma Thorne and her dog, Dino, find an incredible fossil on a Dorset beach, she doesn't realise that it will lead to a trail of greed, jealousy and murder.
As the guilt of her past comes back to haunt her, Jemma must fight to protect her family, her friends, her town and herself.
Can she overcome her demons and escape from the danger surrounding her?
You’ll love this gripping mystery, because everybody loves reading a book that they can’t put down.
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A Dangerous Fossil by John J Delaney was published in November 2022. As part of this #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour I am delighted to share an extract from the book with you today.
Extract from A Dangerous Fossil by John J Delaney
The work continued frantically as the sea lapped the section being cleared. Jemma stopped measuring and just dug like mad. The helpers grabbed the bones from her and loaded them onto the handcart but they struggled to manoeuvre it over the stones so they left it by the van and used their arms to carry the next batch.
Then a larger wave splashed into the hole where Jemma was digging. She panicked and jumped. ‘Bloody hell! We need to build a wall of rocks to protect this last bit.’
From where she was working, Sally shouted over to Jemma, ‘You’re not King Canute, you know, we should leave now. We’re in danger of getting cut off. Can’t we give up with this section and come back tomorrow?’
What a lightweight. Jemma frowned. ‘No way, it’d be destroyed by tomorrow. We’re nearly done. We can’t give up now we’re so close.’ She felt exhausted but was determined to move all the fossil before the sea commenced its demolition job.
Vincent placed some bones straight into a sack. ‘This is going to take some sorting out in the workshop.’ He handed some more sacks to the lads for them to carry off, as the waves crashed around their feet.
Jemma worked in a pool of cold seawater, which the waves kept topping up. As she struggled with the last few bones, she saw Sally stand and put her tools back in her bag. ‘You done, Sally?’
Sally looked down at her filthy clothes. ‘Yep. I’ve finished the tail section. Time to get off the beach before we’re all cut off.’
‘Thanks, Sally,’ Jemma said. ‘I’m almost done here too.’
A larger wave came splashing in and knocked Jemma over. She got up spitting out water and waited for the wave to retreat before pulling out the last piece of bone. She climbed back to her feet, ‘Job done. Everybody off the beach. Stay close to the top on the way back as the rocks will be slippery and we don’t want anyone washed into the sea. Freddie, will you help me take the tools back, please?’
‘Yeah, course I will,’ he replied.
The tired, wet workers carried the remaining sacks back to the van. Billy went with them to open it and help load them up.
‘Thank God, we’re done.’ Sally shook her coat. ‘This is filthy and my boots are full of water. Come on, Vincent, let’s go and have a drink in the Anchor.’
‘Good idea,’ he said and they walked off together.
Jemma waved to everybody. ‘Thanks for the help,’ but her words were blown away by the wind. She had a last look round before leaving. Even in the rain the beach looked beautiful.
As the muddy workers retreated down the beach, she turned to Freddie. ‘Do you think the landlord will let them in?’
He laughed. ‘I bet he’s used to sandy tourists and wet dogs.’
‘Talking of dogs, where’s Dino?’ Jemma asked.
Freddie pointed. ‘He’s sniffing around at the base of the cliff.’
From where she stood, she could see his tail sticking up. ‘Come on, Dino! We’re off.’
Dino ignored her to carry on investigating interesting smells.
She shouted again. ‘Dino, I’m not messing about. We need to go.’
Her dog’s selective deafness seemed to have returned.
‘Bloody stay there then. Drown for all I care.’
Jemma and Freddie took down the rope cordon and grabbed the last few tools. As she put them in her rucksack, she saw that the others had reached the car park at the end. ‘Wow, they can shift themselves when the pub’s calling.’
Freddie laughed. ‘Time for us to follow.’
Jemma picked her way along the top of the shingle and Freddie followed behind. ‘You OK?’ She kept an eye on the waves breaking ever higher up the beach.
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I’d say I’m ready for a shower.’
A wave crashed right in front of where they were walking so they hung back and dashed across before the next one could break.
Jemma shouted over her shoulder, ‘Dino, come on, keep up.’
Just then there was a rumble and a loud crashing noise as a nearby section of the cliff collapsed onto the beach.
She grabbed Freddie’s hand. ‘Run.’
They scrambled over the rocks away from the falling stones. A few smaller pieces flew through the air and hit them on the legs. Once they were clear of the dust they turned and saw a new pile of debris behind them.
There was a large mound of rocks, mud and smaller stones, all mixed together and piled up on the beach.
Jemma had turned pale. ‘My God! That’s a massive chunk of the cliffs that’s come down. I’m glad Sally wasn’t here to see that or I’d never hear the last of it.’
Freddie realised he was still holding her hand and pulled away embarrassed. ‘I’ve never seen a rockfall that big before.’
She turned and looked around. ‘We’d better shift ourselves in case there are any more slips.’
Freddie panted. ‘I can’t believe how close that was. If we’d been standing where you found the fossil, we’d have been flattened.’
‘I didn’t find it, Dino did.’ Jemma looked at Freddie in horror. She screamed, ‘Dino!’
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John has written the book for three musicals (Directions, Dream Home and 68 The Musical ) and a pantomime. He has also written the libretto for an opera called Tir na Nog and one of the arias from the piece, This Mortal Man, was included on the composers album which reached number 1 on the Classical charts in the UK and number 18 on the USA Billboard chart.
A Dangerous Fossil is John’s first novel and features sassy fossil hunter ‘Jurassic’ Jemma Thorne. A tale of discovery, greed and murder set on Dorset’s Jurassic coast. John is currently planning a sequel with more adventures for Jemma and her dog Dino.
Twitter @DelaneyJohn
Instagram @john.j.delaney.author
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