A Moment With… Colin Garrow

It’s a pleasure to be welcoming Colin Garrow to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for his latest novel, Overkill.

Edinburgh, Christmas Eve, 1936. A gruesome double murder. A white-faced killer. A mysterious stranger…

Still haunted by his recent past, Professor Finlay MacBeth is called in to assist the police following an horrific double murder. Traces of greasepaint and white cotton lead MacBeth and Inspector Callaghan to the Christmas Circus, but while they search for clues, someone else is watching them.

Meanwhile, bent cop Kilmartin still has MacBeth in his sights…

In this thriller series set in Edinburgh, Overkill is book #2 in the Finlay MacBeth series.

To talk to us about creating a series, it’s over to you, Colin. 

Creating a new series is a bit of a challenge for any author – not only must you come up with a bunch of brand-new characters, but you also need to know where they live, what work they do and any interesting pasts they’ve had before appearing fully-formed in a new adventure. I’m not a plotter so never have any kind of outline to work from before I start writing. However, I do need to have a clear idea of the main character. With Metropolis, book one in the Finlay MacBeth series, I spent a lot of time working out who MacBeth might be, where he came from, what skills he might have and what (if any) issues might continue to throw up problems for him (such as being continually haunted by a dead man).

I decided that while MacBeth should be intelligent in an academic way (Professor of English), it would be nice if he already had a reputation for solving crimes. As can be seen in Metropolis, his ability to solve a well-publicised murder in London granted him a degree of notoriety by the time he arrived in Edinburgh.

One thing I like to do, is to start each book with a bit of a bang. While Metropolis begins with a man in a coffin who appears to be a victim, Overkill jumps straight in with a strange, white-faced killer breaking into a house. At first, MacBeth and his policeman pal are disturbed by the clues – white power and greasepaint seem to point in a specific direction. But of course, that could be a bit of a red herring.

Not knowing what’s going to happen to my characters is exciting and a little scary, since they tend to do things that take me by surprise. I’m currently working on the third book in the series, Hellraiser, where one of the main characters turns out to have had some sort of relationship with a villain – a relationship that puts them in danger.

In one respect, I’m a tad unusual in that I prefer to have the book title and cover finished before I get down to writing, that way I have a clear image in my head of where I’m going (even though I don’t know where I’m going!) Another little quirk of mine is to use book titles that are meaningful to me, so the Finlay MacBeth books are all named after songs. If you can guess what the connection is, it’ll give you a clue to the sort of music I like.

I’m not a big fan of romance, but I do like my characters to have some kind of romantic attachments – something to add a little frisson to their lives. With MacBeth, the romance comes in the form of his red-haired landlady. The only problem with that is MacBeth’s tendency to lie about this past. No doubt that’s an issue that’ll come back to plague him.

For now, I’m working towards a six-book series, though as with everything, I never know what’s going to happen next. And that’s just the way I like it.

About Colin Garrow –

Colin Garrow grew up in a former mining town in Northumberland. He has worked in a plethora of professions including taxi driver, antiques dealer, drama facilitator, theatre director and fish processor, and has occasionally masqueraded as a pirate.

He has published more than thirty books, and his short stories have appeared in several literary mags, most recently in Witcraft, and Flash Fiction North. Colin lives in a humble cottage in Northeast Scotland where he writes novels, stories, poems and the occasional song.

He plays several musical instruments and makes rather nice vegan cakes.

Say hello to Colin via his website, X, Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram and Bookbub. 

Overkill is book 2 in the Finlay Macbeth thriller series and was released in 2025. Click to buy on Amazon, Apple Books, Koko, Everand, Thalia, Smashwords, Angus. & Robertson, Vivlio and Fable. 

by

Laura

I'm Laura. I started Novel Kicks back in 2009 as I wanted a place to discuss books and writing - two loves of my life. As someone who has anxiety, these two things give me, and I am sure countless others, a much needed escape.
There is a monthly book club, writing exercises, prompts, reviews, author interviews, competitions and guest posts. I cover many genres and I hope there is something for everyone.
I grew up by the sea in Dorset and currently live in Poole with my husband, Chris and three cats. I love writing and have a BA (Hons) in Creative Writing from Falmouth University. I am writing my first book. If only I could stop pressing delete. Chris has threatened to stop it from working. Haha.
I have always loved creative writing since I was in first school and would very much like to meet my teacher, Miss Sayers, to say thank you for all the encouragement she gave me then.
When not writing, I love reading, cats, Disney, singing (I can't sing but this doesn't stop me,) and falling into a good TV show or film. If I could step into any fictional world, it would be amongst the characters in ABC's Once Upon a Time.
I love reading many genres and discovering new authors.