Book Extract: Wheels of Destruction: Death in Petra by Gina Cheyne

It’s a pleasure to be welcoming Gina Cheyne back to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her latest book, Wheels of Destruction: Death  in Petra.

Where do you hide an escaped prisoner? On a wheelchair holiday perhaps.  Like a spoke in a wheel, the villain is seen but not seen.

Aspiring writer Sandy Blee is stuck in a dead-end receptionist job until she wins a working holiday to Jordan, pushing a wheelchair for Wheelchair Warriors Holidays. Even though she quickly realises she was the only entrant in the Blerglergle writing competition she is extremely excited about leaving England for the first time.

However, after arriving in the pink city of Petra she discovers her fellow travellers are not all they seem, and most are not who they claim to be. Moreover, the whole group is under investigation by the SeeMs Detective Agency who have been sent out to search for an escaped convict.

When members of the group are kidnapped and one mysteriously dies, Sandy finds herself pulled into the SeeMs detectives’ investigation. Is she, who so wants to write bestselling crime stories, ready to take on a real-life mystery – one that might just turn deadly?

This book will be enjoyed by readers who like travel crime, plus devotees of Agatha Christie, Grease the movie and MM Kaye.

Gina has shared an extract with us today. We hope you enjoy. 

*****beginning of extract*****

Sandra Blee, an aspiring writer who works as a receptionist, has just been turned down by yet another publisher. She has entered innumerable writing competitions in the hope she might win won and be picked up by a literary agent.

Chapter Three: What is Coming is Better Than What Has Gone

Preparing for work the next day, Sandy thought she might do something different. Wear a tight-fitting jumper, perhaps? Stilettos? Straighten her wild curls? Tiny pink skirt? Trouble was, no one saw anything above the waist, rather like a news presenter in the old days. Come to think of it, she was a bit like a news presenter, only the news she gave was the arrival of the next client at Percy’s Bifold Doors.

When she got her job, she thought she’d been chosen from hundreds for her Svengali-like personality, a lure for every potential client who saw her sitting at the reception desk in her lacy shirt from Primark. Later, she found out she was the only candidate.

Staff and clients flew in throughout the morning, some saying, ‘Morning’, or ‘Hello, Shirley’.

Shirley was actually the girl who covered middays and weekends, but their names were so similar she could understand the confusion. Others blew her a kiss and said ‘still beautiful’ or some such rubbish.

The highlight of the day was the post. Not, sadly, the elderly postman, although he’d already told her he was single and looking.

She sorted through the mail, divided it into where it needed to go, and waited for Shirley – wearing her delivery girl hat – to take it away. There was the usual junk and one particularly optimistic company trying to sell them bifold doors. Sandy wondered whether to mark it URGENT and send it directly to the CEO.

Today, there was a letter for her.

Sandy had her letters delivered to work because if she had them delivered to home, her brother opened and read them. He said it was because he thought they were for him, both having similar names. Although, in truth, he was J. Blee and she was S. Blee. Perhaps his eyesight was going already.

Her letter looked like a circular and she opened it lethargically. It started badly:

Congratulations. You have won an all-expenses-paid holiday!

Yup! She’d had plenty of these before. Sometimes they referred to a previous phone call, email or text, none of which had happened.

She was about to fold it into a dart, ready to throw at the next person who blew her a kiss, when she noticed something different about this letter. It said:

Dear Ms Blee,

Congratulations on winning the Blerglergle Writing Competition sponsored by Wheelchair Warriors Holidays. You won the first prize: a paid working holiday in Jordan. Please contact Miss Abbey for further details.

She frowned. She didn’t want to get too excited. But what if this was something genuine? They did address her by name. None of her usual “prizes” did that. Could she have actually won something for once? She vaguely remembered one of her many competitions was indeed titled some ridiculous name like Blerglergle Writing.

She dialled Miss Abbey’s number.

*****end of extract*****

About Gina Cheyne –

Like many authors Gina has had a lot of different jobs and careers. She has been a physiotherapist, a flying instructor and pilot, a dog breeder, and a journalist. This is her sixth book in the SeeMs Detective series: the agency that looks behind what seems to be true.

Gina had two lengths of time when she was in a wheelchair (after a car crash and a helicopter accident) and having experienced the difficulties of wheel chair travel first hand she wanted to write a book that showed the challenges for wheelchair users when travelling, not just steps and narrow doorways, for example, but unexpected things like the difficulties of traversing cobbles.

When not writing or travelling Gina lives in Sussex with her husband and dogs.

Say hello to Gina via her website, Instagram, Facebook, Reedsy and TikTok. 

Wheels of Destruction: Death  in Petra is book six in the SeeMS Detective Agency series and was released on 1st September 2025. Click to buy on Amazon UK, Waterstones and Amazon US. 

by

Laura

I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.