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I’m a forty-something mystery fiction author from Sheffield, U.K, currently working on my second feature-length novel, which is currently titled Raconteur. My first novel Portmanteau is now available for purchase on Amazon as an eBook or in paperback.
Over the past ten years or so, I’ve written several short stories and other ‘project novels’, some of which can be found online and others in magazines and newspapers, but Portmanteau is my first published novel.
Apart from writing, I work as an entertainment agent supplying live entertainment to some of the country’s biggest corporate companies, a job I’ve done for the past nineteen years. Music and writing have always been my two main passions from being a very young boy, so being able to work in both fields is really a dream come true.
I have two young daughters both of whom have even bigger imaginations than me, in fact, my eldest has actually sparked so many ideas for future stories that I may well have to put the book in her name jointly. We’re currently working together on a junior fiction book called The Grisly Ends of Kingsley Darke. Watch this space for more details on that.
Reviewed by Inge Jacobs for Readers' Favorite
In Portmanteau by Paul Beardow, Portmanteau Investigations Agency is an investigative agency that has one difference over other agencies, namely the agents working for the agency have special psychic powers. The case of the disappearance of Mr. Peter Loveday’s wife, Laura, is investigated by following a breadcrumb trail of evidence using the aid of Harry Macadam’s visions. Harry's special gift implies that he can see into the past when he touches a personal object. When he touches a piece of her jewellery, he sees Laura Loveday in a hotel room with another man and gets a glimpse of a wallet with an ID of Alan Savu. She had an affair with this man, case closed you might think, but that's far from it. The same day, PC Callum McKenzie comes by and tells him that Mr. Savu was found murdered. Although Harry is told to stay out of the case, he has the feeling that he is called to it for some reason, and starts to investigate on his own with the help of each of the other agents' abilities. Who killed Mr. Savu, how is Laura connected to Mr. Savu, and where is Mr. Savu's girlfriend? Is there also a link perhaps with the now long-time missing sister of PC Callum? While risking his own life, he sets out to uncover the many buried secrets.
What a brilliant book! This is normally not my thing. I'm really down to earth and I had a fear that I would not stay hooked, no matter how well Portmanteau was written, but surprisingly the author really made it work for me. I can hardly believe that Portmanteau is Paul Beardow's first novel, it's just that excellent. The storyline is intricate and fast-paced and the writing is superb. I can't give away much about the plot because I don't want to spoil the experience, but I can only say that the whole story is carefully constructed, and when the big - and I really mean big - plot twist is revealed all the little puzzle pieces, that had passed by without drawing much attention, fell into place and it was just brilliant. The investigation in itself was already complex, but the twist makes it really exceptional. I predict many, many excellent reviews for this book and I am very happy to hear that he is already working on a sequel.
