Patricia reaches two million sales as she releases latest Lottie Parker crime novel

“I would hope that people would be inspired to take up the laptop or the pen or whatever and give it a go. Publishing has changed, there’s so many more opportunities out there now than there was, even six years ago when I started,” says Mullingar writer Patricia Gibney, whose 12th book, Three Widows, comes out this Friday on eBook, audio and print-on-demand.

Book nine in the DI Lottie Parker crime series, Silent Voices, published by Hachette Ireland, came out in trade paperback last week, and is available in book shops now.

It appears that Patricia cannot churn out the goods quick enough. The series is now available in 17 countries, and in audio in English, Danish, Finnish and Swedish, meaning that at last count, she has sold more than two million books.

“There is a lot more opportunity for people wanting to write a book today,” said Patricia. “It’s not necessary to go to one of the big traditional publishers – there’s a whole host of smaller publishers, digital publishers, and audio publishers.

“I would say if you think you want to write a book, you just have to sit down and write it – do the hard work. I would hope that would inspire people, women especially.”

Described as gripping and a totally addictive thriller that will keep readers racing through the pages, Three Widows has Lottie Parker on the trail of a serial killer targeting members of a bereavement support group, the action once again taking place in Ragmullin (an anagram for Mullingar).

“I don’t want to give too much away for people who haven’t read it yet, but Lottie, in Silent Voices, it’s a pivotal point for her in terms of her personal life. Her and Boyd, there’s a lot going on. In Three Widows, it follows on with Lottie’s story, because in book 11, the Guilty Girls, there was a lot of Boyd, he was away, he was in Spain, and his story and what happened to him, is continued into Three Widows.

“We also see a lot more of Detective Kirby, he gets more of a starring role if you like. So those surrounding Lottie, their characters, are growing and coming into their own as the series progresses.”

Her first in the series, The Missing Ones, was an instant hit that sold more than 100,000 copies, and online success led to publishing in the physical realm.

“It’s just the way the publishing worked out for me. The eBook and digital and the audiobook happened first, and then the trade paperbacks starting coming out. Michele Moran has done all my audiobooks from the start. A lot of people listen to audio now. I’m still learning [the industry] six years down the line, there’s still new things coming at me, so it’s still a learning experience,” said Patricia.

The publishing world has been no less affected by the Covid pandemic than any other sphere, Patricia said, as the press tour that would normally accompany the release of a new book is no more.

Covid stopped everything

“I think with Covid everything stopped, and I don’t think it has picked up again to where it was beforehand. I do a lot of articles for magazines, and then they’ll appear in print, I do questionnaires for newspapers and stuff, but in terms of going to events, there’s little that has come back to the way it was before.

“I have had a few events, one in Westport recently, and I was over at the Author’s Dinner in Harrogate last year – that’s coming up again later this year, but just not as many as there would have been pre-Covid.”

She adds that as writing can be a solitary profession, it’s important to meet readers and other authors.

“It makes it more real, because otherwise you’re just stuck in your room writing this book that goes out there and you’re on the next one. So when you have events where you can actually meet people, it’s great to talk to them face to face rather than just a message on Facebook.

“I also found during lockdown that I couldn’t write dialogue, and I suddenly realised that it was because I wasn’t meeting people, I wasn’t interacting with people, bar my own family.

“Even though writing is solitary, you still need that human interaction with people to draw inspiration. You do need to get out and walk the lakeshores to draw inspiration as well, but definitely the human interaction is really important and I didn’t realise that until there was a lockdown and you couldn’t go more than two kilometres from your house, you couldn’t be within how many metres from another person.”

On inspiration, Patricia says: “I was writing Silent Voices during the time my daughter Orla was planning to get married. She was visiting venues and I went with her and her fiancé to one of them, and I thought this would make a great location for a book! So I transported the action outside Ragmullin and it makes an appearance in Silent Voices.”

In Three Widows, Patricia again draws on Lough Ennell for location, while the wood carvings that local man Richie Clarke makes of mythical characters also make an appearance.

“For plots, I brainstorm with my editor. We talk out if this or that might work – you get a germ of an idea, and then I create the characters around it. And it just takes off from there.

“I visualise everything I write, it just flows. I don’t plan, I never have from day one. I can’t, I’ve tried it, to plot out a whole book, but I can’t, it’s not me. It does mean that I’ve loads of editing to do because things can change halfway through, but it’s the way I work and I can’t change that. It probably drives my editor bananas, but it’s working well so far.”

She said it is important to ‘replenish the well’ every now and again.

“I feel like I always have to be writing or editing. In the beginning I killed myself, I was completely burnt out. I was writing two books a year, which might be alright if I was 30 years younger, but I just wasn’t able to maintain it.

“Now it’s every nine months or so. When I finished Three Widows, I took the month of December off. My next book is not due with my editor until May, so I’m about halfway through that at the moment. At this stage, I’m writing scenes and little vignettes, trying to tie them up.

“You have to rest the brain, I do find my brain gets tired and I head off down to Enniscrone or somewhere for a few days, and walk along the beach, to replenish that inspirational side.”

She also reads something different to give her mind a break.

“I go through different phases of what I can read. Even though 90 per cent of what I read would be crime, I love picking up a Donal Ryan – a different genre and more relaxing.”

Since Patricia emerged on the scene, more and more women are making their entrance into crime writing; does she see herself as an inspiration?

“There’s always been women writing crime but I’ve noticed there’s a lot more. A lot of women write psychological thrillers as well, and I think it was Liz Nugent who said it’s because women’s emotions and fear of things can translate to the page very well. And it’s great to see that.”

Ultimately, it’s Patricia’s readers who keep her going.

“I’d like to thank all my readers, the bookshops and sellers, the libraries. Without readers, you could be writing books into the ether.

“I’d still write anyhow, but it’s great when you see people following the stories, people who are nine, 10, 11 books in, I just think my readers are brilliant and I’m just really grateful to them.”