Murder On Board now in the County Wexford shops

I'm just back from a Wexford Local Author's night of readings in the Red Book Shop in
Selskin House, St Peter's Square, Slippery Green, Wexford, Y35 ER2F  in Wexford town. It was an epic night with no less than fourteen authors attending! They covered so many different genres of writing that there was something for everyone.

Wexford Local Authors at the Red Book Shop 

From poetry to biographies, crime, musical history, local history, exercise books for MS sufferers, collections of short stories, readings from scripts. The shop was bulging with readers and they sat for almost two hours as they were bombarded with words.

My extract that was the second last reading of the night was extremely well received and I loved to hear the laughter, at the right moments! Murder In Maspalomas is the opposite of a dark, menacing read. I wrote it so that the humour and the drama of the story went hand in hand.

Mark Rice reading from Murder In Maspalomas

What starts as a story of how someone tries to make a legitimate buck by importing from China the kid's number 1 Christmas toy for that year, becomes a terrifying game of hide and seek as an unwitting couple ae pursued by a bunch of violent drug gangsters seeking to collect on a debt.

Murder In Maspalomas 

Murder In Maspalomas 
There are copies to buy in the Red Book Shop and the Book Centre in
Wexford Town

Murder In Maspalomas - online purchases
Click here for the UK Kindle version
Click here for the US Kindle version
Click here for the UK Paperback version
Click here for the US Paperback version

Murder On Board

Luke's previous cruise experiences have left him battered and bruised. This time it's going to be different. No more rolling over and just taking the crap. No more instances where he becomes a human doormat. No more bottling it up. No more saying and doing nothing. Luke is a different man, only nobody knows it..................yet.

Murder On Board
There are copies to buy in the Red Book Shop and the Book Centre in
Wexford Town

Murder On Board - online purchases
Click here for the US Kindle version 

Click here for the UK Kindle version

Click here for the US Paperback version

Click here for the UK Paperback version

A day at sea

Today was another sunny, cloudy, sunny day on the windy decks of our ship. 

Sitting on the sun lounger I listen to the waves breaking across the ship’s bow and felt the steady reassuring hum of the ships five engines that vibrate the metal of the promenade deck itself. In the distance the sun shimmers on the rippling deep blue waves until it slips temporarily behind a cloud. Moments later it reappears, as strong and bright as before. Cruising along at 20 knots, the raging wind rocks the blue towels back and forth on the empty loungers threatening to sweep them clean over the rails and far out to sea.

To my right sit row upon row of pale white-skinned fellow passengers, eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses that look unseeingly into the middle distance. White thin wires run to their ears from the phones lying on their laps, relaying presumably music or audiobooks or both. Heads are generally protected by tipped caps.

Snatches of conversation drift my way on the breeze.

“Thou better put thine lotion on Harold” spoke one caring Northern lass “less ye be a beetroot by teatime.”

Listening to the conversations of others is something I shamelessly do and on this cruise, the accents are predominantly from the North of England, Liverpool, Manchester, Crewe and Hull. I just love the range of accents and colloquialisms. “All right me chuck?”, “Can I help you mi-duck”, “You aren’t half daft” to quote just a few.  

I feel the heat on my naked bare arms and legs so I whip out the sun lotion factor 50 and generously spread it on my limbs. The lotion glistens on my skin before sinking into the freckled cells. The wind catches the upper left corner of this page flapping it back and forth as I write.

Book signing in Wexford towns Book Centre

I dropped into one of my favourite book shops in Wexford Town and signed some copies of my two crime novels. So if anyone wants an entertaining page-turning read then you need look no further. The Book Centre is just doors away from Boots and Pennys/ Primark.

If you want a Kindle copy of either book click o the links below and if you live further afield then click on the links below for a paperback copy.


Click here for the US Kindle version 

Click here for the UK Kindle version

Click here for the US Paperback version

Click here for the UK Paperback version

Taking Flight a new book of poems & stories from Gorey Writers Group

The Gorey Writers group have been in existence for fourteen years, a labour of love from Bernie Walsh who remains the constant over all those years, chairing the twice-monthly meetings and holding down her own day jobs at the same time. Others have helped of course but it simply wouldn't exist without Bernie.

Around a table sit a stable core of regulars who are open and welcoming to newcomers who pop their heads around the door nervously, not knowing if what they laughingly call "writing" withstands any other humans scrutiny. I turned up four years ago and haven't looked back.

The motives of the writers and poets are as diverse as their path to this room. Some seek ultimately to earn a living from writing and this is the first step, others wish to publish a memoir of their lives or some of their families lives and others still seek simply to enjoy the study of English and the nightly exercises the group complete. Some just enjoy meeting like-minded people and find the social element is as strong a driver as the desire to write. If you have an interest and live in the greater Gorey/ Wexford/ Enniscorthy/ Arklow area make contact with the group and see if this group are for you. goreywriters.blogspot.com

Whatever the motive we started the year and committed to completing the group's second volume of short stories and poems. Twenty-five of our nearly forty members contributed completely original work and the wonderful poet-come publisher Carol Boland not only sat with each one and edited their piece but also published the book. I, myself have a short story included.

The launch occurred last Thursday 28th November in Gorey Library at 7:00 pm with music, readings and much food and drink.

Presently the book "Taking Flight" is only available in the Gorey bookshop Zozimus on the Main Street. www.zozimusbookshop.com 

I'll see if I can persuade the team to put it on Kindle and place copies in the Book Centre in Wexford Town.

I have a few copies myself so if you want to grab a lovely Christmas present for some bookworm you know would enjoy original writing, contact me on the tab on this site or through any of my social media pages.

AnneMarie Hammel with her cake baked for the launch.

So there I was sitting in the pub....

When a woman came from behind and tapped me on the shoulder. I turned to find this person  smiling and talking to me. I knew the face but couldn't quite place her at the time.

"You are Mark Rice, the author?"  Yes, I confessed I was.

"Well, I bought your book from Castle Delights cafe in the Summer .....

I held my breath

".....and I couldn't put it down."

I heaved a sigh of relief and returned her smile with interest. As a writer, you are never quite sure which way the feedback goes. Particularly this book. It tells the story from the perspective of a murderer who keeps a diary to record an unforgettable cruise. I knew I was making it hard for myself to expect readers to warm to a character who goes about killing pensioners and behaving badly. Hopefully, my writing illustrates that no one is all bad and anti-social behaviour is not the sole prerogative of the young.

"Yes," she went on "I was thinking of booking a cruise but having read your book, well, frankly, I'm having second thoughts! I loved it and kept turning the page to see what happened next, will he get away with it and walk off the shop or end up in handcuffs and prison."

"Are you writing a sequel?" She looked at me with more than a little anticipation.

"I have another book that's presently a work in progress so all going well you will be able to pick it up in the cafe next summer" I replied. She seemed pleased with the reply and moved away through the packed lounge. My wife squeezed my arm encouragingly. Positive feedback is the nicest thing a writer can get and I'm so grateful to that lady.

"I do hope more people get to read this book," my wife said before sipping on her piping hot coffee.

 So if you have ever wondered what passengers do on long cruises with many days at sea do read this book.

If you enjoy reading about visits to the Carribean islands, Chichen Itza, the USA, the Azores, and parts of South America, read this book.

If you want to be amused, informed and scared (a little) then read this book!


Click here for the US Kindle version

Click here for the UK Kindle version

Click here for the US Paperback version

Click here for the UK Paperback version

Views from a cruise - Venice

Arrival in Venice and the view from the cruise liner.

Will our couple Luke and Matt live long enough to see enjoy this experience?

With a murderer on board their current cruise only time will tell. They have fifty days to survive on board before reaching the safety of the dock in Southampton. 

Meanwhile, the body count mounts and no-one appears to have noticed.

Click here for the US Kindle version at $2.58 

Click here for the UK Kindle version £1.99

Click here for the US Paperback version $15.00

Click here for the UK Paperback version £11.58

Murder On Board relaunches

Murder On Board, a diary of a reluctant murderer is being re-released by me today.

My publisher has released the book back to me after a brief three-month life on Amazon. The effect of this on buyers is that all of the previous Amazon and Kindle links to the book no longer work.
Never fear though, the links on this post do work!!

Guys and girls, I believe in this book.

The book, Murder On Board contains 269 pages that capture the highs and lows of a fifty-day cruise from a chilly Southampton, England to sweltering 100 degree humidity of Manaus, Brazil and then back again.

The murderer is a reluctant one as murder is his last resort when dealing with stubbornly anti-social behaviour from passengers and crew.

I wrote this story as it springs from the knowledge that murders could be occurring right now on any of the thousands of large luxury cruise ships that are sailing across the world's oceans!

Today you can buy a copy of the book and make your own mind up about it. Let me know what you think of it. Email me at markrice10@gmail.con. 

If you send me your review of the book, good or bad, I will publish on this page and through my social media contacts.

Click here for the US Kindle version at $2.58 

Click here for the UK Kindle version £1.99

Click here for the US Paperback version $15.00

Click here for the UK Paperback version £11.58