First-time author up for award with Tyrone-based crime thriller

AN Omagh-native who has penned her first book based in her hometown has been nominated for a literature award.

Gwyneth Steddy, author of Do Sleeping Dogs Lie, has lived in south Wales since the 1980s but her love of home and the characters from here are spilled out on the pages of this crime thriller.

The book begins with a retired detective inspector called Malcolm Bell who isn’t taking well to retired life up in Portrush.

“He very quickly discovers that he is quite bored with retirement,” Gwyneth explains. “By chance he runs into another couple who are retired and from Tyrone and they have something in their life that they want to resolve.”

Gwyneth added, “Effectively it’s a cold case novel.”

Without giving too much away, she teases, “The more DI Bell investigates, the more he is led into danger himself.”

The author has not only been nominated in the ‘Crime Cymru’ first novel category, but Gwyneth’s book has been shortlisted in the top three. “I can at least be guaranteed third prize,” she joked.

Asked why she decided to base her crime novel in Omagh in particular, she said, “I based it in Tyrone because there is great humour in the area and there’s a lot of that humour in the book.

“There are also a lot of great characters and I have a great fondness for Omagh in particular.”

Gwyneth believes there is an appetite for stories from Ireland across the water with real interest from others in her writing class in stories from her hometown.

“It was certainly helped recently by the film Belfast, which has really spurred a lot of interest. One of the reasons I based it in west Tyrone and Omagh in particular is because I sometimes feel it is a part of the world that is very much overlooked,” she explained.

“It’s Tyrone’s time,” Gwyneth added.

While many people got their creative juices flowing over the course of the pandemic lockdowns, as an occupational therapist, Gwyneth was as busy as ever.

Her passion for writing first stemmed from a Christmas gift from her husband for an online writing course around six years ago. “He probably thought this was a safer voucher than the previous cookery course he got me,” she joked.

Gwyneth went onto immerse herself in writing with various other courses.

She said, “My fellow writers were actually really interested in Tyrone. They hadn’t heard of this place or met these people before. They really had a strong interest and I thought, ‘well that’s my area’”.

Do Sleeping Dogs Lie will be published at the end of April and will be available to purchase online from Diamond Books or on Amazon.

I To listen to the full interview with Gwyneth, visit the podcast section of wearetyrone.com or search for ‘WAT’s The Story?’ wherever you get your podcasts from tomorrow afternoon.