More on the Kenny Hughes Memorial Trilogy

The first book in this series was published last month: www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0848T71L3. It is about the first stages of grief for Gavin and Chrissie Hughes when their police officer son is killed on duty. The others books were intended to be following them six months on and as they approach the first anniversary of Kenny’s murder. The second book was going to centre around the victim impact report that Gavin and Chrissie would write for the judge at the trial of Kenny’s killers. That was all de-railed by COVID-19, which led to Crown Courts being closed down and jury trials suspended indefinitely. So book 2 is now going to be about the coronavirus lockdown and how different families experience it: Gavin still in frontline policing; Chrissie teaching her school children remotely, Bernie, Peter and Jonah confined to their home; Wayne and Dean struggling to keep their two lively adopted boys happy and occupied in a small house and garden; the Whittle family grieving the loss of their older son and facing financial problems with Trevor’s taxi service no longer able to run. There's going to be a police investigation included in the plot, but Jonah can't be involved because he's being shielded at home, so Anna Davenport will be the Senior Investigating Officer. And the investigation is going to involve Wayne and Dean and their adopted sons, Carl and Harry. Yes, you’re right, it's going to be horrendously complicated, but simplified by the fact that all the families are segregated by being confined to their homes for the duration.

Book 3 is tentatively entitled “Victim Statements” and will be written after we know when Crown Courts will open again and how long the backlog is likely to take to be dealt with. I’m hoping that it will be before the end of 2020 so that it can cover the anniversary of Kenny’s death. The subtitle is currently “Cold and Frosty Mourning”, so those courts had better get back to work before Spring 2021!