Keith Dixon

Biography

Keith Dixon was born in Yorkshire and grew up in the Midlands. He’s been writing since he was thirteen years old in a number of different genres: thriller, espionage, science fiction, literary. He’s the author of seven novels in the Sam Dyke Investigations series and two other non-crime works, as well as two collections of blog posts on the craft of writing. When he’s not writing he enjoys reading, learning the guitar, watching movies and binge-inhaling great TV series. He’s currently spending more time in France than is probably good for him.

Learn more about Keith by following him on Twitter @keithyd6, by reading his blog at www.cwconfidential.blogspot.com or connect with him on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/SamDykeInvestigations/ On his website you can download a couple of free books and find out more about the others: www.keithdixonnovels.com.

Smashwords Interview

When did you first start writing?
I started writing in my early teen years, mocking up scripts for TV shows and trying to write like my favourite authors. By the time I reached 16 I knew that I wanted to write full-time, and I managed that for a couple of years in my twenties. Life got in the way, though, so I had to find a real job that paid real money, so it wasn't until I was a good deal older that I managed to create the opportunity to write full time. Curiously, I found that many of the jobs that I took included an element of writing, whether it was in the job description or not. That urge to put words on paper was always there ...
What motivated you to become an indie author?
Over the years I began to have real issues with the notion of 'gatekeepers'. At one time I had an agent and even he confessed it was becoming harder to sell to publishers, whose spheres of interest seemed to becoming more and more narrow. As an independent author I can find an audience for my books that might not (yet) be huge - or at least big enough for a commercial publisher - but nonetheless satisfies the wish to see my books in print and know that people are reading them and getting some pleasure from them. With my earlier books I did seek out commercial publication - with my latest ones I'm going straight to independent/self publishing.
Read more of this interview.

Series

Sam Dyke Investigations
The Private Lie
Price: $2.99 USD.
The Hard Swim
Price: $3.29 USD.
The Bleak
Price: $3.29 USD.
The Strange Girl
Price: $3.29 USD.
The Secret Sharers
Price: $3.29 USD.
The Innocent Dead
Price: $3.29 USD.

Books

The Innocent Dead
Series: Sam Dyke Investigations. Price: $3.29 USD. Words: 72,240. Language: English. Published: October 19, 2015 . Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » Hard-Boiled, Fiction » Thriller & suspense » Crime thriller
By the winner of the 2014 Chanticleer CLUE Award, Private Eye/Noir category! Mark and Bobbie Ware have the perfect life—a huge mansion, enough money to satisfy every conceivable need, and a delightful son of ten years of age. But this all changes when a man disrupts that life by taking from it the single most important possession the family enjoys: its happiness. What can PI Sam Dyke do to help?
The Sam Dyke Box Set: Four Crime Novels
Price: $4.49 USD. Words: 330,000. Language: English. Published: June 15, 2015 . Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » Hard-Boiled, Fiction » Mystery & detective » International crime
"Sam Dyke, a modern, British Marlowe" This anthology includes the first four books in a series that has been called "terrific" and "difficult to put down". It also includes the first chapter of the fifth book, The Strange Girl.
The Secret Sharers
Series: Sam Dyke Investigations. Price: $3.29 USD. Words: 71,990. Language: English. Published: May 1, 2015 . Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » Hard-Boiled, Fiction » Mystery & detective » International crime
Private Investigator Sam Dyke takes on a new client who asks for a straightforward job - he wants Dyke to follow him. But Dyke soon learns that this is a ruse to get him involved in a struggle between his client and the secret services of both Britain and the US, who are about to sign multi-million dollar contracts with a private security firm which has its own agenda ...
The Strange Girl
Series: Sam Dyke Investigations, Book 5. Price: $3.29 USD. Words: 71,720. Language: British English. Published: September 26, 2014 . Categories: Fiction » Thriller & suspense » Crime thriller, Fiction » Mystery & detective » Hard-Boiled
Private Investigator Sam Dyke is hired to find a man who’s been released from prison and subsequently gone missing. But the ex-con is an ex-cop who might have been imprisoned for a crime that he didn’t commit.
The Bleak
Series: Sam Dyke Investigations, Book 4. Price: $3.29 USD. Words: 82,980. Language: English. Published: May 7, 2014 . Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » Hard-Boiled, Fiction » Thriller & suspense » Crime thriller
Private Eye Sam Dyke takes on an unpromising case - to find out why an established scientist is falling apart. He soon learns that it's not the pressures of work that are getting to him, but his colleagues and his boss. They have a doomsday plan that is set on producing a calamitous event threatening the lives of hundreds of people. And only Dyke can stop them.
Crime Writing Confidential - What Crime Writers Do, and How They've Done It
Price: $1.99 USD. Words: 30,710. Language: English. Published: June 4, 2013 . Categories: Nonfiction » Reference » Writing skills, Nonfiction » Literary criticism » Mystery & Detective
A collection of essays by crime writer Keith Dixon exploring how crime writers structure and write their books. He explores a number of different writing styles and includes both mysteries and thrillers in his analyses.
The Hard Swim
Series: Sam Dyke Investigations, Book 3. Price: $3.29 USD. Words: 105,350. Language: English. Published: May 28, 2013 . Categories: Fiction » Thriller & suspense » Crime thriller, Fiction » Mystery & detective » Hard-Boiled
Private Investigator Sam Dyke rescues a young woman from kidnapping - or worse - and helps her discover the devastating secret that her family has kept since World War II.
The Private Lie
Series: Sam Dyke Investigations, Book 2. Price: $2.99 USD. Words: 69,690. Language: English. Published: March 22, 2011 . Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » Hard-Boiled, Fiction » Thriller & suspense » Crime thriller
Sam Dyke's second investigation leads him into a criminal underworld where the kidnapping and violence practised by two Liverpudlian twins begin to have an impact on his family. Which is something that Sam won't let slide ...