M.K. Murphy

I quite like writing under pen names, and not only because it appeals to my subversive nature. Sustaining a career in writing takes resilience, grit, and an ability to adapt, and for me, that has meant a bit of shape-shifting and name-changing over the past twenty-seven years. I had already written nine novels as Margaret Murphy when I adopted my first pseudonym (A.D. Garrett) in 2013 for a trilogy of forensic thrillers. I later wrote a dark-themed duology as Ashley Dyer. Now, I am proud to introduce you to my latest pseudonym, M. K. Murphy. No secrets, no subversion — except in the novel, where there is plenty of both — which is as it should be in a crime thriller! Dead Man Walking introduces a new protagonist, Detective Sergeant Rick Turner.

Rick is athletic — a runner and skilled aikido street-fighter. With a highly developed sense of responsibility and duty, he’s an introvert whose main focus is his work. It’s no accident that he went into the hierarchical, rule-bound profession of policing: he believes in following the rules — some would say slavishly — which pisses off his bosses and his peers about the same. But Rick grew up tough in a nasty tenement on an East London estate where he was subjected to lawlessness and extreme peril every day, and the rules help him to make sense of the world — they provide his moral anchor. His hard-won insights into criminality, plus sharp instincts and intense curiosity have made him the brilliant cop he is today. And he is relentless in the pursuit of justice.

Read on to discover more about DS Rick Turner’s first gut-churning case.