About Val
Published on 28th March 2023, A Darkly Bound Betrayal is available to buy from Amazon.
Click in the following link: A Darkly Bound Betrayal by Val Knowles at Amazon
** Currently selling in paperback format on Amazon at more than half RRP! Limited copies available.
Also available to order from WH Smith, Waterstones, Blackwell’s, Barnes and Noble, Cranthorpe Millner, and other sources. Or check online or ask at your local bookstore, they should be able to order it.
About me:
For most of my adult life my creative side has had to take second place to the practical side of life. Having said that, bringing up my three sons was the most rewarding life choice I could ever have made, hoped for, or dreamt of.
A Darkly Bound Betrayal is my debut novel, I’m currently enjoying working on the sequel.
Most of the action in the book takes place in Somerset, where I live. I have always loved reading and from a very young age I read everything I could lay my hands on, from my father’s sci-fi books by authors such as Isaac Asimov and Arthur C Clarke to the likes of Enid Blyton and Georgette Heyer. As a teenager I moved towards writers such as Margaret Drabble and Iris Murdoch before finally finding my favourites books by authors like Tess Gerritson, Rachel Abbott, Patricia Cornwell and Karin Slaughter. It was always my dream to write my own novel but somehow I never found the time. During my working life, I took the opportunity to study for a BSc in sociology and psychology through the Open University. This gave me a huge interest in human psyche, in peoples’ personalities and what makes them ‘tick’. It was after this that my dream to write my own novel resurfaced, although it still wouldn’t happen for a while. However, after some years, the idea behind ‘A Darkly Bound Betrayal’ started to form in my mind. So I started to write, but although the words began to flow, I just couldn’t work out a satisfactory ending.
During lockdown I re-read what I’d written and suddenly I had a project. I worked out an ending for my book and started to write. It took some time as I had to re-write most of what I had previously written.
When I’m not absorbed in my fictitious world of suspense and intrigue, my husband & I go out onto the Somerset Levels with our cameras to photograph the spectacular sunrises, sunsets and wildlife, in particular the amazing starling murmurations.
About ‘A Darkly Bound Betrayal‘
What the publishers said:
To be published on 28th March 2023, A Darkly Bound Betrayal is an intriguing and compelling thriller by debut novelist Val Knowles.
Having completed a plot that had been percolating with the author over numerous years, this multi-layered read centres on protagonist Anna’s theories about who was responsible for the murder of her father; and the deceit, lies and betrayal that surrounds his death. Using the murder to explore how people and relationships are not always what they seem, Val Knowles’ appreciation of psychology and sociology is evident in the nuances and complexities she has woven into the personalities of her protagonists, which jump from the page.
With the publication of her novel confirming some things are worth waiting for, a second novel from this fledgling but accomplished writer will be eagerly anticipated by fans of contemporary thrillers.
Synopsis:
What happens when the person you love the most becomes the one you can trust the least?
When eminent Professor Alexander Hamilton is found dead in his laboratory in Bath late one evening, the police are stumped. With no apparent motive, his murder is a complete mystery, and his family find their lives thrown into turmoil. Struggling to cope with the grief following her father’s death, Alexander’s daughter Anna is led down a path of self-doubt as police evidence mounts up against the one person she has grown to love and trust: her brother, Michael.
But as the past unfolds its dark web of treachery and betrayal, the complicated relationships and tragic sequence of events that led to Alexander’s demise are slowly revealed, leaving Anna questioning where her true loyalties lie.
What I said:
This is a mystery thriller which will hopefully keep you totally involved with the characters as they try to unravel the plot. Most of the action takes place in Bath, but some parts of the book are set in Oxford and Moscow.
Throughout the book I’ve tried to build intrigue and suspense by keeping the reader guessing. Using the relationships between the characters, the book works its way via a series of complex twists and turns, backwards and forwards through time and place, to uncover a dark and explosive family history.