A former Bolton teacher has drawn on his own experience in education to create a fun teen detective series.
Having been an English and drama teacher for more than 20 years, Chris Martin is very familiar with education.
And it is this experience that he has drawn upon for his young adult detective series, Inky Stevens.
The series follows the eponymous schoolboy sleuth as he fights injustice at his school in down-at-heel seaside resort Blinkton-on-Sea.
Now, Chris, who was the head of drama at Thornleigh Salesian College, is gearing up to release the second book in the series, Inky Stevens: The Case of the Abominable Snowball.
In Inky’s latest outing, it’s the sabotage of a vital Maths exam, coupled with a misthrown snowball which results in a teacher being hospitalised, that sends the young detective on a quest for answers.
However, what starts off as a school matter rapidly becomes a desperate fight for survival with the very future of Inky’s hometown hanging in the balance.
Chris said: "It is a really exciting time. The idea of the series is you can pick up characters and themes that were in the first book and develop them in the second as an ongoing story, but the mystery itself stands alone.
"My dream is to capture youngsters of that ages' imagination, and it will hopefully give them a love of reading.
"All of the characters and the events and the day-to-day running of the school within the book are taken from my own experiences."
He added: "When I was at school, I saw a teacher getting hit by a snowball quite badly, it was the talk of the playground!
"The subplot of the book revolves around a teacher being hit and who threw that snowball. I have found I can use tales from my own past experiences."
Chris will be launching the book at Adlington Library on Tuesday, October 24 from 3pm to 4pm.
The author will host a Q&A session, as well as signing books. Books will be available to purchase at the session.
To learn more about Chris, visit his website at: https://www.chrismartinwriter.com/
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