Nick Bryan

Hobson & Choi

Hobson & Choi Case Five – Angelina’s Choice – OUT NOW!

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Okay, as threatened as far back as this blog post a month ago, the fifth Hobson & Choi book Angelina's Choice is now on sale at your ebook outlets of choice.

Buy links available at the dedicated page here, or I'll try and add them to the bottom of this blog post, but basically - it exists!

I started writing this fifth book at the start of 2017 and after a few delays, partly caused by the editing pedantry of myself and others and partly just a few life readjustments I've had to factor in over the last few months, it's finally here.

As I'm sure I've said in a few places before, the series ends with Case Seven, so at this stage, we're definitely closer to the end than the beginning, meaning I get my chance to do some of the long-term arc-wrangling stuff I've wanted to do since the beginning.

We also finally do a decent length of time jump, after the first four books took place within a slightly compacted timescale of about three or four weeks.

But anyway, much more than that might be a spoiler. Suffice to say - it exists, I think it's a lot of fun. It's going to be fairly disjointed series by the time it finally finishes, as I suspect my writing approach changed quite a lot between books - possibly even more so than between any other.

Which either means it's way better or the existing audience will just be baffled. Excited to find out.

Either way, I think we can all agree the cover by reliable Design For Writers is another good one - we've replaced the blood drop with a blood spatter element and... yes, there's a road sign. This has a number of meanings within the plot which I'm probably not going to spoil either.

Also, you've got to be impressed at the number of puns within the title.

Anyway - the damn book has only been out for a few hours as I write this, so I should probably refrain from posting a full beginning to end commentary. I'll let you form your own opinions.

Hobson & Choi Case Five! Buy it now!

Hobson & Choi v4 – Blood Will Stream – OUT NOW!

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Today is BWS day! No, not “beers, wines and spirits” (my friend Paul used to work in Sainsburys BWS section), it’s Blood Will Stream!

The fourth Hobson & Choi book is out today, featuring our heroes investigating the locked room murder of a YouTuber. Who did the deed, and can Hobson and Angelina find the killer without making the whole situation much worse? For once? Maybe?

I could type a lot more, but since I’m doing YouTube videos at the moment to tie in with this YouTubey book, I’ll embed a video instead. Here are my release day thoughts. Ready yourselves.

There we go. Hope that stirred something in you. Aside from the thought “Man, that guy needs to stop waving his hands around.”

Anyway, down to business: here are all the places you can buy Blood Will Stream in print and digital! Check it out! Hope you like it! Tell your friends! Etc! Release day woooooooo!

Trapped In The Bargain Basement – Hobson & Choi Case Three – OUT NOW

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One of those blog posts that kinda writes itself – Trapped In The Bargain Basement, the third book in my mismatched-detective-duo London crime series Hobson & Choi comes out today! It should be out now!

In this third book, the team look into the dark heart of a massive towering shopping centre. But how is it evil? And why? And whose fault is it, and can it be proven? All these answers plus romantic subplot complications in this third volume!

I’ll be honest, it’s a very plot-heavy series, so I’d recommend starting from the first book (The Girl Who Tweeted Wolf) if you’ve not read any before. Helpfully, said debut book is currently free and you can get that from the dedicated page here.

However, I do think Case Three could be one of the best yet and you don’t have to just take my word for it. The first review went up yesterday on fellow indie author Virginia McClain’s blog, which you can see here accompanied by a nice guest post by me about how to turn your serial into a novel.

Here’s a nice pertinent quote from Virginia’s review: “This third installment of the Hobson & Choi mysteries delivers just as much fun and whimsy as the first two books, but with the delightful addition of more wolfhound. My favorite thing about all three books is the characters and their engagement with each other…. Whoever’s perspective we’re following, there’s a good chance that we are going to be forced to take a good look at our own privilege, even if we aren’t forced to stare at it too long, and can safely return to pinning things on the ‘bad guys’ a few pages later. It’s this odd but compelling mixture of dark humor and introspection that keeps me returning to Bryan’s books.”

(It’s weird being referred to by my surname again, by the way. Reminds me of being back at all-boys grammar school.)

So there we go. Trapped In The Bargain Basement is out now in both print and digital and on this page should be a rank of buttons to help you buy it. Enjoy!

Hobson & Choi Case Two – “Rush Jobs” – out now!

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Today, my friends, the second H&C book goes forth into the world, where it hopes to be received with open arms and warm love. After meeting in the first book, John Hobson and Angelina Choi further explore the world they’ve found themselves in, and find it to be a strange, grim place.

So, here is a picture of the cover – for more details on the actual plot, go to the Hobson & Choi homepage, where you can also find links to buy a copy of Case One – The Girl Who Tweeted Wolf – for a newly super-cheap price.

For the new book, you can add it on Goodreads here if you so wish, and if you feel like leaving a review and/or rating there, on Amazon or on your own blog/social media, that would be pretty sweet of you. Continued growth plays a big part in helping me continue to get these out there.

Speaking of heading on out there, we’re also doing the Hobson & Choi Blog Tour to coincide with the book launch – check out the details here if you want to follow along. If you follow me on Twitter, I’m sure the blog posts will also be retweeted there as they happen.

You can buy Rush Jobs in both print and digital from various venues. I’ll also be dropping off a few copies soon at the Big Green Bookshop, if you’re a fan of buying things in person.

The Girl Who Tweeted Wolf – NOW IN PRINT

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So, after a few weeks of slow roll-out, the final step of publication is here: my first book The Girl Who Tweeted Wolf is now in print! Next time, I may try and do it all at once for maximum impact, but this time, here it is a week later.

Basically: it’s a darkly comic London crime novel, the first in the Hobson & Choi series. More details about the book, along with enthusiastic review quotes and such, on our very own official Hobson & Choi homepage.

But long story short, the print edition is available from Amazon here, or the Big Green Bookshop if you happen to be in London (and I’ve remembered to give them some stock).

OUT NOW IN EBOOK: The Girl Who Tweeted Wolf – Hobson & Choi: Case One

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The Girl Who Tweeted Wolf is out in ebook!

This is the first volume in the Hobson & Choi series, a crime saga with a heavy twist of dark comedy. It shows how my two mismatched detectives begin bickering, whilst also solving their first murder. This involves Twitter, a wolf and food – loads of food, in fact.

I’ll include the full blurb in the remainder of this post, but for those who have heard the H&C sales pitch a bunch of times, let’s cut to the all-important buy-buttons. Hope you enjoy the book, I’m very proud of it, and if you do go for it, consider reviewing it somewhere, be it Amazon, other book-buying sites, the book’s Goodreads page, your own blog, social media, or anywhere else which lets you have a book-opinion.

And remember, if you’ve read Case One on the H&C webserial already, there is an eight thousand word book-exclusive bonus story here to make it worth your while. Print book fans – that edition shouldn’t be too far away now. Proof is en route for my approval.

The Full Sales Pitch

“If we get 400 followers, John Hobson will solve that nasty wolf-murder case for free! Fight the thing himself if he has to! #HobsonVsWolf!”

Angelina Choi was only trying to drum up some Twitter followers and make a good impression on her first day interning at John Hobson’s one-man detective agency.

But the campaign went viral and now they have a murder to solve, no money coming in, and an unwilling Hobson faced with battling some enormous beast.

With both follower and body counts rising, can they crack the case without offending everyone or being eaten by a huge dog?

The Girl Who Tweeted Wolf is the first case starring Hobson & Choi, a bickering, mismatched detective duo for 21st century London. This book collects the debut storyline of the hit darkly comic crime web serial, extensively rewritten and improved for this definitive edition.

Also included: book-exclusive bonus story The Left Hand Is Always Right, grim tale from a dark corner of Hobson & Choi’s London – The Left Hand, budget pub of crime.

Even more details on the dedicated Hobson & Choi homepage! If you have any unanswered questions about anything Girl-Who-Tweeted-Wolf-related, email me and we’ll hopefully be able to come to some accord.

Thank you and goodbye for now. I’m off to enjoy the day. In case the buttons up top didn’t work for anyone, here are all those book-buy links in old-fashioned text form.