Author Interview: Gareth P. Jones and The Monster Maker and The Time Thief Book Giveaway

Happy Monday, Everyone! Today I’m excited to have Gareth P. Jones here to share about his Solve Your Own Mystery series books, The Monster Maker and The Time Thief. I love mysteries and have never read a solve-your-own mystery story, so I’m excited to read these books. I just reserved The Time Thief at my library. 

Here’s a blurb of The Monster Maker from Goodreads:

 

DO YOU DARE ACCEPT THE CHALLENGE TO BECOME A DETECTIVE? WILL YOU BE ABLE TO SOLVE THE MYSTERY AND FIND THE MONSTER MAKER MACHINE?

One puzzling mystery. Several slippery suspects. Endless possibilities!
 
Welcome to Haventry, a town where the ordinary and extraordinary collide! With ghosts, werewolves and zombies living side by side, trouble is always brewing. And when a fiendish crime is committed, YOU are the detective in charge of the case.
 
Dr Franklefink’s precious Monster Maker has gone missing and there are lots of suspects! Along with your yeti partner, it’s up to YOU to find the culprit. Should you trail Bramwell Stoker, the terrifying vampire, or Grundle and Grinola, the mischievous goblin twins? Should you follow up a lead about the cunning witches? Or will investigating the doctor’s monstrous son Monty lead you to the thief? YOU decide!
 
With hundreds of paths to choose from and no dead ends, you’ll solve the mystery every time!
 
A fantastically imaginative detective story for readers looking for an interactive adventure. 

And here’s a blurb of The Time Thief from Goodreads: 

The Museum of Magical Objects and Precious Stones is putting on a special time-travelling showcase, but when the main exhibit is stolen, it’s up to YOU to find the thief. The Time Sponge has the ability to stop and start time for whoever squeezes it, so who has the strongest motive? The minotaur chief of police who has a lot on at work or the shoplifting band of mermaids? Should you trail the museum’s petrifying gorgon curator? Or could your very own yeti partner be responsible? YOU decide!

With hundreds of paths to choose from and no dead ends, you’ll solve the mystery every time!

A fantastically imaginative detective story for readers looking for an interactive adventure. 

Hi Gareth! Thanks so much for joining us. 

1. Tell us about yourself and how you became a writer. 

Once upon a time in London, I witnessed two squirrels jump over a man’s head. This gave me an idea about a dragon detective. This idea became a series of four books (Dragon Detective), which were lucky enough to find a publisher - although not in the US… not yet, t least. This led on to more books about all sorts of things including Ninja Meerkats, Steampunk Pirates, murderous twins (The Thornthwaite Inheritance), a long-eared rabbit called Rabunzel and various other offcuts of my mind. These days, I spend my days writing books and songs, visiting schools, teaching ukulele, busking and performing. 

2. Where did you get the idea for your Solve Your Own Mystery series? 

I used to love reading Choose Your Own Adventure style stories. These books often involved rolling dice, but it was the idea of being immersed in another world that appealed to me. I never liked dying though. I was discussing these books with a friend, who suggested I write one. I had already written one interactive short story– a Victorian ghost story, which I used to perform to promote my book Constable & Toop. I also created a show called Mystery Makers, which is an hour of audience improvisation as we create a brand-new mystery. All of these things led to me writing an interactive book with no dead ends & an emphasis on story rather than game, featuring a detective agency in a fantastical world where the reader literally has agency over their destiny. 

3. This is a four-book series. I have two questions (see the next question too) about writing your mysteries. First, how did you plot out the basic mystery for both stories? Did you decide on the storylines for all four books when you wrote The Monster Maker or as the series progressed? 

A sensible writer would have plotted out the first book. A wise writer would never have considered including a story arc in a series like this. Disappointingly, I am neither sensible nor wise. I just sat down and started writing. No plan. No idea of what was going to happen. It’s my favorite way to work. 

4. Well, it’s good if it works for you. This series has the added complication that the reader solves the mystery, and there are hundreds of paths to choose from, at least in the first book. How do you plot out and write out all these different options? 

I map out what’s happening as I go along but there is no plan at the start. I decide what’s gone missing then try to find it. I listen to what the suspects have to say. If they are good enough talkers, they get to audition to appear in the other books. I think the witches wheedle their way into all four books (because I enjoy their company). Creating as I write makes it more exciting for me, as I have to lose myself in the mystery and see all of the possibilities. Unlike the other books I’ve written, with these it feels like I need to climb inside the story to write them. Oh, and they take A LOT of editing. I worked with some excellent – and very patient - editors on these books. 

5. Your mysteries are set in the town of Haventry, with ghosts, werewolves, zombies, minotaurs, mermaids, and more. What made you decide to add the element of fantasy to your story, and what was your world-building process like? 

I realized I would need a lot of suspects so I set it in a world with werewolves, vampires, zombies etc. to help the readers to remember all of the different characters. Describing people is really hard (for me) so it makes it easier if one suspect is a gorgon and another is a mermaid. A world full of supernatural creatures also allows me to explore slightly darker subject matters that interest me. Death. Mortality. The nature of existence. That sort of thing. I can address these subjects using dejected monsters, whiney ghosts and depressed zombie clowns.  

6. Jodie Hodges and Molly Jamieson are your agents. How did they become your agents, and what was your road to getting your first publishing contract in 2007 like? 

I’ve been with Jodie since before she was an agent. My previous agent sadly died so Jodie became my agent. I actually found a publisher before I found an agent. One day, a few months after seeing a squirrel jumping over a man’s head, I met a publisher called Sarah. She was in the middles of publishing a series of books about a boy wizard called Harry Potter. She was the one who saw something in my Dragon Detective series. She took a punt on me. As you can imagine, I am very grateful to her.   

7. That’s such a cool publication story. You’ve published over 50 books since your debut book. How have you been able to grow your career as an author? What advice do you have for other writers hoping to have a successful career like you? 

Honestly, most of the time I feel like I’m hanging on by my fingernails. I think most of us do. I sometimes wonder how things would have been if I’d gone in with a plan. I know some writers that did, but I don’t think that kind of strategic business thinking is compatible with my way of looking at things. I find the business side all a bit dull. I just want to mess about and do silly things. Some of those silly things become books. Some become songs. Some become poems, or jokes, or doodles, or conversations in pubs… or sandwiches. Some of them don’t turn into anything. That’s OK too. I understand how lucky I am to be able to call this my job. I hope I’m able to continue doing this for the rest of my life, but I guess we’ll see. 

8. You live in the U.K, and these books are now being published in the U.S. How are you planning to promote them here? 

I was thinking of either skydiving into New York City while a thousand drones write my name in the sky or - if I can’t get pull that off – putting some stuff on social media. What I’d really love to do is to visit the states to sing my songs and put on my mini-musicals and improvised mystery shows in bookshops and theatres, but realistically I’d need to persuade a publisher to pay for that, so we’ll have to see how the books do. They are – I think – entirely unique in structure, but originality isn’t always the best idea if you want to sell a lot of books. I think it’s probably better to be a bit like something else. 

9. You’re also a singer and songwriter. I saw on your website that you’ve created songs and videos for your books. How does creating these songs and videos for kids help you connect with them? Do you use them at your school visits? 

I love writing songs. I try to write one every day. I did start doing it as a way of promoting the books. It’s fun trying to capture the essence of a story musically and lyrically -  to create a theme song. The Solve Your Own Mystery song is jazzy and interactive. When I perform it live, the audience decides which verses come next. As a consequence, the song can last quite a long time. As well as schools and libraries, this year I’m taking my one-man musical to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It’s based on a picture book I wrote called CinderGorilla. I’m quite excited and a bit nervous about doing this. One day, I hope to bring a show to Broadway. I know that this is unlikely ever to happen, but one can dream. 

10. What are you working on now? 

I have just delivered a new idea to Jodie and Molly so we’ll see what they say about that. It’s my first attempt at a diary book, called The Diary of Ug by Me, Ug! Also, I do have an almost complete manuscript for a new interactive story (The Oddjob Murder Club) but I need to find the right moment to read it, because I’ve cooled on it at the moment and I can’t even bring myself to open the document. Oh, and I’m trying to write a few picture books but I’m not confident about any of them. I’ve been enjoying answering these questions though. Thank you. 

Thanks for sharing all your advice, Gareth. You can find Gareth at: 

Website: garethwrites.co.uk

Instagram: @jonesgarethp

TikTok: @jonesgarethp

Youtube: @garethwrites 

Giveaway Details

Gareth’s publisher is generously offering paperbacks of The Monster Maker and The Time Thief for a giveaway. To enter, all you need to do is be a follower of my blog (via the follower gadget, email, or bloglovin’ on the right sidebar) and leave a comment by May 9th. If I do not have your email (I can no longer get it from your Google Profile), you must leave it in the comments to enter the contest. Please be sure I have your email address.

If you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or other social media sites and/or follow me on Twitter or Bluesky or follow Christopher on his social media sites, mention this in the comments, and I'll give you an extra entry for each. You must be 13 years old or older to enter. This book giveaway is US.

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday is hosted by Greg Pattridge. You can find the participating blogs on his blog. 

Upcoming Interviews, Guest Posts, and Blog Hops 

Wednesday, April 29th, I have an agent spotlight interview with Erica Bauman and a query critique giveaway 

Friday, May 1st, I’m participating in the Come What May Giveaway Hop 

Wednesday, May 6th, I have an interview with Dana Mele and a giveaway of her YA The Beast You Let In and my IWSG post 

Monday, May 11th, I have an interview with Sarah Marie Jette and a giveaway of her MG One Fair Share 

Wednesday, May 13th, I have an agent spotlight interview with Andrea Colvin and a query critique giveaway 

Saturday, May 16th, I’m participating in the Moms Rock Giveaway Hop 

Monday, May 25th, I’m off for Memorial Day 

I hope to see you on Wednesday!