John Dean – Crime Writer

Good things come to they who wait, according to the old adage – and that is certainly true of author Malcolm Beadle, whose debut novella has taken twenty years to come to fruition.

Malcolm, known as Mally, aged 65 and from Darlington, County Durham, has written Koki, which tells the story of an American sniper operating alone in the jungles of the Vietnam War. However, Trent Blane is no ordinary sniper. Having left behind his family and abandoned the only job he has ever known, working as a jobbing clown called Koki in Rodeo shows across the United States, he paints his face as a clown in the steamy jungles of Vietnam.

The story can be traced back twenty years to when Malcolm, who works in a recycling centre, took screenwriting classes at Darlington Arts Centre, which led him to taking writing classes run at the centre by crime writer John Dean, now a best-selling crime novelist living in Dumfries and Galloway, South West Scotland.

Malcom, pictured here, said: “I found myself amongst a mixture of people, some of whom were accomplished writers, others who had very little experience of writing, like me.

“I loved the way that John used to get us thinking. He would give us a topic or a situation and then we had twenty minutes to write something or cobble together a bunch of ideas. My ideas came faster than I could write them down. My head was full of them.

“Eventually, I had to select one of the many ideas to focus on and the story of a sniper who wears a clown mask was the one that won out.

“I cannot type, I am a ‘search and peck’ kind of writer, so it takes me longer to do stuff. I learnt quite a bit from taking BBC Maestro courses, which encourage people to explore their creativity, and also from reading Lee Child, my favourite novelist.

“It was only after a stroke in May 2023 that I decided to get Koki finished and now I’m ready for other people to experience it.”

John Dean, a regular in the Amazon best-seller charts, said: “The main thing I recall from Mally in those early days was the sheer number of ideas that he came up with. I had never encountered someone so creative – it was like someone had taken the top off his head and stirred up his brain! I am delighted that Koki has finally come to fruition. It’s certainly worth the wait.”

Koki can be purchased in ebook and paperback formats on Amazon.

About the book

Trent Blane has been a hunter since he was aged just eight. Now an adult, he has moved on from hunting animals to hunting human beings, having joined the American Army and signed up for the Vietnam War as a sniper.

However, Trent Blane is no ordinary sniper. Having left behind his family and abandoned the only job he has ever known, working as a jobbing clown called Koki in Rodeo shows across the United States, he has taken a clown mask with him to the steamy jungles of Vietnam.

He operates on his own in the jungle and that’s how he likes it; Trent Blane is a loner, a man for whom the solitary existence of the sniper appeals to something deep within him as he stealthily tracks down his unsuspecting victims.  He would have liked it more if it rained less, and if there weren’t so many booby traps.

Then everything changes as Blane tries to come to terms with the murder of his family while also trying to help two CIA agents who enter his part of the jungle and ask for his assistance in tracking down a couple of collaborators. Blane is perfectly prepared to help out on two conditions. One is simple, the other will affect him for the rest of his life as the murder of his family changes everything.

Koki is a remarkable debut novella which took the author twenty years to finish. The end result, with its claustrophobic depiction of life in the fetid jungle and the compelling character of its main protagonist, means that it is definitely worth the wait.