Police sergeant Jolly Macken finds it hard to tell his friends from his enemies. When he’s banished to the quiet Irish border village of Blackwatertown, Macken vows to find out who killed the man he’s replacing – even if it turns out to be another officer. But a lot can happen in a week. Over seven days Macken falls in love with the bewitchingly beautiful Aoife, uncovers family secrets, accidentally starts a war and is hailed a hero and hounded as a traitor.
Macken has always had trouble fitting in. As a Catholic, he’s viewed with suspicion by the rest of the mainly Protestant police force. But as a policeman, he’s isolated from his fellow Catholics because he serves the British Crown. When Blackwatertown explodes into violence, who can Macken trust? Which side should he take? Are anyone’s hands clean – even his own? And is betrayal the only way to survive?
The story is set around the fictionalised village of Blackwatertown, which sits in lush countryside on the centuries-old border between Elizabethan and Irish-controlled Ireland and not far from today’s Irish border – currently featuring in its own Brexit drama. The action takes place during a little-known IRA insurgency in the 1950s. The intertwining of fact and fiction is based on murky episodes from Ireland’s past and the author’s own family history. Blackwatertown’s initial sense of calm foreshadows the current uneasy peace in Northern Ireland.
Blackwatertown has been described as LA Confidential meets The Guard. Legendary thriller writer Frederick Forsyth, author of The Day of the Jackal, says Blackwatertown is “a fascinating story with intricate twists and turns” and that Macken’s “position as a Catholic police officer in hardline Unionist RUC is extremely intriguing.” BBC Radio 4 presenter Rev Richard Coles describes Blackwatertown as “extraordinary, abundant, dazzling and full of incident.” Leading BBC journalist and Northern Ireland expert Peter Taylor said Blackwatertown is “engaging and reads really well.” Readers have described Blackwatertown as “exciting”, “moving” and “funny”, and they identify so strongly with the leading characters, that their responses range from “it made me cry” to “it made me want to punch you in the face!” (Please don’t, Barry.)
More information
Paul Waters
Paul Waters is an award-winning BBC producer. He grew up in Belfast during “the Troubles”, was involved in cross-community peace groups and went on to report and produce for BBC Northern Ireland, BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC World Service and Channel 5.
His main claim to fame is making Pelé his dinner. But Paul has also covered elections in the USA, created an alternative G8 Summit in a South African township, gone undercover in Zimbabwe, conducted football crowds, reported from Swiss drug shooting-up rooms, smuggled a satellite dish into Cuba to produce the first BBC live programmes from the island and overseen the World Service’s first live coverage of the 9/11 attacks on America.
Paul has also taught in Poland, driven a cab in England, busked in Wales, been a night club cook in New York, designed computer systems in Dublin, presented podcasts for Germans and organised music festivals for beer drinkers. He currently presents a book and writers podcast called We’d Like A Word. He lives in Buckinghamshire and has two teenage children.
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6th November 2020Help me please (& what happened at the launch)
I need your help. And you need a laugh. So here's the video of the online book launch for Blackwatertown. https://youtu.be/B48me-0EgKg Paul Lewis from BBC Radio 4 Money Box is in it. So is Alabama 1950s crooner Don McDermott (you can buy his album here). Before you watch it, can you help me? It's not about money. But you can boost my sales and chances of another book deal by reviewing Blackwatertown…
14th October 2020Blackwatertown book launch early warning
Guess who's hosting my Blackwatertown book launch? It's Paul Lewis, the presenter of BBC Radio 4's Money Box programme and champion of ordinary people who get ripped off by corporate bandits. And you're invited. It'll be at 7pm UK-time, Tuesday 27th October. It'll be online - sorry, can't be helped with coronavirus - and I'll send out the link to join in a week in advance. There will be other special…
27th July 2020Has your book arrived?
Lots of you have received your copies of Blackwatertown - across Britain and Ireland, north America, Europe, Asia. I'd love to see pictures of you holding it, or against some recognisable landmark or street sign. If you can't leave a comment below, you can email me at paulwaters99 AT hotmail DOT com
Thanks to Janice Staines for the Blackwatertown in space picture. Must have been a determined postie…
16th June 2020I was cross-examined by a champion...
Courtrooms are daunting places. The witness box is even scarier. I’ve been there. But never up against such a daunting inquisitor as Tony Kent. He’s one of the UK’s top criminal barristers, as well as the author of a gripping series of thrillers – Killer Intent, Marked for Death and Power Play. I’ve read them all. You should too. He seems to have a uncanny and downright suspicious insight into how…
25th May 2020Blackwatertown publication date 23rd July 2020
It's happening! Blackwatertown is being published in paperback and ebook on Thursday 23rd July 2020. Can you help me get it in bookshops?
(There's been some coronavirus-related disruption, delay and confusion about the publication date, but all looks set now.)
I know you've wanted to know when you'll finally have the book in your hands or on your e-reader, because I've had people asking me in…
5th May 2020Got you covered... (plus publication date!)
(Sorry for the rapid resend, I'll explain why below) You're the first to see the book cover for Blackwatertown. And you're getting a bit of spine action too there. Hope you like it. Hope other potential readers do too. (Not showing you the back cover yet, because I'm finalising some very cool author quotes.)
And you're also the first I'm telling about my new website - my new author website. (Ooh…
27th March 2020Linda Grenfell and the Blackwatertown book launch
Good news for Linda and everyone else. The lovely Linda Grenfell asks: "What's happening with Blackwatertown? Have you any information about when it might be available? Is it still in the process or has the project been abandoned?" And you, kind supporter, may be wondering the same thing. The short answers are: Lots. Yes. Yes. No.
What's been happening? The manuscript for Blackwatertown was delivered…
16th January 2020Most of you won't read this, so I'll tell you again when I see you. But...
for those of you who do read these updates - first of all, thank you - and secondly, here's where we are with Blackwatertown. I'm playing with cover ideas to send to the professional cover designer. It'll have my name, the book title, a celeb writer endorsement (all offers welcome) and perhaps a one-liner to draw in potential readers. And it'll have a picture.
The lone silhouetted male figure…
3rd December 2019Comical, cool, dark and punches you in the gut
The answer: They're both comical, cool, dark and punch you in the gut. The question: What do Muhammed Ali and my book Blackwatertown have in common?
That's according to Northern Irish writer and crime fiction reviewer Gerard Brennan - author of Disorder. In his DisorderGB podcast, Gerard says this about Blackwatertown:
It's comical at the start. Really cool writing quality and a really nice…
1st November 2019Running past the finish line
You already know that, thanks to you, Blackwatertown is 100% funded. But, like Rhasidat Adeleke (winning the 100m Final at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Baku in July - one of her two gold medals there for Ireland), we've sprinted past the 100% with extra supporters piling in to bring the funding level to 104%. So I have some new people to thank and also a major update for you on Blackwatertown…
27th September 2019Blackwatertown is 100% funded thanks to you...
100% Phew! The pictures are from the final push over the line. Top right corner, that’s old mate Su in local shop and community support Yaldens, with Matthew Yalden himself. They’ve backed Blackwatertown and helped spread the word. They sent me a thumbs up for 100%.
And that’s Parmjit Singh of Kashi House publishers, sitting where John Milton dictated Paradise Lost. Parmjit has been a great support…
19th September 2019The craic was ninety (per cent)
Loitering in the street, trying to persuade passersby to back my book Blackwatertown, could be a daunting prospect. But it can't be as daunting as trying to sell Peace By Peace round estates in Belfast when I was teenager, surely? (One friend in the Peace People had it particularly hard. With a beard, he ressembled Gerry Adams - a risky look in some parts of the city. Without it, he was the spit of…
15th September 2019Word of mouth to 85%
Blackwatertown is nearly to 100%. And yes, as the sign suggests, it really does exist. Though my version is fictionalised and set in the 1950s.
The reason I’ve reached 85% is because I asked a small number of generous people who had already supported Blackwatertown, not to back me again, but to think of one person they knew who might consider supporting the book and pre-ordering a copy. And then…
9th September 2019We've reached the 80s
Our last update was at two thirds funded and I was waiting to hit three quarters before I got in touch again. But we've smashed through that to more than four fifths - 81% to be precise. And it's all because of y-y-y-you. (Max Headroom? Anybody?)
7th August 2019Blackwatertown two thirds of the way there
Brilliant Beryl (that's her in the red) has taken Blackwatertown to two thirds of the way to being funded - thank you Beryl Lewis. I'm feeling optimistic!
And thanks too to renowned musician Layil Barr. I was hoping to add a video of her performing with MilLuna, but this website has defeated me. You'll find some here http://milunamusic.com/media/ Go see them if you have a chance. (You can get…
15th July 201960 plus: I don't want to die in big knickers...
I've finally reached the spritely 60+ level - that's percentage funding for Blackwatertown I'm talking about, thank you very much. And of course it's all thanks to you, dear supporters. And I'm honoured and privileged that among you is Karen from The Twisted Sisters band - see video. They're always irreverently lively live performers, usually in Ireland. If you get the chance, go see them. I did in…
8th June 2019Royal thanks
That's King George VI on the left, in naval uniform. He looks a bit starstruck. No wonder, when you realise he's walking beside the celebrated RUC District Inspector Michael Murphy - aka Great Uncle Mike - of B District. (On the right in the dark uniform.)
I'm sharing the picture with you to mark you taking my book Blackwatertown to 50% funding. Halfway to making the Unbound publishing and…
29th May 2019It started with a cyst, never thought it would come to this...
The oddest things can bring people together. That's my mate Su Verhoeven in the top right corner, with the green hair. She was talking to people around the world - her "Lovelies" via her YouTube channel. Su's a sharing type of person, and when a huge stubborn cyst grew on her back, boy did she share the gruesome details. But people didn't wince and turn away, they flocked to her videos. Tens of millions…
27th May 2019On the platform
When you get a platform, it's good to give a platform. The Chiltern Chatter website and newsletter kindly gave me a platform to talk about my book Blackwatertown and asked me to talk about my favourite places. So I'm celebrating some businesses local to me - giving them a platform. It's helps that the people there are universally gorgeous - see pic of Tom behind the bar of the Jolly Cricketers (or…
Thank you all for taking Blackwatertown to 31 per cent in under a week. The boffins at Unbound (the publisher) say that books reaching 30 per cent funding in 30 days are set fair to succeed. So we're smashing it.
But now for the hard part. I'm feeling the love from all of you who have pledged to support the book and have shared on social media and told other people. The next 69 per cent will be…
16th May 2019Murphy and Princess Elizabeth
The main man in Blackwatertown, Jolly Macken, is a demoted RUC sergeant in the 1950s. But sure what on earth would I know about that, a young strip like myself? Fair question. I wasn't around then, nor ever in the RUC. But I know some who were. Relations like the fine fella in the picture. It was a bit of a dangerous family tradition.
There was no difficulty finding gunmen back in the day. Swordsmen…
14th May 2019Doggone it! What a ten per center of a first day...
Going live on something new can be daunting, even with Unbound rooting for you. Not everything goes right. For instance, my very first backer sent me the money for the first paperback directly, rather than through the website. So, when I lodged it, my name showed up on the list of supporters instead of his. Sorry about that Stan Burridge, official back number one.
Even with Stan's early backing…
Helen Jones asked:
Loving the book excerpts. Intrigued by the author profile- tell us more about Pele!
Paul Waters replied:
Hi Helen - Once upon a time I was working as a cook in a New York nightclub and restaurant. A small foreign black guy came in. Nobody was particularly interested in him. It was all white US young men and women doing front-of-house roles.
The guest looked like he had a small football up his top. Otherwise pretty trim. So far, so unremarkable as far as anyone was concerned. In fact, they were less interested in him than in the other customers.
Until we spotted him. We being the two Irish and two El Salvadorean staff behind the scenes, out of sight of the authorities - doing most of the work. At first it was - what!? No! can't be! It is! Out we burst from behind the scenes to say hello to Pelé. The rest of the staff looking askance at us, surprised we'd risk being spotted - our working status being a moot point.
It's said that you should never meet your heroes, because they'll inevitably be a disappointment. I haven't found that. Pelé was friendly, enthusiastic, gracious. A lovely guy. We talked, larked about, had photographs - to the bemusement of the crowd around us. Football/soccer didn't loom so large in north American imaginations back in those days. They're catching up with the rest of the world now.
Eventually we let Pelé get on with his evening and I made him his tea - or dinner - or whatever you call an evening meal in New York, when it's in a nightclub restaurant.
What did he have? I'm guessing seafood chowder.
It was an honour and a pleasure to feed the second best footballer the world has ever seen.
The best? That would be George, of course.
I'm from Belfast.
Loving the book excerpts. Intrigued by the author profile- tell us more about Pele!
Hi Helen - Once upon a time I was working as a cook in a New York nightclub and restaurant. A small foreign black guy came in. Nobody was particularly interested in him. It was all white US young men and women doing front-of-house roles. The guest looked like he had a small football up his top. Otherwise pretty trim. So far, so unremarkable as far as anyone was concerned. In fact, they were less interested in him than in the other customers. Until we spotted him. We being the two Irish and two El Salvadorean staff behind the scenes, out of sight of the authorities - doing most of the work. At first it was - what!? No! can't be! It is! Out we burst from behind the scenes to say hello to Pelé. The rest of the staff looking askance at us, surprised we'd risk being spotted - our working status being a moot point. It's said that you should never meet your heroes, because they'll inevitably be a disappointment. I haven't found that. Pelé was friendly, enthusiastic, gracious. A lovely guy. We talked, larked about, had photographs - to the bemusement of the crowd around us. Football/soccer didn't loom so large in north American imaginations back in those days. They're catching up with the rest of the world now. Eventually we let Pelé get on with his evening and I made him his tea - or dinner - or whatever you call an evening meal in New York, when it's in a nightclub restaurant. What did he have? I'm guessing seafood chowder. It was an honour and a pleasure to feed the second best footballer the world has ever seen. The best? That would be George, of course. I'm from Belfast.