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Cold Dawn

By James Ellson

The second crime novel in the critically acclaimed DCI Rick Castle series

Crime | Last chance

102% funded

320 supporters

On press

Publication date: August 2022

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ABOUT THE BOOK

It’s happening. Cold Dawn is at the printers and will be shipping to supporters as soon as the ink is dry.

FEATURED REWARD

$40 + shipping

135 pledges

Signed First Edition

First edition paperback signed by James.

PLUS:

Ebook
Your name in the back of book

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FEATURED REWARD

$55 + shipping

59 pledges

DCI Castle Pack

First edition paperback of Cold Dawn with a paperback of The Trail, the first book in the DCI Castle series.

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Ebook
Your name in the back of the book

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$15

34 pledges

Ebook

A digital version of the first edition.

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Your name listed at the end of the book

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$30 + shipping

54 pledges

Paperback

A copy of the first edition paperback.

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E-book
Your name in the back of the book

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$45 + shipping

13 pledges

Prayer Flag Edition

First edition signed paperback with a set of prayer flags from Nepal.

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Ebook
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$55 + shipping

7 pledges

Read With a Friend

Two copies of the first edition paperback so you can compare notes with a fellow DCI Castle fan.

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Two e-books
Both names in the back of the book

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$115 + shipping

6 pledges

Book Club

Five copies of the first edition paperback to share with other readers.

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5 x Ebooks
5 x Name sent he back of the book

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$190 + shipping

Online Talk

Five signed copies of the first edition paperback and an online talk by James.

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5 x Ebooks
5 x Names in the back of the book

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$190 + shipping

5 pledges

Ten Book Bundle

Ten copies of the first edition paperback.

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10 x Ebooks
10 x Names in the back of the book

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$225 + shipping

1 pledge

Police Hotline

A signed paperback plus access to James (via emai)l with your police-related procedural questions to help improve the veracity of your fiction (James advised Paula Hawkins on the sequel to Girl On The Train). Subscription entitles you to the e-mail advice hotline available for a year.

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Ebook
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$300 + shipping

2 pledges

Smallholding Tour

A signed paperback plus a tour of James's smallholding (a historic vegetable garden, a hundred fruit trees, plus chickens, ducks & bees). For up to 4 adults plus children.

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Ebook
Your name in the back of the book

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$750 + shipping

Patron

Your name listed as a patron in a frontispiece to the book plus 10 signed copies of the first edition paperback, comb honey and prayer flags.

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10 x Ebooks

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$1,500 + shipping

Corporate Patron

Please contact Unbound at sponsorship@unbound.com to discuss getting your own branded edition of Cold Dawn.

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$60 + shipping

20 pledges

Honey Pack

A signed first edition paperback plus a pack of British comb honey.

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Ebook
Your name in the back of the book

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Against the rules, Manchester DCI Rick Castle removes a prisoner from Strangeways and returns to Nepal.

His aim is to bring to justice his nemesis, Hant Khetan, rumoured to be the next Osama Bin Laden.

A week into the trail, the prisoner escapes.

Rick and his small team search for their escaped prisoner along the trekking paths of the Everest foothills. Backdropped by snow-capped mountains, and through earthquake-flattened villages, he becomes increasingly desperate.

If they can’t find him, Rick can’t even begin . . .

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Quick select rewards

FEATURED REWARD

$40 + shipping

135 pledges

Signed First Edition

First edition paperback signed by James.

PLUS:

Ebook
Your name in the back of book

Pre-order this reward

FEATURED REWARD

$55 + shipping

59 pledges

DCI Castle Pack

First edition paperback of Cold Dawn with a paperback of The Trail, the first book in the DCI Castle series.

PLUS:

Ebook
Your name in the back of the book

Pre-order this reward

View all 14 rewards

James Ellson

James Ellson was a police officer for 15 years, starting in London and finishing as a Detective Inspector at Moss Side in Manchester. He now wears two hats, smallholder and writer.

He lives in the Peak District with his wife, and manages their smallholding, which includes bees and an orchard.

Cold Dawn is the sequel to his debut novel The Trail published in 2020. He is now working on the third book in the DCI Castle series.
1.

After a month in Strangeways, Calix Coniston changed cells. Flanked by guards, he stood on the metal catwalk, holding his cardboard crate. The three men waited, Calix staring at the crate. There were air-holes in the sides, and in a former life it had held apples for a supermarket. Pink Lady. He’d never heard of them.

The cell door jerked into life and rattled from right to left.

Third time lucky?

The first had been a drink-driver who’d killed an old man on a pedestrian crossing. A prison epiphany meant Kerry was constantly praying and quoting the bible. To be woken every day to Psalm 118-24: ‘This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice’ had driven Calix nuts. Two weeks of that and then for a reason never explained, Calix had been moved to a different cell. Havel was a Slovakian lorry driver who’d been stopped at Dover with 38 kilos of heroin hidden behind a false compartment. Didn’t speak a word of English. Hummed to himself at night and always on the bog.

The door juddered to a halt and Calix walked in with the crate. The cell smelt of pot noodle and cigarettes.

As the door rattled shut a man stared down from the top bunk. He was mid-twenties, ginger-haired and freckly. His torso was bare and the tattoo of a lion’s head bulged on his tricep. Thick red headphones angled back on his head. He held a comic. Calix nodded a greeting, then glanced around. A cabbage-green plastic table and two matching chairs. On the table sat a small TV with the sound down low. Above it was a shelf and the bog was in the corner. There wasn’t a mirror because it could be smashed and the shards used to wound – or kill.

Read more...
25th May 2022 Don't Stop the Press

Dear supporters

The final stage (feels like the 100th) stage of the proofread is over, and the files for the cover and the internals for Cold Dawn have been signed off by all parties. We are good to go!

So, Cold Dawn will be printed next month, you should get your copy in July, and the book will be published nationally on the 18th August.

Arrangements are currently being made for the book…

29th January 2022 Roisin's Christmas Party

Dear Supporters

** Breaking news ** Cold Dawn will be published on 18 August, and you should get your copy(ies) a few weeks before.

This means the deadline for names in the back is closing very soon . . . so if you know anyone who’s interested, get them to sign up by 13 February.

Currently, I’m engaged in the copyedit – with another brilliant editor Mary Chesshyre. Put simply, her job is…

9th December 2021 Cover Reveal

Dear Supporters

Finally, I’ve come up for air!

I’ve been editing the manuscript for Cold Dawn following a long document of ‘suggestions’ from my brilliant editor, Eve Seymour. I’ve moved stuff around, and written half a dozen chapters of new material, adding 15,000 words. I cut a similar amount. And then I cut another 2,000.

The result is tighter and (even!) pacier.

The manuscript now…

28th July 2021 The Nudge

Dear Supporters

A COLOSSAL thank you for supporting Cold Dawn. Yesterday we reached 86% and 270 supporters; the finishing line is in sight!

So, what do I mean by The Nudge? A new Scandi crime thriller with the same shuffled cast and preposterous plot? A byzantine pseudo-sport making its debut at the Olympics?

Neither – and more later.

One of the questions I often get asked at book groups…

11th May 2021 Prisoner Productions

Dear Supporters

A MASSIVE thank you for supporting Cold Dawn. Over the weekend we reached halfway, and we’re now at 53%. I’ve had some fantastic messages both from supporters of The Trail, and new supporters.

I expect most of you have been watching Line of Duty. Mother of God, what a programme!

                Absolute rhubarb of course. However, the prisoner production in the finale (which…

11th May 2021 Prisoner Productions

Dear Supporters

A MASSIVE thank you for supporting Cold Dawn. Over the weekend we reached halfway, and we’re now at 53%. I’ve had some fantastic messages both from supporters of The Trail, and new supporters.

I expect most of you have been watching Line of Duty. Mother of God, what a programme!

                Absolute rhubarb of course. However, the prisoner production in the finale (which…

1st April 2021 We're off!

Dear Supporters

The BH weekend is upon us. Lockdown is easing, we’ve had a couple of days of warm weather, and our ducks have laid their first egg in six months!

                A HUGE thank you for supporting Cold Dawn. The book has reached 19% funding in the first ten days which is a great start.

I chose the title for two reasons:

Firstly, Nepal has some of the most beautiful dawns I…
These people are helping to fund Cold Dawn.

Richard Castley

James Burdett

Philip Hannah

Peter Hooper

imogen young

Louise Rawstorne

Derek Wilson

Bradley Wickens

Ramatu Banga

Carlo Navato

Leah Shafi

Laura Dobie

Claire Calman

Robert Eardley

Barbara Thorne

James Ellson

Ed Rigby

Damian Murphy

Kate Wilson

Paul Hook

Paul Sell

Graham Blenkin

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Cold Dawn

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Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I get my book delivered to?

How do supporter names work?

Will the book and rewards that I receive look the same as the images shown on the Unbound website?

Quick select rewards

About the author

Excerpt

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