KDP, crime and voice

Kindle DP seems to have got itself in a muddle over Christmas. Either that, or my PC is heading for trouble. When I check my sales on KDP, the figures and locations do not tally. Titles sold in the US Canada, Europe, UK show in one section, but not in another. I hope it sorts itself out soon. 

I'm just about to launch into a blitz on writing and critiquing. Haven't done much over the hols, and definitely feeling withdrawal systems. I'm attempting a mystery with this wip, and being devious is not coming easy. In theory I'm not against having a murder in the pages, but find in practice a reluctance to harm any of my characters. Even the villain. I can't render them dead too soon, or else the story folds!

Perhaps a certain turn of mind is required for crime novels. An ability to describe squeamish things, for a start. There's also a great need to hang onto details, because so often the details become important later when all the unravelling-a -la-Poirot takes place. Given that a story changes as it is written in the case of many authors including me, remembering to lay the clues and remember them as you progress with the story is hard. In my case, there's confusion about who said what, when and where. Straight historicals are much easier!

I'm thinking about voice today, because I've just seen an article on Twitter on how Lee Child sets about writing Jack Reacher novels. Evidently he starts a novel on 1st Septermber each year and takes a year to complete. He has no plot and no draft when he begins, and he  thinks his hero's voice is the most important part of the story. It is certainly strong. I think it must be easier to maintain voice when the story is written in the first person POV. Another author who has a strong voice is Caroline Dunford with her Euphemia Martin mysteries - Death in the Highlands, and Death in the Family. The story lines are much lighter than Reacher, but the strong voice struck me right away - tart, very feminine and I loved it! That has got me thinking about how I present Daisy. Maybe this draft won't be the final one!