From 10cc Classic to Jamaican Crime Thriller
We don’t like Welsh author Richard Mainwaring’s debut novel ‘Dreadlock Holiday’ – we love it.
In his first literary offering, Mainwaring takes readers into the dangerous world of the Sharma brothers, Samir and Vinae, as they navigate the seedy underside of paradise. What starts as a seemingly simple protection detail quickly descends into a treacherous game of cat and mouse.
Set in Jamaica, ‘Dreadlock Holiday’ is titled after 10cc’s number one hit from their 1978 album ‘Sheet Music’ and serves as a loving homage to Richard’s all-time favourite band.
“When I was a kid, ‘Sheet Music’ was the first album I ever had,” Richard explains.
“I woke up one Christmas morning and there was a cassette player with ‘Sheet Music’ on it and I was no more than nine or ten. The song itself is based on the group being out in the Caribbean, meeting The Moody Blues and [frontman] Justin Hayward suggesting they don’t go to Jamaica because he got mugged.
“They took his necklace his mother had given him, reflected in the lyrics, so that was the basis of it really. I checked I could use the title as my title, and it grew from there. It retained its musical theme because I named every chapter after and album, song, or lyric from a 10cc song. That was just as much for my entertainment than anything else.”
Beneath the musical framing, the central narrative of ‘Dreadlock Holiday’ is grounded by the strong, dynamic bond shared by Samir and Vinae, two brothers from Bristol each with their own special skill set. Their father was an ex-MI6 agent was killed in mysterious circumstances on a mission-gone-wrong in Marseilles 20 years previously.
The story follows the brothers as they watch over a trio of young women on a post-university holiday. After a chance meeting with an English banker, Samir and Vinae are drawn into a wicked web of intrigue, deceit, and danger.
In developing the characters of Samir and Vinae, Richard said he wanted to avoid the tropes of stereotypical action heroes, instead crafting an unassuming crime-fighting duo.
“Samir has Asperger’s Syndrome, he’s a computer whiz, and built like a brick outhouse. Vinae is older and smaller with loose fitting clothes hiding a wiry body and was brought up on multiple martial arts, particularly Krav Maga.
“I always wanted to bring an element of something different, so I figured one of the brothers would have ADHD or something along those lines, which I didn’t fully understand, and it took a bit of research to understand. My first idea for the book was that the main protagonist … I wanted him to be small and insignificant looking but packing a bit of power.”
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A career banker with no formal experience as a writer, Richard began writing ‘Dreadlock Holiday’ while working from home during lockdown, piecing together ideas and names he had collected over the years.
After two years of development and careful revision, ‘Dreadlock Holiday’ is now in the final editorial stage, with a publication date to be announced soon. And it may not be the last we hear of the Sharma brothers as Richard begins working on the sequel and expanding it into a series.
“Like everything in life, we’re always learning. We’ve got a saying here: ‘every day’s a school day’, and that’s very much the case for writing,” Richard says.
“What started as a passion project to write the book has become, I want to write a series of books. I’ve got two central characters I quite believe in. By the end of summer, if not before, I’ve got the basis of what the sequel is going to be about and again I’ll try to retain the musical theme. Maybe not to the degree of this one but pick a new artist – Electric Light Orchestra or Squeeze or one of my other favourites.”
