Jake Ridge is the author of the Killian Spooks Mysteries series.
The name Jake Ridge is the pseudonym of Colin R Parsons (initially, a children’s and teen fiction writer with thirteen books published, and counting). He was born on November 8th 1960 in the Rhondda Valley, South Wales in the UK.
In 2020, the author signed a traditional publishing deal with Pegasus Elliot Mackenzie Publishers Ltd. The contract was for the first book in an adult supernatural crime series with an urban fantasy twist.
Killian Spooks Mysteries “Spirit Jumper” by Jake Ridge was a major step in his writing career. Previously, he’d only written for a younger audience, but writing for adults, he could push the boundaries.
About the series…
The protagonist Killian Spooks is a wizard detective who solves supernatural cases with magic and cunning. Police Chief Inspector Daniel Hathaway hasn’t the manpower or time to waste on these embarrassing cases, so hires Mr Spooks and pays him on a case-by-case basis. Each one is different, exciting and deadly. The series will continue with a second book “Phantom Thief” and the third “Strange Happenings”. Under the guise of Jake Ridge, he intends to write more books in the wizard detective series. Number four is Drift’s Tomb – Digital Demon – HeadCount – Spooks Shadow and Gathering Ghosts. If you enjoy novels like the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, then you’ll love the Killian Spooks Mysteries.
Where did he get the name?
As a kid, Colin loved cowboy movies with Clint Eastwood and John Wayne, and western series on television like the High Chaparral and Bonanza. One particular name stuck out and stayed with him – a cowboy character called Jake. So that was the first part of his new pen name. He also loved a comedy partnership way back when, called Laurel and Hardy – a famous comedy duo from the forties and fifties, who wrote and starred in many slapstick comedy TV episodes and Hollywood movies.
They made one particular film called Way Out West (another western theme) about a goldmine and the deeds to it. There is a scene in a saloon with a song – The Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. So, Colin took the word Ridge and put it together with Jake.
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Visit Jake’s Amazon page or Website.
Crime Cymru 