Despite the rare success of books like Roddy Doyle’s The Commitments and, more recently, Daisy Jones & the Six, it seems novels aren’t often set in the music industry. When they are, they’re typically written or assumed to be written as something Jackie Collins would pen. Tabloid-like. Salacious. Lots of glitz. Lots of arguably shallow yet dazzling characters. Sadly, such novels are often shunned…considered “guilty pleasure” reads.

Then, there’s the MiM saga: a completely different animal.

Am I exalting myself (or my work) above other “fame” writers who’ve come before me? Am I jealous, or perhaps mocking their success? Absolutely not. I’m clear about which rung of the ladder I currently dangle from. I’ll not disparage another writer’s work. Not even Jackie Collins. I loved her stuff. Her novels were “guilty pleasure” reads for me as well as her hordes of fans. In fact, she may well have had a small part in my early writing days.

The Music is Murder saga (MiM), is a character-driven journey of three families in the music industry. Not a lot of glitz, though it’s there. Not a lot of dazzle, though it has its place. Just people. People who exist within fame’s blinding, artificial luminance. It’s what they do, not who they are. Who they are eclipses their celebrity. It’s a think piece, I suppose, exploring life’s choices and consequences.

Ultimately, Lockhardt Sound was born of my own (and some notably connected friends’) experiences in the entertainment industry. That and my near-obsessive love of music. As one Twitter friend puts it, I’m an avid “musicologist.” From birth into my late twenties, I dreamed of being a singer. More on that, perhaps, at a later time.

Book stores, be they digital or bricks & mortar, are chock full of police, detective, doctor, PI, lawyer, farmer, and service industry worker stories. In fact, I have a couple of books planned within these same backgrounds. But my first love is, and always will be, the entertainment industry. Specifically, music. So that’s what I’ve written about. Maybe it’s my destiny, if you believe in that sort of thing. My ancestral history ticks many related boxes: notable musicians, (fine) artists, etc. Is it my right? My duty? My base inclination? My generation of latch-key kids who used to record from the radio onto mini-cassette players? Who knows.

Whatever the case, if you want to immerse yourself in an epic family saga set in the music business – with at least as much heart and tragedy as there is sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll – give Lockhardt Sound a read. It’s not a love story, but it will break your heart.