Perilaus II by Mark P Henderson

Deserted by his partner, Doug Carmichael grows increasingly paranoid as he struggles to complete his latest crime novel. The story demands a brutal murder, but he has grown fond of Peter Wishart, his intended victim, and can’t bear to write the words that will kill him. But he must, or he cannot finish the book. When the gruesome chapter is finally drafted he falls into a whisky-induced slumber from which he wakes into a nightmare.

A friend phones to break the terrible news of Peter’s murder, but the ‘friend’ only exists in the pages of Doug’s manuscript, and the murder that is splashed all over the news can’t have happened. Confused and crippled by guilt that he has caused so much anguish to Peter Wishart’s friends and family, Doug calls a cab and sets off into the fictional Edinburgh of his novel to meet people who should only exist in his head.

It’s a one-way journey. Not only is he trapped inside the book he’s trying to create, if he can’t control how the story develops, he will become the prime suspect for Peter’s murder and never find his way back to reality.