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Romantic thrillers · Premade three-book pack

The Towpath Passage

Name: The Towpath Passage: premade three-book series
Brand: PlotProse
Price: 705 USD
Availability: InStock

For one week, the water in the old cut will be low enough to see what Nina Ward left behind.

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3-book package

$705

$235 per book · Save $75

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Until 3 December: your concept comes with two On-Demand classes of your choice and six TropeSmith Maps.

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The Towpath Passage, a romantic thriller concept package. The graphic shows 3 novel covers and the free lead magnet, Her Glove on the Lock Beam.

The concept

Twenty years ago, teenager Nina Ward swam out to a stranded narrowboat and never came home. Her brother has spent half his life taking the blame. When an old stretch of canal is drained for repairs, the woman who last saw Nina alive asks three boat crews to bring back the truth before the water returns. Old loves and new ones have to survive what the crews find.

When the level drops, Saba can see a boat under the broken sign. Before she can make a second photograph, somebody pushes off in her skiff with her still aboard. The free companion novella is Her Glove on the Lock Beam.

The worldA fictional stretch of Midlands canal has three stretches between locks, a lock cottage and a towpath that ends at a private garden. Volunteers helping clear the bank work alongside the authority draining it. Police control the evidence and any underwater recovery. On shore, everyone remembers a different version of Nina.

Series tropesSlow Burn • Traveling Together • Grief to Hope

Intended readershipAdult romantic thrillers for readers who enjoy a physical countdown, a community divided by blame and a different couple at the centre of each novel.

Tone & contentModerate open-door romance. Past accidental drowning and present adult violence. Each couple chooses a lasting relationship, and Nina’s family receives an answer in the final novel.

The people behind the promise

Free novellaJen MoorNina’s childhood friend

Free novellaElliot Bradya lock keeper

Book 1Jim Bournea skipper whose father was the original witness

Book 1Saba Farouka resident photographer

Book 2Asha Burnsa boatbuilder

Book 2Cal Drewher musician ex who played at the boatyard that night

Book 3Robina NashNina’s former swimming coach

Book 3Terry Bonda surveyor who grew up in the boatyard

Series arc

One week of clearance work links three couples. The first crew exposes a witness’s lie about who was steering. The second frees Nina’s cousin and learns she saw Nina alive after the collision. The last identifies the skipper and restores Nina’s name. Each couple’s epilogue follows the week on the canal.

The three books

The direction is set. The books are written after you order.

Free novella

Her Glove on the Lock Beam

The morning the clearance boat arrives, somebody hangs Nina’s red glove over the lock beam. Nobody outside her family knew it had been found.

Story outline

Story arc and endingElliot comes upon Jen fighting with the man who took the glove from her porch. The thief is Nina’s younger brother Peter. Their father had buried it with the boating medal Peter was supposed to have won the night she died. He wanted the crew to look again before it was too late. Jen and Elliot give the police the medal and get Peter a protected hearing at the reopening. An invitation to share the first lock watch becomes an invitation to share a life.

Emotional payoffJen stops protecting Peter by speaking over him. Elliot is the friend willing to stand beside her when she admits she got it wrong.

Story focusFriends to Lovers

Length30,000 words planned

Book 1 of three

The Boat Under the Broken Sign

When the level drops, Saba can see a boat under the broken sign. Before she can make a second photograph, somebody pushes off in her skiff with her still aboard.

Story outline

Story arc and endingA man is trying to stop Saba photographing the hidden hull of his late father’s boat. His father hit a moored vessel on the night Nina drowned and falsely reported Peter at its wheel. Jim’s father repeated the claim to protect his job. Jim throws Saba a line from his narrowboat and she hauls the skiff alongside; her first image and a dated paint repair let officers connect the boats. Jim persuades his father to retract his evidence publicly. Saba returns in the spring after his testimony, and they choose to live together afloat.

Emotional payoffJim pays for honesty with his family’s approval. Saba trusts him when he gives her evidence that will hurt someone he loves.

Story focusStrangers to Lovers

Length55,000 words planned

Book 2 of three

A Passenger Below the Waterline

Asha hears tapping below the cabin floor. Cal knows the rhythm. He taught it to Nina’s cousin on the evening of the accident, before the family ordered everyone to forget she had been there.

Story outline

Story arc and endingThe cousin came back to show officers where she saw Nina climb aboard. Someone hauled the boat sideways while she was inspecting it and jammed the old hatch shut. Asha frees her while Cal flags the bank crew. The tie rope leads to a retired mechanic, frightened his failure to repair the steering will be blamed for the death. His confession resolves the attack, and the cousin identifies the skipper’s distinctive hand injury from the night of the collision. Asha and Cal address the silence that broke them up and set a date for a small wedding.

Emotional payoffHe tells the truth that might lose him his oldest friends. She can forgive him once he does that work himself.

Story focusSecond Chance Romance

Length55,000 words planned

Book 3 of three

Where the Towpath Runs Out

The towpath ends forty yards short of where Robina remembers Nina coming ashore. Terry’s own grandfather put up the fence. On the last morning before the canal refills, he has taken it down again.

Story outline

Story arc and endingTerry’s grandfather was at the wheel. Nina swam first to his grounded narrowboat. He put her ashore, then saw her wade back to pull the injured owner of the second boat clear. He pushed away from the bank in panic and struck her before she could climb out. The owner, now living in care, identifies the injured hand and the old landing; his original hospital record confirms that Nina helped him out. The grandfather blocks Robina inside the boathouse to stop her meeting the witness. Terry opens the waterside doors for the officers as Robina gets clear. The grandfather gives a statement in custody. Peter and the other families hear the full account. Robina and Terry move into a cottage where Peter is always welcome.

Emotional payoffRobina accepts that knowing the truth cannot let her save Nina a second time. Terry chooses the home he wants with Robina after naming what his family did.

Story focusOpposites Attract

Length55,000 words planned

From the free novella into Book 1

Read in order. In the lead magnet Nina’s brother returns to the canal. The arrival of the first clearance crew opens Book 1.

In the concept package

Includes the author pitch, editable Authorythm seeds and individual AI-generated front-cover concepts. The planned fiction totals 195,000 words.

Included free

Buy the 3-book concept pack and receive the companion lead magnet concept free. Each novel is planned at 55,000 words. The lead magnet, Her Glove on the Lock Beam, is planned at 30,000 words.

Included in the pack

Author pitch PDF with the series premise, characters, book blurbs and complete story arcs. One editable Authorythm seed document. 4 coordinated front-cover concepts.