setting out into a world of crime writing

Hi,
I've long wanted to write a crime novel but until recently wasn't able to, the plot just wouldn't seem to come. In my first stint teaching out in Saudi Arabia three years ago, I did start a crime novel but was unable to finish it. It was a really odd one ( perhaps that's why! ) about a Roman detective who dealt with all kinds of nefarious goings on in the Rome of the second century A.D. I really got into it, only owing to work ( and the heat of Riyadh! ) I never got round to finishing it. A pity.
This time round I've done a contemporary crime novel, and I must say it's gone a lot easier. ( You need to do so much research with a novel set in ancient Rome. ) This latest book took me just over four months to write. Again, it was written in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is a great place to get on with your writing, since isn't a great deal to do there.
Anyway, my story, 'The Emperor's Island,' which I uploaded just days ago as a kindle book on Amazon, follows the fortunes of Inspector Mark Braddock of the London Met ,who has been reluctantly assigned to a murder case on the island of St.Helena. This of course is the island where Napoleon was held a captive, which dovetails into the novel in many places. I say he's been reluctantly assigned to a case because he is also writing up his memoirs on a life spent fighting crime for the Met ( something which his superior at the yard heartily disapproves of ) Braddock feels he has a lot to say, and won't be deterred from saying it, a bit like me and this novel really. It might be difficult juggling both things but he's determined to try.
Consequently he pursues the murder case on St.Helena while at the same time looking back over his shoulder at his police career. That I know of this hasn't been done before in a crime novel, although I could be mistaken there.
Anyway, apart from that, I look forward to joining in threads on all genres of writing, especially crime fiction.