Thank you to everyone who got in touch to tell me they enjoyed Jackdaw Jubilee, the short story I send you last month. It leads perfectly into the next Marjorie Swallow mystery, Death At Chelsea, which will be out on May 2.
I also have some exciting travel news, and some great recommendations for Easter visits and reading.
An inspirational garden
One of my inspirations when writing Death At Chelsea was the English writer and gardener Vita Sackville-West. There’s perhaps a hint of her in Constance Hall, the gardener in my novel.
Vita had an extraordinary life and she made an extraordinary garden in Sissinghurst, Kent, not far from where I live. She and her husband Harold bought Sissinghurst Castle when it was a complete ruin, and gradually restored it, along with its beautiful gardens. I visited in winter but there was still much to see, including Vita’s writing tower, which gave me serious writing room envy! You can see some of the formal gardens from the top of the tower.
The house and gardens are open year-round and well worth a visit. If you can’t get there in person, I recommend Vita Sackville-West’s Sissinghurst: The Creation of a Garden, with additional text by Sarah Raven.
Recommendations
A new Verity Bright novel is always a treat, so I’m looking forward to getting stuck into A Death In Venice. Lady Eleanor Swift is off on a grand tour with her faithful butler and her bulldog Gladstone. But death stalks the canals of this beautiful city.
Excitingly, I’m off to Venice myself after Easter – a trip I’ve longed to do for years. I know which novel I’ll be packing in my suitcase!
Buy A Death In Venice here.
I’m getting started on research for the fourth Marjorie Swallow mystery, which will be set on the French Riviera, making use of my recent travels to Nice.
I very much enjoyed watching The French Riviera: A History of Pictures, a documentary about the artistic life of the Côte d’Azur presented by actor Richard E Grant. The film was made a few years ago but very informative about the artists who found inspiration here, from Henri Matisse to Pablo Picasso and Raoul Dufy. You can find it on YouTube here.
The Big Question!
Do you live in the US? Would you like to help me write my next book? Read on…
I have a great team of beta readers, who see an early draft of my books and give me excellent feedback on what they think of the story, whether they guessed whodunnit, whether I’ve made any obvious errors or forgotten to explain something! They see the book before it goes to my editor, so I can get it into the best possible shape before she sees it.
Because I’m UK-based, most of my beta readers are also in the UK. But I know lots of my readers are from the US. I’d like to include more US readers in my beta team. If you like the sound of that, hit reply and let me know. I’ll reply with more details and you can decide whether it’s for you.
Have a wonderful April, and happy reading!