Anna Sayburn Lane

Thriller author

Anna Sayburn Lane

July newsletter: Walking, writing, and Christmas in July!

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When you get this, I’ll be on my annual Big Walk, with my great friends from the Refugee Tales community. Every July (except 2020) for the past 8 years, I’ve laced up my walking boots and hoisted my backpack for a 5-day walk across the English countryside, in solidarity with refugees and people in immigration detention.

I’ll be one of the leaders in a group of 120 walkers, some of whom have travelled thousands of miles to be with us. We’ll eat together, sleep on the floors of church and community halls together, walk together and in the evenings we’ll hear stories and music – and dance together. It’s a joyful celebration of community and stories.

Walking has always been an important part of my writing process. The 60-mile ‘pilgrim’ walk from London to Canterbury kickstarted the idea that became my first novel, Unlawful Things. Walking long distances is calming, meditative, and allows my screen-addled brain to relax. Whether it’s flaneur-ing around a city or hiking in the hills, walking is an essential part of my life.

Read on for recommendations and promotions, news on the next book, The Riviera Mystery – and find out why I’m thinking about Christmas in July!

The Riviera Mystery

Cover of book The Riviera MysteryWhile I’m away walking, my editor Alison will be poring over the first draft of The Riviera Mystery.

Marjorie Swallow and Mrs Jameson are hoping for a relaxing holiday on the shores of the Mediterranean, staying at the luxurious Villa Beau Rivage. But en route to the Cote d’Azur, Marjorie is caught up in a troubling break-in on the Blue Train – and the mysteries don’t end there.

Marjorie meets handsome artists, glamorous movie stars, rich diamond dealers and smooth art dealers – but is everything as it seems on the dazzling surface? Not long now until you can find out!

The Riviera Mystery is scheduled for release in October – but I think it’ll be ready a bit sooner than that. Look out for it in September – or pre-order here to be sure to get it as soon as it’s published.

 

Recommendations

Rosie Hunt has a new 1920s cozy mystery out, Murder At A Boarding School. I grew up devouring Mallory Towers books, so I’m intrigued to revisit boarding schools with a murderous twist!

At a sprawling Devonshire estate, surrounded by wealthy girls targeting excellent marriages, Lady Felicity Quick has abandoned her career in journalism to teach letter-writing and table manners at an exclusive finishing school… Except nothing is as it seems. Felicity is undercover, hunting a Great War spy who betrayed the British and cost countless lives. Between lessons in dance, French, and flower arranging, Felicity edges closer to unmasking her foe, but then a body is found. Are more sinister schemes afoot than first thought?

Order Murder At A Boarding School here.

Seaside Songs and Tidal Tales

I’m thrilled to be hosting a writing and singing workshop with my good friend Katie Rose, a composer, singer, writer and choirmaster. We’ve teamed up for an afternoon of creating songs and stories on the seashore, at the lovely Downs Sailing Club on the beach in my hometown of Deal.

No experience of writing or singing is needed! I’ve never thought of myself as singer, but Katie makes it so easy to find your voice. Singing in a group is great fun and we’re sure to find plenty of inspiration from the sea, the boats and the shore.

Why not join us? Book using the link to Katie’s website here.

Publishing news

Writing and publishing independently can be a bit of a lonely business, so one of the highlights of my year is the Self Publishing Show Live in London. I spent two days catching up with author friends like Rachel McLean, being inspired by multi-million-selling authors like EL James (yes, that EL James!) and learning about all the amazing things happening in the independent publishing world.

There was a particular focus on audiobooks, and I’m planning to make my first foray into audio later this year… stay tuned!

Christmas in July!

Now that The Riviera Mystery is on the way, it’s time to start thinking about the next book. Christmas and cozy mysteries go together like holly and ivy, so I’m planning a festive mystery to round off the year.

Trying to think of Christmassy plots in July reminds me of working for women’s magazines, which I did a bit in my health journalism days. They work so far ahead of publication date that you’re forever thinking about summer in January and autumn at Easter.

I’ll have to put on some Christmassy music and maybe read a few old favourites like Hercule Poirot’s Christmas to get me in the mood! What would you recommend?

Promotions

For UK readers only, Blackmail In Bloomsbury has been picked as a Kindle Deal by Amazon, lowering the price to £0.99 for the whole of July. If you’ve not read that one yet, why not give it a whirl?

 

June newsletter: Hopes, dreams, flowers and book recommendations

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Thank you to everyone who got in touch last month to tell me what they really, really wanted. I loved reading your messages. From Cindy, who wanted to start her own book review blog (do it Cindy!) to dream trips to the Great Barrier Reef, Tuscany and Florida Keys, to a ride on the back of a motorbike feeling the wind through your hair – you’re an adventurous lot and I hope you all get to fulfil your dreams one day.

Quite a few people said their dream was to visit Chelsea Flower Show. I did that nine years ago and it was amazing (see photos below). However, it’s very crowded and sometimes I think it’s best to ‘visit’ via the excellent television coverage on the BBC which lets you get up close and hear the gardeners’ stories.

My big dream, the one I’ve had since I can remember, was to be an author and earn my living by writing books. That dream is getting closer. Death At Chelsea was my most successful book launch yet – thank you all so much for helping that happen. And congratulations to the five lucky readers who won a signed copy of the paperback.

If you’ve read Death At Chelsea, I’d love to know what you thought of it. Why not post a review online and send me a link? I read all my reviews and reviews are so helpful for independent authors.

Read on for recommendations and promotions, and news on my next book, The Riviera Mystery!

A trip to Dover Castle

I visited Dover Castle this month, just 10 miles away from my seaside flat. The headland over the straits of Dover has been a defensive stronghold for England for many centuries, and the castle grounds have played a role from the time of the Romans until the second world war – doubly memorable this month with the 80th anniversary of D-Day this week.

There’s a Saxon church next to a Roman lighthouse, a 14th century keep built by Henry II to impress visiting royalty, fortifications against Napoleon, and the bunker from which Winston Churchill watched the remains of the British Expeditionary Force limp home after Dunkirk in 1940.

The site was also important in the first world war, when the German guns could be clearly heard from Dover and the country was on the alert for war ships, zeppelins and the new-fangled combat aeroplanes. I visited an unassuming little hut which was home to the ‘spotters’ and signallers, perched on the cliff top to observe and direct traffic in the naval base at Dover and also out in the channel.

On a beautiful sunny day, enjoying the glorious sea views across to France, it’s hard to remember that war is ever-present, and that this corner of England was once dubbed ‘hellfire corner’ for the bombardment and loss of life that happened here.

Book recommendations

If you’re in the mood for a funny, thoughtful and well-written romance, do try David Nicholl’s You Are Here. I raced through it after receiving it as a birthday present and enjoyed it so much. It made me laugh out loud more than once. It tells the story of two lonely people, a walk across Britain, rather a lot of rain and some oh-so-familiar dodgy bed-and-breakfast hotels. Definitely made me want to pull on my walking boots and head for the hills – unless it’s raining, in which case I’d rather curl up with this book and a big cup of tea.

If, like me, you’re enjoying the glamour and escapism of the new series of Bridgerton on Netflix, you’ll want to know about Lynn Morrison’s latest murder mystery, co-written with Anne Radcliffe.

Set in the glittering ballrooms of Regency London, The Missing Diamond is about the hunt for the missing ‘diamond’ of the season, the most beautiful debutante – and best friend of Lady Grace. It’s the perfect companion to the season.

Writing News

I’m two-thirds of the way through writing The Riviera Mystery. Research has involved learning about the artists who lived in and around Nice during the early part of the 20th century, including Auguste Renoir, Pablo Picasso and Jean Cocteau.

Marjorie and Mrs Jameson are staying at the most beautiful villa on the Cote d’Azur, the Villa Beau Rive. Marjorie thinks she’s on holiday, but trouble follows her, from a disturbing incident on the famed Blue Train, to the twisty roads around the Riviera coast. And then a familiar face from Bloomsbury sets her heart thumping – but what about Freddie?

Promotions

If you’re holding out for some free books, try the Find A Cozy Mystery promotion via the good folk at Bookfunnel. I’m taking part with my Marjorie Swallow prequel, Murder At The Ritz.

Have a joyful June, and happy reading!

A note about AI and me

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AI-generated image of a woman in a garden, wearing a red hat and dress.
An advertising image for Death At Chelsea

Are you a robot? Certainly not. At least, not after I’ve had my coffee in the morning. But the annoying questions on those websites have taken on a new meaning recently. Are you a robot – or do you use robots, otherwise known as AI?

Some people are terrified of AI and warn it could destroy us all. Some are worried it’ll destroy our jobs. Others think it will bring huge benefits to humanity, while some think it will speed up boring tasks. Me? I’m somewhere in the middle, but I’m definitely curious.

Like many people in the creative industries, I experiment to see what these tools can do. It can be fun. I’ve generated images of characters in my books, based on my descriptions of them, using the image generator Midjourney. You can see a few below. Some work well and I’ve used them in advertising or promotions. Others are terrible (especially the hands – always check the hands).

And it can be useful. I’ve used Chat GPT to help create marketing copy for my books, one of my least favourite tasks. Like most authors, making claims about how marvellous my books are makes me cringe. AI doesn’t cringe. It speaks fluent marketing. I rarely use it word for word, but take a suggestion and tweak it. AI can also check my spelling and grammar, and make sure I haven’t used the word ‘spiffing’ three times in one page.

AI can help when I’m staring at a blank space on a page where a name should be. Imagine: you’ve been writing all morning, and you suddenly need the names of three French policemen. You ask your tired brain to supply them. Thierry Henry, it offers. Hercule Poirot. Jean-Paul Sartre. If I ask Chat GPT, it will return a list of ten perfectly usable French men’s names in seconds. I’ll pick three first names and three family names, mix them around and check none of them are real and famous. Then I’ll get on with writing the scene.

Here’s what I don’t use AI for: actually writing my books. I mean, why would I? I love writing. I’ve wanted to write since I was a small child, scribbling with crayon in scrap books. This is the fun bit. It would be like asking AI to go dancing for me, or go for a walk with my friends.

The reason I bring this up is because there is understandable confusion about what’s acceptable, what’s legal and what’s ethical in use of AI to create music, fiction, movies and more. I recently ran an advert on Facebook using an image I’d created from my prompts on Midjourney. It was a pretty picture of a woman in a garden (above), to promote my book Death At Chelsea. It got lots of likes and a surprisingly large number of people wanted to know the artist. I told them I made it using Midjourney, and people seemed happy. But one person asked if the book was AI-generated, as well as the imagery. Perhaps they had a point – there are rumours of a deluge of AI-generated nonsense being pumped out in book form to part people from their money. I wondered whether others might disapprove of me using AI imagery instead of commissioning a designer.

Here’s the thing: I commission a designer for my book covers (Donna Rogers), because she does a brilliant job. Those are lasting designs that will be on my books for years, and I want them to look fantastic. Advertising images will be used for a few weeks, then discarded for something new. I used to create them myself using stock photo images, but it was time-consuming and expensive. AI means I can create an attention-grabbing image, then move onto something fresh in a month. I’m not doing anyone out of a job – I’m saving myself some time.

So here’s my AI policy. I’ll update it if things change.

1: I will use AI tools to improve, enhance and polish my writing – but not to do my writing.

2: I will use human editors, beta readers and copyeditors to make my writing the best it can be.

3: I will use AI tools to generate advertising images and e-book ‘covers’ for short stories.

4: I will use human cover designers to create my novel covers.

I’m always interested to know what others think about this fast-changing field. Why not let me know?

Marjorie Swallow
Daisy Caldwell
Sarah Simpson

Lift-off for Death At Chelsea

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I’m truly thrilled by readers’ responses to Death At Chelsea. The reviews have been lovely, and I was especially excited to get my first ‘top three’ on Amazon in their Hot New Releases for private investigator mysteries.

Here are a few of my favourite reviews:

“Another delightful, fun and funny crime adventure with Marjorie Swallow and Mrs Jameson. This time they’re investigating sabotage of award winning plants just before the Chelsea flower show. Who keeps over watering the rare Himalayan lilies? And who poisoned the gardener?
With a ribbon from the king at stake, it’s up to Marjorie to put all the pieces together, hopefully before another body drops. This series is great, I really enjoy historical crime novels and Anna Sayburn Lane is a fab writer, which helps!!”

“I have read – or rather devoured – all three books in this series, and I can’t wait for the next one. Anna Sayburn Lane manages to combine a page-turning plot with characters that I am really enjoying getting to know – I’m becoming very fond of Marjorie Swallow, her plucky, somewhat naive sleuth. This had me chasing clues and guessing until the end – and I learnt something about plants too!”

“Great addition to the Marjorie Swallow series, set at the Chelsea Flower Show. Here’s the usual knotty plotting with excellent period detail and lush settings – but our author is developing enduring relationships and a witty lightness of touch which makes this cosy crime read a cut above the rest! Highly recommended!”

Why not try it for yourself? Order here.

 

May newsletter: Tell me what you want

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Hello from Venice!

When I was a child, a phrase often heard was ‘I want doesn’t get’, whether that was a note to get out of P.E., a pair of drainpipe jeans or a Girls World mannequin head. I think I’ve internalised this message, with the result that I’m quite bad at saying what I really want.

And I’ve wanted to visit Venice for decades. I’m lucky to have had wonderful holidays in Spain, France, Britain, even other cities in Italy. But somehow, I never visited Venice. I’ve read about it, dreamed about it, watched films set there… and when friends told me they were going, I said I’d love to go myself. One day.

A week later, they asked if Phil and I would like to go with them. We checked our diaries – both unusually free. We found accommodation. Even the same flights had seats available. I was out of excuses.

I’d been warned that Venice was over-run with tourists, and the city had become a museum with barely any residents. Perhaps that too was why I’d hesitated, fearing it would not live up to the romance in my head.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. I spent the days floating through this dream city built on water. Near our apartment children played in a shady square, old men chatted beneath the trees and everyone crowded into the bakery for morning coffee.

We bounced around on vaporetti, taking a trip to the islands after a lunch of grilled fish overlooking the lagoon (thanks to Lynn Morrison for the recommendation!). In the evening, we strolled over the Rialto Bridge and through St Mark’s Square, busy in daytime but magical after dark. We visited art galleries and palazzos, ate delicious food, enjoyed the secluded alleyways, canals and bridges with views so picturesque that we took about 600 photos in 3 days.

I’m so glad we went. And I have a new resolution: to say what I want out loud, and try to make it happen.

Death At Chelsea

In that spirit, please do order, read and review Death At Chelsea, the third in my Marjorie Swallow murder mystery series. The book will be published in six days, on Thursday 2 May.
My advance reader team loved this book! Here’s what they said:

“I found all the characters distinctive and intriguing. You are especially good at strong women… I really enjoyed it and wanted to keep reading to find out whodunnit!”

“Each one gets better and better – tighter, more confident, more assured. I particularly enjoyed the humour in this one.”

“I absolutely loved it. Great characters, cracking plot, was hooked.”

I have five signed copies of Death At Chelsea to give away, to the first five people who reply to this email with the answer to the question at the bottom of the letter. Keep reading for your chance to win.

Recommendations

A new book by Magda Alexander is always an event, and her Kitty Worthington series continues with Murder At A Funeral, publishing on 30th April. With her wedding day to CDI Robert Crawford Sinclair mere weeks away, Kitty is thrilled beyond words. But first there’s a sad duty—the reinterment of Robert’s mother at Castle Rutledge.

But on the day of the funeral, things don’t go according to plan. The vicar’s gone missing; the organist is drunk as a judge. And then there’s the body in the sanctuary. Not the one you’d expect. Then Robert’s brother becomes the main suspect, leaving them with no choice but to investigate…

Pre-order here.

My other book recommendation is Donna Leone’s Death At La Fenice, the first in her series of murder mysteries set in… you guessed it, Venice. Unusually for a murder mystery, the investigation takes a leisurely pace, with the delightful Commissario Brunetti taking time to lunch well, annoy his pompous superior, buy flowers for his beloved wife and play games with his children, alongside his investigations. I admit I’d guessed the mystery about halfway through, but that didn’t lessen my pleasure at the atmospheric story. Very much recommended – especially if you can read it while strolling those same streets!

Finally in Venice, I’m enjoying Ripley, Netflix’s dark rendition of Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Talented Mr Ripley. It sacrifices some of the gorgeous glamour of Anthony Minghella’s 1919 version for an uneasy monochrome noir. Some have said it’s a bit glacial, but I think the gradual build-up suits Andrew Scott’s subtle acting style well.

If you follow me on Amazon (which you can do here) you may have spotted that I have a fourth book in the Marjorie Swallow series in the works. The Riviera Mystery is due to publish in October, or sooner if I can mentally drag myself back from Italy to the south of France!

To win a signed copy of Death At Chelsea, tell me this: What is the big event that all English gardeners get excited about in Chelsea every May?

And just for the fun of it, what’s one thing you’ve always wanted to do, but somehow never got around to? Why not see if you can make it happen this year?

Have a marvellous May, and happy reading!