Anna Sayburn Lane

Thriller author

Newsletter

March newsletter: writing news and a box-set bargain

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The Music Room at the Brighton Pavilion

I spent February in a flurry of writing activity. I’m working on a new crime fiction series that I’m very excited about. I’ll be sharing more news (and hopefully a novella to whet your appetite) next month. It will feature glamorous London locations, sassy lady detectives, and a sprinkling of murder and mayhem. I think you’re going to like it.

However, that means that the Helen Oddfellow series is on hold for now. Apologies to anyone waiting for news of her next adventure – I hope to come back to Helen at some point.

But there’s also good news if you’ve dipped into one or two of the Helen books and would like to read them all. I’m releasing books 1 to 4 in a new e-book collection, available on Kindle today. For 5 days only, this will be at the ridiculously low price of £1.99/$1.99. That’s four books for less than 50p/50c each. The price will go up on March 1, so don’t hang around!

What I’ve been up to

I had a trip to Brighton this month and finally got around to visiting the amazing Royal Pavilion, commissioned by the Prince Regent (Queen Victoria’s uncle) in 1815. The building is a wild oriental fantasy, inspired by Indian Mughal palaces on the outside, but stuffed with Chinese-style furnishings on the inside.

The lavish decoration allowed the prince, later George IV, to entertain high society in unique style. I particularly loved the Music Room (see below), with its extraordinary ceiling, and wished I could see it thronged with people in Bridgerton costumes, dancing the night away.

Upstairs a small exhibition explained how the pavilion had a very different role during World War I, as a hospital for Indian Army soldiers who had been wounded while fighting for the British in France and Belgium. The photographs of Indian soldiers lying in rows of beds beneath the extravagant chandeliers are quite surreal. I wonder what they made of it all.

What I’m enjoying

I do enjoy historian Lucy Worsley’s programmes, whether she’s investigating the murders of the Princes in the Tower, telling us what goes on behind the scenes at Hampton Court Palace or simply having fun with the BBC’s dressing up box. I particularly enjoyed her short series about the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie, available in the UK on BBC iPlayer now. Christie became aware of the possibilities of poison during her time working as a VAD in the Torquay Town Hall Red Cross Hospital– another grand building re-used as a hospital during World War I.

February newsletter: treats and recommendations for the winter months.

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January can be tough, can’t it? My theory is that the only way to make it through the dark mornings, dark afternoons and dark evenings is to indulge in plenty of treats.

I had some lovely treats in January. I went to the candle-lit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, the recreated Jacobean playhouse that stands next to Shakespeare’s Globe theatre, to see a wonderful and very funny play about storytelling. And I had a very special posh afternoon out, with tea at the Ritz Hotel in Piccadilly, London, for a friend’s special celebration (see photo!).

But mostly, I indulged in lots of evenings curled up with a good book. It’s what winter evenings are made for.

Free books promotion

I’m sure you could do with some good books, too! Whether you’ve finally made your way through your Christmas stash, or just feel like trying something new, February is a good month for new books.

If you haven’t read my first novel, Unlawful Things, now is the time to try it for free. The e-book available free of charge until Monday 30 January. It’s part of a promotion by the book recommendation service Hello Books. Why not see what other free thrillers they have this month?

What I’m enjoying now

Here are some things that have kept me entertained this month:

MW Craven’s incredibly twisty and well-plotted novel The Botanist. Absolutely addictive! I loved the intricate plot but also the funny and believable detective team.
LJ Ross’s Northumberland-set mysteries, starting with Holy Island. My father comes from the north east of England so I know some of the locations – but fortunately my childhood family holidays didn’t involve quite so much murder.
The BBC crime drama Happy Valley. The series – the third and final – has been an absolute masterclass in acting and dramatic tension. The two female leads, Sarah Lancashire and Siobhan Finneran, and writer/director Sally Wainwright, conjured the most gripping scene I’ve ever watched out of two sisters talking quietly in a cafe.

January newsletter: My favourite books of 2022 and New Year book giveaways

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I’ve had a lovely sociable Christmas with friends and family this year – a welcome relief after the Covid-blighted winters of the last few years. I had a good few books in my stocking too, including the rather wonderful Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. I raced through this fierce and funny book with great enjoyment.
Here’s my annual round-up of books I loved in 2022.

Two short and razor-sharp historical novels

Stephen May: Sell Us The Rope. A vibrant, funny and menacing novel set in May 1907, when a young man from Georgia calling himself Koba arrives in the East End of London for the 5th Congress of the Russian Communist Party. The novel vividly conjures up the grimness of London at the time.

Denise Mina: Rizzio. An account of the historical murder of the advisor of Mary Queen of Scots, re-told by a masterful modern crime writer. The build-up, the murder itself and the perilous aftermath are told with heart-stopping pace. Sharper than a serpent’s tooth and highly recommended.

Three books of illuminating non-fiction:

Merlin Sheldrake: Entangled Life. A mind-altering book on fungi, which kept me gripped through a four-hour airport transfer, and changed my outlook on all things fungi in the process. Beautifully readable.

Steven Nightingale: Granada Light of Andalucia. This lyrical travel/history book made me long to return to the Albaicin and prompted me to start writing a Helen Oddfellow mystery set in this fascinating city.

Francesca Wade: Square Haunting. A fascinating history of five extraordinary women finding freedom in Mecklenburgh Square, Bloomsbury between the wars, from Dorothy L Sayers to Virginia Woolf.

Three novels that took me out of this world

Alan Garner: Treacle Walker. A spare, deceptively-simple and wonderfully evocative book. From its pungent language to its vivid images and otherworldly air, this is a book to escape into – and one I’ll be reading and discovering new time and again.

Amor Towles: A Gentleman in Moscow. I loved this spellbinding historical novel about making the most of life. A perfect flavour of escapism, a sense of style and elegance, and a frisson of derring-do.

Francis Spufford: Light Perpetual. The imaginary lives of five children lost in one rocket attack on south London. The prose is luminous, the stories compelling. The opening chapter, describing the scene in Woolworths a split second before the rocket brings instant destruction, is masterful.

Best of crimes

Dorothy Koomson: My Other Husband. A tense, gripping thriller, a real ‘couldn’t put it down’ book with twists you don’t see coming.

William Shaw: The Trawlerman. Another atmospheric and wonderfully enjoyable crime thriller from William Shaw, set on the south coast of Kent in Folkestone and Dungeness. I love the roundedness of Shaw’s characters – good people do bad things, and vice versa.

Pascal Garnier: How’s The Pain? This slice of noir is hilariously jaundiced. It tells the story of terminally-ill ‘vermin exterminator’ Simon, who has one last job to do – and needs a driver. Lyrical, funny, horrifying and unexpected.

Free books to start the New Year!

Money is often a bit tight right after Christmas – so how about some free e-books to load up your e-reader and get you through those cold January nights?

I’m taking part in two giveaways this month. Firstly, my short novel The Crimson Thread will be available free all month in Bookfunnel’s Happy New Year Giveaway, along with lots of other lovely goodies.

Then the first Helen Oddfellow mystery, Unlawful Things, will be free from 27th to 29th January, via Hello Books! Put the dates in your diary and follow this link from 27th Jan.

December newsletter: Helen Oddfellow in Granada, Dickens in Kent and Sherlock in London

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Work in progress
I’ve spent November in the fascinating city of Granada, in southern Spain. Not in reality, alas, but in my head. Granada is the wonderfully evocative backdrop for the next Helen Oddfellow adventure.

I visited in January and fell in love with its hidden alleyways, Arab-style architecture and multi-layered history. I couldn’t resist sending Helen there – but she doesn’t get the relaxing break she was hoping for! She’s soon on the trail of the legendary Book of Nothing, hidden at the time of the book-burnings in the medieval city and reputed to hold dangerous, ancient knowledge…

I decided to write the first draft of the novel in a month-long daily writing sprint, which is a new writing method for me. It was a challenge, but I wrote 50,000 words, around 2,000 words a day with two days off. It’s a very messy first draft, but it gives me a great base to work from.

Dickens in Kent
From Helen in Granada, to Charles Dickens in Kent. Dickens inspired my latest novel Folly Ditch, so I spent a lot of time researching his life. This month I’m giving two talks to local history groups about Dickens’ Kent connections.

Did you know Dickens was caught up in one of the first train crashes? He was travelling in the Folkestone to London boat train (the train that met the boat from France) when it derailed on a viaduct in Staplehurst, Kent. Dickens was in a carriage that was stuck half-on, half-off the bridge, and scrambled out to help other passengers. Eight people died and many more were injured. Afterwards Dickens – incredibly – climbed back into the carriage to rescue the manuscript of his work-in-progress, Our Mutual Friend. Even more intriguing, Dickens was not travelling alone, but with Nellie Ternan, now thought been his mistress. Disasters can unmask secrets, however well hidden.

I’ll be talking about Dickens at Deal’s Astor Theatre on Thursday 15 December, as part of the regular The History Project evenings. Tickets here.

Recommendations: what I’m enjoying now
One fictional character that no-one seems to get tired of is Sherlock Holmes. I enjoyed the latest outing for Sherlock and friends, Netflix’s Enola Holmes 2, which gives us the further adventures of Sherlock’s younger sister Enola, who wants to beat her big brother at the detecting game.
Enola, daughter of an undercover suffragette with a nice line in pyrotechnics, investigates the disappearance of a match girl from a factory where an outbreak of ‘typhus’ is killing off the workers. The film is great fun if you fancy a winter evening lounging on the sofa.
I’ve also discovered another enjoyable Sherlock spin-off. Liz Hedgecock’s A House of Mirrors puts Holmes’ landlady Mrs Hudson centre stage as a redoubtable sleuth in her own right. But is she really Mrs Hudson? Not everything is as it seems in this clever introduction to the series. I’ll be back for more.

History and Mystery promotion
Talking of series, my Helen Oddfellow series is part of the History Crime And Mystery Series promotion with Bookfunnel this month. The promotion is a great way to discover your new favourite series. Find out more here.

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