News

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.

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 27^th to 29^th January, via Hello Books! Put the dates in your diary and follow this link from 27^th Jan.