I’m writing with my windows open to enjoy the sound and scent of the first proper rainfall we’ve had for months. Outside, the green is more of a brown, with scorched grass and bare patches, the same colour as the stony beach beyond. We need plenty more, but I’m enjoying the cooler air and fresh scent of petrichor.
August was quite a month! I finished writing The Midwinter Murder, and sent it to my long-standing editor Alison Jack. It’s ready to pre-order from the Kindle Store now.
The audiobook of the previous mystery, Murder On The White Cliffs, went live on audiobook sites. This is the sixth book on which I’ve worked with actor Kim Bretton, who always does a lovely job. I like to keep her on her toes, so I threw in an epilogue set in Rome to test her Italian accents.
But all this activity was eclipsed by my highlight of the month: meeting my granddaughter, Minnie Penelope. She’s perfect: dark hair, blue eyes, clear skin, ten tiny fingers and toes.
Grandpa Phil and I travelled to Pembrokeshire in Wales, where my stepson Chris and his partner Amy were adjusting to the new arrival. We stayed in a picture-perfect holiday rental, a shepherd’s hut in a field with a view over St Bride’s Bay. A perfect weekend!
I’ve also spent a lot of time on my allotment (for non-UK readers, this is a patch of land I rent cheaply from the town council, where I can grow fruit and vegetables), which has produced a bumper crop of courgettes (zucchini) which turn into marrows the minute my back is turned, and lots of lovely tomatoes.
Read on for book news, audiobook news, offers and recommendations.
Book News
The Midwinter Murder will be published on November 12 and is ready to pre-order now on the Kindle Store.
Pre-orders are really helpful for indie authors like me. Plenty of pre-orders tell Amazon that people are interested in the book, so they suggest it to other readers. It’s also very encouraging for me!
A friend recently told me she’d recommended my audiobooks to a relative going through a difficult time, and that she’d found them a welcome escape. Knowing that someone has enjoyed my books is such a boost. After all, there’d be no point writing them if you didn’t read them!
I do hope you’ll enjoy Marjorie’s Christmas outing.
Do you know what a priest’s hole is?
That’s not a joke! In Elizabethan England, Catholic priests were outlawed and the families who held to the old faith of Roman Catholicism could be executed for harbouring a priest in their homes.
So many of the stately homes of England from that period, especially those belonging to Catholic families, have a ‘priest’s hole’ – a hidden chamber where priests could hide if the agents of the state came calling.
I found out about them as part of research for The Midwinter Murder. You can read more about them on my Substack publication, The Stories Behind The Story.
Recommendations
Verity Bright has a new book out! Lady Swift and her handsome husband are charmed when they visit Stratford-on-Avon. Everyone is abuzz with chatter about the upcoming production of Macbeth… But wait, is that a body backstage? Murder Stage Left is the 26th in the Lady Eleanor Swift series.
Other things I’ve enjoyed recently:
- William Shaw’s Burning Tide. When temporarily-unemployed policeman Eden Driscoll is approached in his tiny Devon village by a man who says someone’s trying to kill him, he doesn’t want to get involved. But soon he is involved, deeper than he could possibly realise. And who’s taking care of his orphaned nephew Finn while Eden is off sleuthing? Shaw’s books are always well-constructed page-turners.
- A little late to this, but the BBC TV comedy Ann Droid featuring Diane Morgan and Sue Johnson. Both actresses are terrific and I’ve loved Diane Morgan’s previous comedy. I found this wry and charming.
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