Congratulations – you made it through January! I admit, I find the first month of the year a challenge. I love the cosiness of Christmas, but once the year has turned it feels like a long haul until spring. I’ve spent the month revising my new novel, making plans and doing a lot of reading. I’ve also indulged my love of flowers with some narcissi for my study, and enjoyed seeing these little cyclamen while out on a brisk, chilly walk in my 1920s-style cloche hat! What’s your top tip for keeping cheerful in gloomy weather?

Read on for more about my plans for audio books, recommendations for books, podcasts and television, and firstly, an exclusive extract from my new book, Death On Fleet Street, which will be published next month.

 

 

DEATH ON FLEET STREET: chapter one

Miss Beatrice Waddon breezed into the room like the figurehead of a ship, her noble brow and wide blue-grey eyes conveying a tremendous air of forward motion.

I jumped up from my desk to greet her. The young woman was the first proper client to have made an appointment at Mrs Jameson’s detective agency since Christmas, and I was keen to see what new adventure her arrival might bring.

‘Good morning. I’m Marjorie Swallow, Mrs Jameson’s secretary. Please, take a seat. I’ll let Mrs Jameson know you’re here.’

Miss Waddon shook my hand with a firm grip. ‘I appreciate you fitting me in at short notice, Miss Swallow. The matter is rather urgent.’

She wore a smart walking suit of tobacco-brown French serge, with jet beading at the collar and cuffs, and a rather chic black velvet hat. I felt rumpled by comparison, and pulled down my jacket sleeve to cover an ink splodge on the cuff of my blouse.

I ran to fetch Mrs Jameson from the drawing room, where she was reading The Times with a despondent air.

‘There you are, Marjorie. Has Miss Waddon arrived? Thank heavens. I am in severe need of distraction. The newspapers never have anything cheerful to report.’ Like me, Mrs Jameson thrived on a knotty investigation and got fretful between cases.

Unlike me, she looked as regal as Queen Mary as she entered the office, in a day dress of bottle-green cashmere with a matching turban.

‘Good morning, Miss Waddon. Marjorie, please ring for coffee. Now, how may we be of assistence?’

Miss Waddon picked up her handbag, snapped it open and withdrew a piece of paper, which she handed to my employer.

‘Please tell me what you think of this.’

Mrs Jameson read quickly, her fine grey eyes scanning the paper. She compressed her lips and handed it to me. ‘Marjorie?’

It was newspaper cutting, the ink slightly smudged on the soft paper. The headline read: ‘An unfortunate accident.’

‘Fleet Street was today plunged into mourning by the death of the popular newspaper proprietor Lord Ravensbourne, at the age of fifty one,’ I read. ‘The first Baron Ravensbourne is said to have suffered an unfortunate accident. His death, we understand, was instantaneous. He is survived by his second wife, Lady Ravensbourne (formerly Miss Annabel Quick) and his four children.’

I frowned. ‘It doesn’t say what the accident was.’ I raised my eyes to our visitor, puzzled. ‘I didn’t know Lord Ravensbourne was ead.’

‘He’s not,’ said Miss Waddon, crisply. ‘He’s my father. And that notice is dated one week from today.’

I checked. Monday, the twenty-fifth of February, 1924. As Miss Waddon said, a week away. A prickle ran up my neck. A death notice, one week early, of a man who was still very much alive…

Want to know what happens next? Death On Fleet Street will be published in March. Why not pre-order now?

Plans for 2025

I’ve wanted to make the Marjorie Swallow books available as audiobooks for a while, and I’m finally underway. My chosen narrator, Kim Bretton, is immensely experienced in audiobooks and loves cozy mysteries. Kim narrates Magda Alexander’s popular Kitty Worthington books, so she knows the 1920s period well. I hope to release Blackmail In Bloomsbury as an audiobook in March or April, with the others following on.

I’m starting research for the next Marjorie Swallow mystery now. I plan to publish three this year: Death On Fleet Street in March, then one in the summer and another just before Christmas.

I also plan to start work on a new short series of mysteries this year, set in a different historical period. I’m interested in the Regency, a short decade where a lot changed – a bit like the 1920s. I’m doing my research now, so I’ll let you know how I get on.

Recommendations

I was thrilled to be asked to join London tour guides Fiona and Alex on their Ladies Who London podcast. Ladies Who London takes a light-hearted look at some of the lesser known histories of the capital – I’m a big fan and recommend it to anyone who loves London and history. I was wearing another of my hats on this episode, as walk leader for the Refugee Tales walking project. This year we are walking around London on the Capital Ring route, so that was the focus of our talk – but we talked about writing, too! You can listen in here.

The book I’ve enjoyed most this year so far is also about London history. London Clay by Tom Chivers is a fascinating blend of geology, deep history, memoir and exploration. Tom tracks the routes of lost rivers, descends into the sewers, pokes around in the remains of London’s woodland and wetlands and communes with the spirits of Roman and medieval Londoners. It’s rather brilliant.

I’ve also enjoyed the second series of Lucy Worsley Investigates, where the historian takes a closer look at some of the better-known episodes of British history, from the Norman Conquest of 1066 to the Whitechapel murders attributed to ‘Jack the Ripper’. She uses modern historical techniques to question some of the myths about the subjects. I particularly liked her focus on the sensational reporting of the new mass media newspapers at the time of the Whitechapel murders, and how they fuelled the first ‘true crime’ obsession.

The big question!

What are your top tips for keeping cheerful when the weather (and the news) is gloomy? Hit reply and let me know! I’ll include a selection of ideas in my next newsletter.

Wishing you a fabulous February, and happy reading!