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Anna Sayburn Lane

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February newsletter: Who murdered the media mogul? Extract from my new novel.

February 21, 2025 by Anna Sayburn Lane

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!

Filed Under: Death On Fleet Street, Marjorie Swallow, New novel, Newsletter Tagged With: Death On Fleet Street, newsletter

November newsletter: Read all about it!

November 12, 2024 by Anna Sayburn Lane

I’ve relocated from the seaside to London, while I help to plan a big walk for the Refugee Tales project. Next July I’ll be leading groups of walkers in a 60-mile partial circumnavigation of the city, on a route adapted from the Capital Ring.

It’s been a delight to get out and about in some sunny, cold autumn weather, and a real pleasure to visit parts of London I haven’t seen before, to the north and west of the city. Perhaps the walk will inspire me – watch out for Death In Finchley, or The Wembley Park Murders!

The walks get me away from my desk, where I’m hard at work on the next book, set in the newspaper world of 1920s Fleet Street. I’ve immersed myself in the newspaper lore of the 1920s, reading memoirs and old newspapers to get a feel for what it must have been like to work in the Street of Newspapers.

Read on for more about newspapers and history, free book promotions, and recommendations for books and other entertainment to keep you busy through November.

My favourite research tool: the British Newspaper Archive

Old newspapers give a fascinating glimpse into the world of the past. This week I’ve been dipping into the archives on a daily basis, as I put together the first draft of Death On Fleet Street.

What might a fictional national newspaper put on its front page in February 1924? Well, a quick search and I can find out: A scandalous divorce case involving a Lord, a Lady… and the butler. What were ordinary people worried about? The price of sugar, which was up a penny a pound. Who might a newspaper proprietor have lunch with at the Savoy Grill? How about up-and-coming politician Winston Churchill, standing as an independent ‘anti-socialist’ candidate at a by-election that month?

The only problem is that I get so engrossed in reading historical newspapers, I forget what I was supposed to be writing about!

If you’d like to learn more about the treasures I’ve unearthed from the archive, check out my Substack post Read All About It! And why not sign up to receive all my posts about historical research?

Books, podcasts and fun for November nights

There’s something so comforting about curling up with a good book on a dark night. One of my favourite writers, India Knight, has published a list of her favourite ‘comfort reads’ – books she returns to when she wants to retreat to ‘really deeply satisfying, fully realised worlds where you feel safe and cosy.’

The full list is here, but the ones I’ve read and wholeheartedly recommend include Nancy Mitford’s The Pursuit of Love; Winifred Watson’s Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day; Barbara Pym’s Excellent Women, EF Benson’s Mapp And Lucia; and Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City. I’ll add in my all-time favourite book to re-read, Stella Gibbon’s Cold Comfort Farm.

Less cosily, I’ve enjoyed listening to the always-excellent Lucy Worsley explore the world of female villains in her new podcast series, Lady Swindlers. I especially enjoyed learning about Alice Diamond, the queen of 1920s shop-lifters, and her all-female gang, the Forty Thieves. They raided the newly fashionable department stores, filling up their specially-made shoplifter bloomers with stolen goods! It’s given me a few ideas for future Marjorie Swallow adventures.

And finally, no I haven’t watched the television adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s Rivals yet. I adored the book as a teenager, and I plan to lock myself away next weekend with chocolate and the Big TV, and watch the whole thing in one go. Have you watched it yet, and if so what did you think?

Free books!

Looking for a few more autumnal cozy mysteries to squeeze into your e-reader? Check out the Cozy Mystery Free Book promotion at Bookfunnel for free novels and novellas. It runs until November 24.

Filed Under: Newsletter Tagged With: newsletter

February newsletter: treats and recommendations for the winter months.

January 27, 2023 by Anna Sayburn Lane

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.

Filed Under: Newsletter, Unlawful Things Tagged With: newsletter, The Ritz Hotel, Unlawful Things

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