London Book Fair

This week is London Book Fair, a massive trade gathering for publishers and overseas buyers. I cannot begin to tell you how thrilled I was when my agent sent me this pic of the Hachette stand. (Bookouture, my publisher are part of Hachette)For years my dream has been to see a book of mine on a big poster in a railway station or on the Underground. I used to joke that was when I would know I had made it. Getting this pic today made me cry good tears. It's been a dream for so long and London Book Fair is such a huge thing. To have my title selected for this kind of attention is incredible. When I signed my last contract I never even got a mention in the Bookseller - the book trade magazine. It was a six book contract for Miss Underhay and then a 3 book contract for The Secret Detectives so you know you would have thought... So this is just fantastic

Not long now till it's released and you can read it for yourself on March 27th!!!!!

Guest Blogger - Elizabeth Bailey

A warm welcome to my friend Elizabeth Bailey here to tell us more about the inspiration behind her latest book, The Killing Cave.

Corpses follow Lady Fan wherever she goes… 1799, England A family holiday to the seaside takes a dramatic turn when Lady Ottilia Fanshawe’s young son Luke accidentally stumbles on a body in a cave. Lady Fan and her husband Francis quickly rush to the scene and find the corpse bound and blindfolded with a bullet hole in his head. It appears the man was executed, and with smugglers well-known to operate in the area, the local sergeant suggests it was a quarrel amongst the reprobates. But Ottilia is not so sure. The crime scene seemed staged, and the dead man too well dressed to be a common criminal. There is nothing else for it. The Fanshawes must extend their stay on the Norfolk coast to allow Lady Fan to take the lead. But with her health compromised, four young children to care for and a grumbling mother-in-law in tow, can Lady Fan summon up enough strength to unravel this mystery? Or will this be the case that finally forces her into retirement? This sounds fabulous so I asked Elizabeth to tell me the inspiration behind her book. Ottilia, my heroine sleuth, was originally meant to star in a grand historical series based around an heirloom fan. She existed as notes in my ideas book. I envisaged her then as a shy, retiring type of woman - an image that rapidly faded under the onslaught of the bold crime-fighting Ottilia who emerged. My brother, also a writer, suggested the series might work as crime. Frankly, as an avid reader, I didn't think I could write in the genre. I mean, you need clues, and clever plotting, twists and all that. I dismissed the idea, but it niggled for years. I mentioned it to my friends at a Romantic Writers' event. Their arm-twisting did the trick. With trepidation, I began to write. By fluke or good fortune, the story rolled off my fingers onto the keyboard, probably due to Ottilia refusing to play second fiddle and demanding her place on centre stage. When characters take charge, writers have very little say in the matter. You can buy your copy HERE Thus Lady Fan was born, along with an entourage of familiar characters which has grown with the series. Not least, Lord Francis Fanshawe, her champion and husband, whom she meets in the first book, The Gilded Shroud. More about Elizabeth: After a career on the stage, Elizabeth found her true metier in writing novels. They lived in her bottom drawer for years until she found success with Mills & Boon's historical romance line. 18 stories later she turned to crime with The Lady Fan Mystery series. It had instant success which crashed after two books. Elizabeth returned to romance, but persisted with the mysteries and eventually found a new publisher in Sapere Books. The Killing Cave is the eleventh book and Lady Fan is still going strong.

Murder on the Cornish Coast out today!

Whoop, whoop! Release day for Murder on the Cornish Coast! BUY HERE if you haven't yet got your copy. Five star reviews on Net Galley which is brilliant and already waving a best seller flag in Australia!

News!

Wow! February is turning into a very busy month. On a personal front it was my birthday and then, just yeserday my second grandson arrived. Ezra Reuben 6lb 1oz making Isaac William a big brother! Book 20 in the Miss Underhay series now has a title, Murder at the English Manor, and I've had a sneak peek at the cover. It looks lovely and bright! The cover reveal for book 2 in the Secret Detective Agency series also took place yesterday!

You can preorder your copy HERE With Murder on the Cornish Coast out on Feb 20th, The Secret Detective Agency out March 27h and The Seadside Murders out April 30th Murder at the English Manor will be out May 23rd!!! Phew!!!!!!!!!

February!

Well, here we are in February. I hope this finds you all safe, well and snug. Signs of spring are popping up here in my corner of Devon. A few crocus and daffodils, primroses and snowdrops open in the lanes. All signs that Spring is on the way. That means new books! Murder on the Cornish Coast is out on February 20th! Preorder and of course the release of the first of the Secret Detective Agency books is also drawing nearer. Out on March 27th! I've had a sneak peek at book 2 in the new series, Murder at the Seaside and it looks fab with Marmaduke the cat gracing the cover once more. You can preorder book 1 HERE Since February is my birthday month and I have my second grandson due any day now I am very excited for the next few weeks. There will be a special giveaway to celebrate the launch of the Secret Detective Agency series so watch this space!

Happy New Year

Whoops! I thought I had already posted and here we are, midway through January. Time just seems to slip by so quickly! I'm just starting to line up some lovely blog guests for the next twelve months and I've lots of book news to bring you as I have 7 books coming out this year! 4 Miss Underhay mysteries and 3 in my new Secret Detective Agency series! Last year I wrote just over 500, 000 words! This year I hope will be slightly less hectic. However I have a new baby grandson due in February so no doubt here will be other things to take up my time! Preorders are up for Murder on the Cornish Coast HEREand for book 1 in The Secret Detective Agency seriesHERE and if you are in the US or Canada and haven't yet read Murder on the French Riviera it's on a monthly kindle deal just for January!HERE

Guest Blogger - Carmen Radtke

A warm welcome to a new guest to close out the year. Carmen Radtke with her brand new book which releases tomorrow! Murder by the Letter You can of course, preorder it today HERE

Here is the blurb! Haunted by the past... London, 1932. Frances is enjoying her married life with Jack and their extended stay in the city. But her tranquil days take a dark turn when she and her mother-in-law uncover a blackmail scheme targeting a vulnerable war widow at the Athena Club for ladies. Determined to protect the widow’s reputation, Frances and Jack delve into the shadows to unmask the blackmailer. Yet, as the plot spirals into murder, the stakes soar. Amid a web of secrets, they must race to expose a cold-blooded killer—before the past exacts its final toll. A classic Golden Age mystery brimming with intrigue, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers. Doesn't that sound fun? I asked Carmen to tell me a bit more about the inspiration behind the book! Have you ever not quite belonged to the club? Or wondered what this even meant? My first encounter with the concept and my enduring love for the 1920s and 1930s came thanks to Dorothy L. Sayers’ Bellona Club, where Lord Peter Wimsey is a member, plus P.G. Wodehouse’s Drones Club, spiritual home to Bertram Wooster, and the Junior Ganymede Club, where his inimitable Gentleman’s Gentlemen Jeeves reveals all in the club books. So, what better setting for a London mystery set in 1932 than a women’s club? They’d been around since the late 19th century (after a short-lived experiment in the 1770s and 1780s). Some were for professional women only, others for the upper classes, still others aimed to further the advancement of working-class girls. My fictional Athena Club is a mix – here we find former war nurses, suffragists and suffragettes mingling. The early 1930s still retain some of the glamour of the Roaring Twenties, but the depression is also much more palpable everywhere. My sleuths bridge the gap between classes, worlds (they’re Australian after all, even if Jack was born in London), and they count both aristocrats and war veterans scraping by among their friends. They may not quite belong to the club, but then that’s the secret of their sleuthing success. This sounds fab. I asked Carmen about her writing background. Carmen Radtke has spent most of her life with ink on her fingers and a dangerously high pile of books and newspapers by her side. She has worked as a newspaper reporter on two continents and always dreamt of becoming a novelist. When she found herself crouched under her dining table, typing away on a novel between two earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand, she realised she was hooked for life. The shaken but stirring novel made it to the longlist of the Mslexia competition, and her next book and first mystery, The Case Of The Missing Bride, was a finalist in the Malice Domestic competition in a year without a winner. Since then she has penned several more cozy mysteries, including the Jack and Frances series set in the 1930s. Carmen now lives in Italy with her human and her four-legged family.