A special guest blog from Verity Bright

I know that many of you are also readers of my colleagues, the husband and wife duo of Verity Bright. For those of you who may not have heard, very sadly, Laura was tragically killed not long ago and her husband seriously injured. Death at a Paris Hotel is a book that was very dear to Laura's heart. She was enormously talented and threw herself into her research for their books. I know how much this book meant to her. You can get your copy HERE For Lady Eleanor Swift, Paris means champagne at breakfast, romantic walks by the Eiffel Tower… and her deadliest case yet! Newlyweds Lady Swift and Detective Hugh Seldon are honeymooning in the most romantic city on earth. Clifford, her butler, has come along for the trip to make sure everything goes to plan for the happy couple. And Gladstone, the mischievous bulldog, to make sure it doesn’t! But the pair are shocked when, just as they are toasting their new marriage at the best table in their hotel’s opulent restaurant, a man tumbles through the glass roof and lands amid the silverware and coq au vin. Before he dies, he presses a striking pearl brooch into Eleanor’s hands. She has the strangest feeling of déjà vu. Has she met this man before? All too quickly, the local police arrive and immediately accuse the new Mr and Mrs of working with the victim – a thief who’d just robbed the museum down the block. With her new husband by her side, Eleanor races to clear their name and discover who would kill to get their hands on the unusual brooch. Following a clue about a doomed love affair takes the gang from the famous cabarets and cobbled streets of Paris to rubbing shoulders with the aristocracy at the very top of the Eiffel Tower. But soon Eleanor notices a mysterious man in black following their every footstep. Is he friend or foe? And can Eleanor and Hugh unravel the case before the City of Light becomes the city of death?

Summer Solstice already!

It's hard to believe that half the year has already shot past. Here in Devon the weather is hot and dry, a sure sign that I'm busy writing Christmas books! One, the next Miss Underhay is very Christmassy with crackling log fires, carols, mince pies and murder. The other book will be the 4th in the Secret Detective Agency series and is set in the grey and dark days of January 1942 with Jane and Arthur facing new perils. Murder in Paris, book 21 in the Miss underhay series is just going through edits and I'm looking forward to you all reading it. Likewise, Murder most British, Jane and Arthur's third adventure. This time in war torn London.

The Christmas Miss Underhay book is being set around here, one of my favourite places and just a couple of miles from my house. This of course is a picture in sunnier times. But in winter with the mist swirling and no one around except a murderer...