I’m celebrating today as my second Cambridge mystery, One Dark Lie, is now available across all ebook platforms. It’s set in the run-up to Christmas: cue lots of snowy pics! Writing a novel can be a bit of a long, slow process, and encouragement along the way truly helps, so it seems like a … More The making of a novel – inspiration & method
Last weekend I had a thoroughly self-indulgent time attending a talk by Sophie Hannah and Jill Dawson. Hannah has recently written Closed Casket, her second Hercule Poirot mystery, commissioned by Agatha Christie Limited. Meanwhile Dawson’s latest book, The Crime Writer, is about novelist Patricia Highsmith, and according to The Guardian “achieves a wonderful blurring of … More Sophie Hannah and Jill Dawson at the Cambridge Literary Festival
Today I’m posting in celebration of the launch of Rhoda Baxter’s new novel, Please Release Me. It’s out today, and sitting on my Kindle ready to go! Here’s the blurb, so you can see why I was tempted: What if you could only watch as your bright future slipped away from you? Sally Cummings has … More Out today: Please Release Me by Rhoda Baxter
I had great fun on Sunday, taking part in a blog feature run by my fellow Choc Lit author, Rhoda Baxter. Her Inheritance Books series is inspired by the Inheritance Tracks slot from BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live. You get to share a book that was passed down to you from the previous generation, as … More The mystery ingredient…
I recently finished Joyland, by Stephen King. It’s only the second novel of his that I’ve read, the first being 11 22 63. I can’t think why I didn’t start sooner. Neither of these particular examples belong to the genre that King’s most famous for, but each has elements that waive the normal scientific rules … More Stephen King’s Joyland, and the benefit of hindsight
Tagging has been the order of the day in the last couple of weeks. First of all I got tagged on FB to list ten books that have stayed with me over the years. (Thanks, Julie – although I agonised over the list, it was great fun!) I finally came up with: The Cuckoo Tree … More Books, buckets and blogs…
Just back from a holiday in the Lake District. Its beauty alone makes it a great setting for fiction. Then the lack of mobile coverage in many places is an absolute bonus if you’re writing crime. Your heroine doesn’t need to run low on battery to stop her calling for backup… It’s where Anna, the … More The Lakes, Catherine Ryan Howard, and WordPress.com websites…
