Chat About Books

Today I am very pleased to welcome Rebecca Bradley to my blog 🙂 Rebecca is the author of the DI Hannah Robbins series. The prequel of which, Three Weeks Dead, is due out tomorrow! I hope you have a fab publication day, Rebecca.

I reviewed the audio version of Shallow Waters a while ago. I loved it! Made To Be Broken is on my TBR list, as is Three Weeks Dead!

I will share links to buy later on, but in the meantime I have a cracking Q&A for you to enjoy…..

For those who don’t know already, could you tell us about yourself and your book(s) please?

Hi Kerry, firstly, I want to say thank you for having me on your blog. I really appreciate it.

I’m an ex-police detective, medically retiring after 16 years service. I’m now happily in a second career I love and that’s writing. How many people are lucky enough to get the opportunity to do two jobs they adore like that?

I write a series set in Nottingham with a female protagonist called Hannah Robbins. She’s a DI who works hard and on some pretty gruelling cases.

Where did/do you get your ideas from?

My first novel, Shallow Waters was set in the world I was used to working in, and that was sexual exploitation. Though, of course, it wasn’t based on any true events. From there, all my ideas are snippets that jump into my head from things I see, hear or read. I have an ideas list written down and it now stands at about 15 ideas. I think I need to learn to write faster.

Are any of your characters based (however loosely) on anyone you know?

There is only one character who is based very loosely on anyone I know and that is DC Martin Thacker. I based him on my old tutor when I first joined the police. He is a great bloke. Kind, calm, easy-going and hard-working. Nothing ruffled his feathers. He did also hate doing the paperwork!

How do you pick your characters names?

Ah, this is something I hate. Really. I hate it. Names are ridiculously important in novels. Well, in any story. They convey so much about the character. And it’s another list I have stored on my phone as well as the ideas list. If I’m watching the TV, I keep an eye on the credits for names as they scroll by and not just the actors, but all the back room staff. So, I have a list of male first names, female first names and surnames. I also have a baby name book in my office. And with both of these means of choosing names, I still find I’m stuck for names for some characters. Honestly, I find it that hard. So, if you read one of my books and you hate one of the names, you know how long it took me to choose it!

Can you share your writing process with us, in a nutshell?

My writing process has evolved/is evolving. I’m a fairly new writer, just releasing my third piece of work and working on my fourth. When I started my debut, Shallow Waters (DI Hannah Robbins #1) I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. I opened a word document and started writing. I was what is known as a pantser. I had no outline. I knew the beginning and in my head I knew the ending, but other than that, I didn’t know anything else. It was a difficult process and it took me a long time to write it.

With Made to be Broken (#2) I decided to do it a different way, to plot things out before I started typing. I wrote a long synopsis so I had a plan of where it was going – including the middle. This made it easier, in one way to write – as a process – but not as book 2, in itself.

Do you have a favourite author?

I do have a favourite author, then I have a very close second. Karin Slaughter, the Sara Linton (from the very beginning because it’s morphed from one series into another) /Will Trent series. This is because she writes very character driven stories. I am invested in the characters and want to know what happens so I keep turning the pages and I buy her books without even reading the back blurb.

My close second is David Jackson. He’s a friend and an incredible writer. His work is also character driven and I’d also buy anything he writes without reading the blurb.

If you could meet any author, who would it be and what would you ask them?

Without question Karin Slaughter. I’ve been lucky enough to meet quite a few authors at festivals and she’s one that I haven’t met. I’d ask her if she’d mentor me! Do you think she would??

Were you a big reader as a child?

Yes. I can remember spending a lot of time in our beautiful library. Choosing books and reading books. I can remember I was a pretty eclectic reader. Picking up huge tomes of books sometimes. Losing myself in them.

When did you start to write?

I kept starting a first chapter for a couple of years and then not finishing it or losing it. It wasn’t until a large birthday loomed that I decided if I was going to do it then now was the time to do it. I was doing an OU degree in Geosciences at the time. I’d completed my level one courses and decided I was going to take a year out to see if I could write a novel. I never went back…

If you could re-write the ending to any book what would it be and what would you change?

This has to be the hardest question I have ever come across! Does anyone ever answer it?? Okay, I’ve got it, I’m not sure which book it was, but the Patricia Cornwell book where she kills off Benton. I went to a talk by her once and she said she regretted that decision to kill him off, that she listened to her fans and that was the reason she brought him back. I think it was a very difficult time for her as a writer and if I could change it for her, I’d change the ending of that book. No writer wants to receive a backlash that huge that you reverse a decision that big.

What are you working on right now?

I’m writng a standalone at the minute. I’m really excited by it. It’s very different to the DI Hannah Robbins series. And that’s all I can really say about it at the minute. Sorry.

Do you have a new release due?

I do. Three Weeks Dead is a novella and also a prequel to Shallow Waters. It’s out tomorrow on all Amazon stores.

‘How far would you go if someone took your wife?

Especially, if you buried her a week ago.’

How can readers keep in touch with you?

On my blog at Rebeccabradleycrime.com I’m on Twitter (too much) at @RebeccaJBradley and on Facebook at Facebook.com/RebeccaBradleyCrime

Thanks again for having me Kerry.

Many thanks, Rebecca, for answering my questions and joining me on my blog today 🙂 It has been a pleasure!

Check out this rather fabulous cover!

Buy your copy HERE

How far would you go if someone took your wife?

Especially, if you buried her a week ago.

When Jason Wells is faced with this scenario, he is confronted with the prospect of committing a crime that will have far-reaching consequences.

Can young DC Sally Poynter get through to him before he crosses that line, or does a desperate husband prove to be the case she won’t ever forget?

A prequel novella, set before Shallow Waters, the first in the DI Hannah Robbins series.

For fans of James Patterson’s Book Shots.

Buy your copy of Shallow Waters HERE

If you haven’t already and would like to, you can read my review of Shallow Waters here – Shallow Waters (Detective Hannah Robbins crime series Book 1) by Rebecca Bradley

Buy your copy of Made To Be Broken HERE

Watch this space for my reviews!

Happy reading 🙂

Today I’d like to introduce you to Kathleen Jowitt. Kathleen self-published her book, Speak Its Name. I have a copy on my reading list, so watch this space for my review. In the meantime, Kathleen very kindly agreed to an interview.

Enjoy…..

For those who don’t know already, could you tell us about yourself and your book(s) please?

My name is Kathleen Jowitt and I’m the author of Speak Its Name, which was published in February 2016. It’s the story of a (closeted) lesbian evangelical Christian and her experiences at university, set against the backdrop of the drama of student politics.

I have a day job, working in the education department of a major trade union, and much of my writing gets done when I’m on the train to work. I enjoy experimenting with a wide range of genres, but a constant in my books is (as one of my friends put it) ‘people sorting their heads out’.

Where did/do you get your ideas from?

All over the place! The book I’m currently working on came from a throwaway comment that my husband made when we were watching the Tour de France, that an endurance athlete would be more likely than most of the general public to understand the ‘spoons’ analogy of chronic illness. Speak Its Name is lightly based on my own experience at university. And I have one in the pipeline that seems to be the direct result of thinking too hard about seashells over the summer.

Are any of your characters based (however loosely) on anyone you know?

If anyone, they’re based on me! And by that I don’t mean that my novels are full of clones of myself, but that I extrapolate from my own experience to make the emotional landscape convincing. I take an aspect of myself and throw it as far as I can. This can produce some pretty varied characters – for example, of the religious attitudes of three major characters in Speak Its Name, Lydia’s struggle with legalism, Peter’s love of ritual, and Colette’s penchant for doing her own thing all came from my own. As did Olly’s secularism, for that matter.

I do recycle snatches of conversation, but they’re usually borrowed from strangers – it’s too weird trying to get into my friends’ heads.

How do you pick your characters’ names?

For major, sympathetic characters, I pick names that I happen to like, and then think what that means for their background, their family history, their political or religious affiliations, and so on. Sometimes a character just shows up with a particular name. Sometimes I have to change a name because it’s just not plausible in terms of age or culture – or, as happened more than once with Speak Its Name, because I meet someone with the same name and things just get too confusing. For minor characters, I just go for something vaguely believable that starts with a letter of the alphabet that I haven’t used yet.

Can you share your writing process with us, in a nutshell?

Alice in Wonderland is told to ‘start at the beginning, and go on until you get to the end, and then stop.’ I simply can’t do that. My writing process is less like laying a road than it is connecting up islands of an archipelago. I start with two or three very definite pictures or ideas in my head, and will probably have a basic idea of their position in relation to one another. Writing those down will induce five or six other islands to erupt from the seabed. And they drag more up behind them. After that it’s a matter of building bridges, or causeways, perhaps throwing in an artificial island, perhaps bypassing three or four of the early ones, after all.

It means a reasonable amount of rewriting, to ensure that character development and such things are consistent. But that’s probably good for me anyway, and anyway, it’s the only way that I can do it.

Do you have a favourite author?

I can’t possibly pick just one! (I bet everybody says that!) If you were going to leave me on a desert island with the complete works of only one author, though, it would be Dorothy L. Sayers, who was equally good at mysteries, theology, and translating medieval Italian. I always find something new when I reread her books.

If you could meet any author, who would it be and what would you ask them?

It would have to be the ancient Greek poet Sappho – so I could ask her for another copy of her poems to replace all those that have been lost over the intervening centuries.

Were you a big reader as a child?

Very much so. We didn’t have a television until after I’d left to go to university, which, combined with living way out in the countryside, meant that books were my main source of entertainment. Fortunately, my parents provided me with plenty of them.

When did you start to write?

In my childhood. I remember having ambitions to be Ladybird’s youngest author – and their youngest author ever was Jayne Fisher, author of the Garden Gang books, and she was nine. So I must have been younger than that. The first time I made a serious effort at a full-length book was when I was thirteen or fourteen, and the first time I finished a draft of one was when I was twenty-one, ten years ago.

If you could re-write the ending to any book what would it be and what would you change?

Oh – what a brilliant question! A couple of Mary Renault’s contemporary novels come to mind immediately – I could delete the last chapter of North Face or the trainwreck that is the end of The Friendly Young Ladies. I’d have to toss a coin to decide which one got fixed.

What are you working on right now?

I’m on the first draft of a book whose working title is Wheels – it’s a sort of screwball romance between a disgraced ex-professional cyclist and a young disabled woman. It’s rather a steep learning curve as I’ve never written anything this long with a male first person narrator, but I’m enjoying it.

When can we look forward to a new release?

I hope to have Wheels out in summer 2017 – probably not under that name, but we’ll see! The only alternative I’ve thought of so far is Bonk, which is a bit, er, misleading… It makes sense in a cycling context, but I fear I’d disappoint a lot of Jilly Cooper fans.

How can readers keep in touch with you?

I’m on Twitter at @KathleenJowitt, and my website is at www.kathleenjowitt.com.

Thank you for having me!

Thanks for answering my questions, Kathleen 🙂

Paperback – Publisher: Kathleen Jowitt (22nd January 2016)

Kindle – Publisher: Kathleen Jowitt (28th January 2016)

A new year at the University of Stancester, and Lydia Hawkins is trying to balance the demands of her studies with her responsibilities as an officer for the Christian Fellowship. Her mission: to make sure all the Christians in her hall stay on the straight and narrow, and to convert the remaining residents if possible. To pass her second year. And to ensure a certain secret stays very secret indeed. When she encounters the eccentric, ecumenical student household at 27 Alma Road, Lydia is forced to expand her assumptions about who’s a Christian to include Quaker Becky, bellsandsmells Peter, and bisexual Methodist Colette. As the year unfolds, Lydia discovers that there are more ways to be Christian, and more ways to be herself, than she had ever imagined. Then a disgruntled member of the Catholic Society starts asking whether the Christian Fellowship is really as Christian as it claims to be, and Lydia finds herself at the centre of a row that will reach far beyond the campus.

Buy your copy HERE

Happy reading 🙂

Today I have the pleasure of welcoming Sara Bailey to my blog. I have a copy of  Dark Water on my to-be-read list, from the lovely people at Nightingale Editions. I’ve seen lots of glowing reviews of this book already so I’m sure I’ll enjoy it.

In the meantime I have a lovely Q&A with the lady herself. Enjoy!

1. For those who don’t know already, could you tell us about yourself and your book(s) please?

I live in Orkney. I grew up here till I was 16 and then returned about a year and a half ago. I’d come back to say goodbye to the island and to organize a memorial bench for my Dad who had died the previous year. I met up with an old boyfriend and everything went from there. I moved back and we got married last year.

I’d written Dark Water as part of my Ph.D and put it away once I’d got my doctorate thinking that it wasn’t really publishable. My husband thought it was insane to do all that work and not publish. So I did some rewrites and sent it out. After several rejections, I sent it to Blackbird – Digital. They decided it wasn’t for them, but emailed to say they were starting a new imprint – Nightingale Editions and would I like to be their debut author. I jumped at the opportunity.

2. Where did/do you get your ideas from?

Everywhere. This book came out of an exercise I did for my MA on memory and place. I wrote about Orkney and the book just sort of spiraled out from there.

3. Are any of your characters based (however loosely) on anyone you know?

No, not really. Characters are an amalgamation of different characteristics from different sources, so while there are elements from people I know, no one person made up one character. I’d say there is an emotional truth in some of them, but that’s all.

4. How do you pick your characters names?

Names will naturally emerge usually. I tried to resist the name Anastasia for a variety of reasons. But then I heard some people talking one day about someone they knew, ‘She calls herself Anastasia now, what’s wrong with Stacey I’d like to know,’ and I thought, they could have been talking about the character I was writing, so it stuck.

5. Can you share your writing process with us, in a nutshell?

I try to find as many things to do as possible to avoid sitting down and writing. I know it’s getting bad when I start doing ironing or baking bread. However, once I get going on a project I’m usually pretty good at getting into a routine. Walk the dog, grab a coffee and get to the computer.

6. Do you have a favourite author?

Yes, several – Joanne Harris is one, I follow her on Twitter and I love her tweet stories. Helen Dunmore is another, she’s brilliant with language and has a lovely poetic style. I love Michele Roberts for her spikiness and wit.

7. If you could meet any author, who would it be and what would you ask them?

I met Fay Weldon when I was in my 20’s and asked her to adopt me. I was such a fangirl.

8. Were you a big reader as a child?

Yes. I read everything. We had a big bookcase on the stairway at our house and I worked my way through it. I always had my nose in a book. I love audio books as well physical books, because I can read in the car without feeling sick or listen while I’m driving.

9. When did you start to write?

I wrote all the time as a child. We were all encouraged to be creative in our family and while my siblings were all quite good artists, I was hopeless at drawing (I still struggle with stick men!) so I wrote poems and short stories instead.

10. If you could re-write the ending to any book what would it be and what would you change?

I wouldn’t dream of interfering with another writer’s work. I know how hard it is to get a satisfying ending, so I think I’d have to respect that.

11. What are you working on right now?

My next book. Also set in Orkney but more about the Orcadians this time round rather than outsiders coming in. They have a thing they do here called ‘telling the kin’, which is basically locating a person through who they are related to – so if we were speaking about ‘Joe Bloggs’ for instance, there would be a whole backstory related about Joe, his dad, possibly his grandfather and uncles as well as his brothers, who they married and their children.

12. When can we look forward to a new release?

I’m writing as fast as I can. So as soon as I can get it finished.

13. How can readers keep in touch with you?

They can contact me via Twitter @baileysara or my blog http://www.scribblingwoman.co.uk and, of course, through Nightingale Editions http://www.nightingale-editions.com

Many thanks to Sara for answering my questions and joining me on my blog today 🙂

Watch this space for my review!

Publisher: Nightingale Editions (3rd October 2016)

Friendship doesn’t die, it waits…

“I couldn’t help but be fascinated by this book. It uses the Orkney setting beautifully, and the islands are intertwined with the story of a woman facing the past she’d evaded for years: both in the clarity of the light and the roughness of the sea. It uses suspense and structure with skill …The final scene was brilliantly described. Suspense, sex and selkie girls: irresistible!” – Amy Liptrot, author of The Outrun, Winner of the Wainwright Prize 2016

A haunting and lyrical novel, ‘Dark Water’ is a psychologically intense portrait of adolescent yearning and obsession, set in the beautiful Orkney Islands.

When Helena returns to her childhood home in Orkney to care for her father after a heart attack, she is forced to face memories that she has spent half a lifetime running from.

Still haunted by the disappearance of her best friend, the charismatic Anastasia – who vanished during a daredevil swimming incident – Helena must navigate her way though the prisms of memory and encounter not only her ghosts but also her first love, Dylan, the only one who can help her unravel the past and find her way back to the truth of what really happened that night.

“Like a selkie through the cold North Sea, the story of Helena’s past ploughs inexorably towards its dark conclusion, every line haunted by the ghost of her enigmatic former best friend, Anastasia. With the island of Orkney as the most dynamic of backdrops, author Sara Bailey lures you into a story of intense teenage friendship, first love, and family ties, keeping you spellbound until the very last word.” – S.E. Lynes, author of ‘Valentina’

Sara Bailey’s startling debut from Nightingale, an imprint of Blackbird Digital Books

Buy your copy of Dark Water HERE

Enjoy!

…..I started this book blog!

I had no idea what I was doing (I still don’t really, but I seem to be winging it ok, so far 😉). I have loved every minute of it. I couldn’t do it without you though. The support shared amongst the book loving community is just amazing!

I want to say a massive THANK YOU to everyone who has supported Chat About Books over the last 12 months. I’m thankful for every time you read, like, comment on and share my posts. I hope I can keep you interested enough to continue to follow.

To my friends and family, I love you.

To my fellow book bloggers, you are all awesome!

To all of the lovely authors whose books I have had pleasure of reading and reviewing or have featured on my blog in any way, I have thoroughly enjoyed working with you all. I am forever grateful for the ARC’s I have received and for the requests I continue to receive. I’m looking forward to the next 12 months’ reading. 😃

Not forgetting the fabulous publishers who also help to make book blogging such a pleasure. As well as the wonderful Book Connectors group and all of it’s members.

Thanks also to Laura at Newcastle Life Magazine for my recent feature.

I’m in awe of anyone who can write so for as long as I’m able to help spread the word about brilliant books and authors, I will!

I thought I’d offer a little giveaway to mark my 1st Blogiversary…..

I have this lovely tote bag to give away, which may contain a couple of other treats too!

Anyone who leaves a comment on this post will be included in the draw. I will choose a winner at random on Saturday 15th October 😊

Thanks again for a great year!

Kerry

X

Today I have the pleasure of sharing an extact from One Christmas in Paris by Mandy Baggot.

Happy Publication Day to Mandy and Bookouture! 🙂

I’m loving this gorgeous cover…..

One Christmas in Paris

By Mandy Baggot

One

Up-Do Hair, Kensington, London

Leo:[EMAIL] I’m sorry. Can we talk?[END EMAIL]

Ava Devlin swiped the email hard to the left and watched it disappear from the screen of her iPhone. That’s what you did with messages from liars and fakes who had whispered one thing into your ear, as they wrapped their arms around you, and did the complete opposite when your back was turned. She swallowed back a bitter feeling. She had always worried that Leo – successful, rich, good-looking in a Joey Essex kind of way – was maybe a little bit out of her league.

‘Boss or boyfriend?’

The question came from Sissy, the hairdresser who was currently coating Ava’s head in foils and a paste that felt as if it was doing nuclear things to Ava’s scalp.

‘Neither,’ she answered, putting the phone on the counter under the mirror in front of her. A sigh left her. ‘Not any more.’ She needed to shake this off like Taylor Swift.

Giving her reflection a defiant look, she enlarged her green eyes, flared the nostrils of her button nose and set her lips into a deliberate pout she felt she had never quite been able to pull off. With her face positioned like she was a Z-list celeb doing a provocative selfie on Twitter, she knew she was done. With men. With love. With everything. Her ears picked up the dulcet tones of Cliff Richard suggesting mistletoe and wine, floating from the salon sound system. Her eyes then moved from her reflection to the string of tinsel and fir cones that surrounded the mirror. This rinky-dink Christmas crap could do one as well. Coming right up was a nation getting obsessed with food they never ate in the other eleven months – dates, walnuts, an entire board of European cheeses – and a whole two weeks of alterations to the television schedule – less The Wright Stuff and more World’s Strongest Man. And now she was on her own with it.

‘Well,’ Sissy said, dabbing more goo on Ava’s head, ‘I always think Christmas is a good time to be young, free and single.’ She giggled, drawing Ava’s attention back to the effort Sissy was putting into her hair. ‘All those parties… people loosening up with goodwill and…’

‘Stella Artois?’ Ava offered.

‘You don’t drink that, do you?’ Sissy exclaimed as if Ava had announced she was partial to Polonium 210. ‘I had a boyfriend once who was allergic to that. If he had more than four it made him really ill.’

‘Sissy, that isn’t an allergy, that’s just getting drunk.’

‘On lager?’ Sissy quizzed. ‘Doesn’t it mix well with shots?’

Ava was caught between a laugh and a cry. She swallowed it down and focussed again on the mirror. Why was she here having these highlights put in? She’d booked the appointment when she’d had the work do to go to. Now, having caught Leo out with Cassandra, she wouldn’t need perfect roots to go with the perfect dress he’d bought her. She didn’t even like the dress. It was all red crushed velvet like something a magician’s assistant might wear. Like something her mother might wear. But Leo had said she looked beautiful and she remembered how that had made her feel at the time. All lies.

‘Stop,’ Ava stated abruptly, sitting forward in her seat.

‘Stop?’ Sissy clarified. ‘Stop what? Talking? Putting the colour on?’

‘All of it,’ Ava said. She put her fingers to the silver strips on her head and tugged.

‘What are you doing? Don’t touch them!’ Sissy said, as if one wrong move was going to detonate an explosive device.

‘I want them off… out…not in my hair!’ Ava gripped one foil between her fingers, pulling.

‘OK, OK, but not like that, you’ll pull your hair out.’

‘I want a new look.’ Ava scooped up her hair in her palms, pulling it away from her face and angling her head to check out the look. Nothing would make her jawline less angular or her lips thinner. She sighed. ‘Cut it off.’ She wanted it to come out strong, decisive, but her voice broke a little at the end and when she looked back at Sissy, she saw pity growing in her hairdresser’s eyes.

‘Well… I have to finish the tinting first.’ Sissy bit her lip.

Ava didn’t want pity. ‘Well, finish the tinting and then cut it off,’ she repeated.

‘Trim it, you mean,’ Sissy said, her eyes in the mirror, looking back at Ava.

Ava shook her remaining silver-wrapped hair, making it rustle. ‘No, Sissy, I don’t want it trimmed. I want it cut off.’ She pulled in a long, steady breath. ‘I’m thinking short… but definitely more Bowie in his heyday than Jedward.’

‘That short.’ Sissy was almost choking on the words.

‘You did say a change was good,’ Ava answered. ‘Change me.’ She sat back until she could feel the pleather at her back. ‘Make me completely unrecognisable even to my mother.’ She closed her eyes. ‘In fact, especially to my mother.’

With her eyes shut, she blocked out everything – Cliff Richard, the tinsel and fir cones, Leo. A different style was just what she needed. Something that was going to go with her new outlook on life. A haircut that was going to say, You can look, but if you set one eyelash into my personal space, suggesting joy to the world, you will be taken down. Nothing or nobody was going to touch her.

Ava’s phone let out a bleep and she opened one eye, squinting at the screen. Why didn’t Leo just give up? Why wasn’t he suctioned to Cassandra like he had been for God knows how long? She was betting Cassandra had never had to use Clearasil.

Sissy leant forward, regarding the phone screen. ‘It says it’s from Debs.’

Cheered considerably, Ava reached for the phone, picking it up and reading the message.

[TEXT STARTS]I know I said not to bring anything, but I totes forgot to get something Christmassy. Can you get something Christmassy? To eat… like those crisps that are meant to taste like turkey and stuffing or roasted nuts and cranberry. And bring red wine, not white, because I got three bottles of white today. And if you’ve completely forgotten all about coming to mine tonight for neighbourly nibbles before I leave for Paris then this is your reminder. Debs xx[TEXT ENDS]

Debs texted like she was writing a dissertation. There was no OMG, FFS or TMI with Ava’s best friend. And Ava had forgotten about the ‘neighbourly nibbles’. That was what having a break-up on your plate did to you – addled your brain and fried the important relationship circuits. Well, she was taking control now – elusive and aloof to anyone but her best friend – and the only frazzled motherboard was going to be the one with wires connected to men.

Ava looked into the mirror at Sissy. ‘After you’ve cut it, Sissy, I want you to make me blonder,’ she stated. ‘And not the honey kind.’ She smiled. ‘The Miley Cyrus meltdown kind.’

Another lovely book to add to my reading list 🙂

Add it to yours too, via the links below…..

ONE CHRISTMAS IN PARIS

Out today – 7th October 2016

UK: http://amzn.to/2bTThnR  

US:http://amzn.to/2bUedJY

They say Paris is the City of Love, so bring your je ne sais quoi and don’t forget the mistletoe!

Ava and her best friend Debs arrive in Paris just as the snow starts to fall. The Eiffel Tower glitters gold and the scent of spiced wine is all around, but all Ava can think about is Leo, her no-good, cheating ex.

Debs is on a mission to make Ava smile again, and as they tour the Christmas markets, watch lamplight glittering on the river Seine, and eat their body weight inpain-au-chocolat, Ava remembers there’s more to life than men … Until they cross paths with handsome, mysterious photographer Julien with his French accent and hazelnut eyes that seem to see right inside her.

Ava can’t ignore the intense chemistry between them, but her fingers have been burned before and she can’t forget it, especially when her ex, Leo, starts texting again. Can Ava really trust Julien – and what exactly is his secret?

Will Ava go home with a broken heart, or will she find true love amongst the cobbled streets of Paris?

Join Ava and Julien in the most romantic city in the world this Christmas, as they discover the importance of being true to themselves, and learn how to follow their hearts.

One Christmas in Paris is a gorgeous, laugh-out-loud romantic comedy – perfect for fans of Jane Costello, Miranda Dickinson and Lucy Diamond.

About the author:

Mandy Baggot is an award-winning author of romantic women’s fiction and a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association. In Feb 2016, her Bookouture novel, One Wish in Manhattan was shortlisted for the Romantic Novelists’ Association Romantic Comedy Novel of the Year award. A contributor to writing blogs and short story anthologies, she is also a regular speaker at literary festivals, events and women’s networking groups.

Mandy loves mashed potato, white wine, country music, Corfu and handbags. She has appeared on ITV1’s Who Dares Sings and auditioned for The X-Factor and lives in Wiltshire, UK with her husband, two children and cats Kravitz and Springsteen.

www.mandybaggot.com

https://www.facebook.com/mandybaggotauthor

https://twitter.com/mandybaggot

Many thanks to Kim at Bookouture for letting me join in with today’s Publication celebrations 🙂

Today I have the pleasure of sharing an extract from All I Want For Christmas by Jenny Hale, which is released today!

Happy Publication Day to Jenny and Bookouture! 🙂

How gorgeous is this cover!

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS

By Jenny Hale

Chapter One

Leah used the scissors from her Christmas wreath-making project to open the package from Nan, her hands trembling. She missed her grandmother so much that she held her breath from the moment her fingers touched the envelope. She set the scissors next to the pile of spruce needles that were still on the kitchen table and ran her fingers through her thick, blonde hair. She’d straightened it that morning, but after all day in the rain and sleet, it had started to curl back up.

Tipping the package upside down, Leah caught a lone key in the palm of her hand, recognizing it immediately. She pulled out a stack of documents with a note in Nan’s scratchy handwriting clipped to the top. The notepaper was pink and lacy, the edges rounded delicately with little holes punched out. She laid the documents on top of a few Christmas cards that had come in the mail and focused on the letter, aching to hear Nan’s soft, reassuring voice again.

“Mama,” Leah’s daughter, Sadie said, pulling her out of her thoughts. She was still wearing the red-and-blue leotard Leah had gotten her as a surprise for her birthday. Sadie had seen it in her gymnastics magazine and she’d kept the page open to it all the time. When Leah had asked her about it, she’d said that one day she’d like to have one of her own. Together, they’d made the matching bow clip in her white blonde hair. Every day after school she put it all on to practice her gymnastics. And she was quite the natural.

“The Girls are here,” Sadie said. She bent down, placing her hands on the tile floor, between the table and the kitchen counter, keeping her feet in place until she lifted a leg into the air. Slowly, from a perfect standing split, she put her other leg up, straightening out into a handstand. Sadie had learned to do this move slowly, as swift movements used to send Leah leaping across the kitchen, throwing her arms around Sadie’s legs while simultaneously grabbing dishes and knick-knacks to keep them safe. But when Sadie did it slowly, Leah was able to see the precision in her movements, her skill evident, and she didn’t worry at all. Leah grinned.

Sadie righted herself and opened the side door that led to the driveway, sending a wave of wintery air in past the new wreath Leah had made from evergreens she’d found in the woods. She’d just hung it today. Leah slid the contents and the letter back into the envelope and put the key in her pocket. Another gust sent a chill through her as The Girls came in chattering together, Roz short and Louise tall, both swaddled in their winter gear.

“The Girls” was the name Leah had given to herself and her two best friends when they’d first met. They’d started out as a single mothers’ group of around seven women, which Leah had joined after meeting Roz, her coworker at the florist’s. But over the years, The Girls had dwindled to three—Leah, Roz and Louise—and they’d become more than a support group. They’d become best friends. Tonight, Leah was having them over for a late dinner.

“You’re early,” Leah said with a grin as Roz, all bundled up in a dark burgundy, double-breasted peacoat and striped fingerless gloves, set a bottle of wine on the counter dramatically. It was some sort of cutesy specialty wine with a gold, swirling Christmas tree on the label.

“Louise was insistent that the snow was going to fall all at once and if we waited any longer we wouldn’t be able to drive here,” Roz said, pulling off her gloves and dumping them on the counter. She ran her hand around Sadie’s ponytail affectionately and gave her a wink. Then she shrugged off her coat. Roz walked over to the cupboards and started rummaging around for wine glasses. Leah smiled—she liked how Roz felt as comfortable as if she were in her own house. She was like family.

“At least I can say we’re safe,” Louise said, giving Leah a side hug as she was holding a bowl of salad and a tin of cookies in her other arm. She was covered from head to toe, with a hunter-green, wooly scarf wrapped tightly around her neck, covering her long, red hair. “And you’re sure we can camp out here if the snow does start to fall?”

“We hardly ever have that kind of snow this early in the season,” Roz said, busying herself at the sink. “But I brought my toothbrush just in case!”

Leah’s house was small—a brick rancher tucked away behind a thick strip of woods that separated it from the main street, a four-lane expanse of pavement which was teeming at this time of year with holiday shoppers as they crawled along in traffic to get from one shop to another. But the woods allowed some privacy, and at night, in the dark, it seemed almost secluded. She had rented the house for its proximity to work and the cozy feel of the living room. Although quite crowded when everyone got together, it had offered a comfortable space to make memories with Sadie.

Louise looked at Leah thoughtfully for a second, as if just noticing her. “How are you?” she asked, studying her face until the pop of the wine cork behind them pulled her attention away.

Her friend could always read her. Leah was dying to see what Nan’s letter said, but she didn’t want to bring everyone down tonight by bursting into tears. It was supposed to be a fun night with The Girls.

“I’m fine, thanks.” Leah smiled. “I was just going through the mail…”

“Well, ignore it!” Roz said, swinging a glass full of red wine her way. The purple color of it nearly matched Roz’s dark hair. It was bottle-black, her latest beauty experiment, and in the light, it had almost a reddish-purple tint to it. “We’re going to have an amazing night of…” As she pressed her bright red lips together in thought, she handed the other glass to Louise. “What are we doing tonight besides drinking wine and having dinner? Did anyone get a movie or anything?”

“I thought we could play cards,” Louise piped up, taking a dainty sip from her glass and looking back and forth between Roz and Leah. “I brought some. They’re Toy Story though.”

Roz snorted as Louise pulled her five-year-old’s cards from her handbag.
“I couldn’t find mine so I took some from Ethan’s room,” she said.

Sadie climbed up into a kitchen chair and reached for one of the silver, foil-wrapped chocolates that Leah had put out for tonight. The two of them had started their Christmas decorating today, and they’d been nibbling on those chocolates since early afternoon. Leah gave her daughter her best not-too-many face.

Roz poured one more glass of wine for herself and then filled a glass full of fruit punch for Sadie. Both Roz and Louise had the weekend free since their children were with their fathers, but Leah didn’t have anyone to help with Sadie, so Sadie always joined them. She was like an honorary member of The Girls.

What a lovely opening chapter. This is now on my TBR list!

I’m sure you must be keen to read it also, so please find the links to buy below…..

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS by Jenny Hale – out 6^th October 2016

UK: http://amzn.to/2bXPAPJ 

US:http://amzn.to/2bQatcG 

All I Want for Christmas is a big, cozy Christmas story about the importance of family, the strength of childhood friendships, and learning to trust your heart.

Fans of Carole Matthews, Susan Wiggs and Susan Mallery – and anyone who likes the glow of Christmas lights and the rustle of wrapping paper – will fall in love with this feel-good Christmas treat.

Christmas comes once a year . . . But true love comes once in a lifetime.

Snowflakes are falling, there’s carol singing on every corner, and Leah Evans is preparing for a family Christmas at her grandmother’s majestic plantation house in Virginia. It won’t be the same now that her beloved Nan is gone, but when Leah discovers she has inherited the mansion, she knows she can give her daughter Sadie the childhood of her dreams.

But there’s a catch. Leah must split the house with a man called David Forester. Leah hasn’t heard that name in a long time. Not since they were kids, when Davey was always there to catch her.

Now David is all grown up. He’s gorgeous, successful, and certain of one thing: Leah should sell him her half of the house.

They can’t agree, but as they share memories over wine by the log fire, Leah notices a fluttering in her stomach. And by the look in his eyes, he’s starting to feel it too.

Will it be Leah or David who must give up their dreams? Or, with a little bit of Christmas magic, will they finally understand Nan’s advice to them both about living life without regrets … and take a chance on true love?

About the author:

When she graduated college, one of Jenny’s friends said “Look out for this one; she’s going to be an author one day”. Despite being an avid reader and a natural storyteller, it wasn’t until that very moment that the idea of writing novels occurred to her.

Sometimes our friends can see the things that we can’t. Whilst she didn’t start straight away, that comment sowed a seed and several years, two children and hundreds of thousands of words later, Jenny finished her first novel – Coming Home for Christmas – which became an instant bestseller.

www.itsjennyhale.com

https://www.facebook.com/jennyhaleauthor

https://twitter.com/jhaleauthor

Many thanks to Kim at Bookouture for letting me join in with today’s Publication celebrations 🙂

Publisher: Sphere (1st September 2016)

Wow!

I finished this lovely book this afternoon and it totally blew me away. It’s one of the most moving and thought provoking books I’ve read in a long time.

A Boy Made Of Blocks is about an 8 year old boy called Sam. Sam is autistic. His Dad, Alex, has always struggled to connect with him. This has put a lot of pressure on his marriage to Sam’s Mum, Jody, and sadly they end up separated. Alex worries that he will lose his son (and his wife) all together, until he discovers a computer game called Minecraft.

Minecraft literally changes their lives!

I’m not going to say anything about why or how, I would urge you to read it for yourself. You will be so glad you did!

Keith Stuart has an autistic son and his experience shines through this story. It is told with such love and affection. It’s also quite comical at times.

It’s a little bit sad, but mostly uplifting and incredibly heart-warming. It made me cry!

A beautifully written story that will most definitely stay with me for a long time to come. An easy 5 stars for me!

Many thanks to the publisher for inviting me to read this book via Netgalley. I am more than happy to recommend to anyone and everyone.

Buy your copy HERE 

You know you want to!

Don’t forget to leave a little review on Amazon when you’ve read it 🙂

Description:

Discover a unique, funny and moving debut that will make you laugh, cry and smile.

Meet thirtysomething dad, Alex
He loves his wife Jody, but has forgotten how to show it. He loves his son Sam, but doesn’t understand him. Something has to change. And he needs to start with himself.

Meet eight-year-old Sam
Beautiful, surprising, autistic. To him the world is a puzzle he can’t solve on his own.

But when Sam starts to play Minecraft, it opens up a place where Alex and Sam begin to rediscover both themselves and each other . . .

Can one fragmented family put themselves back together, one piece at a time?

Inspired by the author’s experiences with his own son, A Boy Made of Blocks is an astonishingly authentic story of love, family and autism.

Today I have the pleasure of sharing an extract from The Taken by Casey Kelleher, which is released today!

Happy Publication Day to Casey and Bookouture  🙂

THE TAKEN

By Casey Kelleher

Prologue

Albania: One year earlier

‘Tariq?’

Whimpering, Lena Cona looked down at the ground to where her brother lay.

The two men were shouting now, their voices angry, intimidating.

She tried to comprehend what they were saying, but their jumbled words were muted, merging into background noise as her ears began to ring loudly, a high-pitched screech filling her head.

She was in shock.

Unable to think straight, Lena tried to move, but she couldn’t.

Her legs were shaking, but her feet felt weighed down, as if her shoes were filled with lead.

She was afraid. Paralysed to the spot, all she could do was stare; her eyes fixated on the thick stream of blood that oozed out from the gash at the back of Tariq’s head.

He’d been hit.

The taller of the men had whacked him around the head with the butt of his gun.

They had a gun!

Panic ripped through her at the sudden realisation.

Lena tried to shout out; opening her mouth, a strained squeak barely louder than a whisper was the only noise that crept out.

‘Get in the car.’

The man pointed his gun at her now. Aiming it straight at her. His words were devoid of emotion, reflecting the same vacant hollowness that she could see in his eyes.

Stepping closer, he shoved the barrel against Lena’s chest.

‘Now!’ This time he bellowed, his face twisting in anger as he pushed the gun harder against her skin.

Lena could see his finger hovering threateningly over the trigger. This wasn’t an empty threat. She knew he was dangerous, but still she couldn’t move.

A few minutes ago she and her brother had been laughing and joking together.

Tariq had been walking her home from school.

That was her parents’ order: that her brother would walk her to and from school every day.

Lena had thought her parents were overreacting. Of course there were risks, but they didn’t apply to her, surely. Now she’d realised she’d been stupid, naïve. She remembered, with increasing terror, Néné’s harrowing tales of girls from Shkodër being snatched. Abducted and taken to the city’s main port, Vlorë, before being shipped off on speedboats across the Adriatic Sea, never to be seen again.

Her parents had pleaded with her to stay at home, to accept the traditional life of a normal Albanian girl just as many of her peers had done, but Lena was anything but normal.

Strong-willed. Defiant. Unlike most of the other girls in her class who had left school at the age of twelve or thirteen due to the pressures that their families had bestowed on them, Lena had refused to follow suit, insisting on completing her education. Why should she be penalised just for being born female? Why should she submit to a life doing what was expected of her? Instead, adamant to remain, schooled in a classroom of eleven boys, Lena had strived to be top of her class.

Not only had Lena excelled in mathematics, but she was also fluent in English. Her teacher had been impressed. He had told Lena that she had mastered the language so well that, eventually, she’d be able to teach it herself.

Lena had loved that idea. Travelling the world, working as a teacher or a translator. Practising daily, she’d even started to educate her parents and her brother. Just the basic words of salutation, or naming the food they ate.

She wanted to learn as much as she possibly could, so that, one day, she could have more than just what her parents had chosen for her. She didn’t want to be stuck here in Albania as just somebody’s wife, or somebody’s mother.

It may have been enough for Néné, but it would never be enough for her. Lena wanted so much more: to be treated as an equal; to experience the same opportunities and freedom that her brother had.

Unwilling to back down, she’d argued so intently that her parents had finally given in; insisting, in the end, that if Lena must continue with her schooling until she was nineteen then she could, on the condition that Tariq chaperone her.

Only now it seemed that fate had played out a cruel hand. Staring down at him she could see that Tariq was hurt, maybe dead.

And it’s all my fault, a voice screamed in Lena’s head.

‘Help me! Please, somebody?’ Shouting hysterically, Lena finally found her voice as she prayed that someone would come to her aid.

‘Help me, please… ’

Lena caught the gaze of a woman across the road, her eyes pleading with her to help her, but all that stared back at her was the woman’s fear. With an apologetic look, the woman put her head down and kept walking, pretending that she hadn’t seen.

Crying now, desperate, Lena scoured the street, looking for anyone that might help her, but the dusty road was almost deserted. School had finished; people were already indoors, evading the mid-afternoon scorching heat.

A single car passed by. Slowing down, the people inside stared out from behind the glass windows, but they didn’t stop to help her. They didn’t dare.

‘Pick her up,’ the taller man shouted now, directing the shorter man.

He did as he was told: grabbing her roughly from behind, clamping his hand over her mouth to mute her cries.

Lena saw their car. It was a battered-looking bright blue Mercedes, covered in flaky patches of orange rust. The back door was wide open; the engine running.

They are going to take me?

Gripped with fear, Lena dug her heels into the dry mud, trying her hardest to resist as one of the two men tried to grab at her feet, but it was no use. The men were much stronger than her.

Overpowering her, they lifted her off the ground, hauling her over to their car.

A hand came from behind her, clamping tightly across her mouth, making her gag for breath. Silencing her. Lena struggled to break free but her attempts only caused the men to hold on to her tighter.

‘Stay still, you stupid bitch!’

The man’s voice was commanding. He was losing patience. The sternness of his tone indicated that he’d had enough of her not complying. ‘Do as you are told, or you will be punished.’

Punished?

Lena twisted her head back to where her brother lay sprawled out on the ground, motionless.

Hadn’t they punished her enough already?

She had no idea who they were or what they wanted. All she knew was that she couldn’t let them take her.

Her brother needed her. Despite feeling helpless, Lena couldn’t just leave him like this.

Kicking and clawing at the men like a wildcat as they tried to force her onto the back seat, her body convulsing, Lena fought to break free from her abductors.

If she got inside this car, maybe she’d suffer the same fate as all the girls before her.

She had to fight.

Kicking out her heel, her foot connected with the shorter man’s face. She startled him, just enough for him to lose his footing and his grip. Stumbling, he dropped her legs. But her small victory was short-lived.

A massive thud exploded at the back of her skull. The almighty blow from the man behind her immobilised her in an instant.

‘I warned you.’

Lena flopped forward like a rag doll.

She felt the man grab at her roughly, breaking her fall just before she hit the ground.

She felt herself being lifted up, thrown into the back of the car. She was dizzy, her head pounding.

A sharp burn of her scalp as the man seized a fistful of her long auburn hair. Wrapping it around his fist, he twisted her around to face him.

He was just inches away from her now; his face almost touching hers. He was so close that she could smell his stale rancid breath, see the glistening beads of sweat forming on his forehead. His face was puce from the heat and the struggle to get her into the car.

Still woozy from the blow she’d received to the back of her head, she tried to focus. Her vision blurred; she was surprised at how young her abductor looked. She had expected someone older. This man looked only a few years older than Tariq. No more than twenty, she guessed.

‘So, you think you’re a wild one huh?’

The man’s steely grey eyes flickered then, and Lena thought that she saw the tiniest hint of amusement behind them as he yanked at her hair even harder, ripping a clump from her scalp as he did so. The pain so acute, it forced Lena alert once more.

‘Well, it won’t take me long to tame you.’

Lena kept eye contact. Refused to let him see her pain; she stared back at him with nothing but pure contempt.

‘Stupid little girl.’

He punched her again, this time his fist locking hard with her cheek, her neck snapping back, her head smacking against the window behind her.

Slumped in the car now, Lena had nothing left. She was exhausted; her body weak and broken.

‘Tie her up,’ the man commanded, as the shorter of the men slid in beside her.

The man did as he was told. He bound her legs together tightly with coarse brown rope before wrapping thick black strips of tape firmly around her wrists. He was obviously taking no more chances with her.

The car began to move.

Petrified, Lena sat slumped in silence as she stared out of the window. Her gaze fixed on Tariq’s body, motionless, on the ground.

Move! Please, let me know that you’re okay?

Only Tariq didn’t. He remained completely still, lifeless, as the car continued off into the distance.

Lena watched until her brother was completely out of sight. All hope from her now gone.

She could feel the stream of blood pouring from her nose; the metallic taste mixed with the saltiness of her tears, filling her mouth.

Silent tears ran down her face as she wondered what fate was ahead of her.

She thought of Néné’s words once more.

About those girls. About what happened to them after they were taken.

How they were trafficked around Europe like cattle.

Her mother hadn’t been able to bring herself to tell her young daughter why the girls had been taken, but Lena knew. Rumours in Shkodër were rife. People in the village had spoken of how the girls that were taken were used for sex. Forced to earn money for men in ways so disgusting it was almost unimaginable to Lena.

Except maybe now she didn’t have to imagine it.

Maybe she was destined to experience the horror of it all herself, first hand.

Lena sobbed as she thought how she should have listened to her parents.

They only wanted the best for her, to keep her safe, but she’d been so foolish, so pig-headed. She’d put Tariq in danger.

These men were savages, animals.

Capable of anything.

Resting her head on the window as the car made its way out of Shkodër, out towards the rural mountains of the countryside, Lena closed her eyes and said a silent prayer.

She had no idea what fate lay ahead of her, but one thing she knew for certain, her nightmare was only just beginning.

WOW! I’m sure I won’t be the only one adding this to my reading list!!

THE TAKEN by Casey Kelleher out on 5^th October

UK: http://amzn.to/2aWAuYC

US: http://amzn.to/2aIO1DH

When you’ve lost everything, you’ll do anything to survive.

Saskia Frost’s world is blown apart when her dad dies. Without any family, she’s on her own now and up to her eyeballs in her father’s debts. He owed a lot of money to some very dangerous men – Joshua and Vincent Harper. Before long, aspiring ballerina Saskia finds herself lap-dancing in a London club to survive. A club run by the infamous Harper brothers. Saskia is now their property and they’re going to make her pay every penny back.

Teenager Lena Cona has fled a cruel and controlling marriage. She arrives in England with her newborn daughter, desperately relying on strangers for help. But she soon learns that not everyone can be trusted as she finds herself caught in the clutches of Colin Jefferies, a twisted individual obsessed by his own sinister secrets. As the sickening truth is revealed, Lena is forced to fight for her life – and her baby’s.

When their worlds collide, Lena and Saskia form an unlikely friendship. But with the terrifying Harper brothers on their tail, as well as Lena’s vengeful and violent husband, can they escape with their lives?

About the author:

Born in Cuckfield, West Sussex, Casey Kelleher grew up as an avid reader and a huge fan of author Martina Cole.

Whilst working as a beauty therapist and bringing up her three children together with her Husband, Casey penned her debut novel Rotten to the Core. Its success meant that she could give up her day job and concentrate on writing full time.

www.caseykelleher.co.uk

www.facebook.com/OfficialCaseyKelleher

www.twitter.com/CaseyKelleher

Many thanks to Kim at Bookouture for letting me join in with today’s Publication celebrations!

Today I have the pleasure of welcoming Roger Silverwood to my blog. Roger is a very well established author with a very impressive back catalogue! How did I not know about him before now? Author, John Pye introduced me to Roger, who very kindly agreed to answer my questions. I’m sure you’ll enjoy his wonderful answers.

For those who don’t know already, could you tell us about yourself and your book(s) please?

I live on my own, in Barnsley, in a quiet little house in the middle of nowhere at the foot of the Pennines. I write because I can’t stop it. I have always enjoyed writing fiction particularly mystery and comedy.

But I didn’t get started writing properly until an accident playing football damaged my back and I was confined to bed. During some of that time, I wrote a book called DEADLY DAFFODILS which amazingly was accepted for publishing by the first publisher to see it. Thereafter, I have had 31 books published in the UK with various editions in the USA. I have also written a radio play called THE TOLLINGTON GHOST which was broadcast across the USA and Canada in March 2006.

I have written 4 stand alone novels, but of late, I write mostly about a character called Inspector Angel. He’s a detective of the old school trying to keep up with all the new features of forensic investigation. He lives in the market town of Bromersley in South Yorkshire with his wife, Mary.

Where did/do you get your ideas from?

Life. I can’t for a fact say where the ideas come from, but I watch the news and observe my friends and relations and from them sometimes recognise and isolate situations and relationships between them and the beginning of a plot may develop. From that situation I ask myself questions such as, what if he was murdered? what if she didn’t tell him about x?, what if an outsider came in? and so on. Then I ask myself what could be the outcome? Would it make an entertaining read? And does it have a surprise exposé? And so on. It’s a tedious method. I reject about 9 out of 10 of the ideas. It’s hard work but I know of no other.

Are any of your characters based (however loosely) on anyone you know?

Yes. My character, Inspector Angel is taken from a gentleman who is now dead. He was my backstop. He was a little unusual. He was educated in the university of life. He was dead honest but was not soft. I knew exactly what he thought on most subjects. When he was alive I used to talk to him a lot and draw him out on any subject I needed for my plot. Also I used to watch his mannerisms and facial expressions. He died not knowing his relationship to my main character. I loved him and miss him. Now I have to visualise him. My grandmother is my blueprint of Mrs Buller-Price, who appears in some of the titles. She loved everything and everybody, adored animals, wouldn’t harm a fly, gave generously to all charities and everybody else, and in my books, I sometimes write her in as a prison visitor. And my mother -God bless her – I use for most mature women. I exaggerate her bad points something wicked which I hope readers find entertaining.

How do you pick your characters names?

Very haphazardly. I don’t have a particular method. If I’m stuck, I look in the phone book.

Can you share your writing process with us, in a nutshell?

I have a small bedroom upstairs which I use as my working place. It is furnished with conventional office stuff. Although there are built in shelves and a stand alone bookcase, the room is overloaded with books. Some are mine in their various editions; there are reference books and sundry other books mostly by current authors. If there is an empty place, there are books on it.

I started at an early age. I lived in Barnsley but I was sent away to a school in Gloucestershire (don’t ask why!) where I launched a school magazine, which became very popular and exceeded the circulation of the official school magazine. So the headmaster banned it. I don’t remember much about it now, but I recall it’s Latin motto was Nunquam Tristor Momentum, which meant ‘never a dull moment,’ and was absolutely true. I had a great time at school. I left at 18 with my school certificate in eight subjects and a distinction in Art.

If you could re-write the ending to any book what would it be and what would you change?

Funnily enough, I changed an ending recently. My character Detective Inspector Michael Angel always identified the baddy in the last chapter and locked him up. In my latest book, THE LIPSTICK MURDERS, the baddy had been identified and I had allowed him to escape from Angel’s hands by four minutes. I thought that in 26 books the copper had always caught the villain, so wouldn’t it be a change for the reader, for me to allow the baddy to escape? I thought that then in subsequent books, I could re-introduce him and Angel can arrest him then. It would make for a change.

Well, the publisher’s reader thought that the baddy should not be allowed to escape. So I gave way and rewrote the ending incorporating a little twist in the plot – all quireasonable – so that our hero got his man.

Thinking about it, I don’t know whether I should have made the change.

What are you working on right now?

I am working on another book which is not an Angel book. It’s about a police inspector working in the city for Scotland Yard and it is set in 1912. I promise you it is not about Jack the Ripper and it is absolutely fog free! It is tentatively called THE CLOCKWORK MOUSE MURDERS.

Do you have a new release due?

In May last THE LIPSTICK MURDERS was released in hardback. In September, for readers of eBooks, it was released entitled THE FACE OF A MURDERER. I expect my next book to be THE CLOCKWORK MOUSE MURDERS in 2017.

How can readers keep in touch with you?

The address of my website, which is a mine of information, is <www.rogersilverwood.uwclub.net>

Readers can always email me from a link on there, which is <angeldetective@uwclub.net>

Many thanks to Roger for joining me on my blog and to John Pye for introducing us 🙂

You will find all of Roger’s books on his Amazon author page HERE

Happy reading!