A brief catch up to keep you all abreast of events. Now that Murder In The Monastery is done and dusted – almost – the one after that is now in the schedule. After a long conversation with my publisher this week, Murder In The Dark has been scheduled for publication on October 10th.

The title is the result of the consultation I instigated in the last newsletter, on Twitter and Facebook, and thank you to all those who contributed. In fact, the rather obvious title, when you think about it, was suggested by my son Miles, who has also given me the idea for the story. Not only that, he’s taken me out on very pretty research trips round Kent and introduced me to one of the people he works for, who allowed me to roam around her beautiful 400 year old house, and inspect the gardens. Miles has been involved in the restoration of both, which is an ongoing project, luckily for me, as it means I can pop over and have a poke about any time I want!

This also a reminder that Jane Wenham-Jones and I will be doing our thing at Canterbury Waterstones on November 22nd at 6 30. Free entry, wine and crisps!

The Next Big Thing

Last week, my friend author Paul Magrs tagged me in something called The Next Big Thing, which is a chain of author and book recommendations. My turn today, and I shall answer the following questions about Murder By Magic which is available now in paperback and ebook, and I shall tag four more writers who will take up the baton next Wednesday.

What is the title of your next book?

The most recent came out in June and is called Murder by Magic. The next is called Murder In The Monastery and will be out in January.

Where did the idea for the book come from?

The marketing director of the publishing company, who dreamt up the title. I then had to find something to fit.

What genre does your book fall under?

The Libby Sarjeant novels are "cosy" mysteries.

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

I wouldn't. They wouldn't match up to the pictures in my head!

Will your book be self-pubished or represented by an agency?

All my books are traditionally published by Accent Press and my pantomimes by Jasper Publishing.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

I'm going to come clean and say I don't do drafts. I edit as I go, but as I'm contracted to do two books a year I don't get time to do drafts. (Probably explains a lot!)

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Amazon tells me people who buy my books also buy Simon Brett, Hazel Holt and Rebecca Tope, writers with whom I've done events in the past and whose books I love.

Who or what inspitred you to write this book?

My bank manager.

What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?

They're set in Kent? The central character's a middle-aged woman? Um - I don't know, really!

There we are. I'm not brilliant at this sort of thing, but I'm sure my tagged authors will be. Check out their blogs next Wednesday and find out.

Julia Williams, who writes terrific relationship books about real people,

Carola Dunn, author of several detective/mystery series

Victoria Lamb, a historical novelist with two new books out this year, both set in the 16th century

Christina Jones, one of my oldest and dearest writer friends, who writes what she calls "Bucolic Frolics".

Do I really write crime?

I have had cause, recently, to read some of my amazon reviews. This is a strange process, as amazon haven't linked them all up, so instead of seeing all the print reviews on the Kindle site, you know "This review is from a different edition of this book", mine are all separate. Anyway, while checking this, I discovered all these nasty reviews, complaining about how much time Libby and her mates spend eating and drinking. Someone with no life had actually bothered to count how many cups of tea etc had been made/consumed. Now, why? If she was so incensed (I'm assuming it was a she) by this style and the behaviour of my characters, why did she bother a)to read it all and b) to count the things?

I have already commented about the free download system, and the license it gives to the generally miserable to "buy" and comment on books they would normally never read, but this was following on an email from someone who tried my book and "had to get used to the style". She finishes up saying she's now hooked on the series and - ahem - thought she'd got over being hooked on soaps!

I know my style is chatty, but it got me to thinking, perhaps I don't actually write proper crime. Perhaps people buy my books expecting murders and gore and car chases? No, I didn't think so either, and this is why I label my books "Mystery" rather than crime. And do people really mind about Libby's tea and wine consumption? At least I don't talk about her obsession with her weight, or Big Pants.

Anyway, I just wondered if I was misleading readers. Perhaps I should suggest to my publishers that we start renaming the series as "Mystery" rather "Murder". You know, like "Mystery of the Pantomime Cat" and the "Mystery of the Bad Reviewer". Now, I quite like the sound of that...

If you've read this far, here's a little bit of promo for my son Leo, whose first novel Welome the Pigz is now available on amazon, Do give it a try. (Yes, all right, I'm a pushy Mum.)

News, views and Murder in the Monastery

This is the cover for Murder in the Monastery, which proves that I'm writing it! It will be out on January 3rd, possibly a little earlier in bricks and mortar bookshops. I have a list of events which I shall paste here, except it will probably appear in a huge unnattractive lump, blogger having decided it still doesn't like me much, but here goes:

August 7th: I will be on Radio Kent with Pat Marsh at 3.45 pm

August 8th: I will be in conversation with Jane Wenham-Jones at Waterstones, St Margaret's Street, Canterbury at 6.30 pm. Tickets £3 redeemable against book purchase. There will be wine!

October 3rd: Swalecliffe Library at 7.30 pm

October 5th: Ilford Central Library at 2pm

January 12th 2013: The New Kent History and Library Centre at 2pm

And from June 19th to June 26th 2013 I shall be the inaugural Creative Writing Tutor at Arte Umbria see link on the right. V posh.

Now let's see if it's worked!