I know I’ve already done The Next Big Thing, but my friend Amy Myers has asked if I will do another one, and always ready to oblige a mate, I agreed. A lot of my answers will probably be the same, but at least my Next Big Thing is a different book!
What is the working title for your book?
Murder In The Dark is the actual title, which appears in my publisher’s catalogue. It will be out next October.
Which genre does the book fall into?
What the Americans call “cosy” crime, which I prefer to call Murder Mystery.
What is a one-sentence synopsis of your book?
A body is discovered dumped in a remote garden and as usual, Libby Sarjeant and her friend Fran get involved in the investigation.
Will the book be self published or represented by an agency?
All my books are traditionally published in print and e-formats by Accent Press.
What else about this book might pique the reader’s interest?
The amount of tea and alcohol consumed!
There, done! I shan’t tag another author to follow on, as all the authors I know, in all genres, have already done it, so I think it’s probably come to a natural end.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Welcome 2013
An interesting start to the New Year. Lily Savage as Widow Twankey was brilliant, best pantomime I've seen in years - camp as a row of tents, the lot of them - next Thursday, with thanks to ex son-in-law who is in the band, we are going to see the panto at The Marlowe in Canterbury, and on the 2nd February a group of us will go and see some mates in Mother Goose at The Playhouse, Whitstable. I shall be comparing notes.
Following on from that, to my surprise and my publishers', My How To Write A Pantomime sold 30 e-copies this month, and - wait for it - 3 print copies in the US. Whaa---?
On to work: the Maidstone gig got cancelled (thankfully), but to our continuing astonishment, Murder In The Monastery is hopping up and down between number one and number two in Amazon's British Detectives and Women Sleuths top ten. Very gratified.
I am also gratified that I have been cast in a production of Alan Bennett's Enjoy to start in April. I didn't go for the lead, however tempting it would have been, but for a beauty of a cameo part, which I won, I may say (buffs fingernails against jacket) against tough competition. Looking forward to it immensley, although not learning the words, which gets harder every year.
Murder In The Dark grows slowly, and as soon as I have a cover, I will post it on here.
A comforting telephone conversation with the boss, publisher Hazel Cushion, yesterday has reassured me that I needn't worry about all this self promotion and social media (that everyone else seems to do much better than I do), just concentrate on writing the books. After all, Murder In The Monastery managed to climb up the Amazon Chart all on its little own. So, I shall try and remember to do a blog post every now and then, which, as the last one, will also be posted as my newsletter, but I won't worry quite so much about keeping up with Twitter and Facebook.
Finally, thanks to David Robinson (can't do the link, sorry, David) whose STAC mysteries are a tonic (and fast produced). He was the one who spotted and promoted the fact that I'd made number one. Bless 'im.
Following on from that, to my surprise and my publishers', My How To Write A Pantomime sold 30 e-copies this month, and - wait for it - 3 print copies in the US. Whaa---?
On to work: the Maidstone gig got cancelled (thankfully), but to our continuing astonishment, Murder In The Monastery is hopping up and down between number one and number two in Amazon's British Detectives and Women Sleuths top ten. Very gratified.
I am also gratified that I have been cast in a production of Alan Bennett's Enjoy to start in April. I didn't go for the lead, however tempting it would have been, but for a beauty of a cameo part, which I won, I may say (buffs fingernails against jacket) against tough competition. Looking forward to it immensley, although not learning the words, which gets harder every year.
Murder In The Dark grows slowly, and as soon as I have a cover, I will post it on here.
A comforting telephone conversation with the boss, publisher Hazel Cushion, yesterday has reassured me that I needn't worry about all this self promotion and social media (that everyone else seems to do much better than I do), just concentrate on writing the books. After all, Murder In The Monastery managed to climb up the Amazon Chart all on its little own. So, I shall try and remember to do a blog post every now and then, which, as the last one, will also be posted as my newsletter, but I won't worry quite so much about keeping up with Twitter and Facebook.
Finally, thanks to David Robinson (can't do the link, sorry, David) whose STAC mysteries are a tonic (and fast produced). He was the one who spotted and promoted the fact that I'd made number one. Bless 'im.
Monday, December 31, 2012
A rather vague review of 2012
This year my finances, like the rest of the world's, have been tight. I did manage a holiday in Turkey in September, but only just. Over the Christmas period I received letters from many friends who seemed to go on holidays every other month, stating the joys of retirement. Hmm, yes.
Murder By Magic came out in June, Murder In The Monastery crept out under cover of darkness in ebook format during the week before Christmas. I didn't know until a reader told me, and on checking two days ago discovered it was number 6 in both Amazon's Women Sleuths and British Detectives charts. Print book due next week in time for a big library gig in Maidstone.
Two more are under construction, and thanks to son Miles, as I've said before, for the ideas for the settings of both. Daughter Louise was on television on the 27th December singing on Len Goodman's BBC 4 programme about Dance, Philly is home briefly after singing her way up and down the west coast of America - I say home, but she isn't exactly here in Whitstable - and son Leo is persuing the career of struggling writer and poet in Manchester. They were all here for Christmas and my annual party, and delighted me with an impromptu performance of one of their father's songs.
I lost a much loved cousin in September, and another cousin had a new grandson born two days ago. Life, eh?
I have read a lot of books, as usual, and come to the conclusion that the current boom in the self publishing of ebooks is a double edged sword. I agree that there are some books, Welcome The Pigz included, of course! that deserve self publication after having been through a rigorous editing process but with traditional publishers not knowing quite what to do with it, but in a lot of cases people seem to almost ignore due process and leap in without thinking. Oh, they say they do, but I've read a lot this year, sometimes to support acquaintances from Twitter or the RNA, sometimes to check on books in my own genre, and there are some pretty appalling examples. Strangely, they all have lots of good reviews on Amazon. I get a bit twitchy because it's becoming less and less easy for the reader to discriminate.
What else? Oh, yes, two bessie pressies. Miles had Steve Bramble's painting of Virginia Wolfe and Lytton Strachey reframed for me for Christmas, and Philly is taking me to the O2 to see Paul O'Grady as Widow Twankey on Thursday.
So, a Happy New year to all friends, family, readers et al, and I hope 2013 brings happier times for all of us.
Murder By Magic came out in June, Murder In The Monastery crept out under cover of darkness in ebook format during the week before Christmas. I didn't know until a reader told me, and on checking two days ago discovered it was number 6 in both Amazon's Women Sleuths and British Detectives charts. Print book due next week in time for a big library gig in Maidstone.
Two more are under construction, and thanks to son Miles, as I've said before, for the ideas for the settings of both. Daughter Louise was on television on the 27th December singing on Len Goodman's BBC 4 programme about Dance, Philly is home briefly after singing her way up and down the west coast of America - I say home, but she isn't exactly here in Whitstable - and son Leo is persuing the career of struggling writer and poet in Manchester. They were all here for Christmas and my annual party, and delighted me with an impromptu performance of one of their father's songs.
I lost a much loved cousin in September, and another cousin had a new grandson born two days ago. Life, eh?
I have read a lot of books, as usual, and come to the conclusion that the current boom in the self publishing of ebooks is a double edged sword. I agree that there are some books, Welcome The Pigz included, of course! that deserve self publication after having been through a rigorous editing process but with traditional publishers not knowing quite what to do with it, but in a lot of cases people seem to almost ignore due process and leap in without thinking. Oh, they say they do, but I've read a lot this year, sometimes to support acquaintances from Twitter or the RNA, sometimes to check on books in my own genre, and there are some pretty appalling examples. Strangely, they all have lots of good reviews on Amazon. I get a bit twitchy because it's becoming less and less easy for the reader to discriminate.
What else? Oh, yes, two bessie pressies. Miles had Steve Bramble's painting of Virginia Wolfe and Lytton Strachey reframed for me for Christmas, and Philly is taking me to the O2 to see Paul O'Grady as Widow Twankey on Thursday.
So, a Happy New year to all friends, family, readers et al, and I hope 2013 brings happier times for all of us.
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Pre-Christmas Panic!
Not really - I've got most of the presents and the turkey (frozen, sorry, but organic bronze), made the pudding (very late) with a small one for my son-in-law and written and posted most of the cards.
However - I have NOT put up the decorations. All right, I have put the wreath on the door and bought the tree and the mistletoe, but the latter are still sitting in the garden. When I was a child, my father always put the decorations up on Christmas Eve. These included paperchains of crepe paper in all colours making a tent from the walls to the light fitting. It was part of the whole Christmas experience, and to put the decorations up any earlier still feels like devaluing the currency. I have relented in later years but I don't like it.
The real panic was getting Murder In the Monastery ready. The revisions came in late, (Dear Editor very overworked!) but I did a 48 hour marathon on them, then proofs arrived and I managed to do those in a day. The covers have already been printed, now there's got to be a heroic effort to get the text inside by the release date of January 3rd. I have a feeling it might be a little late!
I have started the next one, Murder In The Dark, title courtesy of son Miles, who also supplied the setting and took me on a guided tour through rural Kent and to see the Tudor house owned by one of his clients. I went off on my own a few days later and found the exact location for the story, and creeped myself out driving along what started out as a lane but ended up as a track through an impenetrable, fog filled forest. Well, that's what it felt like.
Miles, on form, obviously, also supplied the setting and raison d'être for the book after next. Which I shall keep to myself for now, but suffice it to say he and I will be going on a jolly jaunt next year - for research purposes, of course.
That's it for now. I'm going to cheat and use this blog post for the Rather Random Newsletter, too, so to all friends, family, readers and passers-by a Very Merry Christmas and a happy and peaceful New Year.
However - I have NOT put up the decorations. All right, I have put the wreath on the door and bought the tree and the mistletoe, but the latter are still sitting in the garden. When I was a child, my father always put the decorations up on Christmas Eve. These included paperchains of crepe paper in all colours making a tent from the walls to the light fitting. It was part of the whole Christmas experience, and to put the decorations up any earlier still feels like devaluing the currency. I have relented in later years but I don't like it.
The real panic was getting Murder In the Monastery ready. The revisions came in late, (Dear Editor very overworked!) but I did a 48 hour marathon on them, then proofs arrived and I managed to do those in a day. The covers have already been printed, now there's got to be a heroic effort to get the text inside by the release date of January 3rd. I have a feeling it might be a little late!
I have started the next one, Murder In The Dark, title courtesy of son Miles, who also supplied the setting and took me on a guided tour through rural Kent and to see the Tudor house owned by one of his clients. I went off on my own a few days later and found the exact location for the story, and creeped myself out driving along what started out as a lane but ended up as a track through an impenetrable, fog filled forest. Well, that's what it felt like.
Miles, on form, obviously, also supplied the setting and raison d'être for the book after next. Which I shall keep to myself for now, but suffice it to say he and I will be going on a jolly jaunt next year - for research purposes, of course.
That's it for now. I'm going to cheat and use this blog post for the Rather Random Newsletter, too, so to all friends, family, readers and passers-by a Very Merry Christmas and a happy and peaceful New Year.
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