Blog Posts

News: 50K Sales for 'Plague Pits & River Bones'

28/3/2019

Plague Pits & River Bones
Reaches fifty thousand readers

My publishers have just told me that Plague Pits & River Bones (Book #4) has now surpassed fifty thousand sales.
I feel humbled and incredibly proud that so many people are buying and enjoying my Detective Lavender novels.
Thank you for your support.

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Article: Murderous Underwear

4/3/2019

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Killer Corsets

I first came across the unusual effect corsets can have on stab victims while researching the assassination of the Empress Elisabeth of Austria in 1898. ‘Sisi’ as she was called by her family and friends was generally considered to be one of the most beautiful women in Europe and she had the world at her feet. That same world was devastated when she was stabbed to death by an Italian anarchist while walking with her lady-in-waiting to catch a steam boat on Lake Geneva.

Part of Sisi’s tragedy is that her life may have been saved if her corset hadn’t been so tight.

Empress Elisabeth of Austria

Due to the pressure from her tight undergarment, the haemorrhage of blood was slowed to mere drops. This confused her attendants who didn’t realise she was fatally injured and were slow to seek medical help. She was helped to her feet, walked another one hundred yards and boarded the steamer which left port. It was part way across the lake before she lost consciousness. Only then did her servants and the crew realise that they needed to turn back for urgent medical help. It was too late.

When I read about Empress Elisabeth’s murder, I knew I’d discovered an unusual device I could use in my fifth Detective Lavender Mystery, Murder in Park Lane. And my victim didn’t have to be restricted to a woman either. Fat Regency gentlemen (including the Prince Regent) often used male corsets.

Further research revealed that the internal bleeding caused by a single stab wound to a tightly-corsetted victim would probably cause them to lose consciousness within half an hour. But a dying person can travel a significant distance from the scene of the crime in half an hour, even in the horse-drawn world of the early 19th century. In addition to that, stabbing is a silent crime and if the victim was alone, the absence of a blood trail would make it very difficult, even impossible, for an investigator like my Bow Street Principal Officer, Stephen Lavender, to identify where the attack actually took place.

But where would be the fun in an unresolved crime?

If you’d like to follow how Lavender rose to the challenge and solved the strange murder of David MacAdam in The Murder in Park Lane, you can purchase the novel here.

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News: 'Murder in Park Lane' Published

13/2/2019

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Fifth Detective Lavender Mystery
An Instant Best-Seller

Murder in Park Lane, the fifth novel in The Detective Lavender Mystery Series, was published on February 12th 2019 and within 24 hours it was already in the Top 200 on Amazon.com - and had a Best-Seller tag.
At the time of typing, it is the best-selling novel in Historical Thrillers.
Go, Lavender!

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News: Cover Reveal

1/11/2018

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Murder In Park Lane

I'm delighted to reveal the wonderful new book cover for Murder in Park Lane, the fifth novel in The Detective Lavender Mystery Series, which will be published on February 12th 2019.

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News: 'The Sans Pareil Mystery' reaches 100,000 sales

30/6/2018

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Sales Milestone for The Second Book In The Lavender Series

I received a lovely surprise in the post today from my publishers - a plaque marking 100,000 sales of my second book in the Detective Lavender Series, The Sans Pareil Mystery.
I've now got a matching pair on the wall in the study.
The same plaque for The Heiress of Linn Hagh arrived two years ago.
I'm a very happy little author today.

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ARTICLE: WRITERLY FRIENDS

29/4/2018

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"Birds of a feather Flock together"

We’re all familiar with the stereotypical image of the lonely and isolated author scribbling away in a cold garret – but after five years as a full-time author, I know that nothing is further from the truth. Writers rarely work successfully in a vacuum. They need other writers – and actively seek them out.

The scaffolding behind a literary work can appear baffling to the non-writer. Authors need each other for support, inspiration and sometimes for collaboration. Only our fellow scribblers truly understand our obsession with plot holes, narrative structure and character development. Writers need to be able to put aside their fear of competition and intellectual theft and reach out to their peers. They need to find the confidence to ask each other for help and find the time and energy to offer mutual support. It’s a foolhardy and ego-centric writer who believes they can create a masterpiece in complete isolation, negotiate the complex world of publishing alone – and retain their sanity.

Oliver Goldsmith with James Boswell and Samuel Johnson

From Shakespeare to the Bloomsbury group, the history of literature is full of strong and supportive friendships between writers. When Shakespeare's first folio was published, his friend and fellow playwright, Ben Jonson , wrote a glowing introduction to the manuscript. In the eighteenth century, James Boswell, Samuel Johnson and Oliver Goldsmith were great friends and the first two toured Scotland together. A few years later, Lord Byron and the Shelleys were travelling through Europe together when Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein. Meanwhile, Wordsworth and Coleridge were inspiring each other’s poetry and co-wrote The Lyrical Ballads.

In the mid 19th century, Charlotte Brontë and Elizabeth Gaskell exchanged candid views on literature and publishing and shared artistic and professional concerns. Charlotte also acted as a sounding board for her friend’s literary ideas. Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens were friends for over twenty years and collaborated on short stories.

With friends and fellow- authors at The Theakstones' Crime Festival, Harrogate.

Modern writers flock to literary festivals and conferences like migrating birds. Happy to be released from the solitary confinement of their gilded writing cages, they chatter like starlings while they gather information about rogue publishers; audio-book narrators and the latest developments in successful self-publishing. They share their marketing concerns and their fears about the dreaded mid-list. Virtual friendships are consolidated and promises of future collaboration are made. It’s impossible to shut up an excited group of authors who’ve escaped from the office for a day or two. My jaw often aches when I return from the Harrogate Crime Festival.

At the moment, three of my best writing buddies are reading the manuscript of my seventh book. A fourth friend, who owns a horse, has already looked over every scene where my police officers are on horseback. The girls will come back to me with an honest evaluation of the novel’s strengths and weaknesses before I submit it to my publishers for official editing. I’ve sold over 350,000 copies of my books in the last five years but still feel I need their validation. These girls are all successful Historical and Crime Fiction writers in their own right and they are my rocks. I couldn’t have done any of it without their support. And this relationship works both ways; I’m always happy to take time out from my own writing to help them.

With two of my best writing buddies, Jane Harlond and Jean Gill at the Oxford Historical Novelists' Society conference

But how can an aspiring author build up a network of like-minded professional authors? Where do you start making writerly friends? After all, Ian Rankin, Lisa Hall and J.K. Rowling won’t become your best buddies just because you drop them an email and ask them to befriend you. That approach is more likely to get you arrested for stalking.

Most unpublished, aspiring authors start off with the local writing group for peer support. It can be a beneficial experience and many writers make life-long friends through these groups but it can also have drawbacks. It depends on the group. The other writers there might not understand or appreciate your genre – and you might not like theirs. My local group leader wrote erotica and another member wrote gruesome crime novels, full of horrific murder and graphic rape scenes. While I appreciated the constructive criticism they gave me, I squirmed with discomfort when it was time to listen to their latest chapters.

A far better approach is to join an online writing group and pick and choose what you want to do and whom you want to know. I met three of my best writing friends through the now-defunct online writers’ community, Authonomy. We exchanged many emails then arranged to meet up face-to-face and became good personal friends who holiday together. They’d just started out like me and our careers have grown together. Most online writing groups also offer a critique section, and although it’s time-consuming to read and critique other people’s work, the payback is huge if you get involved. I feel I learned more about the writers’ craft from the other members of Authonomy than I would ever have learned from a master’s degree in Creative Writing. Thanks to the advice I received, I adjusted the opening chapters of my debut novel and found my first publisher.

With friend and fellow author, Kristin Gleeson, on a 'working holiday' in Gran Canaria.

Most new authors join some of the associations set up to promote their genre. I’m a member of both the Historical Novel Society and the Crime Writers’ Association. There are also more generic societies out there who provide legal and business advice like The Society of Authors. Most of these organisations have a members’ area on their websites and related Facebook pages where you can chat about your work with like-minded souls.

The fellow authors in your first publishing house are another great source of writerly friends. Some publishers actively encourage their authors to get to know each other and set up a community forum where they can share news of promotions and ask each other for help. Unfortunately, my own first publisher was a paranoid crook who discouraged any form of communication between her authors in case we found out the truth about her operation. Desperately worried that I’d made a huge mistake, I contacted several of them anyway. They felt exactly the same as me and we formed a tight-knit group which helped us to deal with her and our disappointment. Eventually, we worked together to get her to release us from our contracts and return the publishing rights of our novels. We’ve remained good friends ever since – and she’s gone out of business.

My miserable first experience of the publishing world highlights another reason why writers can’t survive in isolation. Publishing is one of the most corrupt businesses on the planet. There’s plenty of sharks out there who prey on the naïvety and desperation of aspiring authors. There’s safety in numbers and genuine consolation available if your publisher folds and disappears into the ether with your royalties. Most authors have had at least one bad experience like this.

But, on a more positive note, when all your scribbling works out and your precious stories start to sell, writing for a living is still the best, most rewarding job in the world. Writers really do live the dream.

Provided, that is, you’ve got some mates by your side.

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News: New Book Covers

1/4/2018

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New Book Covers

My debut novel Catching the Eagle and it's prequel, February 1809, have both had a makeover.
Two hundred years after his death, our family rogue, Jamie Charlton, has never looked so good.
Many thanks to my talented cover designer, Lisa Horton for these brilliant image. Lisa designs the book covers for the Detective Lavender Mystery Series (published by Thomas & Mercer) and I have asked her to upgrade the covers of all my self-published novels.

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Review: Excellent Historical Fiction

11/11/2017

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'Song Hereafter'

by
Jean Gill

This is the concluding novel in Jean Gill’s fascinating series about the glittering and scheming world of French court life in the twelfth century but there’s an added bonus in this book when Dragonetz and Estela travel to mysterious Wales in the Isles of Albion. They soon find themselves caught up in the political intrigue of the Welsh Principality.
Gill is a excellent writer who sweeps you along into her world, and Wales is her world. Her descriptive prose of the misty valleys of her homeland is amazing and has poetry in its imagery; she describes it like a spell-bound lover.
As usual, it’s the strong characters of Dragonetz and Estela who shine in the novel but even the personalities of the minor characters leap off the page with wiliness and humour.
I'm sad to say 'goodbye', but ‘Song Hereafter’ is an excellent conclusion to a great series. It can easily stand-alone for new readers.
Thoroughly recommended.

Buy on Amazon

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News: Researching in Ely

16/10/2017

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Researching Lavender Book #5

The summer is over, the academic year has started again and I've gone back to work.
I've recently spent four days researching for the fifth Detective Lavender Mystery in the tiny cathedral town of Ely in the watery fenland of Cambridgeshire.
Armed with a notebook and my phone camera, I've pounded the city streets; visited three museums and a nature reserve and taken two boat trips through the rural countryside.
I take photos of anything and everything which I think may come in useful from rush matting on the floor of ancient cottages to information plaques about the flora and fauna. My quest was to get 'a feel' for life in this remote and harsh area in the early part of the nineteenth century. I wanted to know about the social history of the people and their lifestyle. No detail was too small to note, whether it was the diseases that plagued them, how they survived the winter or how their gaols/jails were run.
Anyway, here are a few of the photos that will inspire my writing over the next few months. Enjoy.

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News: Publication date for 'Plague Pits & River Bones'

27/8/2017

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D-Day: 11th January 2018

That's the date,folks.
On the 11th January 2018, Thomas & Mercer will publish the fourth novel in The Detective Lavender Mystery Series:
Plague Pits & RIver Bones.
It's already up for pre-order on Amazon with its lovely new book cover and racy blurb and this happy, little author is doing an excited dance around the kitchen.

Pre-order on Amazon

London 1812: Savage gangs intent on treachery and revolt besiege the capital, while a brooding menace stalks the corridors of the Palace of Westminster. When Detective Stephen Lavender is called in to investigate a highway robbery and a cold-blooded murder, both the cases take a dangerous and disturbing personal twist.
Meanwhile, Lavender’s trusted deputy, Constable Ned Woods, finds a mysterious, severed foot washed up on Greenwich Beach. They soon realise that these ancient bones are more sinister than they first appeared.
With Bow Street Police Office undermanned and in disarray, it will take all of Lavender and Woods’ wit and skill, with help from Lavender’s spirited wife, Magdalena, to unmask the fiend behind the mayhem; restore peace and justice to the beleaguered city and solve the tragic mystery of the severed foot.
But will they do so in time to foil a plot that threatens to plunge the country into chaos?

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News: 50K Sales for 'Plague Pits & River Bones'

Plague Pits & River Bones
Reaches fifty thousand readers

Article: Murderous Underwear

Killer Corsets

News: 'Murder in Park Lane' Published

Fifth Detective Lavender Mystery
An Instant Best-Seller

News: Cover Reveal

Murder In Park Lane

News: 'The Sans Pareil Mystery' reaches 100,000 sales

Sales Milestone for The Second Book In The Lavender Series

ARTICLE: WRITERLY FRIENDS

"Birds of a feather Flock together"

News: New Book Covers

New Book Covers

Review: Excellent Historical Fiction

'Song Hereafter'

News: Researching in Ely

Researching Lavender Book #5

News: Publication date for 'Plague Pits & River Bones'

D-Day: 11th January 2018

Archives

Categories

Plague Pits & River Bones ​Reaches fifty thousand readers

Killer Corsets

Fifth Detective Lavender Mystery An Instant Best-Seller

Murder In Park Lane

Sales Milestone for The Second Book In The Lavender Series

"Birds of a feather Flock together"

New Book Covers

'Song Hereafter'

Researching Lavender Book #5

D-Day: 11th January 2018

Archives

Categories

Plague Pits & River Bones
Reaches fifty thousand readers

Fifth Detective Lavender Mystery
An Instant Best-Seller