writing – Fiona Veitch Smith

Great Wall of China – Fiona’s first docu-podcast goes live on BBC Sounds

Fiona — Mon, 13 May 2024 11:27:20 +0000

I am absolutely thrilled that my first documentary podcast for Noiser Podcasts is available from today on BBC Sounds. I researched and wrote it as well as interviewed the expert who you will hear in the show. I listened to the whole production for the first time today and am delighted at the job the production team and narrator have done. It’s about the Great Wall of China.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0hx7sll [If you don’t have access to BBC Sounds you can listen on the Noiser website too. https://www.noiser.com/short-history-of ]

Happy Publication Day! The Crystal Crypt out now

Fiona — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 13:09:03 +0000

And it’s Happy Publication Day for The Crystal Crypt! Out today in paperback and ebook (already out in audio). Poppy and I will have a glass or two of bubbly this evening. It’s hard to believe this is book 6 already. Thanks so much to my family, friends and loyal followers of Poppy for your support over the years. It brings me joy to know that my imaginary friend and literary creation is so well loved. Thank you all

Get your hands on a copy here.

The Crystal Crypt cover reveal!

Fiona — Fri, 18 Jun 2021 14:05:28 +0000

Poppy Denby’s next adventure, The Crystal Crypt, will be released in November. Today, in collaboration with Love Reading, we reveal its cover! And here it is…

Reporter sleuth Poppy Denby is asked to investigate the mysterious death of an up-and-coming female scientist in an Oxford laboratory known as the Crystal Crypt. The official verdict is that Dr June Leighton died in a tragic accident, but Dr Leighton’s lab assistant believes it was murder. However, when Poppy discovers that the colleague has spent time in a mental institution and has an unresolved murder in her own past, Poppy wonders if she is being misled. But then, another female academic is attacked, and Poppy herself becomes a target. This is the sixth book in the Poppy Denby Investigates series.

Click here to pre-order you copy now!

Writers in Conversation: Ruth Everson & Fiona Veitch Smith

Fiona — Mon, 17 May 2021 13:24:16 +0000

My former high school English teacher Ruth Everson and I will be chatting in a FREE online event about our life and writing. Ruth is now an internationally renowned poet and I am a novelist. Back then she was an inspiring young teacher and I was, well … join us to find out.

27 May. 7pm UK time.

Noir From The Bar – short stories for the NHS charity appeal

Fiona — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 09:36:45 +0000

I’m delighted to announce the publication of ‘Noir from the Bar’, an anthology of crime & mystery stories compiled by Virtual Noir From the Bar (the online offshoot of Newcastle’s Noir at the Bar) to raise funds for the NHS charity appeal. One of my stories is in there, but there are 29 more to get your teeth into too. Only £2.99 on ebook, £10 hard copy. Go on, buy a couple and give them away as presents. It’s for a good cause.

Click here to get your paws on a copy.

Get That Novel Started

Fiona — Tue, 08 Jan 2019 12:16:15 +0000

I am once again running my Get That Novel Started course at Newcastle Central Library. Sign up now if you’d like some guidance on how to make some progress with that masterpiece. And please also let your writerly friends know. Four Thursdays in a row in February. 5 – 7pm. £65. Must book in advance through Eventbrite. Click here to book.

Cairo Brief Blog Tour

Fiona — Tue, 27 Nov 2018 10:51:05 +0000

This week Poppy and I are zooting around the internet on a blog tour for our latest book, The Cairo Brief. Do drop by if you have some time. Yesterday on Love Books I was talking about how my characters present themselves to me in ‘creative visions’. And today I’m talking about seances on Claire Musters’ blog, as well as the murky world of antiquity theft with Shelley Fallows. All sounds a bit dodgy, doesn’t it? For links to those articles plus the rest of the tour, see the list below.

Cairo Brief is pick of the week!

Fiona — Thu, 22 Nov 2018 11:49:54 +0000

What a lovely surprise to hear that The Cairo Brief is one of the Love Reading’s editors picks of the week. And what a fabulous review!

“An entirely charming, fascinating murder mystery set in the Golden Age Twenties. The Cairo Brief is the fourth in the simply fabulous ‘Poppy Denby Investigates’ series. Poppy is invited to attend a country house for the auction of an Egyptian mask… murder, curses and general skulduggery await her keen investigative skills. While this could potentially be read as a standalone, I do recommend starting at the beginning of the series with the wonderful The Jazz Files which was shortlisted for the Crime Writers Association Endeavour Historical Dagger Award. Fictional characters mingle quite beautifully with historical figures such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Howard Carter and Emmeline Pankhurst. I adore Poppy, she’s intelligent, progressive, and knows her own mind. Fiona Veitch Smith’s descriptive detailing is just gorgeous, the dresses sparkle, the cars zip (or putter) along, and historical facts pepper and blend in with the storyline. Just perfect if you love to visit a bygone era, The Cairo Brief is a teasingly delicious and wonderfully readable mystery.”

LIZ ROBINSON

To read other reviews of The Cairo Brief on Love Reading click here.

The Cairo Brief released today!

Fiona — Fri, 21 Sep 2018 10:26:44 +0000

Happy publication day to Poppy on her latest adventure, The Cairo Brief. As of today it is available at all good bookshops in the UK and through online stores. It will be released in the USA in the new year. This is book 4 in the series and it already has some fabulous reviews!

“Poppy Denby is on top form solving the mystery surrounding the ancient Egyptian mask of Queen Nefertiti. Highly recommended!”
Dolores Gordon-Smith, author of the Jack Haldean murder mysteries.

“Fiona Veitch Smith, where have you been all my life? Poppy Denby is delightful, the plot rocks, and the 1920s era is perfectly evoked. British mystery fans, you want to read this. You really, really do.” Cassandra Chan, author of the Bethancourt & Gibbons mysteries.

“Thoroughly enjoyable mystery. Murders, sinister figures, a cursed Egyptian mask… and a séance! All the ingredients for another superlative Poppy Denby investigation.”
A.J. Wright, author of the Lancashire Detective series.

Get your hands on a copy here!

Historical Novel Society review The Death Beat

Fiona — Thu, 09 Aug 2018 09:57:18 +0000

A lovely review of The Death Beat in the recent Historical Novel Review magazine.

As with the previous two novels, this was taut and entertaining. I also liked Poppy’s development from the earlier books. She’s always been torn between her upbringing as a Methodist minister’s daughter and her own desires as a career-minded young woman in the 1920s. Her inner conflict felt more pronounced to me in this book. Poppy has enlightened standards for how women should be treated that deviate quite a bit from her very traditional, conservative background, which at times cause her stress. This fits in well with the blossoming awareness about the conditions of immigrants and sweatshops and people forced into prostitution. While it was fun to see 1920s New York, I confess I missed London. In any case, it was an exciting, well written story and a good series addition. Recommended.

You can read the full review here.