Flappers, fops and murder

Anyone in the Newcastle area on Monday 26 September, between 5 – 6.30pm (you can come straight from work), I am giving a talk at the central library on writing historical crime fiction in the jazz age. The event is free and there will be tea and biscuits. This is aimed at the general public and writers and readers of historical crime fiction.

(Please note this is not the launch party of The Kill Fee – I will be sending out invitations to that later!)

For more information and to book your free ticket click here.

31/08/2016 0

Young Joseph books bounce into bookshops

Today I’m bouncing with happiness because the first three books in the Young Joseph series of picturebooks are being released in bookshops around the world.

It is always a very strange thing to see the character and story that just started as a little daydream take flesh and flourish. Many thanks to the fantabulous Andy Catling who turned my crazy ideas into pictures – and added some more craziness of his own! Thanks too to the wonderful team at SPCK, including our splendid editor, Tracey Messenger.

Between the three of us, we’ve had some good laughs. We hope that you will too when you read these books with the children in your life. But beyond that, that you’ll have a little glimpse of the deeper meaning of the stories.

To order your books, click here or on each of the covers in the right-hand side book column.

Joseph and the Rainbow Robe

The first in a delightful series of illustrated picture books on the life of Joseph for 3-6 year-olds.
In the first book of the Young Joseph series, we find Joseph living in Canaan with his dad, stepmothers, eleven brothers – and lots of scene-stealing cows! Joseph is his father’s favourite, which makes his brothers very cross, especially when he tells them about the dream he has had in which the sun, moon and eleven stars bow down to him. To cheer him up, Joseph’s dad gives him a beautiful coat of many colours – a ‘rainbow robe’ to remind him that God loves everyone – even his brothers.

Joseph and the Jealous Brothers

The second title in the Young Joseph series.
Joseph’s brothers grow more and more jealous of their favoured brother. They come up with a cunning plan to take Joseph down a peg or two by throwing him in a well to give him a fright. Eventually they sell him to passing slave traders but that’s not the end of his story!

Joseph and the Lying Lady

The third book in the Young Joseph series.
Joseph finds himself in Egypt and is sold to a very important man called Mr Potiphar. Mr Potiphar is very busy and his servants are very lazy – as a result his house is a mess! With the help of his ever-helpful cow companions, Joseph soon takes charge and has things spick-and-span in no time. There’s only one problem – and that is Mrs Potiphar, who is jealous of Joseph. What scrapes will Joseph get into next?

20/08/2016 0

CWA Historical Dagger shortlist

I am delighted to hear that The Jazz Files is on the short list for this year’s Crime Writers’ Association Endeavour Historical Dagger award. The Daggers are sort of the Baftas of British crime writing. The winner will be announced at a swanky dinner in London on 11 October. In the meantime Poppy Denby and I are toasting each other with pink champagne and wondering what to wear!

This is what the judging panel said about the book:

“This first entry in a new series featuring a female journalist in 1920s London is, like its heroine, buoyant and stylish but with a core of steel. Poppy Denby arrives in London from the north of England determined to make it as a journalist and gets her chance when she has to finish a murdered reporter’s investigation into the death of a suffragette. The Roaring Twenties are beautifully evoked.” – the CWA judging panel http://thecwa.co.uk/the-jazz-files/

If you haven’t already read The Jazz Files, why not remedy that now? The sequel, The Kill Fee, will be coming out on 16 September. You can click on the book covers on the right hand side of this page to buy them. Cheers!

29/07/2016 0

The Kill Fee available to pre-order

If you loved reading about Poppy and her friends in The Jazz Files you will be delighted that book 2 in the series, The Kill Fee, is now available for pre-order. It will be published in September (UK) and November (USA).

“Do you know who that is, Poppy?” asked Delilah
“I do indeed.”
“So what does it feel like to be in the arms of an assassin?”

Poppy Denby’s star is on the rise. Now the Arts and Entertainment Editor at The Daily Globe, she covers a glamorous exhibition of Russian Art at the Crystal Palace. During the exhibition a shot rings out, leaving an injured guard and an empty pedestal in the place of the largest Fabergé Egg in the collection. The egg itself is valuable, but more so are the secrets contained within – secrets that could destroy the royal families of Europe.

Suspects are aplenty and Poppy, her editor Rollo, and the other staff of the Globe are delighted to be once again in the middle of a sensational story. When they are offered a ‘kill fee’ to drop the story, they know they are onto something explosive. But soon the investigation takes a dark turn when someone connected to the exhibition is murdered and an employee of the newspaper becomes a suspect. The race is on to find the egg before the killer strikes again…

Pre-order your copy here!

15/07/2016 0

The Peace Garden and the Soweto Riots 40 years on

Today is the 40th anniversary of the Soweto Uprising – 16 June 1976. That infamous point in history, when black school children demonstrated for the right to be taught in English, forms an integral part of my literary thriller The Peace Garden, about a young English girl who befriends a South African political exile. If you would like a ‘novel’ take on how that day 40 years ago impacted one family for three generations, this is the story for you. Click here to get the book The Peace Garden

Hector_pieterson — Hector Pieterson being carried by Mbuyisa Makhubo. His sister, Antoinette Sithole, runs beside them.

16/06/2016 0

Crime Writers Association Dagger Nomination

I am over the moon to hear that my debut historical crime novel, The Jazz Files, has been longlisted for the CWA Endeavour Historical Crime book of the year. I’m one of 10 nominees. Totally unexpected. I’m humbled and delighted

Click here to see all ten nominees