Journalists, especially freelance ones, make good amateur detectives.

The unconventional nature of their job means they are not tied to the same nine-to-five routine of more ordinary mortals and can fit their sleuthing around their work.

And, as journalists, they’re used to poking and prying and digging for facts.

They’re pretty good too – or should be – at picking up things that don’t quite add up.

Certainly, Nick Potterton, hero of Andrew Bibby’s Lake District murder mystery In the Cold  of the Night, is a case in point. Continue reading →

Meet Maura Jortner, whose first novel The Life Group is published by Lakewater Press.

New Hampshire-born Maura, who has a PhD in Theatre History, explains why she loves winters in Texas and eating breakfast.

And she finally owns up to denting the in-laws’ car… Continue reading →

Tick tock. Tick tock…it’s Saturday, March 14 and the clock is ticking for wayward Leah Dorsett, who has been missing for 13 days.

No clues. No suspects. And even the police have almost given up hope.

Only her younger sister Rachel – fearless, dependable, enterprising – believes she is still alive.

She’s convinced the answer lies in the radical church where Leah was last seen. Continue reading →

There’s a lot to like about Georgette Heyer’s Regency romance The Grand Sophy.

It’s had a well-thumbed place in my annual re-reading pile for a good few years.

But should it stay there?

These days Heyer’s anti-Semitic portrayal of a moneylender, a central plot point, and her rather xenophobic dismissal of Spaniards as ‘quite stupid, and dreadfully indolent’, make uncomfortable reading. Continue reading →

The problem with Christmas books is that the plot has to be all wrapped up by Christmas.

And, because it’s Christmas, everyone has to live happily ever after – which can make things a little saccharine.

Thankfully, Kate Blackadder deftly keeps Stella’s Christmas Wish on the right side of syrup.

This is a lovely, heart-warming festive read.

Blackadder writes confidently and with a great sense of pace. Continue reading →

Meet Kate Blackadder, whose debut novel Stella’s Christmas Wish is published by Black and White Publishing.

Kate, membership secretary of Edinburgh Writers’ Club, lifts the lid on a secret dream and why she got into Very Big Trouble when she decided to walk home from school alone.

My name:  Kate Blackadder – after thirty years of marriage I’m well used to getting comments on my surname! (No, my husband’s first name isn’t Edmund.)

My family: The aforementioned husband and I have a son, a daughter and a daughter-in-law.

I have a sister and a brother and a huge extended family with loads of first cousins and now their children and grandchildren.

I was born in… Inverness but my family moved around a bit. After Inverness shire we lived in Morayshire, Nairnshire, two locations in Sutherland, and the Isle of Arran.

When I left home I lived in Glasgow (two addresses), Edinburgh (two addresses) and London (five addresses). Phew. Continue reading →

Meet Kristen Bailey, mother-of-four, gin-drinker, binge-watcher, receipt hoarder, hapless dog owner, enthusiastic but terrible cook.

Kristen lives in Fleet, Hampshire, in a house overrun by Lego and odd socks.

Her debut novel, Souper Mum, was released by Accent Press in June and its sequel, Second Helpings, is released on 17th November.

My name: Kristen Bailey – hi!  Nice to meet you…

My family: I’m married to Nick and have four kids all ranging in age from two-ten years.

I never mention them by name but in my own blog, they are all named after characters from Game of Thrones: Jon Snow, Arya, The Hound and Daenerys. Continue reading →

Meet Rebecca Carpenter, whose debut novel, a confident YA sci-fi thriller, Butterfly Bones, is published today by Lakewater Press.

See Booklist review here.

Available to buy on Amazon.

My name… Rebecca Lorraine Carpenter

My family… I am married to Cory Don Carpenter.

We have two grown children, Lauren (Casey) Braun, and Philp (Shelby) Carpenter, and four grandchildren, Vanessa, Connor, Jayda, and Coltin, and one more on the way—another girl!

I was born… to Gary and Peggy Murphy, in the small farming town of Fruita, Colorado, located on the western slope of Colorado.

I have nine siblings—four sisters and four brothers, and I’m number five—smack Continue reading →

It’s been a long time since Postman Pat and Thomas the Tank Engine were regular bedtime reads in our household.

Thank heavens – Marmite stories every one.

Loved by kids.

Bottom of the reading aloud pile for adults.

Sadly, Fred Arthur’s Twenty Four Days to Christmas is also a little bit Marmite. Continue reading →

Never judge a book by its cover.

And never let first impressions cloud your judgement of a lead character.

Especially not gobby, bolshie Jocelyn Jones, who upsets nice-but-a-little-bit-dim Kathleen by muscling in on her exclusive friendship with Adam from the corner sweetshop and making out with Mark, the love of Kathleen’s life.

And, the thing that really gets up Kathleen’s nose: Jocelyn insists on calling her Conky, short for Concorde, because of her ‘stupidly big nose’. Continue reading →