The time of year when ...

... I leave my computer, my writing and my books, is already here again.  It seems as though I last wrote a similar message only weeks ago.  But when I think about everything that has happened this year, I feel that a whole lifetime must have passed by!  I've journeyed to new places, and I've handled good news and bad.  I've ventured into new writing territory, and there has been some sadness along the way, too - not least the decision by my publisher to quit the business.  The future without Darkstroke Books looks bleak, so I'm hopeful that the New Year will bring some surety.

This will be my last post for 2024.  My next post will be on January 14th, 2025.  But, as always, there will be a little surprise for all readers at Twixmas, so please remember to check back then!

Thank you for reading and following my blog.  I hope the various articles have entertained and informed.

Thank you to all the readers who have one or more of my books on their bookshelves or Kindles.  I really appreciate the time you've taken to read my simple little stories.  If you left me a review, thank you again.  Your feedback is invaluable.

Finally, if you celebrate Christmas—and I always do—may your Christmas be a very happy one.  May I also wish everyone a peaceful New Year.

I'm reviewing The Twelve Murders of Christmas ...

 ... by Sarah Dunnakey here on the blog today.  This is my final book review for 2024, so read on just one last time ...

For my final book review this year I’ve chosen something a little different but, as the title demonstrates, it is connected to Christmas and the season.

Published on November 6th, this book is not just a story, it is also a puzzle book. And I love a good puzzle. I am a crossword fanatic and I simply cannot turn down the opportunity to put my mental agility to the test whenever the situation arises. Yes, that does mean I have battled with the tests issued by GCHQ over the years. I’ve delved into Dubious Documents and I’ve cracked code books and any number of other puzzles that have come my way. So, to meet the author and have a crack at her puzzles was an absolute no brainer for me.

The book centres around a group of characters who meet at Bracestone House for Christmas. The large house sits within the fabulous countryside of the Yorkshire Moors – yes, I’m from Yorkshire, so I’m allowed to be biased!

The nine characters have gathered at the manor for the reading of the will of Edward Luddenham, the owner of the property who was murdered on Christmas Eve the previous year.

Each guest has their own reason for being there which is gradually revealed as the action of the book moves forward. The attendees have also been asked to bring a festive mystery story to relate to the others during their stay. If you’re a fan of Agatha Christie, you’ll recognise the similarities with And Then There Were None. For those of you who have read Boccaccio’s Decameron, you will recognise that a gathering of tale-tellers is not a new idea, but this text is as deliciously entertaining as the fourteenth-century collection. What is so special about this twenty-first-century book is that there is a puzzle for the reader to solve within each story. As you work through the pages and collect the bits and pieces of information for yourself, they will come together as the solution to the murder of Edward Luddenham.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this entertaining text.  I had my pen and a small notebook with me at all times as I worked through all the puzzles.  Did I complete the challenge?  Yes I did. Do I know all the answers?  Yes, I do, and no, I’m not going to tell.  You will have to buy the book and work it all out for yourselves.  But what I can say is that it was such great fun doing so. If you need a last-minute Christmas present for a bookish person on your list, this just might be it.

You can follow Sarah Here and you can get the book on Amazon

 

Rivers of France ...

… my journey along Le Loir is almost at an end.  But join me as I follow the river from La Flèche to Durtal.  Read on …
 
The D232 goes direct from La Flèche right into the heart of Durtal, a small town with a population of around 3,000 inhabitants that sits astride the river Le Loir and about 32 kilometres northeast of the city of Angers.  As you approach the town, the campsite is on the left, and a little further on is the imposing château, which overlooks the river.  The road turns left at this point and across the bridge above the river, and that’s where I’m taking you first.  The views of the river, both up- and down-stream, are beautiful.
The château dates from the 1500s and, from its commanding position, overlooks the river, the forêt de Chambiers, which covers about 1300 hectares to the south, and the racecourse, which attracts the local racegoers.
This fabulous building was the home of François de Scépceaux, maréchal de Vieilleville being only one of his many titles during his lifetime.  Born in 1509, he became the first Comte de Durtal, a governor, diplomat, ambassador, Conseillé du Roi (King’s Councillor) and ultimately marshal – one of the most important administrative roles in medieval France.  During his long career, he served four kings, fought in the Italian Wars, and served the crown then held by Charles 9, mainly as a peacemaker during the early religious wars.  At the château, he received such eminent guests as Henry 2, Charles 9 and Catherine de Medici.  He died at the age of 62 on November 30^th, 1571.  He was allegedly poisoned by enemies, but he was sufficiently well-regarded in his lifetime to warrant a portrait in oils by François Clouet, which now hangs in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Besançon.
After his death, the seigneurial home had a chequered future.  During the revolution, the interior apartment’s murals and Louis 13 furnishings and decorations were damaged.  Later, the castle was taken over and occupied as a retirement home.  Luckily, today, it is open to the public as a monument, and for a small fee, you can wander around the fabulous rooms from the dungeons and kitchens right up the lookout tower.
There is a market here regularly, and, quite fittingly, in my opinion, all the stalls cluster around the foot of the château walls.  As I meander past the various sellers of cheese, bread, meat, honey, eggs, and all sorts of other produce, I can’t help but wonder how much this mirrors what François de Scépceaux and his family would have seen had they looked out from one of the windows above.

But it’s back to the river and the final leg of my journey.  From here, Le Loir snakes and oxbows until it joins the river Sarthe just west of Briollay.  Then the Sarthe meets the Mayenne, and that composite body of water rends the city of Angers in two before joining La Loire just south of Bouchemaine.  The onward route of La Loire – the Hers river to Le Loir’s His river – to the west coast is the subject of a new set of posts in this series.  In the New Year, we will be visiting the source of La Loire and gradually following her route across the country to Saint Nazaire where she meets the sea.
 

If you’d like to read the earlier posts in this series, click the following links below for: 

Le Loir  Châteaudun  Vendôme  Vendôme part 2  Montoire-sur-le-Loir and  La Flèche

I'm reviewing The Suspects ...

... a gripping psychological thriller written by Katharine Johnson.  Read on ...

As a reader, I choose books from all genres, and there is nothing I like more than a gripping tale involving murder.  I was especially pleased to find that fellow author Katharine Johnson was looking for reviews.  The Suspects was first published by Darkstroke Books in March 2019.  The closure of the publisher in September 2024 meant that Katharine had her rights returned to her, but she secured a new contract for the story with Bloodhound Books.  I’m honoured to have been asked to provide an honest review of the new and revised version, which is currently available for pre-order.

Beginning with the funeral of one of a group of friends who worked and shared a house together, the reader is immediately thrown into a situation where secrets and lies colour every thought, word and deed.  Under such circumstances, who can anyone trust? 

The story is told from Emily’s point of view.  We have her insights into the others within the group – Xanthe, Imogen, Stuart, Zak and, later in the book, Imogen’s boyfriend, Rick.  The friends are all trying to make successful careers in journalism, get a foothold on the property ladder, and find their way as individuals within their world in Bristol in 1988/89 and beyond.

As Emily questions what her friends tell her, as she uncovers some of the secrets being guarded by her housemates, the reader quickly learns that they each have their own agenda.  When a body is discovered in the basement of the old house in which they all live, it quickly becomes clear that whatever they decide as a group will live with them for the foreseeable future.

The central characters are all very well drawn.  The dynamics between them shift and change as the story moves forward and as their composite and sometimes single decisions and omissions impact the others.  The twists and turns of the plot keep the reader guessing until the very end.  Once the police become involved, the tension and the human dynamics within the group are stretched to the limits.  I found I couldn’t put this story down and can thoroughly recommend it as a great read.

You can get the book on Amazon and you can follow Katharine Here

I'm Off My Beaten Track in Flam ...

… As the weather here in the UK turns especially wintry this week, I’ve been going through my journal from my Norway trip. Read on as I take a little train journey …

NORWAY NOTES

The boat is parked in the sound at Flam. I’m here to take one of the most scenic rail trips in the whole of northern Europe. I’m a little sceptical because I’ve spent so much time exploring the Cévennes. But I always like to make up my own mind. So, I’m setting off today with all pre-conceptions set to one side.

Before I left the boat, I checked the map. Here in Flam, we are about 2 meters above MSL – that’s the Mean Sea Level, and we are 60.77 degrees north of the equator. That’s a whole 0.7 degrees further north than Lerwick and just 5.3 degrees south of the Arctic Circle. When I left home in Yorkshire, the cherry tree had already flowered, the fuschia was beginning to come into bud, and the landscape was lush and green.

Here, the lush grass is pale, and the meadow flowers that I expect to see in April and May at home are struggling to make their presence felt. The temperature is about 8 degrees centigrade, and I’m wearing my big fleece. I shove my hands in my pockets and remind myself that although the calendar says it's mid-May, the weather believes it’s February!

The train comes into the station. It’s not a tourist train. This stretch of railway is part of the main line to Bergen. It just crosses the seriously big hills that seem to cover the whole of Scandinavia. As the engine begins its return journey we leave behind the trappings of Norwegian early spring and gradually move up into winter.

This leg of the journey to Myrdal is 20.2 kilometres in length. What makes this stretch so fascinating is that across that distance, the train will rise from sea level to 866 meters in height. If you prefer old measures, that’s 2,841 feet above sea level. As a comparison, Bowfell North Top in Cumbria is of an equivalent height. As the train snakes along and back on itself as we make the 1:15 climb, I wonder if there’s snow on top of Bowfell.

A Danish man and his wife are my fellow passengers. He explains the difficulties of engineering in managing such a climb. Some of the detail is far too technical for me, but there is one particular fact that gets through the fog and into my conscious mind. Underground in mines, the limit for gradients is 1:15. Anything in excess of that means whatever piece of steel you're driving down becomes a sledge! I ponder this for a moment and then take out my free leaflet and search for the piece of info I had read before getting off the boat. The maximum gradient on this bit of the Bergen-Oslo line is 1:18. I smile at Mr Denmark and thank him for the information. I turn to look out of the window, and those numbers keep going around in my head. ‘Just hope this thing has got good brakes’, I murmur to myself.

As we progress, the lakes look colder and greyer. The next one has ice floes at the edges. The one after is almost solid ice. The trees get more sparse, and the silver birch have not a single leaf in bud, they are reminiscent of early winter. As we approach Myrdal, snow clings to every surface, the solid white of the ground challenging the deep grey of the heavy cloud above. Just before we pull into the station, the sky releases its cargo of sleet and snow. From a mild, late spring in Yorkshire a few days ago, I’ve travelled back to mid-winter …

If you enjoyed this post, you might also like to read my two earlier posts about  Bergen  and  Eidfjord

Promoting Yorkshire Authors Christmas Book Fair...

... join me and fellow writer Gianetta Murray at the fair.  More details below.…

The Ridings Centre in Wakefield is hosting us and a whole load of other Yorkshire writers for a Christmas Fair again this year.  The fair will be open from 

I will have all six of my Jacques Forêt Mysteries with me.  If you would like to chat about France, the Cévennes, the stories, or even Jacques himself, please drop by and say hello.  I will also be able to give you the latest info on the next book in the series.

I will be bringing the three Miss Moonshine anthologies as well.  If you are in need of a feel-good, heart-warming read for the coming festive season, then these collections of gentle stories will be just the ticket.  They might even turn out to be present for that difficult-to-buy-for great-aunt in your family.

Gianetta Murray is the author of an anthology of humorous paranormal tales called A Supernatural Shindig, which was released at the beginning of this year.  Moved to Murder, the first in her cosy crime series featuring amateur sleuth Vivien Brandt, which was published earlier this year.  The second book in the series is already being drafted.  I’m sure Gianetta will be only too pleased to chat about how the work on her next book is shaping up.

Lastly, we will have all four of the multi-genre miscellanies of tales from the Seasonal Collective.  If you want to discover some new authors, these collections are just for you.  And who knows, something to read from a new-to-you author might just be what you are looking for.

Please join us on December 7th from 10.00 am at The Ridings Centre, Wakefield, WF1 1DS.  It'll be great to see you there... 

I'm very pleased to be able to announce...

… that I will be one of the signing authors at The Armouries Museum, Leeds, on Saturday, October 25^th, 2025.  Read on for more info and tickets …

This is a massive two-day book event that will run at the museum on October 24^th and 25^th, 2025.  There will be over 200 authors and vendors at the festival and I will be amongst them on Saturday October 25^th.

You will be able to buy signed copies of books and chat with me and the many other authors also in attendance.

All the authors will be located in either the Royal Armouries Hall or the New Dock Hall.  As soon as I know where I will be I will update this post and include the information on my website, too.  Please keep checking back between now and the event.

Each day’s event will open as specified on your tickets.  On Saturday October 25^th the Royal Armouries Hall will be open from 9.00 am until 4.00 pm and the New Dock Hall from 10.00 am until 5.00 pm.

You can get your tickets  Here

So, please keep that weekend free, and I look forward to seeing you at:

The Royal Armouries Museum,

Armouries Drive,

Leeds.

LS10 1LT