I'm reviewing Bottled Secrets of Rosewood ...

... by Mary Kendall. Read on to find out what I thought ...

I was approached by a fellow author who suggested that I might enjoy this book. ‘It’s got history, archaeology and witches in it’, she said.  ‘And I know you like a good gothic tale.’  Intrigued, I pre-ordered it on Amazon.

I was surprised to find, when I looked up the book, that the author was someone who had already been on the blog.  So, if you want to know more about Mary Kendall and her books, you can read that previous post Here.

The story begins when college lecturer Miranda Chesney moves to a new campus to take up a newly arisen post.  On starting her new job, Miranda encounters Brian, an archaeologist.  Having decided she is staying and needing to set down roots, Miranda falls in love with an old property in the area.  It’s a bit out of her price range, but there is something about the house that keeps pulling at her.  Having moved in, her colleague Brian suggests a dig on her property because of the long history associated with the building and that part of town.  The discovery of a witch's bottle, an artefact that has an unclear history and meaning, is the beginning of a series of tense and mysterious occurrences at the house.  As the novel progresses, Miranda is left questioning her personal safety and her attachment to the house.

What a great story this is.  I found the plot compelling, the twists and turns kept me turning the page and the narrative voice flowed easily.  All the characters are engaging and very well drawn.  I particularly enjoyed the developing relationship between Brian and Miranda—the ‘will they? won’t they?’ subplot adding an extra dimension to this very engaging tale.

It was also interesting to pick up on snippets of colonial history throughout the story.  The notes at the end of the book provide the actual historical background to the text which made me curious enough to check a few things out.  So, I did take some time out to do some research and that has captured my attention further.  I certainly want to visit the real locations used in the novel at some point in the future.  This is a thoroughly enjoyable modern gothic novel and I can heartily endorse it as an excellent read.

You can get the book on Amazon

You can follow Mary on Instagram Threads Twitter/Now X and on Facebook Mary also has her own website, which you can access Here

I am very pleased to announce ...

... that Summer Paths, the fourth in the Seasonal Paths anthologies, is about to be published!  Yay!  Read on to find out more ...

Way back in September 2021, I announced the publication of Autumn Paths—you can read that post here if you want to refresh your memory. Since then, we've gone on to produce more books, and today, I can tell you that the fourth, Summer Paths, will be hitting, shops and book websites very, very soon.

Yet again, it has been an absolute pleasure to work with my colleagues on the other side of the Pond and a new colleague who joined us for the last book, and although American, she lives right here in the UK.  I am no longer alone on this side of the Atlantic!  We have a fabulous cover for the book—see above—and the blurb is below.  As with the other collections in the series, the stories are very varied, multi-genre, and very different from each other despite the linking theme of summer.  It might make a brilliant beach read if you are looking for something to take on holiday with you in the next few weeks.

My story, Alice, features my character from previous books.  Alice Tomlinson appears in The Booksellers Secret Octavo in the first book, Madame Beauvary's Curio Shop in the third.  In this new adventure, Alice has to solve a mystery on a cruise ship.

If you read this blog regularly, then you will know that travelling long-distance by boat is not really my thing.  I do suffer from seasickness, and I've never really been able to convince myself that travel over water—which is not in any way, shape, or form a solid commodity—is something with which I'm especially comfortable.  But then I can't swim!  Hence, my life's mission has been to keep my travels by sea at an absolute minimum.  Two hours across the channel is usually quite enough for me.

At least, it was until I decided that a trip to Madeira and the Canary Islands in January was a jolly good idea.  And yes, I know. Who in their right mind would cross the Bay of Biscay in January?  However, I did, and I met some fascinating people while on my watery trip. I also picked up a snippet of conversation that lodged in my brain.  As we travelled from island to island, those three words became a sentence, then a paragraph and then a whole story.  As we had three sea days on the way home, I was able to complete my tale.  By the time the ship had docked in Southampton, the scribblings in my notebook had been mentally restructured and the trip from the coast back to Yorkshire meant that I had time to refine words and phrases and whole paragraphs.

So, one of the last things I must do in relation to this story is to thank two of my fellow passengers.  It was Allan and Lesley who told me about the overheard snippet of conversation.  And it was Allan and Lesley who kept checking back with me about my progress.  Allan, Lesley, if you are reading this, the story has moved on quite a bit from that first draft, but the key phrase that you gave me is still in there.  Thank you for your numerous conversations whilst on board B— in January.  Thank you for sharing what you heard and for listening whilst I rabbited on about my wild ideas.  If you do see this and would like a signed copy of the book, please get in touch.

about the book ... This, the fourth and final selection of stories, completes the Seasonal Paths series created by a consortium of best-selling and award-winning North Atlantic writers

In this anthology, you will encounter unintentional consequences, love in later life, the pull of family dynamics, misguided assumptions, and murderous soulmates. These yarns will take you to new worlds, into a ghostly abyss, across an ocean in pursuit of truth, and into the darkness of ancient beliefs.

Make yourself comfortable and surrender to these multi-styled tales, all linked by the theme of summer, within the covers of this book. You will be surprised and entertained by what you find.

You can find out more about the other anthologies on my Website 

You can get all of the books on Amazon

Please welcome friend and author, Gary Kruse ...

... to the blog today.  Hi Gary, and thanks for being here.  You’ve recently published a collection of short stories.  Which do you prefer to write, short stories or novels?

GK  I like to jump between both formats.  I normally turn to short stories between drafts of novels.  A novel is a long process and can take years to complete to a publishable standard, so writing a few short stories between drafts means that I can work through some of the ideas I’ve had while writing the novel.  It also allows you to feel the satisfaction of fully completing a project, which helps with the motivation when you’re in the middle of a long project like a novel.

AW   A lot of authors have told me they avoid short stories because they are too confining.  I love the challenge the constraint of the number of words presents.  How about you?

GK  I’m the same.  Having a word count to hit really helps to challenge my writing abilities as every page, paragraph, sentence and word has to work.  You can’t afford weak writing in short stories, so you have to tighten your prose, find better ways to say what you want to say but in fewer words which means exploring variations in sentence structure, using strong verbs and then editing ruthlessly to make sure everything works.  This then helps to feed into my novel writing as it improves your writing craft.

AW  I could not agree more!  Your novels are crime/crime thrillers, so why choose horror for the anthology.

GK  My writing roots lie in the Horror genre.  The very first story I ever wrote and completed was inspired by The Craft and the Lost Boys.  I’d seen The Craft in the cinema and loved it, and afterwards, I started asking myself what would happen if the witches in The Craft met the vampires in the Lost Boys and the story rolled out from there. 

Reading-wise, the first writers I binge-read were James Herbert and Shaun Hutson.  I loved their books not only because they were scary but the settings that they used also reflected the world around me.  Anne Rice’s vampire novels were a massive inspiration for me also. 

Over the years my reading and my writing diversified, and I’ve written across a wide range of genres with varying degrees of success, but I always gravitate back to horror.  Even with my novels, Badlands and Bleak Waters, while they’re predominantly thriller/mystery stories, there is a streak of the supernatural running through them, particularly in Bleak Waters. 

AW  What about research for your horror stories?  Was any required or was it all imagination?

GK  A lot of the ideas, themes and settings came about because of things that interested me already (archaeology, music, vampires, witchcraft & paganism for example) so the only real research was fact checking the topics that interested me and featured in the stories.  I tend to write what I know, albeit dressing it up with a large dose of the supernatural or weird.

Place inspired a lot of my work too and it was the same with some of these stories.  Cornwall features again in a couple as well as the London Underground. 

The title story, The Mistress of the Crows, was inspired by walking along a normally busy road near where I live and finding it deserted in mid-winter (this was way before Covid lockdowns).  That just got my imagination firing and the story rolled from there.

AW   And finally, you find yourself in a crumbling old house and one of your own evil characters from your short stories appears and is about to kill you.  Tell us who that character is, and if you are able to escape, how do you do so?

GK  If they’re supernatural, they probably wouldn’t have to do much to kill me to be honest!  The minute a vampire or ghost turned up I’d drop dead with fear! 

For me, the scariest villain in the stories in the anthology is probably Jared from Beast of Bodmin and he is definitely human.  And a nasty one too.  In those circumstances I’d probably kick him where it hurts then run like merry hell and hope I was faster!  Lol!

about the author … Gary Kruse is a dark Thriller and Horror author from Hornchurch, Essex.  His short story, Hope in the Dark, won the November 2021 Writers’ Forum short story competition, and his short fiction has been published in several Horror Anthologies.  His debut dark Thriller novel, Badlands will be published by Bloodhound Books in August 2024.  Mistress of the Crows is his first anthology of short fiction.

about the book … A young girl wakes up in a world of perpetual winter, a world with no adults, ruled by a strange changeling boy and haunted by a shadowy figure flocked by a murder of crows...

An impulse buy leads to an encounter with a vengeful ghost and a steampunk pixie intent on taking back what is hers...

A team of archaeologists uncover a neolithic tomb containing a creature from their darkest nightmares, a creature whose curse is already working its way through their veins...

Featuring new takes on the classic horror staples of vampires, witches, ghosts, the weird and the paranormal, The Mistress of The Crows and Other Tales of Horror, Darkness, Love and Redemption contains nine stories PLUS the bonus short story, the Ballad of Jonny Pheonix and the Hellcat.

You can follow Gary on Facebook Instagram Threads and Blue Sky

You can read my review of this excellent selection of stories Here and you can get the book from Gary's Website and on Amazon

 

Rivers of France ...

... and I'm picking up from where I left you last week.  The river Le Loir, from its source, runs through some picturesque rolling countryside with little villages here and there.  Today, we're taking a stroll through Châteaudun.  Read on …

From its source near Illiers the river meanders and by-passes villages and old mills, flows under bridges and continues until it skirts the western side of Bonneval and then cuts through the southern half of the small town.  An old medieval fortified village, Bonneval has preserved its ancient character.  There’s the 13th-century Tour du Roi (The King’s Tower), an abbey and the 12th-13th-century church of Notre Dame.  Well worth a visit, but if you continue along the river a little further, you will find Châteaudun, with its fabulous fort towering above the town.

There is camping here and when I last visited, it was still Monsieur who stood as tall as a tree with his magnificent mop of thick grey hair.  This time around, there’s an automatic barrier, and the campsite is empty apart from a single campervan.  I park up and take a look.  There are no longer all the French caravans that come for the season.  In fact as I walk along the avenue towards my favourite spot – right at the back with a clear view of the fort on its promontory – I notice that the swans are still in residence.  I decide not to stay.  I prefer to camp with some neighbours that are not too far away.
It’s a decent walk into town from the campsite, but on a warm day with the sun in the right aspect, it can be a pleasant stroll.  From the junction with the main road into town, you take a left, and a few metres away is the entrance to the château.  The fort actually sits on the south bank of the river which splits to the north-east of the campsite and creates a long island at one side of the town.

The fortress was built between the 12^th and 16^th centuries.  It was Thibault 5, the Count of Blois, who had the original keep built towards the end of the 12^th century.  Sainte-Chapelle, the chapel within the confines of the château, was built in the 15th century by Jean, bâtard d’Orléans and comrade in arms with Joan of Arc.  He received the estates of Dunois and the viscountcy from his brother and began the reconstruction and improvement of the château.  He converted the military stronghold into a stunning and comfortable residence.  The main body of the building is roofed in the Gothic style, and there is a finely carved staircase from the same period.  Jean also fought to have the bar symbolising his illegitimacy removed from his coat of arms.

The historic monument has many fine rooms to view, including a seigneurial courtroom and a second, later, and more extravagant staircase added by the Duc de Longueville in the early 16th century, which is part of the Belvedere Tower. You can while away a whole day meandering through this residence and the gardens.
But it’s time for me to move on, and the next stop along the river on my journey will be Vendôme.

Look out for my next post next month, and if you want to know more, you can find my previous post Here

Rivers of France ...

... I'm beginning a new series of posts about the rivers of France.  I thought that I would start with a 'His and Hers' river whose name everyone will recognise.  Read on ...

There are 95 departments in France, of which 68 are named after rivers representing more than seventy percent. Of all those rivers, two in particular share a name—Le Loir and La Loire—His and Hers rivers!  But that little nicety is not the only difference.  One is a plain old rivier and the other is a fleuve.  Both those words mean river in English, but here in France there is one very important distinction.  A rivier/riviere flows into another river or body of water, such as a lake, whereas a fleuve flows out to a sea or an ocean.

For this the first in a new series of posts, I thought I'd begin with the Le Loir, a rivier.  This river gives its name to two departments, Eure-et-Loir (28) and Loir-et-Cher (41), both of which sit in the Centre-Val de Loire region of the country.  This region is immediately below the Ile-de-France and borders Normandy, Pays Loire and Nouvelle-Acquitaine in the west.

Le Loir rises just north of Illiers-Combray (28) and initially flows east before turning south towards Bonneval and Chateaudun and then south-west to Vendôme, skirts around Chateau-du-Loir and then to La Lude, La Fleche, Durtal and finally joins the river Sarthe just north of Angers.  At 319k (198 miles) in length, it is by no means the longest, fastest or widest of the many rivers in France.  But it's kind of important because of its history and its association with its sister river, La Loire.  In France, it is essential not to confuse the two even though, for a significant distance, they run roughly parallel to each other, with Le Loir taking the more northerly cut.  Despite its modest length, Le Loir has five tributaries that flow into it and gradually swell its depth and width.

Rivers are formed from a single source of water. That can be a lake or an underground source that breaks through to the surface.  Rivers can also be formed through the run-off of snow or rain, which, if it has enough force, can carry debris that erodes the rock and earth over which it flows and eventually creates a valley.

In this series of posts, I will be taking you along rivers to visit some of the historic places and the fabulous countryside along their courses.

Our first stop on the Le Loir will be Châteaudun.  A substantial and important town with a medieval heart, a fabulous fortress, and some camping companions—see the photo left.

Please join me next week when I will take you through the streets of Chateaudun…

I'm reviewing The Wager ...

... by David Grann.  A fascinating look at life on board HMS Wager.  Read on ...

I picked this book up because the picture captured my attention. I was sure I had seen it somewhere before. Turning to the first page I began to read. By the end of the first paragraph, my decision was made – the book was coming home with me.

Once I was home I had more chance to explore and read some of the small print. The bottom of the inside back leaf of the jacket gave me the answer to question in my head. Yes, I had seen the image before, or something very like it in the Tate Gallery. The original is Ships in Distress in a Storm and dates from around 1720. The artist was Peter Monamy.

The question about the image settled, I started reading. Having started reading I found I couldn’t put this book down. Yes it is a true story, but the narrative flows like a novel. The story is as compelling as any plot for a tome in the historical crime genre. Indeed, some of the twists and turns in this story, you just couldn‘t make up.

His Majesty’s Ship the Wager was a Britsh man-of-war that had set sail from Portsmouth as part of a squadron of vessels to capture a Spanish galleon known to be laden with gold and treasure in September 1740. The mission was secret, but some of the hundreds of men on board had kept journals and had written letters home. It is these documents, along with the captain’s official log, other required naval papers and some detailed historical research, that have provided the basis for the evidence for the book.

The story is told through the experiences of some of the crew, and in so doing, Grann has brought to life those who were actually at the events that occurred. Rather than being a desiccated set of evidential documents, the story is one of rivalry, petty jealousies, avarice and human behaviour in extreme conditions. All put together to create a coherent record of the ship’s journey, the life on board, the disasters encountered and the eventual return to England, which culminated in trials in the Courts Martial.

I really enjoyed this book. It felt as though I was witnessing living history as I turned each of the pages.

If you enjoyed this review, you might also like to read Metropolitain, a history of the Paris Metro; The Vanished Collection, a book about the recovery of stolen art; or Cursed Bread, a narrative created from the real incidence of a mass poisoning...

Friend and author Anna A Armstrong ...

... joins me on the blog today. Hi Anna, thanks for being here. Tell me, what is your current release ...

AA  Corpse In The Chard is the book I am promoting at the moment. It is one of three stories in my FitzMorris Family Mysteries series. All my works are happy reads, full of sunshine and flowers with just the odd dead body.

Dee FitzMorris, (a fun-loving granny) finds a clown corpse in her chard. This would be enough to spoil anyone’s Spring but things soon get more complicated as she becomes the police’s chief suspect. As the clown body count mounts Dee realises that more than one of her friends may drawn to murder. Fortunately Dee has her glamorous daughter Zara and her Goth criminal psychologist grand-daughter to help her.

AW  What first got you into writing and why choose murder mysteries as your genre?

AA  Murder mysteries are wonderfully satisfying. It is the one genre where you really do have a total full stop at the end; the murderer is revealed – job done. In real life there is always just one more load of washing to do and one more meal to prepare. I enjoy reading the odd romance but at the end I tend to wonder how long the first flush of romance will last. I know it is only a matter of time before the heroine will get fed up with the dashing hero leaving the loo seat up or not putting his socks in the laundry basket.

I love people and observing what makes them tick whether it is in real life or fiction. In a murderous situation, characters are pushed to an ultimate level and consequently reveal their inner motives.

I cannot remember a time I was not making up stories in my head. Like a lot of other writers, I had an unhappy childhood and creating imaginary worlds was my form of escape.

AW  Your stories are set in the Cotswolds – a fabulous area of England. How do you make that beautiful contryside come alive in your writing?

AA  The Cotswolds overflow with beauty, from the mellow soft stone buildings to the rolling hills not to mention the abundance of flowers and cream teas. I have a wonderful advantage when it comes to being constantly struck afresh by the details that make the Cotswolds unique because I am not there all the time. My husband is Manx (he comes from the Isle of Man) and we live part of the time on the Island and the rest of the time in the Cotswolds. The contrast between the majestic Isle of Man and the picturesque Cotswolds, is enormous.

AW  What about other types of writing? Have you dabbled with other genres or other forms of writing?

AA  What a lovely question. I quite often ‘play’ around with short stories if I am getting to know characters before I embark on a novel. Throwing them into different situations is a wonderful way to ‘get the feel’ of how characters act.

While doing various writing courses I greatly enjoyed writing radio plays but I have never taken it seriously.

While cosy crime is my passion I have recently resurrected an old manuscript. It is an extremely funny ‘coming of age’ story for mid-life empty nesters. At the moment I am getting various people to read it to see if I should polish it up and bring it out.

Photo courtesy of Anna

AW  Famous authors such as Roald Dahl and Dylan Thomas had a special space for writing. Do you have a writing shed of your own?

AA  I don’t have a dedicated room but what is vital is my portable natural-daylight lamp.

I find it extremely difficult to write if other people are awake – have you ever noticed how many questions people ask? Like ‘Where is the coffee?’ and ‘Have you put X on the shopping list?’ or ‘Have I remembered that they are out for supper next Thursday?’ Consequently I tend to get up at around 4.30am and start work at 5am. It is usually pitch black at that time so my natural-daylight lamp is vital.

As long as I have that I can write anywhere.

If I am reviewing my work rather than actually writing I love going out for breakfast at a nearby café which opens at 8 every morning. It is such a treat to have breakfast cooked for me. I don’t find the endless re-writes easy to focus on and if I am at home I get distracted by household tasks. Rewriting requires a very different energy from the initial writing and the buzz of a coffee shop suits it perfectly.

AW  And finally, what would your eight-year-old self think, and say about you and your achievements today?

AA  I often wish the 8-year-old me could have glimpsed my future; it would have given her so much hope. With regard to the writing, I would have been delighted that ‘spell check’ had been invented. As a dyslexic I only got the hang of reading and writing when I was about 10.

The 8-year-old me was extremely unhappy and confused, as one of 4 children, I was the only one who suffered from violence and abuse. The obvious conclusion to myself (and the rest of the family) was that I was the problem. My 8-year-old self had no idea that it was possible for me to be married for 30 years to a man who becomes kinder, funnier and more of a joy to be with as each year passes. Then it was inconceivable that I would live the majority of my life in a home filled with flowers and laughter. I find it hard to express the gratitude and wonder that I now have 3 amazing adult daughters and 3 equally wonderful son-in laws.

about the author… Anna A. Armstrong writes uplifting, cosy mysteries. Set in rural villages, they overflow with friendship, warm family relationships, delicious food, beautiful gardens and romance as well as the odd murder to spice things up. At the heart of her stories are her colourful characters who have their own varied foibles. There is nothing like a spot of murder for revealing who people are and what makes them tick.

Growing up in home counties England, Anna was surrounded with dogs and horses as well as
the wide variety of people who make up village life. Her observation skills were further honed by studying Anthropology at university. Much to her family’s embarrassment, she often can’t resist pulling out a pad and sketching random strangers in a restaurant.

When not indulging her love of travelling, Anna divides her time between the quintessentiallyEnglish village of Burford in the Cotswolds and the rugged Isle of Man, the jewel of the Irish Sea. She is passionate about food, her garden, her three dachshunds, family and latterly trick riding, just in case running off to the circus becomes an option!

about the book… Lose yourself in a world of beautiful gardens and delicious food with just the odd dead body thrown in. There are few things Dee enjoys more than a salad, fresh from her veg patch, preferably served without a clown corpse. Finding herself top of the suspect list, what is a self-respecting Taekwondo-loving granny to do but investigate?

It is at times like these that having a criminal psychology student for a granddaughter comes in handy. Clad in her trademark tutu and corset, Amelia fearlessly eats pink cupcakes and interrogates suspects while Dee’s daughter Zara salsas her way through the case. As the idyllic Cotswold village becomes littered with dead clowns, will Dee unmask the murderer before the murderer turns Dee into a garnish?

You can get the book from Amazon

You can follow Anna on her Website and on Instagram