I'm reviewing Moved to Murder ...

... by Gianetta Murray.  This is the first in a new cosy mystery series ...

And I'm so glad I found it.  But before I go any further, if you read this blog on a regular basis, then you may well recognise the author's name.  Earlier in the year I featured another of her books on the blog - A Supernatural Shindig.  This was a collection of short stories that Gianetta self-published, and you can read that review Here  In addition, Gianetta very kindly agreed to an author interview.  You can read that Here

Vivien Brandt, the central character and an American married to an Englishman, is the amateur sleuth in this new novel.  Having moved into her new home in a Yorkshire village, she not only solves the murder mystery but also has to navigate the vagaries of English etiquette and the duplicity of the common language that we and the US share.  Some of these vagaries provide ample opportunity for this writer's gentle wit to be perfectly displayed in this new story.

All of the characters are well-drawn and move across the pages with ease. The narrative voice, although American in style, is not overly brash as in many other US crime books.

I found Vivien to be a very entertaining character - she and the plot kept me turning the page.  In Vivien and the English setting, the village and the supplementary characters, we have the beginnings of a series of stories that I think can be described as Aurora Teagarden meets Father Brown!

This book had me chuckling all the way through.  It's a 21st-century version of some of those classic cosy murder mysteries that are part of the golden age of crime.

I'm really looking forward to the next in the series.

about the book ... Vivien Brandt (forty-something editor, librarian, and future interior designer extraordinaire) has spent decades dreaming about a life in England, and thanks to her marriage to second husband Geoffrey, her dreams are finally coming true.  She and her cat Sydney (who is considerably less excited about leaving the warmth of California) are the newest inhabitants of a cosy South Yorkshire village.

But as Vivien meets the locals - including the vicar, a charismatic politician, and a pair of troubled teenagers - she finds she still has a lot to learn about her new home.  Especially after she discovers a body in it.

Now she must work with her neighbour Hayley and a somewhat mistrustful police inspector to uncover the village’s secrets and find a killer.  Preferably, before the killer finds her.

Because it seems when the chips (crisps?) are down, the only common language between America and Britain… is murder.

You can follow Gianetta on her Website on Facebook and on Instagram and you can get the book on Amazon

I’m Off My Beaten Track …

… in Lisbon today.  Come and join me as I explore a location that I used as setting in my story Alice in the most recently published Summer Paths anthology ….
 
Lisbon is the capital city of Portugal.  It is also the largest in the country, with a population of just under 3 million within its metropolis.  It sits on the Atlantic coast of the country where the river Tagus flows into the sea.
The city is also one of the oldest in Europe, pre-dating many of the frequently visited capitals in other European countries.  Portugal was settled originally by pre-Celtic tribes and later discovered and civilised by the Phoenicians.  Julius Caesar came to the city, but after the fall of Rome, Lisbon was invaded by Germanic Tribes, in particular the Visigoths, from as early as the fifth century.  In the 8th century, the city was captured by the Moors and then taken by Afonso Henriques – the first King of Portugal - and in 1255, it became the capital city and has remained so.  There’s some serious history here, and I’m certain I will be back in the future for a much longer stay.
But today, I’m on a special mission.  Whilst I’ve been travelling I’ve been drafting a short story.  I’ve got one of the final scenes to complete, but I need a location, and I think Lisbon is going to be the place.  As I meander up the hill to the church, I get some breathtaking views of the river and the rooftops of the city.  The old streets are narrow, and everywhere I go, there are blocks of tiles creating pictures on the walls.  The tram system seems to be as ancient as some of the buildings.  The design is reminiscent of vehicles from the turn of the 19^th century.  Dashing in between the trams and cars are some three-wheeled taxis that look as though they have been left over from the 1950s.  Whatever the true age of these odd little taxis, they bring a certain charm to the city.  I get some pictures and wonder if I might have Alice taking a ride in one of them.

The trams all have names here!

Right in the centre, I come across Praça Dom Pedro IV.  A large square with fountains and a statue on a massive pedestal,  flower sellers and a pattern of wavy tiles that makes my eyes dance as I walk.  It feels as though the pavement beneath my feet is moving.  As I wandered around the throngs of tourists, I realised that it would be here that Alice would meet the one person who could answer all her questions about the mysterious disappearance of a fellow traveller.  It was also whilst I was here that the final piece of the mental puzzle I was creating in my head fitted in place
My decision about the setting made me realise that I needed to make my way back to the docks and my very modern form of transport.  I take the main road from the square, and as I wander by shops and restaurants, I eventually come to a large arch that opens onto another vast square.  I definitely will come back here.
 
If you want to read the latest Alice Mystery along with a selection of other short stories, then you can get print copies of Summer Paths Here and the e-book will be published very soon.  Keep watching this space!

Rivers of France ...

… I’m continuing my journey along the Le Loir.  Come and join me ...

From Châteaudun, the Loir meanders south and pretty much follows the route of the RN10 and crosses under the road about halfway along to the city of Vendôme. Here the river scoots around the eastern side of St-Ouen – a modern suburb – before splitting and heading west around the old fortified town of Vendôme. The campsite is by the river on the edge of town which is an easy walk. And it is the southern end of town that is the most interesting as the river has created a small island full of history.

Vendôme is the sub-prefecture for the département of Loir-et-Cher. With a population of just over 16,000 inhabitants, it is the third largest city in Loir-et-Cher. The town has a long history, and today I’m going to take you to the château. But first I will need sustenance as lunch will be on the hoof today. From the campsite, it’s an easy walk past the abbey – more of that in my next post – to the clock tower and then left to the marketplace and the bakers. The little market hall sits in the centre of the square, and the bakers are just to the right – Epi d’Or. There’s a queue – always a good sign!  I wait my turn, and I buy a tarte-au-citron. Now it’s a short walk to the steps that lead up to the fort.

The earliest inhabitants here were the Gauls; there’s evidence of an old Iron Age fort (Gallic Oppidum) on the site of the town.  The earlier settlement was later replaced with a feudal fort around which the modern town has become established.  Christianity arrived with Saint Bienheuré in the fifth century.  But it was the House of Capet (who ruled France 987-1328) who really put Vendôme on the map.  The town became the principal city of a county belonging to Bouchard the Venerable.  The fort estate and town then passed through various noble houses by marriage until Bouchard 6, Count of Vendôme and Castres left the whole lot to his sister, Catherine, on his death in 1374.

The county was then raised to a duchy for Charles of Bourbon in 1515.  Charles was the grandfather of Henry 4, who gave the duchy to his illegitimate son, César de Bourbon, in 1598.  The last male of this line was Louis Joseph who died in 1712.  Louis Joseph, duc de Vendôme, was general for Louis 14’s army.  And if you’re wondering about connections with Paris … Yep there’s one very significant one.  In the first arrondissement (Louvre), which is right in the heart of the city of Paris, there is a square called place Vendôme.  It was here that a mansion once stood, owned by Henry 4 and passed onto his son César.  It was the house where Henry kept his mistress!

Weir on the river Le Loir, Vendôme

The ruins of the fort here in Vendôme are all that remain of the original château.  But looking out across the town and the surrounding countryside you can easily understand why the promontory above the town was chosen as the location for the original fort.

I’m taking my lunch back down the hill and to the memorial garden which sits a few meters behind the abbey.  There are some benches here and some beautiful planting to gaze at as I eat.  As I come back to street level, I see that the municipality has put out sets of barriers and parking prohibition signs, which, of course, I have to check out.  It appears there will be some sort of ceremony at the war memorial on Friday.  I decide to stay long enough to see what that is all about.

If you enjoyed this post, you might also like to read my earlier posts Here and Here

There will be more from Vendome next month ...

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