Books I've read in 2021

Some books I read in 2021

As in 2020, reading books has saved me going round the bend. Yes, I published two thrillers this year – Double Identity and Double Pursuit – and I’m writing a Roma Nova story at present, but in this post I’m writing as a reader.

This is not a beauty contest or a selection. The list […]

Louise Mangos: Location, location, location – Swiss style

I’m delighted to welcome a second ‘writer abroad’ from Switzerland and another crime fiction writer – see JJ Marsh, my first guest in this series. (What do they put in the chocolate there?)

Louise Mangos grew up in rural Hertfordshire in the UK but travelled extensively in her twenties, eventually settling in Switzerland where […]

Keith Dixon: France, the Second World War and moi

I’m delighted to welcome crime writer Keith Dixon to the writing blog as the latest guest in the ‘writers abroad’ series. We actually met up in 2019 in Montmorillon, where Keith lives and which turns out to be pivotal to this post… Keith was born in Yorkshire and grew up in the Midlands. He’s been […]

Jill Marsh – The well-made play

Jill in characteristic occupation

Jill in characteristic occupation

As a child, Jill read so obsessively she got kicked out of the school library. But her passion for words continued. She graduated in English Literature and Theatre Studies from the University of Wales and set up a theatre company.

Since then, as an actor, director, teacher, writer and […]

Debbie Young: Humour in Crime Fiction

Photo: Dominic Cotter 2017

Today, my blog guest is Debbie Young writer of warm, witty, feel-good contemporary fiction inspired by life in the English village where she’s lived for nearly thirty years. Her Sophie Sayers Village Mystery’series begins with ‘Best Murder in Show’ and, when complete, will run the course of a calendar […]