Chris Longmuir on research for historical fiction - A Dangerous Destiny?

I’m delighted to welcome crime writer to the blog. I was entranced by Chris’s ‘The Death Game’ where I first met Kirsty Campbell so I had to know more. Chris won the Scottish Association of Writers’ Pitlochry Award for two of her contemporary thrillers in the Dundee Crime Series. One of these books, ‘Dead Wood’, […]

E M Powell: How to write a mystery

This week’s guest is the wonderful E M Powell whose historical thriller and medieval mystery Fifth Knight and Stanton & Barling novels have been #1 Amazon and Bild bestsellers. The third Stanton & Barling mystery, ‘The Canterbury Murders’, will be released in November 2020.

Born and raised in the Republic of Ireland into the […]

Helen Hollick: Fact vs. fiction – the historical fiction writer's research dilemma

This week’s guest is one making a very welcome return. Helen Hollick is a multi-published author and indie advocate. She lives on a 13 acre 18th century farm in North Devon, with a variety of pets and her family. For over twenty years, she has delighted readers with stories of Arthur Pendragon, Saxon kings and […]

Writing Challenge Day 10: Post an old picture of yourself

Age is the weirdest thing. At seven, you are fresh-faced and hopeful; several decades on, bolder and more cynical. And in between several other things depending on where you are and what you’re doing. And what you have learnt.

Sometimes you have full make-up on and tummy pulled in; other times you don’t care […]

Writing Challenge Day 3: Introduce the main character(s) Julia and Apulius

Julia Bacausa

AD 370, Virunum, Roman Noricum

Julia Bacausa, passionate daughter of a local Celtic ruler, miserable and tense after a failed marriage and only half-divorced, can see no future life for herself.

Lucius Apulius, a bright young military tribune thrown out of a prestigious command that would have made his career. He’s […]