Historical mystery novelist Susan Grossey says 'knickers'

Today’s guest is Susan Grossey, the inventor of Constable Sam Plank, one of my favourite law enforcers. “I have been in love with words ever since I realised, at age three, that those squiggles on the page actually meant something,” she says. Susan edited the school newspaper and managed to do lots more reading and […]

Meet Ruth Downie - historical truth and donkey poo

Ruth Downie read too much Jane Austen at university, emerged with an English degree and a plan to get married and live happily ever after. As a backup she learned typing and shorthand, in the mistaken beliefs that people would always need secretaries and that she might be quite good at it. Finally escaping into […]

So what makes a good read?

As I promised in the previous post, I’ve turned my beady eye to current bestsellers and read through some of the Amazon bestselling rankings reviews. These are some of the words the readers and critics used about them:

The Thread – Victoria Hislop Twin timeline, discovery, history, fast narrative, sense of pace, fresh, intrepid storytelling, […]