Travel was no easy matter

 Friday Night Murder came out in July 2024. My first venture into the crime scene. I think it fits under the label of police procedural since it features Jess Carter leaving the Met and moving north to Hexham as Detective Inspector. On her very first day it snows, she's late for work and hears someone make a disparaging remark about a new Inspector who leaves the top force in the country  - what is wrong with her? Oh, and a dead body of a young girl is found in the snow....

Writing it was fun and the change of scene interesting. Research involved all sorts of investigations into signs of death, post mortems, weapons, all of which should puzzle anyone who ever checks the files on my computer. Also quite different to my usual research into fabrics and styles of the Regency, not to mention hair styles, types of carriages and distances between towns and cities and travelling between them. Travel was no easy matter in 1811 and I can see why most folk stayed at home all their lives.

I am now in the throes of final editing of Saturday Morning Murder which also features Jess Carter and Rory Harrison. Maybe it will be published on KDP by the end of February 25. I certainly hope so. I'm ready to move onto something else. Will there be a Sunday Night Murder? Possibly. It seems a shame to leave all that research unused! 

Using an alias

 Finally recovered from travelling for two days to get back home.

Journeys that seemed exciting when I was twenty now seem to be

 much less exciting and much more tiring! Especially because 

I'm not doing any driving as I have a uncomfortable habit of 

falling asleep on those long French peages.

Since coming home I've gone back to my writing and am now pondering the big question - do I self publish in my new genre, or should I try the get an agent route?

I just looked at a submission page for a well known agency and  felt  they wanted me to be able to execute many things besides write a good book. Think of a one-line elevator pitch, they said, add a one-page synopsis and name three published books that would stand alongside mine. 

Well, heck, isn't that all part of a PR person's job?

I decided to try my hand at a murder mystery and the second draft is just about complete. I'm also toying with using a different name. Are there pros and cons on this?  My previous books all come under the general header of Romance but there's no romance in this new one. There might be, but not yet.

A new Rebus?

 I caught a snippet this morning  because my dog woke me at 3.30AM! (Chewing her feet in that noisy way she has developed during this grass pollen season). Had she not, I might have missed the news that Viaplay, a Scandinavian streaming giant, is filming Rebus.

Ian Rankin dropped this snippet, so I assume it is true. Richard Rank of Outlander fame is to play a re-imagined, 30-year-old, recently de-moted Sergeant Rebus in modern Edinburgh with modern day stories.

I adored Ken Stott's portrayal and frankly I can't see it being bettered. I'll be keen to watch it when the new version is released in the UK in 2024.

Stott's voice was so distinctive it was recognisable anywhere.