Hello again.
This has been a very busy month.
I do like the hot weather we have had recently, but I do not like the fact that every mosquito in the locale dropped in and bit me. Any skin, carelessly left uncovered, resembled a contour map of the Himalayas. Like everything in life, it is a balancing act between minimising the risks and maximising the rewards. A new risk assessment is required!
Beneath the Page is a podcast by Sophie Beal and Steve Couch and can be viewed on YouTube. They interview authors and I was delighted to be asked to join them for a recording session. On the morning of the interview, I woke early, following a restless night during which I had convinced myself they would ask me questions that I couldn’t answer. It was a flashback to school exams when you sit in the school hall, turn over the exam paper when instructed, and wonder if you have been given the wrong paper to answer.
I worried for nothing. They were both friendly and welcoming and asked interesting questions, clearly having read the first two books. It was an enjoyable experience, and the time just flew past. Oh, and they provided excellent coffee. The edited podcast will be added to YouTube and other sites later in the year, and I will add the link to my website when it is available.
If you have a few minutes to spare, then have a look at some of the interviews they have already added. Here is the link to the interview with the thriller writer Alex Stone, recorded earlier this year.
https://www.youtube.com/@beneaththepage
I have been out an about in the New Forest researching and just enjoying the scenery. The heat has turned the grass into toast that crunches underfoot and clouds of flies swarm around every pony and donkey. The livestock are putting their tails to good use as non-stop flyswatters.
The ponies are very sociable animals, and you often see them standing alongside one another, head to tail, using the swatting tail of their neighbour to keep the flies away from their own faces.
The edits have now been completed on book three, Killer in the New Forest, despite the best efforts of my office manager, Amber who is prone to sleeping on the job.
The book has now been passed on from my editor, Polly, to the next stage of the process to prepare it for publication. I am looking forward to seeing what the cover will look like. Can they top their choices for Murder in the New Forest and Straw in the Wind? We will have to wait and see.
Killer in the New Forest is due to be released in September, and I will post up the cover picture and release date when I have them.
For now, I will continue plotting book four in the DI Callum MacLean series and will be thinking of a working for the new murder. Death in the New Forest? Shot in the New Forest? Any ideas?
Enjoy your reading.