UPCOMING EXCITING SUMMER EVENTS! I’m going on the road! Well, in the air, actually…I will be at the massive and beyond exciting American Library Association . . .
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Using Language To Set The Times…linguistic adventures in historical writing
A novelist is always conscious that how language is used sets the tone of a book and this is even more important when that book . . .
Read MoreNew Book Coming…
I’ve had such an interesting spring and summer! My latest Lane Winslow Mystery, A Lethal Lesson, a book full of wintry peril, came out . . .
Read MoreBetween Books
I have just shoved another book out of the nest, with the kind support of friends, who, armed as instructed with glasses of wine or . . .
Read MoreNEW Audio Books April 13!
Ahh! Audio books! Who doesn’t love them? Since I was a small child, and my mother used to read to me in her beautiful, deep resonant voice . . .
Read MoreA Lethal Lesson… Cover reveal!
Book eight of the Lane Winslow mysteries…Imagine! I want to pinch myself! But I don’t have to; I KNOW it exists, and will be out . . .
Read MoreFemale Sleuths in Historical Settings
Rescuing something from the COVID-cancelled Tucson Festival of Books, I was able to prevail upon two of my wonderful writing colleagues to share their thoughts about . . .
Read MoreA New Lane Winslow….
When I contemplate that my seventh Lane Winslow Mystery will be released into the world in April of 2020, I am nearly at a loss . . .
Read MoreAre poems and mysteries alike?
I was attending the Elephant Mountain Literary Festival in beautiful Nelson, British Columbia recently, and as I listened to readings by two wonderful Canadian poets, . . .
Read MoreWhen are you a writer?
I was asked at a recent book reading if I have always thought of myself as a writer. As far back as I can remember, . . .
Read MoreNEXT STOP!
I am thrilled to be attending the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting in Seattle on the weekend of the 25th of January! First of all: I . . .
Read MoreA Gentle Escape into books
On the back of all my many well-thumbed books by PG Wodehouse is a quote from Evelyn Waugh. “Mr. Wodehouse’s idyllic world can never stale. He will . . .
Read MoreWhat’s a writer sans readers? Not much!
When I first began to write I saw it as a ‘solitary’ activity. Just me, my word processor and my fluffy pink bathrobe. Oh, and my . . .
Read MoreThe underpinnings of my new book…
In a few short weeks, my new book, A Sorrowful Sanctuary will appear. It is, of course, another Lane Winslow caper, where Lane is able to provide the . . .
Read MoreLane Winslow, Nancy Drew and my mum
I was asked by a woman attending a reading I did recently how I came to choose detective fiction as my chosen genre. When I hear . . .
Read MoreJust Get On With It
I had an interesting question asked of me at my recent book launch for It Begins In Betrayal. I was asked about the role of feminism . . .
Read MoreSome interesting cultural things to look for in the new book, It Begins In Betrayal
In less than a week, It Begins In Betrayal, will be out, I would like to reflect on one aspect that goes into the writing . . .
Read MoreA few far flung festivals…
I’ve had the great good fortune recently to attend two outstanding and very different literary events; the first was the Galiano Literary Festival, and the . . .
Read MoreAnother interesting question from a reader holding a cocktail…
I was at a really good book club the other night…it started with a bang when I was handed a cocktail called a Vesper, which . . .
Read MoreI answer a student’s question…
I’ve had a lovely time recently going to speak to groups about my books, and I especially enjoy groups whose main interest is in writing. . . .
Read MoreWhy my books hop back and forth in time…
I received a lovely note from a reader in Ontario the other day who made the observation that her own immigrant grand parents and others . . .
Read MoreDoes Writing Get Easier?
My grandson asked me the other day if it gets easier to write as one moves from book to book. It is an interesting question. . . .
Read Moreabandoned houses and vanished people…
In An Old Cold Grave, Lane Winslow spends time at one of the several abandoned houses in King’s Cove, hoping to find some trace of . . .
Read MoreGirls…go to uni and find a good man…
In my last blog I talked about the Home Children, who have a place in my new release, An Old Cold Grave. A second story . . .
Read MoreA reflection on British Home Children and the power of stories
The time is fast approaching for the release of my third Lane Winslow mystery, An Old Cold Grave in September. Lane Winslow continues her sleuthing relationship with . . .
Read MoreBack, way back, to nature…
I have received a number of kind notes from readers, many of whom have said how much they enjoy the description of nature in my . . .
Read MoreWomen in WW2: low expectations, high achievement, or why Lane Winslow likes to live alone…
Lane Winslow is a fictional character who reflects only one of the hundreds of thousands of roles women took in the British war effort. It . . .
Read MoreA world of Silence, or why Lane Winslow can’t have a radio…
A few reflections on living with silence. I’m sitting here in front of my computer, my husband has the hockey game on in another . . .
Read MoreSpies in the family…What’s that really like?
On the eve of the release of my second book, Dark In The Darkening Mist I’ve been given, by an accidental question in a radio interview, a . . .
Read MoreA Place Like King’s Cove, Part 2
The King’s Cove of my stories is modelled on a place from a long distant time. In fact, when I came on the scene, it . . .
Read MoreA Place Like King’s Cove … Part one: Paths
I spent a good part of beginning around the age of three, in a place just like King’s Cove. When my parents first came to . . .
Read MoreBeauty and the old, old car
This is a vintage Dinky Toy. It is a 1947, or so, Oldsmobile, which I fell in love with the minute I saw it. I . . .
Read MoreLane Winslow’s telephone
If you’ve read A Killer In King’s Cove, you’ve seen Lane Winslow, her face tilted up to reach the horn, inviting Angela to come down . . .
Read MoreHow I wrote A Killer In King’s Cove
I am often asked how I wrote my first book. It really began in 2012, when, knowing I was going to retire in two years, . . .
Read MoreHappy New Year!
Just a quick note to say Happy 2017, and a special thanks to Seattle, Washington readers who have kept A Killer In King’s Cove at number 2 on . . .
Read MoreThe First Few Weeks
There is something magical about firsts in the world I now live in…the world of the author. This book is the first in my series . . .
Read MoreA sense of place
When people ask me where I got my idea for the book A Killer In King’s Cove, to be released in October, I tell them . . .
Read MoreA New Beginning…
I am so excited to see the story of Lane Winslow beginning a new life with a wonderful new publisher; Touchwood Editions. Her story is . . .
Read MoreReal Women Spies in WW2
Like all the women spying during the war, Lane was trained in absolute secrecy. She managed to survive the war, and evade capture, but it . . .
Read MoreMake do and mend…Lane’s calla lily dress
Lane’s wartime sense of fashion would have made her ideal for the life-style she adopted in her new home in the interior of post war . . .
Read MoreAuthor interview on OmniMystery News
We are delighted to welcome author Iona Whishawto Omnimystery News today. Iona’s new murder mystery, the first in a series, is Dead in the Water (FriesenPress; March 2015 . . .
Read MoreInspiration for Lane Winslow
If you wondered what my main character, Lane Winslow might look like, this is how I see her. This picture was taken in 1935 of . . .
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