Whether you landed on this page by design or accident, welcome! You’ve arrived just in time for me to announce that I will be appearing at the GREAT DUNMOW BOOKFEST which is part of the wider Essex Book Festival. The whole town will become one big book shop on Saturday 13th June with dozens of authors taking up temporary residence in the library, pub and a great many shops for the day. The event is free to attend and we will be selling books, giving away freebies, and will be available to chat about all things bookish to anyone who will listen! Do hop over to the Events page to find out more.
MURDER AT THE PALACE (Orion 2025), set in the ‘grace & favour’ apartments of Hampton Court Palace in 1891, was the first of my Victorian cosy crime mysteries to feature Royal Housekeeper, Mrs Lydia Bramble, and her sleuthing team of housemaid Kitty and Reverend Thomas Weaver, Chaplain of the Chapel Royal. The sequel, MURDER AT THE TOWER (2026) follows their further adventures as they investigate a murder in plain sight at the Tower of London. I’m proud to say both novels are endorsed by Historic Royal Palaces who provided fascinating access to the many nooks and crannies of each site. They are available to buy here and can be ordered from any online or physical bookshop.
The first of my Kember and Hayes mysteries, A QUIET PLACE TO KILL, was published by Thomas and Mercer (Amazon Publishing crime imprint) in 2021, followed by A SILENT WAY TO DIE in 2022 and A PERFECT TIME TO MURDER in 2023. All three are available to buy here and can be ordered from any online or physical bookshop.
If you can stand to watch and hear me waffle on about books and writing, my UK Crime Book Club chat with Caroline Maston (2022) and Unusual Sleuths panel with Karen Huxtable, Hannah Hendy and Kat Ailes (2023) are still available by clicking on the links below. Also, you can check my events page for details of where I shall be either appearing or just attending.
Having won over an agent who then worked hard to find me a publishing deal, my goal of becoming a published author of historical crime novels has been realised. I took the plunge in 2018 to join the Three Month London-based Creative Writing Course with Curtis Brown Creative, taught by Charlotte Mendelson, which not only gave me a supportive group of like-minded scribes but also the confidence to enter the 2019 Blue Pencil Agency First Novel Award where I achieved Highly Commended. My elation then doubled when Nelle Andrew, now of the Rachel Mills Literary agency, offered me representation!
Hooking an agent is only ever half the battle and I still believe in Anita Shreve’s assertion that “The only difference between a published writer and an unpublished writer is the published writer never gave up.” Stephen King in his book On Writing said, “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” It’s true, the hard work never stops.
I do hope you enjoy your visit here and I thank you for dropping by.
Neil