Tag Archives: Book launch

November 19, 2015 · 11:15 am

Many Thanks to Heather More for the Lovely Watercolour Cover

Watercolour by Heather More

Watercolour by Heather More

Authentic and quirky ~ Heather More’s watercolour of Pettycur caught my eye for my new tome. I wanted an informal cover which summed up my life in Fife and bearing in mind we lived in Kinghorn throughout the winter of 2013, 2014, this was just right.

Heather More is a Scottish artist who trained in Glasgow but is now living in Barcelona. She is the daughter of a lovely neighbour of mine who talked of her so proudly – rightly so! I was browsing through the link to her website one day and saw this painting of Pettycur Bay, a view I looked at every day from our lounge window in the flat which we were renting for a year.

As soon as I spotted it I thought – PERFECT!

I sent Heather an email and asked if she could possibly add a figure with a ruck-sack wearing a cerise bobble hat – me! So here we are. Wonderful.

Many a time I used to put on my hat and gloves and go for a walk along the beach, or pause a wee while sitting on the rocks in the winter sunshine sheltered by the cliff. Walking further along the coastal path I’d have my ruck-sack on too, for a bottle of water, sandwich and my wet weather gear. I’d set off, sometime on my own but frequently with my husband on his days off.

From Redundancy to Rejuvenation tells my story but in quite a different way ~ more news soon (if you’ll excuse the pun) will be available initially in paperback from Amazon from 23rd November.

9 Comments

Filed under Events, Fife Fantasy

Tagged as , , , ,

June 18, 2014 · 11:00 am

A Book Launch Celebration with a Difference!

Instead of my usual event inviting friends and family along to a book launch this year, like the cover competition, I’m doing things a bit differently. I’m having a stall at the Haynes 100, the village in Bedfordshire truly at the heart of my novel ‘Murder, now and then’.

DSCN0164What is the Haynes 100?

Each year for the last eight years, at least 100 cars have driven to the village green in Haynes, but it is not just another classic and vintage car event. No! They try to have a vehicle – could be a camper-van or even one year there was a hearse – but it is usually a car, to representDSCN0158 each year for the last 100 years. My husband’s Old English Jaguar, which incidentally is also features in ‘Murder, now and then’, attends regularly. It may be the last year it features because, if he decided to retire, it may have to go, so we’ll enjoy it while we can.

I held a book stall last year selling ‘Ancasta ~ Guide me Swiftly Home’ and the Riduna series and there was much interest when I spoke to locals about my murder mystery, inspired by a true unsolved murder at Haynes Park army camp in 1919 just after the end of the Great War. It is always a most enjoyable occasion. Anyone is welcome to join, especially to wave on the parade as all the cars drive around the village. It’s quite spectacular.

Many take picnics although there are food and drink stalls available and even rides for children. It is a family occasion. If you come to admire the cars and watch the parade, do come and say hello to me at my table right next to the white Jag. The more the merrier!

Leave a comment

Filed under Events, Marketing your novel, Murder Now and Then, The Great War, WW1

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

June 4, 2014 · 8:54 am

‘INTRIGUING ~ MYSTERIOUS ~ COMPLEX’ – ‘Murder, now and then’ is out now in paperback

It is exciting to announce that the paperback version of ‘Murder, now and then’ is now available on Amazon.co.uk and on Amazon.com

It will take another month (July 2014) before it is available to order from bookshops or for libraries unless directly from the publisher at enquiries@eventispress.co.uk

The cover is designed by Emma Black from North Herts College, Hitchin.

'Murder, now and then' paperback version

‘Murder, now and then’ paperback version

‘INTRIGUING ~ MYSTERIOUS ~ COMPLEX ~ BELIEVABLE’

This very British murder mystery is set in 2019, with  flashbacks to 1919.

At the end of WW1 in woods beside an army training camp near the village of Haynes, Bedfordshire, Lucille Vardon, a lass from Jersey, was murdered. Although many theories were discussed, a colonel stood trial but was acquitted and another man in Canada allegedly confessed to the murder – no one was actually convicted for the crime. So far the novel ‘Murder, now and then’  is based on this actual murder although the names have been changed.

One hundred years later in 2019, at an imaginary farm near Haynes Park, when life in Britain has altered but not unrecognisably so, a farmer’s wife Joanna is accused of murdering her husband. As the plot unravels, the police cannot ignore the numerous coincidences and  unlikely links with the original murder in 1919.

‘Murder, now and then’ explores man’s compulsive desire to delve into family history, even though it sometimes uncovers hidden and powerful truths which can have far reaching affects on the present and future. Truly the ‘Sins of the fathers……

The novel also explores the best of Bedfordshire from Diana’s perspective, an area of the country often passed by travelling up the M1 or A1, but one which the author feels should be celebrated,  though the novel should appeal to anyone who loves a good murder mystery.

 

Leave a comment

Filed under Book reading, Book reviews, Events, Historical Fiction, Murder Now and Then, The Great War, WW1

Tagged as , , , , ,