Blog Tour ~ Sugar and Snails by Anne Goodwin

Jaffareadstoo is thrilled to be today's stop on the Sugar and Snails Birthday Blog Tour 

And here's the author Anne Goodwin to tell us all about Sugar and Snails

Welcome to Jaffareadstoo, Anne ~ How long have you been writing and what got you started?

I’ve been writing since I could hold a pencil, but took it up seriously about thirteen years ago when a bereavement forced me to take stock of my life, especially the balance between my employment as a clinical psychologist and my more personal ambitions. It felt quite scary reducing my hours to dedicate some time to an endeavour I’d always felt rather embarrassed about, with no way of knowing whether the effort I was putting in would reap results. I was lucky to find an online short story writing course to support those tentative first steps and, although it’s been a rough ride at times, I’ve never regretted taking that leap into the unknown.

What inspired you to write Sugar and Snails and what can you tell us about the story that won’t give too much away?

Sugar and Snails emerged from a strange interaction between my response to a newspaper report about a distinguished academic who died of anorexia without anyone in her immediate circle being aware of her difficulties; questions about gender fluidity, including the chance discovery that I’d been travelling for weeks on a passport with the letter M in the box for sex; and my attempts to reconcile myself to my own traumatic adolescence. In a nutshell, it’s a midlife coming-of-age story about a woman who has kept her past identity a secret for her entire adult life. While Diana’s background is an unusual one, readers can easily relate to the challenge of bridging the gap between who we are and who we would like to be. We all have some parts of ourselves we’re not happy with and would rather others didn’t see.

Are you a plotter...or ...a start writing and see where it takes you sort of writer? 

Although I’ve often posed this question myself in the debut novelist Q&A’s on my website, it doesn’t help much when it comes to formulating a response in relation to my own writing! Since I really don’t know what it would mean to properly plan a novel, I suppose I must be a pantser, although that doesn’t fit so well with my control-freakery personality. However, I do find that the best way for me to prepare to embark on a fiction project is to play around with the ideas in my head for as long as I can. At some point, the thoughts will be so overwhelming that I have to get them out somehow, but I definitely feel there’s a loss of flexibility (despite multiple revisions and rewrites) once the words are on the screen. I enjoy seeing where the story will take me, and my characters, but if I don’t have some idea of the ending by about a third of the way through, it’s unlikely to work (which is why I have a lot of unfinished projects). However, as happened with Sugar and Snails that ending might well change over time. Once I have a first draft, I can look at what I’ve got to see where I can ratchet up the tension and tighten up the plot. For a big project, like a novel, I tend to produce an outline to remind me what I’ve got as I go along, so you could say I’m a retrospective plotter.

What were the challenges you faced whilst writing this novel?

Out of dozens, some of which I’ve probably repressed, I’ve picked three to share with you: 

1. I wanted readers to have the pleasure of discovering Diana’s secret as the story progressed without inducing too much irritation at information being withheld. I had a rule of never deliberately misleading, and I particularly enjoyed planting clues along the way, but it was hard to strike the right balance. While I also felt that her reticence was consistent with her character, some of her more curmudgeonly features were edited out in order to make her more sympathetic.

2. I also needed to convey information about her particular identity which the average reader would not have known. I think I found ways of doing this which worked within the story, but I do have a morbid fear of the “information dump” or clunky dialogue in which characters discuss something they already know.

3. I originally wrote the novel from three points of view, which was condensed into one in the final draft. While some scenes from the perspectives of her parents could be cut without spoiling the story, the experience of her father, Leonard, as a prisoner of war, impacts on the kind of person Diana has become. Since Leonard was no longer in a position to tell his own story, I had to find another way of showing this to readers.

When do you find the time to write, and do you have a favourite place to do your writing?

I’m very lucky in that I took early retirement a few years ago so my time is (mostly) my own. I don’t have a set routine, but generally do my writing in the daytime. The downside, of course, is that I have fewer excuses for failing to complete projects than I had when I was working.

I’m also lucky to have a desk in a pleasant room with a view over our front garden. Because I rely on speech recognition software to do my writing I do need a quiet space, so I don’t have the flexibility of some writers to work in cafes, for example.

But I also consider myself to be “doing my writing” in my head when I’m out on country walks so, in that sense, the Peak District where I volunteer as a Ranger also qualifies as one of my favourite writing places.

Can you tell us if you have another novel planned?

My second novel, Underneath, about a man who keeps a woman imprisoned in a cellar, is written and edited heading for publication in May next year. But that isn’t because I’ve been particularly quick at getting it written. Two years after I began Sugar and Snails I thought it was finished, so sent it out for a critique while starting another. When the feedback showed me I still had a long way to go, I moved back and forth between the two novels, spending several weeks or months revising one before putting it aside in favour of the other. I never quite knew which would be published first, or if either would be published at all, so I’m pleased how things have worked out.

I’ve also been plugging away slowly on the second draft of what I hope to be my third novel, which, like Sugar and Snails is about secrets, with the focus this time on lives wasted through psychiatric incarceration. I’ve taken my inspiration from my first job as a qualified clinical psychologist as part of a team tasked with resettling long term psychiatric patients to the community.

Inspired Quill
July 2015

Anne Goodwin’s debut novel, Sugar and Snails, about a woman who has kept her past identity a secret for thirty years, was published in July 2015 by Inspired Quill and longlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize. Her second novel, Underneath, about a man who keeps a woman captive in his cellar, is scheduled for publication in May 2017. Anne is also a book blogger and author of over 60 published short stories. Catch up on her website: annethology or on Twitter @Annecdotist.

In honour of its first birthday, Sugar and Snails is available in Kindle format at only £0.99 / $0.99 until 31 July 2016.

Amazon UK 

Amazon.com 

My thoughts about Sugar and Snails...

Sugar and Snails is an altogether different look at the way destiny shapes our lives. Diana Dodsworth is a shy and introverted forty-something, she guards her privacy well, and trusts few people. She keeps her friends at arm’s length and finds no reason to confide in them, nor does she want people to know anything more about her other than what she is willing to disclose. However, when circumstances force her to look again at her life, Diana has to learn to have self-belief, even if it means giving up some of her well-guarded secrets.

The author, with a keen eye for detail, tackles some difficult issues, but with perceptive sensitivity she keeps a firm grasp on the main thread of the story, and as Diana's interesting past emerges, a thoughtful and poignant story starts to be revealed.

I don't feel that I can share anything more about the emotive themes which run through Sugar and Snails  as that would be to reveal more than was wise, so all is will say is that I found the story quite different  from what I expected, but different in a good way. It's a very thought provoking read and makes you ponder the question ‘what is identity’ and concludes with the thought that, who we are, should be who we are’ regardless of the circumstances, or otherwise, of our birth.

This is a though provoking debut novel and I hope that this talented author continues to give us more of the same in future novels.

Jaffa was especially pleased to meet up with Marmaduke, a discerning cat after his own heart.

Best read with...Jam sandwiches and hot, sweet tea.

Huge thanks to Anne for sharing her book with me and for her kind invitation to be part of her Birthday Blog Tour. The tour runs 18th - 29th July, so do visit the  other blog hosts for more exciting content.

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Blog Tour ~ A Certain Age by Beatriz Williams..

Jaffareadstoo is thrilled to be hosting today's stop on

A Certain Age Blog Tour

Harper Collins
July 2016

As the freedom of the Jazz Age transforms New York City, the iridescent Mrs Theresa Marshall of Fifth Avenue – a beautiful socialite of a certain age – has done the unthinkable: she’s fallen in love with her young lover, Captain Octavian Rofrano, a handsome aviator and hero of the Great War. But though times are changing, divorce for a woman of Theresa’s wealth and social standing is out of the question.

When Theresa’s bachelor brother, Ox, decides to tie the knot with the youngest daughter of a newly wealthy inventor, Theresa enlists her lover to present the family’s diamond rose ring to pretty ingénue, Miss Sophie Fortescue – and to check into the background of this little-known family. Yet even as he uncovers a shocking secret, Octavian falls under Sophie’s spell…

Divided loyalties and dangerous revelations lead to a shocking transgression and eventually Theresa must make a choice that will change them all forever.

And to celebrate our stop on the tour, here's a lovely interview with the author Beatriz Williams..

Where did you get the first flash of inspiration for A Certain Age?

For some time, I’ve wanted to set a book in the 1920s – I talk all the time on book tour about the many ways this decade transformed Western culture into what we are today – but I was waiting for just the right story to come along. And one day I was listening to the end of Der Rosenkavalier, an opera by Richard Strauss about a woman who loses her much-younger lover to a sweet young debutante, and I realized how well those themes might play out in a Jazz Age setting.

Without giving too much away – what can you tell us about the story?

Well, like Der Rosenkavalier – which really contains one of the most poignant, bittersweet scenarios in all opera – the book opens in bed, where Theresa and her young lover Octavian are enjoying a tryst, when they’re interrupted by her brother Jay “Ox” Ochsner interrupts them with the news that he’s getting married to the lovely heiress of a wealthy inventor. Theresa, suspicious of this family’s mysterious pedigree, sends Octavian to investigate, and he not only uncovers a shocking murder mystery in Sophie’s background, he falls in love with her himself. While it’s packed with plot twists and romance and Jazz Age razzle-dazzle, it’s also about the fleeting nature of youth, and the rise of this modern new culture in Jazz Age New York, and the ways in which we all have to grow up and deal with our demons. Most of all, it’s a love story—two love stories, really—drawing together three bright, complicated, charismatic people.

Whilst you are writing you must live with your characters. How do you feel about them when the book is finished? Are they what you expected them to be?

Oh, absolutely! I think anyone who reads my books knows I’m obsessed with voice, and expressing each character’s particular personality through the music of dialogue. My characters are real, living people inside my head, and I can’t help loving them with all their faults, in the same way you love your own children. And just like children, they have their own minds and wills, so that you have to adjust the story as you get to know them better. I had such a tough time with Octavian, for example, because he’s the kind of person who keeps his deepest thoughts and his misery on the inside; I kept having to rewrite scenes because I knew he would never say or do something that I needed him to say or do! And Sophie ended up being so much richer and more resilient that I expected – the character in the opera is more like an early Disney princess, wringing her handkerchief and stamping her sweet little foot.

Which character in the story did you identify with the most?

I think I identified most with Sophie, who tries so hard to be good despite the tides of ambition and emotion running inside her. But I felt so much empathy for Theresa, who has lost virtually every person she’s ever loved – starting with her husband, who showed himself a philanderer early in their marriage, to her baby daughter to her oldest son, who dies in the First World War. So she’s hiding so much pain and misery, which of course she’s not going to tell you about because she’s Theresa, and I loved the way she grew and stretched during the course of the story. 

Your writing is very atmospheric – how do you ‘set the scene’ in your novels and how much research did you need to do in order to bring the place and people to life?

You know, I had a lot of early exposure to theatre as a child, so it’s a natural process for me to imagine myself in the middle of a scene and feel the characters walking and talking and thinking around me. And in my view, the history is the setting on which a human drama plays out, so the focus should be on that drama with the surrounding details presented as naturally as possible. You can’t be too heavy handed, or it doesn’t work – you’ve popped outside the character’s point of view and dragged your reader out of the narrative world while you discourse on all your historical knowledge. Lucky for me, of course, I’m writing about periods in which we have a photographic and often cinematic record, so I can absorb all the nuances of dress and posture and syntax, the mannerisms and the furniture and food. Novels written during the period are a big help, as are diaries and letters, because you must absolutely create an authentic period voice, however much you streamline that voice to make it accessible to a modern reader. When I have specific questions, such as brands of soap and the price of a subway ride, I turn to the internet, which has become a godsend to writers of historical fiction! I especially love looking up vintage menus to figure out what my characters would be eating and drinking, since I’m a bit of a foodie myself. 

Can you share with us anything about your next writing project?

I’ve had so much fun writing about the 1920s, I’m going to stay there for a few more books! My next one is called THE WICKED CITY, and it’s about a straight-arrow Prohibition agent who recruits a flapper to help him crack a bootlegging ring. 

About the Author..

A graduate of Stanford University with an MBA from Columbia, Beatriz Williams spent several years in New York and London hiding her early attempts at fiction, first on company laptops as a communications strategy consultant, and then as an at-home producer of small persons, before her career as a writer took off . She lives with her husband and four children near the Connecticut shore.

Photo credit : Marilyn Roos

Find more about the author on her website

Visit her on Facebook

Follow on Twitter @bcwilliamsbooks

Amazon.com

Amazon UK

Huge thanks to Beatriz for answering my questions so thoughtfully and also to  Jaime at Harper Collins for my review copy of A Certain Age and for the invitation to be part of this exciting blog tour.

Tour runs between 18th -29th July. 

Do visit the other stops

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Blog Tour ~ Learning to Speak American by Colette Dartford

I am delighted to host a stop on the

Learning to Speak American Blog Tour with this lovely guest post from author

Colette Dartford

How I Found The Courage To Start Writing

I wrote my debut novel, Learning To Speak American, while I was living in California’s idyllic Napa Valley. Up until then writing had been a hobby, something I did for my own pleasure and rarely allowed anyone else to read. But creative writing is like most things – the more you practice, the better you get. Because my American visa prevented me from working, I had time to write, and gradually my confidence grew to the point where I began to enter competitions. Imagine my surprise and delight when I was shortlisted for a poetry prize,  runner-up in a short story competition and published in an anthology.

It’s amazing how a taste of success, however small, can really give your courage a boost. I wanted to improve the quality of my writing but since I had no formal training on which to build, (my career was in policy research), I found a mentor and worked closely with her until I moved back to the UK. This one-to-one relationship suited my style and personality, but I know other writers who prefer the support of a writing group, or the structure of an evening class at their local college.

Getting impartial, constructive feedback on your work is essential if you want to submit it to agents and publishers. They are inundated with aspiring authors and you need to be prepared for rejection. It can easily crush your confidence but remember than even bestselling authors like Stephen King and JK Rowling were rejected many times before they found success. And when, at last, you get that call from an agent, saying he loves your novel and would like to represent you, it’s absolutely worth all the ups and downs along the way.

Colette Dartford

July 2016

Learning to Speak American 

Published 14th July (Twenty7, £7.99)

A bit of blurb..

Having suffered in silence since the tragic death of their young daughter, Lola and Duncan Drummond's last chance to rediscover their love for one another lies in an anniversary holiday to the gorgeous Napa Valley.

Unable to talk about what happened, Duncan reaches out to his wife the only way he knows how - he buys her a derelict house, the restoration of which might just restore their relationship. 

As Lola works on the house she begins to realise the liberating power of letting go. But just as she begins to open up, Duncan's life begins to fall apart. 

After all the heartbreak, can Lola and Duncan learn to love again

My thoughts..

The loss of their beloved daughter, Clarissa, has devastated Lola and Duncan Drummond. In a desperate attempt to pull together the pieces of their marriage, a last ditch holiday to California's beautiful Napa Valley offers, just maybe, a semblance of hope. Amidst the glory of vineyards and lush, green countryside, Lola finds an element of peace and the idea of restoring a derelict cottage, aptly named The Treehouse, shakes her out of a lonely, grief-ridden apathy. What then follows shows Lola blossoming alongside The Treehouse, which in an unexpected way, helps to set her on the road to recovery, but at what cost to her relationship with Duncan?

The story opens up from the very start and I had enormous sympathy for both Duncan and Lola, although as the story progressed, I felt my allegiance, simply because of Duncan’s behaviour, focused more sympathetically on Lola.  There are some perceptive observations into the grieving process, with a real sense of two damaged souls trying desperately to make sense of their grief ,but who never really communicate properly with each other.

For some reason, I expected the novel to be a lighter read and was surprised at just how much depth the author’s reveals about loss and the different ways that people come to terms with hurt and despair. There’s a lovely, lyrical quality to the writing with a real sense of time and place, which helps to bring the beautiful Napa Valley to life, and although I have never visited California, I could, from the author’s descriptions visualise the beautiful countryside around The Treehouse quite clearly.

In many ways Learning to Speak American is a difficult novel to enjoy per se as it touches on a really heart breaking situation, and yet, as the novel progresses a lightness comes across the narrative and you can’t help but wish that everything is going to work out for Lola and Duncan.  And does it...well, you’ll need to read this lovely story for yourself to find out ..

Learning to Speak American is a very good debut novel from a talented new author in contemporary fiction.

 Best Read With ...…freshly grilled steaks and a delicious bottle of Opus One from the Napa Valley..

About the Author

Learning to Speak American is Colette Dartford's debut novel and is based on her experience of renovating a derelict house in California's Napa Valley. Having bought and renovated the house, Colette lived there with her husband for many years before moving back to the UK. Colette wrote the book in California where it was a quarter finalist in Amazon's first novel award. Before becoming a writer, Colette worked as a Political Research Consultant in public policy for many years and has a MPhil in Political Science, her second novel, The Sinners, will be published by Bonnier in 2017.

You can find more about Colette on her website

Visit on Facebook

Follow on Twitter @ColetteDartford

My thanks to Colette for this guest post and to the publisher for my review copy of 

Learning to Speak American.

Big thanks to Alice at Midas for her invitation to be part of this blog tour.

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Sunday WW1 Remembered....

I'm delighted to be able to feature on WW1 Remembered this debut novel by David Snell.

 Sing to Silent Stones: Violet's War is based on his own family's tragic and inspiring journey through the First World War.

Sing to Silent Stones

Published 15th July
Hornet Books

A bit of blurb..

Violet Matthews is only 18 when she falls passionately in love with Frank Balfour. But her father could never consider Frank, one of his employees, to be good enough for his daughter. With war on the horizon, Violet’s father is all too keen to support Frank’s desire to join the army. But months later he learns the shameful truth of his daughter’s last night with Frank Balfour.

Five years on, Violet is in France, having dedicated her life to the war as a nurse in an effort to repent for her past. More importantly, she longs to reclaim her illegitimate son who she was forced to send away. His name? Frank Balfour, lovingly named after his late father.

Finally, Violet and her son Frank are reunited and they must find their own way through the painful aftermath of war as Violet tries to settle into her new life in France. But when tragedy strikes again, their family is fractured between countries. Frank must learn to find his own strength and before long, he leaves Loire Valley to follow in his father’s footsteps on the brink of the Second World War

My thoughts..

Sing to Silent Stones starts with a prologue in 1919, but quickly moves back in time to 1913 and to an England on the cusp of war. We are introduced to the main protagonist, Violet Matthews and watch as her burgeoning relationship with one of her father's employees, Frank Balfour, takes gentle flight. The repercussions of this love affair are overshadowed by the start of the First World War and, inevitably of both Frank and Violet's role in it.

There is much to consider about this novel which sensitively portrays the effect that The Great War had on a generation of young men and women. The testament to what they witnessed, both abroad and at home, is a poignant reminder of the suffering and loss encountered on a scale never before witnessed.

The author has used his own family history to good effect and weaves together a compelling story putting a very human face on what was happening on the Western Front. The bravery of the soldiers, the misery and confusion of facing unknown hardships is, in a way, counter balanced against Violet's story and of how she bravely gets on with her life regardless of what fate throws at her. The novel doesn't finish at the end of WW1 but continues with Violet's life through to 1930. However, there is a continuation of the story planned which will see the novel expand beyond 1939 and into the horror and confusion of another World War.

There is no doubt that many families have a story to tell about a family member caught up in the momentous events of the early part of the twentieth century, but not everyone has the ability to put the stories onto paper. I think it is commendable that the author has written such a worthy story and should be justifiably proud of his family history and particularly of Violet who proved to be an admirable heroine.

Best Read With ...A toasted teacake and a piping hot cup of tea from a tea-pot that has one of those colourful, wavy cosies...

About the Author:

David Snell’s father-in-law, Frank Balfour Jnr. and grandmother-in-law, Violet are the true inspiration behind Violet’s War. David also drew on the lives of his own parents who were both wartime pilots in the RAF. He and his brother, Peter, grew up on RAF bases around the world inspiring Peter to also become a pilot. Peter tragically died aged 38, doing aerobatics in his own Second World War Harvard. David became an anti-war campaigner.

Having previously worked in the building industry, David built 14 houses while living in 28 different addresses. He wrote the self-builder’s bible, Building Your Home, now in its 18th edition and wrote a weekly Telegraph column about property for 14 years. Violet’s War is the first of two books with Frank’s War to be released as a sequel in early 2017.

Amazon UK

My thanks to Heloise and the team at edpr for my review copy of this book

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Blog Tour ~ Lying in Wait by Liz Nugent

Jaffareadstoo is excited to be hosting today's stop on the 

Lying in Wait Blog Tour

Hi Liz and welcome to Jaffareadstoo..

Thanks Jo for these great questions and for taking part in the blog tour. 

I thoroughly appreciate it!

Where did you get the first flash of inspiration for Lying in Wait?

A man once told me that he strongly suspected his father had murdered a prostitute in the 1960s. He had no evidence or no way of proving it. He never had the courage to challenge his father and went to his grave wondering. He told me this story about 25 years ago and he is long dead now. I always wondered what it would be like to grow up in a house where you suspect your father is a murderer.

Without giving too much away – what can you tell us about the story?

It begins in the immediate aftermath of a murder committed by a respected Judge and his neurotic wife. The story is told from the point of view of the neurotic wife, her mollycoddled son and the sister of the murder victim. It is about love, betrayal, obsession and getting away with murder.

Your writing is very atmospheric – how do you ‘set the scene’ in your novels and how much research did you need to do in order to bring the story to life?

I’ve never really thought about that! But most scenarios are drawn from real life. I spent time in a Chateau before I started to write Unravelling Oliver. I was a teenager in 1980s Dublin, so most of the background to Lying in Wait comes from memory. I do as little research as possible! I write the story first and then try to work out how I can make it all possible.

Whilst you are writing you must live with your characters. How do you feel about them when the book is finished? Are they the people you expected them to be?

Every character mutates as I develop them and sometimes it is hard to leave them behind. With Unravelling Oliver, I find myself still wondering how Barney and Eugene are getting on. With Lying in Wait, I am still desperately worried about Karen!

What do you hope readers will take away from your stories?

I don’t really think that way. I hope I was able to transport them for a few days or weeks and immerse them in an entirely unsettling experience, but not in a way that will freak them out. If they can take some lesson from the books, that’s great but I never intended to preach any particular agenda.

When do you find the time to write, and do you have a favourite place to do your writing?

I am now a full time writer so it is my job. My favourite place to write is in the armchair in my kitchen, but sometimes, when I really need to focus, I sneak away to an artist’s retreat called The Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Co Monaghan. It is a little piece of heaven, and it is haunted! http://www.tyroneguthrie.ie

Can you tell us if you have another novel planned?

Yes, I am currently in the early stages of plotting book number 3. It is partially set in the south of France so I am off to Monaco in September to do some research!

Huge thanks to Liz and her publishing team at Penguin for this invitation to be part of the

 Lying in Wait Blog Tour

The blog tour runs until the 26th of July - so do catch up with the rest of the stops.

You can find out more about Liz Nugent on her website

Visit her on Facebook 

Follow on Twitter @lizzienugent

Lying in Wait is available in ebook and paperback from all good book stores and Amazon UK

Penguin Ireland
14th July

A bit of blurb..

The last people who expect to be meeting with a drug-addicted prostitute are a respected judge and his reclusive wife. And they certainly don't plan to kill her and bury her in their exquisite suburban garden.

Yet Andrew and Lydia Fitzsimons find themselves in this unfortunate situation.

While Lydia does all she can to protect their innocent son Laurence and their social standing, her husband begins to falls apart.

But Laurence is not as naïve as Lydia thinks. And his obsession with the dead girl's family may be the undoing of his own

My thoughts...

Lying in Wait is a deliciously dark and disturbing story which opens in Dublin in 1980 with a murder. The fact that we know from the very start that the murderers are Andrew and Lydia Fitzsimons does not detract from what is, after all ,a very cleverly thought out psychological thriller.

I'm not going to say anything about the premise of the story, except to praise the opening line which had me hooked, “My husband did not mean to kill Annie Doyle, but the lying tramp deserved it", and thus starts this absolute roller coaster of a story which looks at the subject of culpability and shows just what happens when hidden family secrets become so ingrained in daily life, that it becomes virtually impossible to imagine a time when their lives were not suffused in deceit and lies.

Told in three distinct voices by narrators who each have massive personality problems, you can't help but be taken in by all of them. However, two are quite likeable, but one, in particular, is so evil it makes your blood boil, but I won't spoil anything by telling you anymore. What I will say, though, is that the author has excelled herself with this novel. It's incredibly dark and sinister in places, suffused with an obsessive and dangerous kind of love which torments and attacks at every opportunity, so that by the end of the novel you hope that there will be a respite from the misery, which, at times, seems never ending.

It's a sharp, clever and beautifully observed psychological drama which will have you on the edge of your seat. There is an underlying tension, which is so brooding in nature, that even now, days after finishing the novel, I am still reeling from the ending.

I am left in no doubt that Lying in Wait will be on my books of 2016 list.

Best read with...Pizza and a very large gin and tonic..

~***~

Blog Tour ~ Silent Scream by Angela Marsons

I am delighted to host today's stop on the Silent Scream Blog Tour 

and to welcome the author Angela Marsons

 

A warm welcome to Jaffareadstoo, Angela and thanks for sharing with us your five favourite questions...

Like many authors, when asked what I do for a living my response is often whispered guiltily or spoken from behind a hand, or disguised by a cough. Not because I’m not immensely proud of my profession but because the admission is normally followed by one, if not all of the following questions.

1. Have I heard of you?

Well, I don’t know, have you? I’d like to respond. I’m not sure where the link between being a writer and having psychic abilities comes from. This question is often followed by ‘well, do you have a book I can read?’ Now, if you’ve just popped out for an eye test or a doctor’s appointment this is likely to be no.

2. Are you a millionaire?

This is a personal favourite of mine. I am often tempted to produce a ready-made excel spreadsheet detailing the production costs and royalty breakdown for their consumption. As above I’m unsure where the link between writer and millionaire came from. Occasionally for fun I just smile mysteriously.

3. Are your books on the television?

Or ‘Are your books being made into films?’ This, I have realised, is a no win question. If the answer is affirmative we revert to question 1 which is ‘Have I seen it?’ Time to get the crystal ball out again. If the answer is negative you may receive a tip of the head along with a sympathetic expression that says ‘oh, you’re not very successful, then?’ As with question 2, I am often tempted to produce a calculation of the ratio of books published per year versus the number of films/TV dramas produced.

4. How many bodies are buried beneath your patio?

One more if I’m asked that question again, I would like to reply. I smile politely in response as though it’s a question I’ve never been asked before. I would like to answer that my research is nowhere near as arduous or complicated as that of Michael Crichton when writing Jurassic Park. Just imagine having to grow all those dinosaurs and find a remote island to house them. As a crime writer all I have to do is kill numerous amounts of people, make notes as I go and then hide the bodies. 

5. But what’s your real job?

By the time we reach this question there is a good chance that I am crying hysterically, stamping my feet and screaming ‘this is my real job’. I have written around a full time job for more than 25 years and when I was able to answer that my real job was a Security Manager I received understanding nods of approval. Whereas my admission that I am a full time author is met with compassion, disbelief and an expression that says ‘of course you are, dear’.

More about Angela can be found on her website

Follow her on Twitter @Write Angie

Huge thanks to Angela for inviting Jaffareadstoo to be part of this blog tour and for taking the time to give us the answers to her five favourite questions !  

And thanks also to the publishers for my view copy of  Silent Scream.

 Zaffre Publishing

A bit of blurb..

Even the darkest secrets can’t stay buried forever…

Five figures gather round a shallow grave. They had all taken turns to dig. An adult-sized hole would have taken longer. An innocent life had been taken but the pact had been made. Their secrets would be buried, bound in blood …

Years later, a headmistress is found brutally strangled, the first in a spate of gruesome murders which shock the Black Country.

But when human remains are discovered at a former children’s home, disturbing secrets are also unearthed. D.I. Kim Stone fast realises she’s on the hunt for a twisted individual whose killing spree spans decades.

As the body count rises, Kim needs to stop the murderer before they strike again. But to catch the killer, can Kim confront the demons of her own past before it’s too late?

My thoughts..

Silent Scream is the first in a series of crime novels which feature Detective Inspector Kim Stone. Set in the Black Country, to the industrial west of Birmingham, Silent Scream has much to recommend it, not least a few thousand ‘excellent’ reviews on Amazon.

The story hits the ground running with a brutal murder which is linked directly to a series of other incidents, in which it seems like the perpetrator is cherry picking his, or her victims. Link this with a forensic archaeological project, an abandoned children’s home, and more twists and turns than is possible to recount, and you have the strong foundation for a fast moving and well plotted crime novel.

I enjoyed the author's easy writing style; she has a real gift for storytelling and the short and snappy chapters, some only a couple of pages long soon start to command attention. The story is focused and compelling, with more than enough twists and turns to keep the plot skimming along at high speed. However, there is no doubt that the real star of the story is DI Stone who is a worthy protagonist. She’s of the no nonsense style of policing, a bit of a maverick, often going completely against protocol to get results but ultimately, in the end, getting the right result is what really matters.

I found the plot intriguing with enough police procedure to keep it interesting and I enjoyed trying to work out ‘whodunit’, and it must be said, when the final dénouement came, it was quite a surprise, which was a real treat for me, as so very often in crime novels I have worked out the perpetrator quite early on, so to have a real 'wow ..no way’ moment was a joy.

See Question 3 ....There's a definite televisual quality to the novel, so much so, I could quite easily see it translated to TV, and then perhaps D.I Stone and her investigative team could do for the Black County what Scott and Bailey did for Greater Manchester?

I know that there are now four books in this excellent crime series and when my reading time allows, I fully intend to meet up again with Kim Stone and the rest of her team. 

Best Read with…Chicken Chow Mein and pot of rich Colombian coffee, heavy on aroma..

Amazon UK

 

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The author in my spotlight is ...J. A. Corrigan

**Happy Publication Day **

Accent Press
14th July

 I am delighted to welcome the author J A Corrigan on the publication day of her novel

Falling Suns

Hi Julie-Ann, thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule. It's a pleasure to have you as our guest today and especially on the publication day of Falling Suns..

Tell us a little about yourself and what got you started as an author?

I’m married with one teenage daughter and 18 months ago we welcomed a little cockapoo into our family! I’m a qualified physiotherapist, but gave up practicing last year to concentrate on my writing.

I decided to follow the strong urge I’d to write when it dawned on me that my time on this earth is finite – a realisation that hits many of us at a certain age. 

I started off by signing up for an online beginners fiction-writing course with the Open University, and I was immediately hooked. I was lucky and saw my first articles and short stories published quite early on. 

When you first sat down to write Falling Suns -what came first – the idea or theme, the plot, place or characters?

I think that firstly came the theme: what I wanted the book to be about, its underlying themes and motifs. Having said that, the mother, Rachel, and Michael Hemmings were in my mind’s eye very early on. The plot built organically, although I did ‘know’ that certain events were going to happen, and basically I wrote the story around those events.

Will you explain to us a little more about the plot without giving too much away.

The book opens with Rachel in turmoil because her son has gone missing. Early on Joe is found brutally murdered. It is a family member who admits to the murder and who is later placed in a psychiatric hospital.

When four years later Rachel is informed that he may well be released to a less secure step-down unit she becomes engulfed in grief and anger, and powered by a strong need for revenge Rachel sets up her plan. 

What do you consider to be your strongest points as a writer?

I am very disciplined. I have a routine and generally stick to that routine. I get up early to write and since giving up my job last year, I write every day, and for most of the day. Unless there is something to finish (which there always seems to be!) I try not to write at weekends – that is my reading and having fun time.

What is your idea of writing Heaven and writing Hell?

Writing Heaven would be a study with a window over-looking the sea in Spain. It would also involve a housekeeper and a cook!

Writing Hell would be working full-time in a professional and demanding job and never having time to concentrate properly. I do know that many writers manage this – I know a few – but for me and in the long term, I wouldn’t last very long. One of the jobs would have to give. Writing novels is hard work and very time-consuming.

Are you your worst critic and why?

I think I am my worst critic, but then again I do believe that many writers are in fact their own worst judge.

I often don’t like how something reads after I’ve written it; but it takes distance from the work to know how to fix it, and giving yourself that distance means being patient – not a trait I’m known for. 

And finally - how can readers find out more about you and your writing?

I have a new website:

Twitter: @julieannwriter

Author Facebook Page

Amazon 

Publisher 





My thoughts about Falling Suns...

Accent Press
14th July

The story starts with every parent's worst nightmare, that of a child missing and as parents Rachel and Liam wait for news of their missing son, Joe, you can sense their collective unease and the fragmented state of their marriage. I'm not giving any spoilers away when I say that this book takes a very dark and disturbing look into the lives of all those who are affected by the loss of this child. For Rachel, there are no limits to the places she will go to seek vengeance.

Falling Suns is not an easy to story to read as it explores some quite disturbing and distressing psychological scenarios all of which are well explored but which leave a lasting resonance which made me feel quite uneasy. However, that’s where the strength of the book lies, in the way it turns such a dark and complex story completely on its head and gives you something that you really don’t expect.

I read the book comfortably over the space of a couple of afternoons but with my emotions skimming all over the place as there is just so much to take in. Not just about the psychological aspects of loss but also about the dark and disturbing aspect of long buried family secrets and of the hellish demons that, sometimes, exist far below the surface.

This is a very good debut novel from a talented new author who I am sure will continue to go from strength to strength,

Best Read With....Toffee popcorn and a strong slug of restorative brandy.....

My thanks to the author and publisher for sharing this book with me.

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