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Firstly, Happy New Year! 2025 already. I can’t believe how fast 2024 went by; I think I blinked and we were already in December. Perhaps this was because I’d fallen very behind with my new book (psychological thriller provisionally titled When Bad Things Happen…), which I had hoped to have completed by the end of the year. It’s now looking like the book won’t be out until 2026 at the earliest. On the positive side, I’ve been working on the novel alongside a fabulous editor called Helen Francis (via the excellent Jericho Writers), who has been giving me a lot of very positive encouragement with the book, and I feel like it’s really taking shape.

2024 did bring some exciting news: my publishers, Hera/Canelo, have been taken over by DK Publishing, who are part of the mighty Penguin publishing empire, so hopefully that will mean a boost in promotion and a subsequent boost in sales.

On a personal front, I’ve decided that 2025 is the year I will finally get around to tidying up our garden, which has been sadly neglected since we moved in to our current house over two years ago. We did manage to paint the walls last summer (it’s a courtyard garden surrounded by 8ft hight walls), but due to a lack of time and enthusiasm (mostly enthusiasm!) we didn’t make much progress with the garden itself. I’m certain with a bit of imagination and effort, this could be a really attractive space for sitting and reading on a summer’s day, although the attached photo showing its current state would suggest we still have some way to go before achieving that…

Garden in winter.

Well, here we are already over halfway through 2024. July marked five years since my first book – Know No Evil – was published by Hera Books, and now I’m currently working on the final draft my seventh book, a psychological thriller called When Bad Things Happen. The book should hopefully be out later next year, though I don’t have a confirmed publication date yet.

It’s been a dizzying time since my first book came out, and life as a published author has been a tangled mix of excitement and the odd moment of disappointment. However, I’ve certainly learned a lot about the process of writing during the past five years. A recent discussion with another writer concerned the idea of plotters versus pantsters, in other words writers who plot their books in advance (as I do) and writers who prefer wite with nothing more than an idea and a vague direction of where they want to go, in other words ‘flying by the seat of their pants’. We both agreed that writing is usually a combination of both – with plotters often changing bits of the story part of the way through a book, and sometimes characters end up dictating the direction of travel rather than going where the plot initially intended. Similarly, pantsters generally have an idea in their heads of how their story is going to pan out before they start writing. The rule seems to be to do whatever works for you as a writer.

Also this summer, I was also lucky enough to feature in a short film a neighbour of mine, Dan Crouch, has made as part of a project called Memory Tree 2024 (more details here). The film features local people who live in Hastings talking about their background and what has influenced them to do what they do. My section of the film can be seen below.

Incidentally, despite having resisted it for many years, I can now be found on Facebook, as well as Instagram and Threads.

As 2023 slowly eases itself into 2024, it’s a good time to look back on the past year (not that I believe too much in looking back – it’s always better to look forward). I published the sixth book in the Denning and Fisher crimes series. I started writing the first book in the series (Know No Evil) almost ten years ago, finally finding a publisher in 2019. Whilst it’s been a pleasure writing the series and getting to know the characters, I’m looking forward now to new challenges. With that in mind, I’m currently writing a standalone psychological thriller, which is taking my writing in a slightly different direction. I don’t – as yet – have a publisher for the book, but I’m keeping everything crossed for it.

However, we haven’t heard the last of Denning and Fisher. I’d still like to return to the series at a later date and do something different with the characters; perhaps a change of setting, or a change of career for one of the characters… I also have some ideas for two very different crime series, which I’d like to start on in 2024: one is a cosy crime series featuring two amateur sleuths, while the other is set in the early 1900s.

So, plenty happening in 2024. Please keep checking the website for more details. Or follow me on social media: threads, and instagram. Get in touch any time as I love chatting to readers and hearing your feedback.

In the meantime, all the very to everyone and here’s to a great 2024!

Hard to believe we’re halfway through September already. It’s been an eventful year: I attended a party thrown by my wonderful publishers Canelo/Hera back in the summer, and it was good fun to meet fellow authors as well as meeting the people who help bring my books into the world. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to take any photos and as I had to catch the last train back to Hastings, I wasn’t able to stay for as long as I would have liked.

What else have I been up to? Well, I’ve just sent the final draft of book 6 in the Denning and Fisher series off to the publishers, and am awaiting the first lot of edits back. The book, titled Truth Lies Dying is coming out in both ebook and paperback on 23 November.

This means I can now get back to writing my first standalone novel, which has slightly been on the back burner for most of this year. It’s provisionally titled When Bad Things Happen and features a successful novelist called Emma Beresford who has been receiving anonymous death threats. Could this be the work of a deranged fan? A stalker? Or could it have something to do with evens in her past? Events she is determined to keep hidden, especially from a determined journalist who is eager to find the truth about Emma’s past…? No details yet as to the book’s publication, but I will keep everyone informed via my website.

I also have plans to write a cosy crime series featuring two amateur detectives who meet through their local book group…

More details to follow.

The passing of another year. An eventful year for me – moving house and publishing two further books in the Denning and Fisher series. RUN FOR COVER came out in May – accompanied by a book launch in a local bookshop (The Hastings Bookshop), which was a first for me and an interesting experience. Book 5– SHAME THE DEVIL – came out in October, and is already selling well.

Looking ahead, I’m about to start work on book 6 in the series, due to be published in the autumn of 2023. This is likely to be the final book in the Denning and Fisher series as after discussion with my publishers, we both feel it’s time to move on. The books have sold well, and I’ve enjoyed writing them, but the time does feel right to bring the series to an end. However, it won’t be a definitive full stop – there’s always the chance I might return to the series if I feel there are more stories to be told. And, of course, if there’s a demand for more books in the series…

Police procedural crime stories bring their own challenges. One of the biggest challenges is the need to ensure there’s a level of factual accuracy, though being a work of fiction the writer is allowed an element of ‘creative licence’ as long as the technical details of a murder investigation are factually correct. In this respect I’ve been helped from the start by Graham Bartlett. Graham is a former Chief Superintendent with Brighton and Hove Police who now advises writers on the technical accuracies of police procedure, and can be contacted via his website. 2022 saw Graham publish his first novel – BAD FOR GOOD, which is well worth a read.

On a personal level, 2022 saw me move house. I regularly post pics of the new abode on my Instagram account, along with pictures of my dog (Peggy) and two Siamese cat (Bella and Raffles).

So, what else will 2023 bring? As well as the sixth Denning and Fisher novel, I’m also currently working on a standalone psychological crime thriller about a novelist who is being tormented by events form her past – events she thought were long buried and forgotten. The book should be out sometime in 2024, and I will keep prospective readers informed on my blogsite.

In the meantime, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish all my readers a wonderful and prosperous 2023.

This week saw the publication of my fifth novel – SHAME THE DEVIL, the latest outing for detectives DI Matthew Denning and DS Molly Fisher.

The book begins with a young father being stabbed to death on his doorstep in what looks at first to be a case of mistaken identity. However, once other similar murders follow, Denning and Fisher suspect there could be a connection, and could have something to do with a tragic event from years before.

As well as book 5, the first four books in the series (KNOW NO EVIL, BLOOD FAMILY, THE DARKNESS WITHIN and RUN FOR COVER) are going to be released as an e-book bundle – a single volume that contains all four titles, and will be out on 29 October. Hopefully more Denning and Fisher books will be coming out next year…

In the meantime, I’m currently writing a standalone thriller, set slightly closer to home in East Sussex, and featuring a successful novelist who has suddenly started receiving anonymous death threats. Could this have something to with events from her past? Events she would do anything to keep secret.

On the personal front, this week marks exactly three months since I moved into my new house, which is right next door to our previous address, so we didn’t have far to move. It still managed to cause they odd headache however, but I‘m very happy to finally be settled. I now have a much bigger, brighter office with a gorgeous view of Hastings East Hill (photo below) – what greater incentive do I need for my writing?