Congratulations to Ros Rendle, whose gorgeous contemporary romance, Rhythms of the Heart, is published today! Rhythms of the Heart is the first book in the Moondreams House series.
Having been widowed for eighteen months, 39-year-old Annie Ellis is searching for a way to support herself.
When she runs into Harry Moon — an old flame from her teenage years — her life takes a direction she never expected.
Separated from his wife and now working as a concierge at Moondreams House — a large local estate — Harry understands what it is like to feel alone. As their friendship progresses, Annie confides her ambition to run a dance school. Admiring her vision, Harry encourages her to rent the ballroom of Moondreams House for her new venture.
Happy with her career path, Annie’s grief over her late husband slowly eases. Believing she is ready for romance, she begins to look for someone to share her new beginning…
Will Annie make a success of her dance school? Is love on the horizon?
Or will the pain of the past hold her back…?
Congratulations to Graham Ley, whose captivating French Revolution saga, Heir to the Manor, is out now!
Devon and Brittany, 1796
As the conflict in France rages on, the Wentworth family — Anglo-French aristocrats — must find their place in a changing world.
Staying with friends in Cornwall and Plymouth, young Amelia is widening her social circles at soirees and assemblies. Finding herself in the company of several eligible gentlemen, she begins to wonder whether romance is on the horizon.
After fighting in France, Justin has married Amelia’s friend Arabella and the two have settled down at Chittesleigh Manor, his Devonshire estate. However, Arabella still feels responsible for Amelia and vows to find a way to protect her from unscrupulous suitors.
Hailing from Brittany, Sempronie — Amelia and Justin’s mother — feels her birthplace calling her home, despite the dangers of returning. What’s more, there is a long-buried family secret that she must put right before it’s too late…
Congratulations to Linda Stratmann, whose gripping historical mystery, Sherlock Holmes and the Ebony Idol, is published today! Sherlock Holmes and the Ebony Idol is the third Victorian crime thriller in the Early Casebook of Sherlock Holmes series.
When a pugilist dies at a local boxing demonstration attended by medical student Mr Stamford and his acquaintance Sherlock Holmes, a post-mortem reveals the death is due to natural causes.
But when the corpse of another boxer is discovered clutching a small wooden carving – the ebony idol – Holmes begins to suspect that sinister forces are at work.
His suspicions seem confirmed when the companions hear about a previous death in the ring.
Tasked by the man’s widow to bring his killer to justice, Holmes and Stamford are swiftly drawn into their most curious case to date.
Click here to order Sherlock Holmes and the Ebony Idol
Congratulations to Coirle Mooney, whose page-turning Medieval drama, My Lady’s Shadow, is published today!
1198, France
Lady Maria of Turenne has long been engaged in a flirtation with Count Hugh La Marche. It is a match which her father has strongly encouraged. However, Maria is her own woman and she is determined to choose for herself. Maria is unaware that her clever, scheming maid, Maryse, is secretly in love with the count.
Soon after, the young troubadour, Gui d’Ussel, arrives at the castle and Maria is instantly captivated by him. He shares her distaste of convention and her love of the arts and they soon become inseparable. Meanwhile, Maryse develops a strong dislike for Gui and her resentment for Maria grows.
Angered by her treatment of the Count of La Marche, Maria’s father has arranged a new wedding match. This time, Maria will not be allowed to decline.
Forced into marrying a wealthy viscount against her will, Maria and Gui are torn apart from each other. However, Maria is determined to find a way to use the power she has gained through marriage to raise Gui in society.
Will Maria and Gui find a way to be together? Can Maria escape her marriage?
Or will they be fated to remain apart?
Congratulations to Adele Jordan, whose thrilling historical espionage novel, The Gentlewoman Spy, is published today!
What happens when the spymaster’s right-hand man turns out to be a woman…?
1584, London
Sir Francis Walsingham, spymaster to the Tudor Queen Elizabeth has trained Kit Scarlett since she was a girl. Aware that she is able to infiltrate places that his male agents cannot, he sees her as an invaluable member of his team.
When Walsingham discovers that a rebel alliance is planning to overthrow Queen Elizabeth and put Mary, Queen of Scots on the English throne, he summons Kit immediately.
Together with loyal Scottish agent Iomhar Blackwood, Kit is tasked with finding out the full details of the treasonous plot.
Both used to working alone, Kit and Iomhar struggle to get along, but they must come together if they are to have any chance of stopping the deadly conspiracy against the queen.
Can Kit secure her place in a man’s world? Will she save Queen Elizabeth?
Or will her daring ultimately be her downfall…?
Congratulations to C V Chauhan, whose page-turning serial killer thriller, The Dance of Death, is out now!
The Dance of Death is the first book in the Inspector Sharma Thriller series.
When a young Asian woman is found murdered in a particularly brutal fashion, the Leicestershire police force are put on high alert to find the killer.
The body was positioned in the shape of swastika and instantly points to racist motivations.
Newly promoted homicide detective Rohan Sharma is given the case – a surprise both to Sharma himself and his more experienced colleagues.
Desperate to prove himself, Sharma works around the clock – and soon discovers connections to the death of a young Somali woman that occurred the previous year.
But with his resentful colleagues working against him and his private life falling apart, Sharma struggles to keep his head in the game.
And when he starts to receive strange anonymous messages, he realises the killer may now be tracking his every move…
Can Detective Sharma stop the killer before he strikes again?
Or will he find himself trapped in a vicious dance of death…?
Congratulations to Michael Fowler, whose heart-pounding thriller, The Wedding Killer, is out now!
The Wedding Killer is the second book in the Hamlet Mottrell Investigations series.
Having finally cleared his name after the brutal slaughter of his wife and unborn child, former forensic psychologist Dr Hamlet Mottrell is determined to piece his life back together.
He is given the opportunity to start a new career as a detective in a major investigation unit and is paired up with Detective Sergeant Alix Rainbow, the woman who once pursued him as the main suspect in his family’s murder.
Hamlet and Alix’s first case is a strange one.
A 21 year-old university student has vanished after a night out in Sheffield. And before she went missing, she received a wedding invitation from a stranger.
The pair soon discover that more female students are missing, each of them receiving the mysterious invitation.
Who is this shadowy stalker? Will the young women be found safely?
Or are Hamlet and Alix on the hunt for a serial killer…?
Congratulations to Alexandra Walsh, whose page-turning historical saga, The Jane Seymour Conspiracy, is published today!
The Jane Seymour Conspiracy is the fourth book in the Marquess House series, dual timeline conspiracy thrillers with an ingenious twist on a well-known period of Tudor and Stuart history.
London, 1527
Nineteen-year-old Jane Seymour arrives at court to take her place with Queen Katherine of Aragon. Discovering a court already beginning to divide into factions between Katherine and Jane’s second cousin, Anne Boleyn, Jane finds herself caught between the old world and the new. Determined to have a son, the king appears to be prepared to take whatever steps he deems necessary to secure the Tudor dynasty.
When King Henry VIII finally succeeds in his pursuit of Anne, Jane witnesses the slow unravelling of his interest in the new queen as she, too, fails in her task to deliver a son. Having watched both Katherine and Anne fall from grace, Jane has no ambition for the throne, but when the king begins seeking her out, Jane realises the decision may be out of her hands…
Pembrokeshire, 2020
When a set of papers called The Pentagram Manuscript makes its way to Perdita and Piper at Marquess House, they find they have a new mystery to unravel. The manuscript is the tale of five women on a quest to find true love, written while Anne Boleyn was queen. As Perdita begins to unravel the text, she discovers a code that leads to a whole new outlook on Henry’s relationship with Jane Seymour.
But before they have a chance to reveal all, the twins find themselves under threat from a different source. Their second cousin, Xavier Connors, is determined to wrest Marquess House from them. As Marquess House must be passed down through the female line, and Perdita and Piper do not have children, Xavier sees his twin daughter as being next in line. And when Piper is nearly driven off the road, they realise he will stop at nothing to get what he wants…
What really happened to Henry VIII’s Tudor queens? Why was history rewritten?
Will Piper and Perdita be able to unravel all of the secrets before it’s too late…?
Congratulations to Ros Rendle, whose moving love story, Reaching For Tomorrow, is out now!
After years of marriage, Jen Lucas’s relationship with her husband, Mike, has begun to falter.
As Mike starts spending more time at the gym — and acting surly and distant when at home — Jen struggles to get their marriage back on track. However, a painful discovery soon makes her question whether their bond is worth saving.
Pushing her sadness aside, Jen throws herself into her work as a primary school teacher, a job that she loves.
And as she finds herself growing closer to Christopher — the kind father of one of the children in her class — Jen begins to wonder where her happiness lies…
What is the right path for Jen? Can she save her marriage?
Or is it time for a new beginning…?
Congratulations to Tanya Jean Russell, whose heart-warming holiday romance, Summer at Rose Hall, is out now!
Summer at Rose Hall is the fourth book in the Honeyford Romantic Holiday Reads series.
Having recently left the army, Abby Smith is struggling with civilian life. Unsure where her future lies, she accepts a temporary job as the summer events manager at Rose Hall, a countryside estate.
Soon after she arrives, Quinn Beaumont, the wayward heir to Rose Hall, returns to the estate for the summer. Plagued by self-doubt, Quinn overindulges in parties and alcohol to forget his responsibilities.
Recognising his unhappiness and untapped potential, Abby asks Quinn to join her in the events department to help him ease into his role at Rose Hall. In return, Quinn vows to help her transition back into civilian life.
Working in close proximity, both soon begin to wonder whether their friendship could blossom into something more.
But having never lived in one place for more than a few months, Abby isn’t sure whether she’s capable of settling down. And with the wounds of her past still holding her back, she must now decide whether she’s prepared to risk her heart…
Will Abby and Quinn find where their happiness lies? Can they face the future together?
Or will their differences drive them apart…?
Congratulations to Teresa F. Morgan, whose sparkling summer romance, Sunsets and Happy Ever Afters, is published today!
Having recently gone through a painful divorce, Maya Rosevear has been concentrating on running her mobile beauty business and raising her two young children. Now ready to meet someone new, she decides to give online dating a try.
As she juggles her responsibilities with her love-life, Maya keeps crossing paths with Sam Trescott, the father of her daughter’s best friend. Despite initially getting off on the wrong foot, the two bond over their children and form a tentative friendship.
As a widower, Sam understands what it is like to be lonely. Watching Maya launch herself back into the dating world, he questions whether he is also ready to pursue a new relationship.
Seemingly unable to meet the right man, Maya takes solace in Sam’s companionship more and more. And as they grow closer, both begin to wonder whether they have finally found what they’re looking for…
Can Maya and Sam help each other heal? Will they have a second chance at love?
Or will their painful pasts come back to haunt them…?
Congratulations to Amy Licence, whose stunning Tudor saga, Dangerous Lady, is published today!
1528
At seventeen, Thomasin Marwood is plunged into court society when a husband is found for her elder sister, Cecilia.
But the mood at court is tense. It is split between the conservative Catholics, loyal to Queen Catherine of Aragon, and the fashionable Francophiles, enthralled by King Henry’s mistress, Anne Boleyn.
While her parents sympathise with the old queen and her faith, Thomasin can not help but be drawn to the glamour and vitality Anne represents.
And her head is soon turned by the tall, dark and handsome Rafe Danvers who seems equally entranced with her.
But as a ward of Anne’s father, Sir Thomas Boleyn, Rafe represents the “other” side, of which Thomasin’s parents are unlikely to approve. And they have already lined up their own candidate for Thomasin’s hand, Sir Giles Waterson, who comes from wealth and good standing.
Thomasin finds herself torn between duty and the desire Rafe has aroused in her. But when she is drawn into a dark plot concerning Queen Catherine, she realises the court is far more dangerous than it appears…
Which path, and with whom, will she choose?
Congratulations to David Field, whose dramatic medieval thriller, An Uncivil War, is published today!
England, 1120
When Henry I dies with no legitimate male heir, the nation is thrown into chaos.
The two rivals for the crown are Henry’s daughter Matilda and his nephew Stephen of Blois, both of whom are determined to emerge victorious.
A bitter struggle ensues which threatens to reduce England to a barren wasteland and many ordinary people find themselves torn apart from each other in the confusion of deciding which side to fight for.
One of those caught up in the fray is young soldier Richard Walsingham who is fighting alongside Stephen. But his sister Elinor is employed as a companion to Matilda.
As the family members come to terms with being on opposite sides of a treacherous dynastic conflict a new contender for the throne enters the picture…
Which of the rivals will emerge triumphant? Can the nation be pieced back together again?
Or will more than lives be lost in this uncivil war…?
Congratulations to Coirle Mooney, whose enchanting Medieval drama, The Cloistered Lady, is published today!
Eleanor of Aquitaine has been arrested for rebelling against her husband, King Henry II of England.
Her loyal ladies-in-waiting, Alice and Joanna of Agen have fled to the nunnery at Fontrevault, where they are anxiously awaiting news of their queen.
Alice and Joanna struggle to adapt to their cramped new home at the Abbey. Each is secretly nursing a broken heart – and harbouring unholy desires.
Joanna left behind a lover, Jean, at Eleanor’s court in Poitiers, and Alice has long been in love with the queen’s daughter, Marie.
And as the days stretch on with no news, they both begin to fear the worst.
What has happened to Eleanor? Will Alice and Joanna be forced to remain at the Abbey indefinitely? And will they ever be reunited with the ones they love?
Click here to order The Cloistered Lady
Congratulations to Charlie Garratt, whose gripping historical mystery, A Malignant Death, is published today!
June, 1940
With most of Europe now in the brutal grip of the Second World War, James Given and his wife, Rachel, have been forced to give up their dream life in France to return to England.
Still haunted by his past cases, James has no intention of resuming his role as a detective in the police force. However, when his ex-boss Superintendent Henry Dyer asks him to investigate the theft of some sensitive military blueprints, James reluctantly agrees to help.
However, things take a turn for the worse when Henry goes missing. Fearing for his friend’s life, James feels compelled to search for him.
With a long history in the force, Henry had plenty of opportunities to make enemies. As James digs further, it becomes apparent that he may have had something to hide.
And though James has vowed to leave behind the danger and violence of his old life, the pull of an unsolved mystery soon proves too strong to ignore…
Click here to order A Malignant Death
Congratulations to
England, 1581
Nineteen-year-old Thomas Walsingham is thrilled to be working as a confidential courier, carrying messages between London and Paris for his illustrious cousin, Queen Elizabeth’s spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham … until everything goes wrong.
Tasked with escorting an English glove-maker to the French Court, Tom is also playing messenger for the Duke of Anjou, Queen Elizabeth’s French suitor, as well as carrying confidential instructions to the English Ambassador in Paris.
When French soldiers assault his convoy en route, Tom loses a letter he had sewn into his clothes. And the next morning, the glove-maker is found stabbed to death.
Determined to prove himself, despite failing so disastrously in his mission, Tom pushes on to Paris, but when he gets there, he discovers the glove-maker may not have been who he said he was.
Certain the queen may now be at risk, Tom is determined to report back to Sir Francis, but he cannot afford to wait for official orders.
Who was the glove-maker working for? Why was he killed? Isolated and without a passport, Tom must travel incognito and return to the English court before anyone else ends up dead…
Click here to order Road to Murder
Congratulations to Graham Brack, whose fabulous historical mystery, The Lying Dutchman, is published today!
The Lying Dutchman is the sixth book in the Master Mercurius series: atmospheric crime thrillers set in seventeenth-century Europe.
1685, The Netherlands
Master Mercurius has once again been summoned to The Hague by Stadhouder William of Orange. And a letter from William is never good news.
King Charles II of England has died and William, with his wife Mary, is now next in line to the throne once the current king, James II dies.
But Charles II’s illegitimate son, the Duke of Monmouth, has put a spanner in the works.
Monmouth is being encouraged to stage a rebellion and take the English throne. William needs to stop him so as not to jeopardise his own claim, but he also wants to keep Monmouth as an ally.
So, Mercurius is ordered to travel once again to England, and this time on an even more dangerous mission. He must plant a letter containing Monmouth’s invasion plans at court so that James summons an army in response and scares Monmouth off.
The only problem is that if Mercurius is caught and tried for espionage, the punishment is certain death…
Congratulations to Ros Rendle, whose moving contemporary romance, Sunflowers for Suzy, is published today!
Having recently lost her mother, 38-year-old Suzy Summers is anxious to make a fresh start. Leaving behind her old life in England, she flees to the idyllic village of Fleurus-le-Comte in Northern France.
On arrival, Suzy crosses paths with Jean Christophe, an unhappily married farmer. Irritated by his apparent conceit, she vows to have nothing to do with him.
However, as Suzy settles into village life, she and Jean Christophe are thrown together more and more. Witnessing his kindness and charm, Suzy softens and they form a tentative friendship.
Among the peaceful hills and rivers of the beautiful valley, Suzy’s weary spirit begins to heal. But as she finds herself falling for a man who already belongs to another, she begins to wonder whether she can bear to stay…
Click here to order Sunflowers for Suzy
Congratulations to David Field, whose gripping medieval thriller, Traitor’s Arrow, is published today!
England, 1110
When King William Rufus of England is killed mysteriously during a hunting accident in the New Forest in 1100, his younger brother Henry, who had been present, loses no time in riding hard to claim both the Treasury and the crown.
Rumours quickly being swirling that Henry was himself responsible for Rufus’s death. One of Henry’s main accusers is his older brother Robert, Duke of Normandy, who believes the throne of England is his by right and threatens to invade from across the Channel.
King Henry entrusts the task of proving his innocence to Sir Wilfrid Walsingham, a Saxon-born knight who was elevated by Henry’s father, only to be cast by the perverted and tyrannical Rufus into a jail cell from which, after almost two years, few men could have emerged alive, or with their sanity intact.
Can Walsingham unearth the truth about Rufus’s death and clear his name? Or will England be torn apart by those in power…?
Click here to order Traitor’s Arrow
Congratulations to Graham Ley, whose gripping historical saga, The Baron Returns, is out now!
The Baron Returns is the first book in The Kergohan Regency Drama Series.
Devon and Brittany, 1795
In the aftermath of the bloody French Revolution, the British government is anxious to prevent revolutionary ideals from crossing the Channel.
As a seasoned army captain with an estate in Brittany, English-French aristocrat Justin Wentworth is sent to France to assist the Chouannerie — a royalist uprising against the new regime.
Back at Chittesleigh Manor, his Devonshire estate, Justin’s mother and sister anxiously await his return, alongside family friend Arabella Wollaston. Harbouring a secret affection for Justin, Arabella listens carefully for clues about his movements.
When she notices suspicious behaviour around Chittesleigh, Arabella suspects that the Wentworth family is being watched and decides to discreetly investigate.
But with plots and treachery seemingly rife throughout the realm, she soon begins to wonder whether she has stumbled across a wider web of subterfuge…
Seán Gibbons’ gritty, heart-pounding thriller, City of Death, is published today.
City of Death is the fourth novel in the Ben Miller Crime Thriller series: hardboiled gangland novels set in Galway, Ireland.
Galway, Ireland, 2010
When taxi driver and part-time private investigator Ben Miller finds his friend Meili brutally murdered, he and her friend Qiang go in search of her killer.
Miller soon enlists the help of his friend, Gárda Aaron Dempsey and they find themselves caught up in a war between rival Chinese triads, seeking to wrest control of the city’s illegal gambling activities from Superintendent Folan and his allies.
They all become involved in a hunt for a diary in which Meili has been keeping details of the activities of the clients’ who pay her for sex, possession of which will give whoever finds it the tools they need to protect themselves at the expense of their rivals.
Matters are complicated by the presence of three men claiming to be either Meili’s current or ex-husband.
When one of them is involved in trafficking Meili’s daughter from China into the sex-industry in Ireland, rescuing her becomes the priority…
Click here to order City of Death
When was the last time you sat down to just clear your head? While not all mental strain you might be under can be cured by writing, it’s one tool that can help in a big way. Research continues to show that you can — with a keyboard, typewriter, or pen — write down what is bothering you and explore it in unique and healthy ways.
Being More Mindful
Cambridge University Press conducted a study not long ago focusing on how writing and mental health went hand-in-hand. The study focused on individuals who spent around 20 minutes daily just writing. The writing was expressive, capturing how they were feeling in the moment.
The research found that those who were open and honest with their writing were in a better mental state. They were more mindful of how they felt and saw the benefits that went along with it.
Reduction in Anxiety
Anxiety impacts over 40 million adults in the United States. Only about one-third of all cases get proper treatment. Anxiety is different than just being nervous; it is the body’s response to a stressful event. Triggers can vary wildly. Being still can cause anxiety, as can having too many things going on at once. With anxiety, you are always looking for a way to battle back.
When you write, you can concentrate on just one thing. You can focus on what is in front of you and free your mind from everything bothering you. All the noise that is crowding your mind goes away. The more you write, the more you can concentrate and fight back the negative impact of anxiety.
Journaling as a Way to Battle Depression
Depression is another problem that writing can assist with, since it allows you to explore your thoughts and feelings.
You can sometimes get yourself out of mental holes by writing about future goals, current struggles, and giving yourself positive self-talk. When you can build yourself up through your writing, you can better set yourself up for future peace of mind and success.
Feel Better About Yourself and Where You Are Going
You may want to feel better about yourself, as well as where you’re heading in life. When you write, you can creatively accomplish all of that and more. What do you want your life to be like? Where do you ideally want to live? Do you have travel aspirations? How are you feeling about your current social relationships or your career?
When you write, you begin to realize exactly what’s on your mind. Your brain produced the words in front of you for a reason, and they can bring peace and direction for the road ahead.
How to Begin Your Writing Journey
Where do you begin when it comes to starting your writing journey? You can simply take pen and paper (or open up your laptop) and begin to write. But you can also take some steps to help your process along.
Create a Dedicated Writing Space
A solid first step is to find a dedicated spot where you can focus on your writing. Maybe it’ll be at a desk in your bedroom, or you can set aside a small writing nook. Also, how do you want to write? On your computer or laptop? In a journal? If you’re putting pen to paper, purchase a specific journal or notebook where your writing will go.
Make Sure You Write Every Day
Spend at least 15 to 20 minutes each day doing your writing. Resist judgment when you do this, letting your mind go wherever it wants to take you. There is no right or wrong way to write. As long as you dedicate the time to do so, you should be in good shape for the road ahead. When you can make writing a habit, it becomes a daily healing practice.
The mental health benefits of writing are well documented. You can reap a lot of benefits just by seeing what comes out of your head. Write a story, jot down words in a journal, and maybe even draw a picture. Examine your mental state or face your struggles by getting them out, rather than trying to bottle them up. Writing through your mental health struggles can be a valuable step towards improving your wellbeing.
Sources
cambridge.org – Emotional and physical health benefits of expressive writing
ADAA.org – Anxiety Facts and Statistics
RTOR.org – anxiety
StandOutBooks.com – Why You Need A Dedicated Writing Space And How To Find It
Sunshinebehavioralhealth.com – Recovery in a Quiet and Welcoming Environment
Image Credits:
Heidi Bitsoli is an editor at Sunshine Behavioral Health, a rehabilitation centre.
Congratulations to Michael Fowler, whose gritty psychological thriller, See Them Die, is published today!
Three years ago, forensic psychologist Dr Hamlet Mottrell’s life was completely destroyed when an intruder killed his wife and unborn child and slashed his wrists to make it look like a murder-suicide.
Though the case against him was dropped, Hamlet remained guilty in the eyes of many, and was forced into a life of solitude.
But then he hears of another brutal murder case and becomes convinced it is the same person who attacked his family.
He gets in touch with Detective Sergeant Alix Rainbow, one of the only people who believed him when he was initially arrested, and convinces her to help him track down the vicious killer.
But when more deaths occur, she starts to question everything…
Click here to order See Them Die
Congratulations to Elizabeth Bailey, whose brilliantly written historical mystery, The Unwanted Corpse, is published today! The Unwanted Corpse is the eighth book in the Lady Fan Mystery series.
1794, England
When a body is unceremoniously dumped outside her home, Lady Ottilia Fanshawe is once more drawn into a murder case.
Ottilia is recovering from the birth of her first child and her husband, Lord Francis Fanshawe, is worried that she has finally taken on more than she can handle.
But Ottilia will not be diverted. Motherhood has always been her deepest desire, but solving crimes is her passion. And she is determined to balance both.
No one in her household recognises the dead man, and yet a note was left with Lady Fan’s name on it. Clearly, someone wants her to investigate the crime, but why?
Click here to order The Unwanted Corpse
We are delighted to announce that we have signed a new dual timeline series set in the modern day and Tudor times by Phillipa Vincent-Connolly.
Told in authentic detail, the four-book series explores the intrigue and plots within King Henry VIII’s court. The books include ingenious twists on Boleyn family history, retold through a twenty-first-century history student’s eyes. The first instalment will be published later this year.
In Phillipa’s words:
“It’s very exciting to be working with Sapere Books on my first historical fiction series. The series is very special to me, as it includes appearances from some friends and colleagues of mine, who are featured as cameo characters from the modern day, with the history of the Tudor period also wound through, creating an exciting retelling of Anne Boleyn’s story. The narrative moves between the present day and the middle of Henry VIII’s reign.
“Set in South London and Queen Mary University of London, the first book follows an enthusiastic history undergraduate called Beth Wickers, who gets the shock of her life when her professor’s gold cypher ring opens up a mysterious portal that takes her to Tudor England and Hever Castle, where she becomes an integral part of Anne Boleyn’s life. She’s been warned not to meddle or risk changing history, but can she allow her dear friend to go on to become the second wife of King Henry VIII and to meet a horrific death? Can Beth save herself from the machinations of the Tudor Court, or will she meet the same fate as the queen to be? Only the ring has the answer.”
Amy Durant, publishing director of Sapere Books, commented: “I am thrilled to be working with Phillipa on these books, which breathe new life into the Tudor period. We are sure our readers are going to love the series!”
Click here to visit Phillipa’s website
We have received the very sad news that one of our authors, Bob Cornett, has passed away age 69. With Kevin D. Randle, Bob co-authored the Vietnam Ground Zero Military Thrillers and the Scorpion Squad Military Thrillers under the pseudonym Eric Helm. Kevin remembers Bob below.
Bob Cornett
On April 1, Robert Charles Cornett, “Bob,” sometimes known as R C Squared, passed away. Bob and I had been friends for nearly a half century. We met while we were both taking Air Force ROTC at the University of Iowa in the early 1970s. We shared an interest in science fiction and writing and a few other things.
Bob had originally majored in both physics and Russian, which seemed to be a very difficult path to follow. Eventually, he changed majors, and we both graduated in 1975. Bob remained in Iowa City.
It was in 1975 that I learned the Project Blue Book files had been declassified and were open for public scrutiny at Maxwell Air Force Base. Bob and I drove to Maxwell and began a search of those records. We might have been the first two outsiders to see those records. At the time, the names had not been redacted and we spent two days going through the index, writing down the names of all the witnesses for the unidentified sightings. At the time, this was a unique record, but today the information is available on the Internet. That search translated into a few magazine articles about Project Blue Book and sparked Bob’s interest in UFOs.
Writing had always been one of his goals, though I suspect he was more interested in writing science fiction than he was in writing about UFOs. We had written a book of science fiction short stories that was never published, but some of them have been posted to www.thesciencefictionsite.blogspot.com.
Bob had suggested that we talk to James Van Allen (a space scientist) about UFOs, because they knew each other. I thought it was just that Bob had taken a class from Van Allen and it was a sort of nodding friendship. But, one day, in the Physics Building, Van Allen got in the elevator with us. He looked at us and said, “Hi, Bob.”
And Bob said, “Hi, Van.”
Van Allen sat down with me for two hours to talk about UFOs. Bob missed the meeting for some reason, but it would not have happened had he not known Van Allen. That Van Allen would talk to me about UFOs said something about Bob.
We did investigate cattle mutilations for the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO). Jim Lorenzen (APRO’s co-director) had called me, asking me to look into them. With Bob, we went to Minnesota and spent a week to ten days there, learning what we could. We had been told that these mutilations were part of Satanic rituals, but we found no evidence to support that claim. Nor did we find anything to suggest that UFOs had anything to do with it.
All this resulted in Jim Lorenzen introducing Bob at a UFO convention as one of his top investigators. The irony was that Bob belonged to the rival National Investigations Committee On Aerial Phenomena (NICAP). But the recognition did help Bob place some stories about UFOs in the magazines that were popular at the time.
We began to attend science fiction conventions with a view to meeting the editors working for publishers. We thought that if we met them, if they knew who we were, then we might have a leg up when a manuscript was submitted. I’m not sure if that ever worked in our favour, but we did meet Sharon Jarvis, an agent looking for writers. She recognized our military connection and one day called, wondering if we could write books about the Green Berets in Vietnam. We said yes and set about creating those books, now all recently republished under the banner of Vietnam Ground Zero. This did not erase our quest to write science fiction. I don’t know if those books helped or not, but we did eventually publish science fiction.
I was at home one night when Bob called and told me he had started a novel that dealt with a war in space. We planned to meet the next day, and he suggested that I bring along something. His “chunk” of the book, as we came to call them, was in the third person, but mine was in the first person. Before we were done, the book, Seeds of War, had five first-person narrators, not all of whom survived the conflict, and the third-person beginning in which Earth declared war on another planet. I mention this only because we used Lyndon Johnson’s Gulf of Tonkin speech as the basis for the one in the book. We didn’t have to change much. It was a commentary on war. It was a strange attitude for us because of our connections to the military.
Bob and I attended many science fiction conventions, even after we had books published. At a party hosted by Berkley Books, we ended up as volunteer bartenders at about two in the morning. A very drunk science fiction fan wanted a Scotch, but we had run out. He was so drunk that we didn’t think he would know the difference, so we made some Scotch for him, using gin, Pepsi, and some wine, and we worked hard to make it look like Scotch. The man took it away happy.
We were at another science fiction convention in Minneapolis and were in the hotel room, working on a book. One of the characters was named Tom Waters, and I wrote the line, “Waters rushed up hill.”
Bob said, “You can’t say that.”
And I said, “Why not? No one will ever notice.”
From that point on, we often attempted to hide a bit of humour in the books for those astute enough to catch it. No one ever mentioned the waters rushing up hill to either of us.
Bob was popular on the science fiction circuit. I think it was a combination of things, including some of the stories that he wrote. He would do readings periodically, and I noticed that the fans sat quietly listening to his stories. He was sometimes slow in getting the story written, but it was always a good one. He was an imaginative writer, with a keen ear for human speech.
He was habitually late for nearly everything. We were to meet in Iowa City one day, but I got interested in a movie and figured that Bob would be late. So, I watched the end of the movie and was more than an hour late. Bob showed up about twenty minutes after I got there.
Bob eventually left Iowa City, moving to Moulton, Iowa, and our writing sessions waned at that point. We did a number of limited series, including one about time travel that started with Remember the Alamo, in which the time travellers return to 1836 to win the battle for the Texicans by using modern weapons.
But with the move to Moulton, our contacts lessened. I became involved in UFO research and Bob stuck closer to the science fiction. I think the last science fiction convention we attended together was in 1991, about the time of the Gulf War. We hadn’t been writing much together by that time. The Vietnam Ground Zero series had wound down and we didn’t have any contracts for science fiction novels.
Bob had trained as an EMT while living in Moulton and at some point had become a letter carrier. With his wife, MaryAnn, he eventually moved to Albuquerque where they hosted a few conventions.
Bob was interested in firearms and had a massive knowledge about them. Some of the writing about Vietnam showed just how much he knew about weapons. He was very good at describing the combat of the time. He was honourably discharged from the Air Force and later the Marines.
He was a very good friend, and I wish that I had been a better friend to him. I knew that his health had been poor these last few years. I had him on the radio version of A Different Perspective, and I was saddened by what I heard as we talked about UFOs. He just wasn’t as sharp as he had been when he was younger. You can listen to that show here: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/19655144
In the last several years, maybe the last couple of decades, he had lost his fire for writing. Bob Tucker (a mystery, action-adventure, and science fiction author), who turned out to be a good friend, had said in his later years that he had retired from writing. Neither Bob nor I could understand that attitude … but sometimes writing is a very difficult task. I think Bob retired from it without really saying that he was retired.
I had thought of writing a tribute to my friend, but this turned into more of a remembrance. I’m surprised by how much I miss him.
We are thrilled to announce that we have awarded winners in all six of the writing competition briefs that we set last year.
Top row: Richard Kurti, Laura Martin, Neil Denby. Bottom row: Patrick Larsimont, Bob Robertson, Rachel McDonough.
Each chosen author has won a five-book contract to work on the series they submitted for.
Screenwriter Richard Kurti has won The Medici Murder Mystery series brief.
The Second World War Aviation Thriller series brief was won by debut author Patrick Larsimont.
Established romance author Laura Martin scooped the Jane Austen Detective series brief.
Ghost-writer Bob Robertson snapped up the Age of Sail brief.
Academic author Neil Denby scooped the Ancient Rome Historical thriller brief.
And American author Rachel McDonough won the Tudor Maid Diaries series brief.
The quality of the entries were so strong that we have also awarded honourable mentions in nearly all of the categories and we are speaking to the shortlisted authors about writing other historical series for us based in the time period of their submission.
The shortlisted authors are:
Donna Gowland and Leann McKinley for the Jane Austen brief.
Daniel Colter and Ava McKevitt for the Ancient Rome brief.
David Bailey, David Mackenzie, Tony Rea and Suzanne Parsons for the WWII brief.
Kate MacCarthy for the Medici brief.
Alice Campbell, Angela Ranson, Katharine Edgar, Valerie Boyd and Maria Hoey for the Tudor brief.
Following the success of the first competition we are hoping to run the competition again later this year with a fresh set of writing prompts.
Congratulations to Natalie Kleinman, whose captivating Regency romance, Love’s Legacy, is out now!
When her father — a countryside reverend — dies suddenly, young Patience Worthington is left with no home and little money. In urgent need of support, she is forced to seek out her estranged uncle, a viscount at the vast Worthington Place.
Patience arrives to find that her uncle has died and that the current viscount is her cousin, Gideon. After hearing her plight, he agrees to give her a home on the Worthington estate.
However, when Patience and Gideon learn the cause of the long-standing rift between the two sides of the family, they quickly begin to clash. Now too proud to accept his accept the viscount’s charity, Patience soon leaves Worthington Place to seek shelter with her late mother’s relatives in Bath.
With her kindness and beauty, Patience is an instant success in Bath society and regularly crosses paths with Gideon. Despite their differences, they enjoy each other’s company and form a tentative friendship.
But when dark secrets once again threaten their growing bond, the cousins begin to wonder whether they can ever leave the shadows of the past behind…
Click here to order Love’s Legacy
Congratulations to David Field, whose thrilling Medieval saga, Conquest, is published today!
It’s 1065 and the Saxon kingdom is under threat of invasion at both ends. From the north comes Harald Hardrada of Norway intent on pillage, while across the Channel, Duke William of Normandy is about to enforce his claim to the throne.
Between the two lie the villages and townships defended only by part-time armies maintained by the Earls of Wessex, Mercia and Northumbria, barely united under King Harold Godwineson.
It falls to brave and determined young men like Will Riveracre and Selwyn Astenmede to stand firm against whichever marauding invader reaches them first.
But the initial battle could be the least of their worries as a new king ascends the throne – threatening to annihilate their traditions and customs forever…
Congratulations to Ros Rendle, whose breath-taking dual timeline saga, The Divided Heart, is published today!
England, 1975
Having recently suffered heartbreak, twenty-five-year-old Heather Rawlins is ready to give up on love. Her confidence in tatters, she seeks solace in her new job at The Beeches Care Home for the Elderly.
When Heather meets Izzy Strong, the home’s newest resident, she is surprised to find that they have an instant connection. And as they grow closer and Izzy begins to reveal her shocking past, Heather starts to question her own life choices…
Germany, 1927
With the Great War now a distant memory, Izzy is thrilled to be continuing her education in the beautiful city of Berlin. And when she meets the kind and handsome Garrit Shain, it seems that her happiness is complete.
But with the rise of the brutal Nazi party, ripples of unrest are once again spreading throughout Europe. And when war breaks out, the era of fragile peace comes to an end.
As a Jewish man, Garrit soon begins to fear for his life. Emboldened by her love for him, Izzy is determined to find a way to help Garrit and his family escape the horrors sweeping through Germany…
Click here to order The Divided Heart
Congratulations to Coirle Mooney, whose enchanting Medieval romance, The Lady’s Keeper, is out now!
At Eleanor of Aquitaine’s palace in Poitiers, fourteen-year-old Lady Joanna of Agen is coming of age. Her aunt and guardian, Alice, rescued Joanna from her brutal father by bringing her to court. But now Alice fears Joanna could once again be at risk from the men around her.
When Queen Eleanor’s son, Henry, arrives at court, Joanna quickly catches his eye. But Alice overhears the lewd conversations of the male courtiers and worries that Joanna’s honour is at stake.
And as the relationship between Queen Eleanor and King Henry II of England becomes fractious, a dark mood settles over court.
Drawn into a world of intrigue, danger and adventure, Alice must fight to keep her and Joanna safe…
Click here to order The Lady’s Keeper
Congratulations to Seán Gibbons, whose darkly comic crime thriller, Find The Killer, is published today!
Find The Killer is the third novel in the Ben Miller Crime Thriller series: hardboiled gangland novels set in Galway, Ireland.
When somebody takes a shot at Superintendent Folan, killing his driver instead, the amoral cop reveals to his reluctant lackey Ben Miller that the shooter is his illegitimate son, Ritchie Moran, the result of a youthful liaison with the wife of Mossy Moran, Galway’s most notorious gangster.
Folan tasks Miller with tracking Ritchie down and getting him out of the way before he, or anyone else, gets hurt.
But Miller soon finds out that a young woman connected to Ritchie has already been killed.
Things are complicated further when Miller and his friend, Gárda Aaron Dempsey, find themselves in the middle of a deadly feud between two rival Traveller clans…
Click here to order Find the Killer
We are delighted to announce that we have signed up a new Regency series by Graham Ley.
The Kergohan Regency Drama Series tells the story of the Wentworth family, English-French aristocrats living in Devonshire. The first book in the series, The Baron Returns, follows Justin Wentworth — a young army captain — as he makes the perilous journey to Brittany to assist a royalist uprising during the French Revolution.
The Baron Returns is available to pre-order and will be published in April 2022. The second book in the series will be released later this year.
In Graham’s words:
“I originally decided to write an historical novel in honour of my mother, Alice Chetwynd Ley, whose complete backlist (including a forgotten title, An Eligible Gentleman) has been published by Amy and the team at Sapere.
“After my first book had been accepted for publication, I found that a number of the characters were calling out for their stories to be followed through. So The Baron Returns was soon followed by a second novel, in which Arabella, the forthright heroine who had refused to let suspicions against her beloved Justin rest unchallenged, now stood up for his sister against an unscrupulous admirer.
“Both novels feature a dual and interweaved storyline, with characters in rural Brittany bound up with events in England in the turbulent period of the years just after the French revolution in 1789. And now a third novel is in preparation, which casts the intrigue into Devon and London as well as embracing love and betrayal in Brittany.
“The name of the series, The Kergohan Regency Drama Series, refers to the manor in rural Brittany that is at the centre of much of the story. The cover of The Baron Returns sets the scene magnificently, and I am delighted to have become a Sapere author.”
Click here to pre-order The Baron Returns
Congratulations to Simon Michael, whose gripping thriller, The Final Shot, is published today!
The Final Shot is the seventh crime novel in the Charles Holborne Legal Thrillers — gritty, hard-boiled mysteries set in 1960s London.
As England eagerly anticipates the World Cup Final, barrister Charles Holborne is briefed in another high-profile case.
Once a sadistic gangster, Reverend Stanley Sharpe found God while incarcerated and has run his own parish for a number of years since being released. But when he is convicted of murdering Frank Marshall, right-hand man to the Kray twins, he is sent back to prison for life.
Convinced that he is innocent, Reverend Sharpe’s wife begs Charles to apply to the Court of Appeal to reopen the case.
With his own question marks over whether Frank Marshall is really dead, Charles agrees to take the brief on.
But with the media now casting doubt over Sharpe’s redemption, Charles knows he is bound for failure unless he can find further evidence.
And to do so he must once again cross the most dangerous men in London…
Click here to order The Final Shot
Congratulations to Tim Chant, whose exhilarating nautical action novel, Mutiny on the Potemkin, is published today!
Mutiny on the Potemkin is the second book in the Marcus Baxter naval thriller series: action-packed, authentic historical adventures following former Royal Navy officer Marcus Baxter during the early 1900s.
Marcus Baxter may have survived one naval battle, but his troubles are far from over.
Despite serving with the Russian navy aboard the Yaroslovich, he is arrested by the Tsarist secret police for conspiracy and sent west on the Trans-Siberian railway to St. Petersburg. Competing factions within the secret police disrupt his journey and he finds himself in Odessa.
Odessa, though, is in the grip of revolutionary riots and Baxter finds himself trapped in the city as violence and anarchy spreads.
The crew of the Potemkin has mutinied, killing most of the officers and bringing the battleship into port.
When Baxter realises a friend is trapped in the carnage, he is determined to get onboard the battleship.
But will he make it out alive?
Click here to order Mutiny on the Potemkin
Congratulations to Linda Stratmann, whose fabulous historical mystery, Sherlock Holmes and the Explorers’ Club, is published today!
Sherlock Holmes and the Explorers’ Club is the second Victorian crime thriller in the Early Casebook of Sherlock Holmes series.
When the preserved foot of a dead man with extra toes arrives at St Bartholomew’s Medical College, the students are fascinated. However, despite this unusual feature being reported in the press, the man’s identity remains a mystery.
Intrigued by the puzzle, medical student Mr Stamford calls on his acquaintance Sherlock Holmes — an eccentric but brilliant young sleuth — to help him learn more about the deceased.
With only the man’s boots and a few possessions to examine, Holmes relishes the challenge. He soon finds a coded message hidden inside the man’s purse, which suggests a possible connection to criminals or spies.
Over the course of their investigations, Holmes’ and Stamford’s suspicions are strengthened when they learn of further shocking deaths. It soon becomes apparent that the men who died all belonged to the mysterious Explorers Club — and the lives of the remaining members may also be in danger.
Although the deaths look like accidents, Holmes is convinced that the men were murdered. And with conspiracy and intrigue lurking at every turn, he must now expose the secrets of the Explorers’ Club before the next member meets a grisly end…
Click here to order Sherlock Holmes and the Explorers’ Club
Congratulations to Marilyn Todd, whose gripping historical mystery, Dead Drop, is published today!
Dead Drop is the fourth book in the Julia McAllister Victorian Mystery series: thrilling British detective novels with a courageous woman sleuth at the centre.
Seeing an easy way to pay off her debts, Julia McAllister takes in three female lodgers from a travelling show.
With musical halls more popular than ever, Buffalo Buck’s Mild West is the perfect antidote to the noise and smoke belching out of the factories, and the tide of Julia’s fortune quickly turns.
Until one of the three girls is found hanging under a bridge.
Julia doesn’t believe it was suicide. Annie had been excited about the future, not depressed.
And when another body is found on the railway line, a distraught widower, inspired by Julia’s role as crime scene photographer, asks for her help as the police are refusing to give out any details.
When Julia raises the matter with Detective Inspector John Collingwood, he explains that they’re keeping the case close to their chest because the body had ligature marks, showing he’d been chained up. Their fears are that this is just the tip of a particularly nasty iceberg.
Is Annie’s death connected to the body on the railway? Can Julia work with Collingwood to solve the mystery?
Or will the secrets they uncover put their lives in grave danger…?
Congratulations to David Field, whose thrilling historical saga, All That Glitters, is published today!
All That Glitters is the final instalment of The Australian Saga Series, set in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Lawyer Jack Bradbury is called upon to travel to the newly established Colony of Victoria to defend a man wrongly accused of attempted murder during a confrontation between the authorities and a group of gold prospectors.
Following his success he’s recruited by the miners’ leader to assist them in their battles against the colonial government and is joined in his new home by his wife and children.
But Jack and his family soon find themselves caught up in the affairs of the Kelly family whose black sheep Edward, known to everyone as ‘Ned’, courts trouble wherever he goes.
Their lives are about to be disrupted and sent down avenues they had never anticipated…
Click here to order All That Glitters
Congratulations to J. C. Briggs, whose absorbing historical mystery, Summons to Murder, is publishing today!
Summons to Murder is set in Victorian England and is the ninth book in the Charles Dickens Investigations series.
Pierce Mallory, a gentleman journalist, is found dead in his lodgings with a gunshot wound in his head and a duelling pistol beside him.
Though the death is deemed a suicide, Mallory’s friends — including Charles Dickens — don’t believe that he would have taken his own life.
Dickens therefore returns to the scene of Mallory’s demise, along with Superintendent Sam Jones from Bow Street. On further investigation, they soon find evidence that Mallory was murdered.
A notorious philanderer, there are plenty of people who could have wanted Mallory dead — including abandoned lovers and jealous husbands.
And as Dickens and Jones dig further into Mallory’s personal affairs, it seems that there are more shocking scandals waiting to be uncovered…
Click here to order Summons to Murder
Congratulations to Natalie Kleinman, whose sparkling Regency romance, The Ghost of Glendale, is out now!
Having never been in love, twenty-four-year-old Phoebe Marcham has no interest in marriage. Fiercely independent, she spends her days helping to manage Glendale, her ancestral home — a centuries-old estate full of long-buried secrets.
While out riding, Phoebe crosses paths with Duncan Armstrong, a charming wanderer who has just returned from the Continent. Finding that they share a penchant for mystery, Phoebe shares the biggest enigma that haunts Glendale: the tortured ghost of her ancestor, Simon Marcham, who took a secret sadness to his grave.
Convinced that Simon’s soul will never be at rest until they uncover his secret, Phoebe and Duncan set about unravelling the riddles that he left behind. As they delve deeper, a story of heartbreak and intrigue soon starts to emerge.
Faced with the darkness of the past, Phoebe is determined to make the most of the future. And as she and Duncan grow closer, she soon begins to wonder whether she has at last met her fate…
Click here to order The Ghost of Glendale
Congratulations to Ros Rendle, whose moving romantic saga, Resistance of Love, is published today!
Resistance of Love is set in England and France before and during World War II, and is the second book in The Strong Family Historical Saga series.
After spending ten years in Australia, Delphi Strong is on a ship back to England with her daughter, Flora.
While on board, Delphi meets Rainier, a charming vineyard owner on his way home to France. Forming an instant mutual attraction, the two share a whirlwind romance before disembarking.
Unable to forget her, Rainier crosses the channel a few months later and asks Delphi to marry him. Equally lovestruck, Delphi accepts, and she and Flora join Rainier in France.
However, their idyllic lifestyle is shattered when war breaks out and the Nazis begin to occupy the country. Forced to flee to the Free Zone in the south, the family must now pull together to resist the enemy…
Click here to order Resistance of Love
Congratulations to Seán Gibbons, whose gripping Irish crime thriller, Back Street Murder, is published today! Back Street Murder is the second novel in the Ben Miller Crime Thriller series: hardboiled gangland novels set in Galway.
When taxi driver Ben Miller picks up a couple of Lithuanian fares, he soon finds himself immersed in the violent world of drug-dealing.
With a criminal past of his own, and a wish to stay out of prison, Miller has little choice but to snitch on the gang to corrupt cop Superintendent Folan, who has plans to take over the drugs business for himself.
But when the drugs go missing from the Lithuanian’s home, and the Columbians to whom they belong start killing people, Miller is drawn into a case involving rival criminal gangs, shoot-outs, and murder.
In a race against time to locate the Columbian gang members and the missing drugs, Miller must work out who he can trust…
Click here to order Back Street Murder
Congratulations to Tanya Jean Russell and Teresa F Morgan, whose sparkling Christmas romance novels are published today! Read on to find out more about each book.
Christmas at Honeyford by Tanya Jean Russell
Do Tess and Sam have a second chance at love this Christmas…?
Since being widowed, Tess Adamson has steadfastly avoided romance. And with a young son and a village bakery to run, she has little time for herself.
As the Christmas period approaches, Tess unexpectedly gains a temporary neighbour — celebrity artist Sam Harrison. Having suffered a public heartbreak, he has retreated to the village to hide from the press and lick his wounds.
Despite Sam’s wish for total seclusion, Tess is determined to make him feel welcome. Moved by her kindness, Sam soon steps in to make her busy life a little easier.
With their past pain and disappointments, both Tess and Sam are wary of pursuing relationships. But as they grow closer and the festive season starts to work its magic, the lonely pair begin to wonder whether they are ready to move forward…
Click here to order Christmas at Honeyford
Mistletoe at the Manor by Teresa F. Morgan
Can Beth learn to open her heart this Christmas…?
Between setting up her boutique and raising her six-year-old son, single mum Beth Sterling has little time for romance.
Keen to expand her clientele, Beth moves her business into a cosy converted stable on the scenic Trenouth Estate.
However, her focus soon wavers when she meets Tristan Trenouth, the handsome but aloof owner of the estate. Each wilful and outspoken, Beth and Tristan are soon clashing whenever they cross paths.
With the estate’s charity ball and Christmas fayre on the horizon, the two grudgingly put their differences aside and agree to work together. And as they spend more and more time in each other’s company, their uneasy truce blossoms into a strong mutual attraction.
But with a young son, a fledgling business and a painful past to contend with, Beth needs someone she can rely on. And Tristan has demons of his own to face…
Click here to order Mistletoe at the Manor
In this blog series, Sapere Books spotlights authors whose books have gone out of print and whose work we are republishing, in an effort to revive the most vibrant and engaging voices of the past. This month, we are delighted to spotlight Lynne Reid Banks, author of The Brontë Sisters Saga and several standalone literary novels.
Lynne Reid Banks was born in London in 1929, the only child of a Scottish doctor and Irish actress. During World War Two, she was
evacuated to the prairies of Canada, where she lived for five years. Banks went on to have a rich and varied career: prior to becoming a writer, she studied at RADA in the 1940s and became an actress. She then worked for ITN, becoming one of the first female television news reporters in Britain.
Banks’ first novel, The L-Shaped Room — a frank and sensitive portrayal of an unmarried mother-to-be who is thrown out by her father — was published in 1960 and achieved much critical acclaim. In the early 1960s, Banks and her husband moved to a kibbutz in Israel, where she taught English. In 1971, they moved back to London and Banks continued writing.
As an author, Banks is outstandingly versatile; she has written numerous children’s books and ten adult novels. These include Dark Quartet, a fictionalised biography of the Brontë sisters; Casualties, a heart-breaking saga spanning from Nazi-occupied Holland to 1970s Europe; Children at the Gate, the story of a grieving mother living in Israel; Fair Exchange, a moving novel set in England during the Anti-Apartheid movement; and The Warning Bell, which portrays the life of an actress turned news reporter.
The shadows of Banks’ life experiences can often be seen in her novels, contributing to the commendable realism and depth of the settings. Whatever the genre, her wit, beautiful writing style and well-crafted characters shine through.
Click here to find out more about The Brontë Sisters Saga
Marilyn Todd is the author of the Julia McAllister Victorian Mystery series: historical murder mysteries with a courageous woman sleuth embarking on traditional British private investigations in nineteenth-century London.
The case of the Lindbergh baby is infamous. In March 1932, he was snatched from his nursery, a ransom note left in his place, and although the money was paid, two agonising months passed without news. It was pure chance that his body was found, thrown or dumped just off the highway, suggesting he was killed almost immediately after his abduction.
I don’t know if it was because Charles Lindbergh was famous — the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic — but it struck me that all the sympathy for this horrific crime went to the father, rather than both parents. I desperately wanted to change that.
In Bad Blood — the third book in the Julia McAllister series — baby Thomas Forbes is also snatched from his nursery, and a ransom demand is left on the pillow. The difference here is that the money is never collected, and the baby never found. When, eight years later, his father is murdered, Julia’s heart breaks for the woman brought to her knees by these two tragedies. As an amateur sleuth, Julia determines to do whatever it takes to find Thomas.
But as I plotted the novel, I was drawn into other injustices of the era. Not just the social inequalities — class, race and religious divides feature regularly in my books — but also the impact of being a pawn in the marriage game among the powerful and the wealthy. I wanted to explore the misery that comes from being a strong woman trapped in a weak man’s world.
Click here to pre-order BAD BLOOD
Click here to learn more about the Julia McAllister Victorian Mystery Series
We are proud to announce that we have partnered with Carbon Neutral Britain to measure and offset our carbon footprint, to become Certified as a Carbon Neutral Business.
This means that any carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by Sapere Books’ activities will be balanced by an equivalent amount being removed or prevented. Carbon Neutral Britain is a non-governmental organisation that helps achieve this by planting trees and funding carbon offsetting projects around the world. These include the Nicaforest Reforestation Program in Santo Tomas, Chontales region in Nicaragua, and the Burgos Wind Farm Project in the Philippines.
Sapere Books have committed to carbon neutrality because we recognise the importance of taking responsibility for our environmental impact and thus helping to tackle the climate change crisis.
Richard Simpson, Sapere Books’ Operations Director says:
“We’re delighted to have been certified as a carbon neutral company and to have contributed to hugely important reforestation and green energy projects across the globe. As a company that sells books to readers from across the world, we’re proud to be making our contribution to the global fight against climate change.”
Sapere Books are looking forward to contributing to more offsetting projects in the future to ensure that the books that we publish only make an impact upon our readers and not upon the Earth.
Visit Carbon Neutral Britain to find out more about how to become a carbon neutral company.
Sapere Books are proud to have sponsored the Crime Writers’ Association’s Historical Dagger Award, which is for the best historical crime novel set in any period at least 50 years prior to the year in which the prize is presented.
The 2021 shortlist featured domestic poisons, sinister former spies, military occupations and more.
The wonderful Vaseem Khan has now been announced as this year’s winner. His winning novel, Midnight at Malabar House, is the first book in his latest historical crime series.
Compelling and cleverly plotted, Midnight at Malabar House opens on New Year’s Eve in Bombay, 1949. The first female detective in India, Persis Wadia has been repeatedly overlooked and struggles against a hostile, all-male environment. As a new decade dawns, she stands vigil in the basement of Malabar House, consigned to the midnight shift.
But when an English diplomat is murdered, Persis finds herself on the case of a lifetime. Against the backdrop of social and political turmoil, she teams up with Scotland Yard criminalist Archie Blackfinch to uncover the truth — at any cost…
We would like to send a huge congratulations to Vaseem, and to all of the wonderful authors who were longlisted and shortlisted this year.
Natalie Kleinman is the author of THE RELUCTANT BRIDE and THE GIRL WITH FLAMING HAIR: glittering romantic adventures set in Regency England.
Research can come in many forms, particularly when it’s for a historical novel. One of my shelves is heaving under the weight of the books I have covering my chosen period, Regency England. And those are just the research books. Another is overflowing with novels set in that era.
Unlike our predecessors, we also have access to a wealth of information on the Internet, so much that if we allowed ourselves to follow its pull we’d never get any words of our own written, so we have to be selective. All these sources have helped in bringing to the page my latest book, The Girl With Flaming Hair.
That said, there’s nothing like seeing real artefacts. Not so easy, you might think, living as we do two hundred years after the time in question. And here’s where I feel particularly lucky. I live in London with easy access to its plethora of galleries and museums. A while ago I visited the Victoria and Albert Museum and amongst its treasures I found things that not only helped with my work in progress at the time but which also affirmed why I love this period so much. One of my characters in another book is a keen artist, and this Watercolour Box circa 1820 is a particularly treasured image.
Women’s dress changed dramatically after 1785. The rich fabrics and complicated formal shapes of the late 18th century gave way to simple, lighter fabrics that draped easily. These new gowns achieved something of the effect of the simple tunics shown on classical Greek and Roman statues and vases. This beautifully elegant creation is muslin embroidered with cotton thread.
You can see how easy it is to get carried away by research when it can be so enjoyable. I’ll leave you with one more image before I tear myself away – I have another book to write!
This is an evening cap (1818-23) described as silk and net embroidery with silk thread; wired paper and muslin artificial flowers. I SO want one!
Click here to order The Reluctant Bride
Click here to order The Girl With Flaming Hair
We are thrilled to announce that we have signed a new Tudor saga series by Amy Licence.
Told in vibrant, colourful detail, the series follows young Thomasin Marwood as she finds her place within the turbulent court of Henry VIII.
Amy’s previous fiction has been met with critical acclaim.
In Amy’s words:
“I’m very excited to be able to publish the story of the Tudor Marwood family with Sapere Books. The saga will bring to life the English court of the 1520s, with all its intrigue and drama, through the eyes of my narrator, young Thomasin. Newly arrived from the country, she and her friends must navigate the treacherous paths of politics and love, finding their loyalties divided as Henry VIII tries to cast off his Spanish wife Catherine in favour of the young, vivacious Anne Boleyn. Temptations lurk around every corner, and secrets are waiting to be revealed, as Thomasin embarks upon a lengthy court career that will span all of Henry’s reign.”
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Sapere Books are proud to be sponsoring the Crime Writers’ Association’s Historical Dagger Award, which is for the best historical crime novel set in any period at least 50 years prior to the year in which the prize is presented.
The 2021 shortlist has now been announced, and features secretive aristocrats, murdered diplomats, dramatic public trials and more.
Snow, John Banville, Faber
A deftly woven country house mystery, Snow immerses us in the wintry depths of 1950s Ireland. The body of a priest has been found in Ballyglass House in County Wexford, the family seat of the mysterious aristocratic Osborne family.
Called in from Dublin to investigate, Detective Inspector St. John Strafford faces opposition at every turn as he attempts to unravel what happened. Up against the secretive attitude of the local community and the fast-falling snow, Strafford must hurry to apprehend the murderer before they can cover their tracks…
Click here to find out more about Snow
Midnight at Malabar House, Vaseem Khan, Hodder & Stoughton
Compelling and cleverly plotted, Midnight at Malabar House opens on New Year’s Eve in Bombay, 1949. The first female detective in India, Persis Wadia has been repeatedly overlooked and struggles against a hostile, all-male environment. As a new decade dawns, she stands vigil in the basement of Malabar House, consigned to the midnight shift.
But when an English diplomat is murdered, Persis is finds herself on the case of a lifetime. Against the backdrop of social and political turmoil, she teams up with Scotland Yard criminalist Archie Blackfinch to uncover the truth — at any cost…
Click here to find out more about Midnight at Malabar House
The Unwanted Dead, Chris Lloyd, Orion
A haunting thriller set in 1940s France under German occupation, The Unwanted Dead follows police detective Eddie Giral, a survivor of the previous World War. As the Nazis march into Paris, Eddie watches in dismay as terror descends over the city.
When four refugees are murdered, he vows to find the perpetrator. No longer knowing who to trust, Eddie must tread carefully between the Occupation and Resistance in order to survive long enough to untangle the brutal killings…
Click here to find out more about The Unwanted Dead
The City Under Siege, Michael Russell, Constable
Atmospheric and darkly evocative, The City Under Siege is set between Dublin, London and Valletta during World War Two. After a gay man is brutally murdered, Detective Inspector Stefan Gillespie suddenly finds that this is one of a series of similar killings stretching across Ireland and England. What’s more, none of the deaths were investigated as thoroughly as they should have been.
Meanwhile, in Valletta, Malta, there are rumours that a British soldier killed a Maltese teenager. Determined to retain Malta’s loyalty to Britain, the authorities send Stefan to investigate. And as he delves deeper into the case, Stefan becomes convinced that this killing is somehow linked to the murders back in England and Ireland…
Click here to find out more about The City Under Siege
Skelton’s Guide to Domestic Poisons, David Stafford, Allison & Busby
A classic detective novel set in the 1920s, Skelton’s Guide to Domestic Poisons follows celebrated barrister Arthur Skelton as he strives to win another case against the odds. Accused of poisoning her husband after years of abuse, Mary Dutton has already been widely condemned by the press. Unwilling to concede her guilt without hard evidence, Arthur agrees to represent her.
Against the backdrop of the general election, the case becomes increasingly high-profile as Mary wins support from various members of the public. But as Skelton digs deeper into the murky depths of the Dutton family, he begins to wonder whether he will ever expose the whole truth…
Click here to find out more about Skelton’s Guide to Domestic Poisons
The Mimosa Tree Mystery, Ovidia Yu, Constable
The Mimosa Tree Mystery is the fourth book in Ovidia Yu’s witty, page-turning Crown Colony series, set in 1930s Singapore during the Japanese Occupation. Determined sleuth Su Lin becomes embroiled in another dangerous investigation when a neighbour, Mirza, is found murdered in his garden, a branch of mimosa in his hand.
Mirza was a known blackmailer and a collaborator with the occupying forces. The murder suspects therefore include acquaintances, Japanese officials and his own family. When Su Lin’s Uncle Chen is arrested, Hideki Tagawa — a former spy who has gained power in the new regime — offers her uncle’s life in exchange for Su Lin’s help in finding the real killer. Armed with her local knowledge and fluency in multiple languages, Su Lin must decide who she can trust as she is thrown into a world of treachery and subterfuge…
