…to all my readers. The photo is proof that it does sometimes snow on the Isle of Wight. In A Christmas Murder a party are snowed in at a hotel on the island. This photo is of the setting for A Halloween Murder, Carisbrooke Castle. It was taken in December 2010, when we probably had more snow than we have had since. Whether your Christmas is white, bright, or grey I hope you have a very good one.
The Isle of Wight Literary Festival will be running from 9 to 12 October, and I will be there! On Friday 10 October I will be selling and signing some of my paperback books, including the latest, A Hallowen Murder, from 10 am to 2 pm. All titles are discounted, so it’s a chance to grab a bargain and have a chat. The festival session I’m particularly looking forward to is with Martin Edwards on Sunday 12 October when he will be interviewed by local author Angela Buckley about his latest novel, Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife, a traditional murder mystery set at Christmas. I was lucky to be asked by his publisher to read a pre-publication copy. It’s a great read, with puzzles and lots of great twists.
I am excited to share the new covers for my first three self-published novels. They have been designed for me by 100 covers, and I think they are the best ever. I hope you like them. In addition to having the new covers, all three books are now available as hardbacks from amazon for the first time. If you haven’t read them already, head to the Books section to see what they’re about, or head straight to amazon, where they’re exclusively available. There’s no murders, so nobody investigating, but I hope you’ll agree that they’re gripping stories. Do let me know what you think.
My next Susan Flynn book is available for pre-order now. It’s set at Carisbrooke Castle, near to where I live. As usual, on publication day it will be available as an ebook, audiobook, paperback and hardback. If you want to make sure you’re one of the first to read it, you can pre-order it here UK (paid link*) or USA or Australia
Last weekend I was in Aberystwyth for the wonderful Crime Cymru festival. I am pictured with fellow authors Rod Green and Hannah Hendy, with whom I shared a panel on the Sunday morning. I also took the opportunity to re-visit Tregaron, the location inspiration for my first novel Free To Be Tegan, and Devil’s Bridge, with its stunning waterfalls. And yesterday I was closer to home, in Brighstone, signing books and meeting readers at the library coffee morning. I will be signing (and selling) books with other local authors at Shanklin Theatre on 7 June from 10 am to 12 noon. Do come along if you can.
The line-up for this year’s festival in Aberystwyth has now been announced. Speakers include Vaseem Khan, Abir Mukherjee, Mark Billingham, and Elly Griffiths. The festival starts on Friday 25th April at 4 pm with the Dragon Parade to the bandstand. The main programme starts on Saturday 26th. I’ll be helping out with stewarding. On Sunday morning 27th at 9.30 I’ll be discussing “Getting Cosy – Evil Murder, Kindly Sleuths ” with Rod Green and Hannah Hendy. Full details about the festival can be found here. Do come if you can. It’s always lovely to meet readers, so do come and meet me.
Other news is that my next Susan Flynn book is now with my publisher Boldwood, going through the editing process ready for publication on 7 July 2025. It’s called A Halloween Murder and it’s set at Carisbrooke Castle. Look out for the cover reveal. You can pre-order it on amazon (UK) here.
Following the success of A Christmas Murder with its brilliant cover, the first two books in the series featuring Susan Flynn have been re-titled and given stunning new covers to match the third book. So, Death At Castle Cove has been transformed into A Seaside Murder, and Death At St Jude’s has become A Parish Murder. The content is exactly the same, so any reader who already has them shouldn’t buy them again unless they just want the books in sparkling new covers. I hope you love the new looks as much as I do.
I was excited to be asked to appear on the Books & Looks podcast by host Blaine Desantis. Now it’s available to view online. Blaine is based in South Carolina. He has been hosting the podcast with various authors in all sorts of genres for about two years. He talks to me about my latest novel A Christmas Murder, how I started writing, what Twixmas and Boxing Day are, and much more. Blaine loved the novel, and makes a flattering comparison with Agatha Christie. Anyway, here it is. You can watch and listen on Youtube or apple podcasts. Just click on one of the links.
I was thrilled to see A Christmas Murder make it to number 1 on the Amazon Kindle Best Sellers chart. It topped the chart on 20 November, slipped down, then regained the top spot from 23 to 27 November. And there have been lots of great reviews and ratings. Thank you to all who have bought or downloaded the book and I hope you enjoy it.
I was thrilled to be asked back to Vectis Radio here on the Isle of Wight to talk about my latest book, A Christmas Murder. The interview was broadcast live on the Billy and Sue show on Sunday 4 November. It was great fun. Billy had read the book and Sue had listened to the audio version read by Karen Cass. Both were very kind and positive about it. They also provided me with a copy of the audio recording, which you can listen to by clicking below.
mary grand 