Liz Fielding's Blog, page 5
October 23, 2023
A Body at Rookery Barn
I was fortunate to be given an advanced reading copy of Kate Hardy’s new venture into crime writing , The Body at Rookery Barn and, as to be expected from this fan favourite, multi-award winning writer, it was a delight.
Is it okay to say a book involving murder is delightful?
Not the murder, perhaps, but her main character, newly-widowed and deaf, photographer Georgina Drake is everything you’d expect from Kate. She’s kind, smart, loves cooking, gardening and her spaniel.
These two = Archie and Dexter – are Kate’s own edipawrial assistants!
And Doris, Georgina’s side-kick – every good detective needs a side-kick – is, to say the least, unusual.
The book starts on the day that Georgina, who has recently moved to Little Wenborough, discovers a body in the barn conversion guest house that’s part of her new home. Bad enough. But, when a friend looks as if she’s in the frame for murder and the bodies begin to mount up, she is determined to find out the truth.
Who killed this man and why is just one mystery, however. There’s another, a cold-case scenario that involves Doris.
Hint… It’s a perfect Hallowen read!
Written with all the warmth you’d expect from Kate and I’ve already pre-order the next in the series, The Body in the Ice-House.
Can’t wait!
October 12, 2023
I’m making a list…
In Maybridge, people have gathered to decorate the St Bart’s parish hall for all the Christmas parties being held there in the run up to the holiday for –
The Brownies
The Mother’s Union
The Zumba and Yoga Classes
The Slimming Club
The Sunday School
and, first up, the
Seniors’ Lunch Club
Abby Finch has received a request from a member of the seniors’ lunch club for some mistletoe and, happy to oblige, she drops off generous bunches, along with other seasonal greenery and gold-painted seed heads.
Amongst those decorating the hall she spots someone who taught her at high school and, despite being in a hurry – she has to pick up Sophie from football practice – she stops to have a chat.
She is then buttonholed by Gregory Tate – the silver fox everyone wants under the mistletoe – who abandons the tree lights to ask her about giving his garden a make-over and while he’s delaying her, someone falls…
Before she knows it, Abby is embroiled in a lot more than some good news about a garden design and preparations for her own Christmas party.
She’s confronted with –
Blackmail
Posh Chocolates
Poison
Secrets
Murder (for which she is again a suspect)
and
Lethal danger
Pre-order the second
Maybridge Murder Mystery
NOW!
PS And for those who prefer to listen to their books, Murder Among the Roses is being released just in time for Christmas at Audible!
October 3, 2023
What I’ve been reading…
I’ve been catching up with books written by friends, including the latest Libby Sarjeant from Lesley Cookman. Set in a Kent village with its own theatre, this series has a fabulous cast of characters and just gets better and better.
Murder in Autumn focusses on some difficult and relevant issues, which made it an great read.
The Body at Rookery Barn is a bit of a cheat, as it isn’t published yet. But I was lucky enough to get an advance look at Kate Hardy’s first crime novel. The Body at Rookery Barn has all of Kate’s great charm, an intriguing mystery and some very unusual touches than you won’t want to miss. Can’t wait for the next one!
The Puppet Show is the first in the Washington/Poe series by M W Craven that I was introduced to on the UK Crime Readers Facebook page and I just loved it.
Two truly great characters and an absorbing mystery. I’m busy writing at the moment, but this is a series I’ll be going back to the minute I have some spare reading time.
September 25, 2023
What’s happening in Maybridge?
It’s been a while since my first Maybridge Murder Mystery, Murder Among the Roses was published.
It’s been a roller-coaster ride from the moment it became a Hot New Release alongside Richard Osman, and the 5 star reviews began piling up. But Abby Finch hasn’t been idle.
She’s spent the last few months restoring the Victorian walled-garden at Linton Lodge and it’s now the new headquarters of Earthly Designs, her garden design business.
Christmas is just a couple of weeks away. Abby has a party to plan, gifts to buy and a last minute costume for the school play to create out of thin air.
Then there’s the unsolvable problem of 10-year-old Sophie wanting the one gift that no one can buy. And Abby’s own confusion over her relationship with Jake.
A last minute request for mistletoe to decorate the parish hall for the holiday season is a welcome distraction….
Coming soon!
September 8, 2023
More book news
Following on from the re-issue of The Temp & the Tycoon, I have now re-published two more of my backlist in pretty new covers.
In His Runaway Bride Willow and Mike can’t decide which of them is more relieved when they each jilt the other at the altar. Having got cold feet, they’ve now decided to pursue their dream jobs rather than marry…
But, bumping into Willow by chance as they are both making their getaway, Mike knows that he still wants to spend his life with her. They should be facing their problems together rather than running from them. Somehow, he has to capture his runaway bride and convince her that they’re meant to be together. But it isn’t going to be easy.
In The Baby Plan, successful businesswoman, Amanda Fleming’s biological clock is ticking furiously and when she meets chauffeur, Daniel Redford, owner of a sexy, lopsided smile and gorgeous blue eyes she begins to fantasize about him as the father of the baby she’s planning. (It’s easy to see why it would be more appealing than a visit to a clinic for a sperm donation…)
The fact that Daniel assumes she’s a secretarial temp he’s ferrying to a job, rather than Amanda Garland, the boss of a high-flying secretarial agency, amuses her. The last thing she expected was to fall in love but before she can tell him the truth she discovers, in the most brutal way, that Daniel has been practicing a little deception of his own. By then, however, they’ve had the flirtation and the fun and she’s expecting his child.
Liz Fielding’s Classicsg – 1Also, these two books are available individually on Amazon – links above – and as part of an anthology, along with The Temp & the Tycoon on all digital platforms via Draft2Digital.
September 4, 2023
What am I reading?
I have finally managed to find a moment (or two) to read the last in the Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths. I was so looking forward and yet dreading reading the last in the series. Definitely not looking forward to a yearly dose of characters that had become good friends.
There was an engrossing mystery, danger for Cathbad – still suffering the effects of Covid — and the will they/won’t they finale for Ruth and Nelson.
I thoroughly enjoy it, although I think I may have read it too fast. In fact I may have to go back and re-read the entire series.
Thankfully, Elly has some other really good stuff on the go. Lots to enjoy there.
Part 2 – A new arrival
I was passing a chain store bookshop on Saturday when I spotted that Lucy Worsley’s Agatha Christie is now out in paperback. Resisting the 10% discount that my membership of the Society of Authors would give me, I walked on up to our wonderful indie bookshop and ordered a copy there. My granddaughter picked it up for me today and it is now sitting, enticingly, within reach.
While I was in the bookshop, I picked up a copy of Booktime, the industry giveaway full of the new season titles and I spotted this. Private Inquiries is the history of the female sleuth – the real ones, not the fictional ones and they go back as far as 1855.
It’s not out until October and it’s a hardback so a bit pricey. Will I be able to resist until there’s a paperback? I’m not sure.
August 31, 2023
Revisions are in…
Well, that’s not strictly true. With my head down over a hot keyboard for two solid weeks, I spent quite a lot of time getting to grips with the dust and the ironing.
But once that was done, I put my feet up with every intention of tackling my teetering tbr pile.
I got about a third of the way through the first book, waiting for something to happen but nothing did, so I started again with a crime novel.
The victim in this was reported to have been done away with in two completely different ways within the first couple of chapters so I moved on to the latest Ben Aaronovitch novella, Winter Gifts.
I love the Rivers of London series but this wasn’t a Peter Grant story.
We were in the United States with FBI Special Agent Kimberley Reynolds (who we’ve met before in earlier books).
There’s an ice tornado, missing people, an arm that’s been torn off someone and a lot of very angry, very weird creatures.
I loved it!
August 7, 2023
Book news!
I have two pieces of book news this week. First up, my novella, The Temp & the Tycoon, published by Mills and Boon as part of their 100th birthday celebration in their iconic retro cover, now has a new life and new cover.
This is the story of two people trapped by circumstances to be alone. Jude Radcliffe by betrayal, Talie Calhoun by love.
But Talie is by nature a rescuer of lost souls and while on a business trip to New York as his temporary PA, she is determined to rescue Jude, and remind him of the wonder of life.
His, much harder task, is to persuade her that, having found it, she will spend that life with him.
It’s available now as a digital download here for 99c/99p, or free on KU.
The Body at Rookery Barn
My second book news is that multi award winning Kate Hardy, who has probably lost count of the number of wonderful books she has written, has joined me on the dark side and written The Body at Rookery Barn, a delightful cozy crime – and yes, I have been privileged to read a copy.
Here’s a glimpse —
Outside, Rookery Barn glows in the mid-morning sunshine while fat bees flit lazily between the forget-me-nots. Inside, a body lies dead…
Widowed Georgina Drake has no regrets about moving to beautiful, sleepy Little Wenborough in rural Norfolk. Until she opens the door to her rental property and finds the dead body of her latest guest, irritable university professor Roland Garnett. And on top of that she’s suddenly hearing a woman’s voice through her hearing aids.
Completely shaken by the discovery, Georgina can hardly believe it when the police conclude that Professor Garnett was poisoned, with a dinner delivered by Georgina herself. Is she about to be accused of murder? Georgina needs to pull herself together, try to ignore the distracting voice, and clear her name!
You can pre-order order a copy now – The Body at Rookery Barn
August 2, 2023
Cover of the month
The cover of my romance, His Little Girl, has been accepted by All Author fo their cover of the month competition. Should you feel like voting for it that would be wonderful!
Cover of the Month
His Little Girl: Daddy on the run!Hey Everyone,
I’m excited to tell you that my book has been nominated for the “Cover of the Month” contest on AllAuthor.com. This will help me a lot if I could see some votes coming in, so please remember to vote my book.
Vote Now »
Liz Fielding
July 11, 2023
Giveaway!
(2) Winners of eBook “Gift Baskets” of ALL ebooks
Other Winners of individual ebooks or paperbacks (randomly selected)
