Numero Uno

The best laid plans, etc. I had an entirely different post set up for today, but overnight events changed my mind.

For those of you who don’t know, Crooked Cat Books released the 12th Sanford 3rd Age Club Mystery, A Killing in the Family a week last Saturday (September 27th).

As usual it shot up the Amazon UK Cosy Crime chart and made the #2 slot on Monday the 29th, behind Lynn Florkiewicz’s latest Lord James Harrington tale. It spent the rest of the week wobbling between #2 and #3 and with my good friend Lesley Cookman releasing the fourteenth Libby Sarjeant novel, I knew we were not gonna do much better.

I crawled out of bed this morning to a wet, windy and thoroughly miserable day, opened up the browser and checked the book’s progress, and as you can see from the image above, A Killing in the Family is…

NUMERO UNO

How long this will last remains to be seen. Lynn is still breathing down my neck, Libby, sitting at #5, is not too far behind, and there are other, familiar writers rushing up to join the throng. But for now, I can wallow in the wonderful glow of a number one chart hit. I wonder if The Beatles celebrated with an extra slice of toast.

It’s not without precedent. Christmas Crackers made #1 at the end of November last year, and held onto it for two weeks.

And as usual, I take no credit. It’s all down to the readers who have taken to Joe, Sheila, Brenda and the gang.

To you all, I say a massive, “THANK YOU” and get ready for #13. It should be with you early in the New Year.

***I regret I still cannot allow comments here until someone puts the lazy spammers out of business.