And My Heart Belongs to Filey

Now and again, people ask me which is my personal favourite Sanford 3rd Age Club Mystery. I don’t really have one, but there are those titles which I enjoy more than others.

A Murder for Christmas is one, because it’s quite detailed, and it relies (to an extent) on a real event from an area where I grew up. Trial by Fire, the last in the series (so far) is another, I had a lot of fun with Joe and the police putting that book together, and it marks a slight shift in the emphasis of these tales which I hope to carry on with the subsequent titles.

But if I had to make a choice, it would be The Filey Connection. It was the first, but that has nothing to do with my preference. Neither has any complexity in the mystery. It’s fair to say that Joe and his friends would face tougher challenges in the books that followed.

It’s all down to the location.

I first visited Filey on a school trip when I was about eight years old. You can read about that horrifying experience on Oapschat.

I learned the lessons of that day well, but curiously enough, it did not put me off Filey. In the intervening 58 years I’ve been back there more times than I can remember, and when my first marriage ended in the late seventies, I lived and worked there for several months to get me away from the stress,. During that time, I met my second wife, and we’ve been together ever since.

It’s not always possible, but we try to get to Filey at least once a year, and this year is no exception. We shall be there from April 18th-22nd.

Pilgrimage? Not really. I don’t fret or burst into tears if we skip a year or two. It’s much simpler than that. We love Filey.

We’re a little too old, and not sure-footed enough to negotiate the rock pools and slippery surfaces of the Brigg, but whether it’s a walk along the pristine, modernised promenade, watching the fishing boats come in and go out on Coble Landing, lounging around in deckchair on the miles of safe sand in the bay, or meandering through the narrow shopping streets, we just enjoy Filey.

And as a base, it’s in easy reach of Yorkshire’s larger resorts, Scarborough, Whitby and Bridlington.

Those same narrow streets, the mix of hotels and guest houses, the views across the bay, and especially Filey Brigg provided the perfect setting to introduce Joe Murray, Sheila Riley, Brenda Jump and the other regulars of the Sanford 3rd Age Club. A small resort where they can exercise their native Yorkshire wit, boogie the nights away and pass the days sticking their noses into not one but two suspicious deaths.

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You can learn more about Filey on the town’s website at http://www.filey.co.uk/

The Filey Connection, the very first Sanford 3rd Age Club Mystery, is available for download from:

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007E2JTC2

Amazon worldwide: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007E2JTC2

Smashwords (all formats): https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/132867

And in paperback from online bookstores including Amazon

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Enjoy a good mystery? Enjoy it all the more when it’s free?

Right now Trial by Fire, the 14th Sanford 3rd Age Club Mystery, is available absolutely FREE. Get more details HERE