Murder at Oakwood Grange by Avril Field-Taylor

Sherlock Holmes fans will love this. Written in the style of Conan Doyle, so well that the reader is not aware it isn’t one of his stories, Murder at Oakwood Grange follows Sherlock and Doctor Watson as they take on a seemingly simple case of murder. However, it quickly becomes clear that this is anything but straightforward.

Doctor Watson narrates, and acts, as he helps the famous sleuth to track down clues in this complex crime mystery. Avril Field-Taylor has done her research and takes the reader on a journey which is so well constructed that it is like watching a film of events play out. Set in Devon, Hull and London, with Buckingham Palace playing a role, the story moves rapidly with the trains and Handsome cabs that propel the protagonists through the convoluted plot. The railway stations, backstreets, country houses and, of course, Baker Street, are all described so well that the reader feels at home with them.

The action brings in Mycroft, Sherlock’s brilliant but mysterious brother, the professionally jealous Lestrade from Scotland Yard, the Hellfire Club and Sherlock’s arch-enemy, Moriarty, in a plot which twists and turns without ever losing credibility. The damsel in distress is beautifully drawn and turns out to have more courage and good sense than initially expected, so that the reader really cares about her fate. Watson’s love and concern for Mary, his wife, is very well depicted. And Mrs Hudson gets an unexpected shock when Baker Street is attacked.

I won’t spoil your enjoyment by detailing the plot. This story moves apace and all the characters live so there are no stereotypes here. This will be enjoyed by all who love a good crime novel, a mystery, a problem-solver and an authentic historical setting. Sherlock Holmes fans will particularly enjoy this new adventure for their classic hero, in which the author has the voice of Watson as narrator exactly right. I picked this up, expecting to read it off and on over a few days but did not put it down again until I’d finished it. An exciting and absorbing tale, which I thoroughly recommend.

http://www.avrilfieldtaylor.co.uk/index.html

Aphorisms

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What is an aphorism? A maxim, any observation or precept expressed in a memorable and concise way.
Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old. Franz Kafka.

That's it for tonight; weary after dance class and a full day at work. But tomorrow, I'll post another review of a book or a writing website.

Love Reading

Love Reading is a dream website for readers. (And all writers should read, as we know).

Providing a search facility for over 1,800,800 authors and book titles, they run a comprehensive site with everything a reader needs to know.

Accepting Paypal as well as the usual credit cards, they provide links to allow visitors to buy from their own pages or from Amazon, giving prices for both.

Featuring Books of the Month, a Top Ten of extracts, a comparison table giving book prices for various suppliers and personalized email newsletters, this is a site to explore if the written word is your thing.

I tired the book comparison feature on my own Breaking Faith and discovered it on 6 different sites, each with a direct link to the store and with a range of prices, some including free postage.

You can read extracts from most of the books on site so that you can taste before buying. The featured books give fuller details, some YouTube videos, facts about the author and, where appropriate, Editor’s recommendations.

If you’re a browser, have a look at this one; it’s worthy of your time and I have no hesitation in recommending it.

http://www.lovereading.co.uk/

Like False Money by Penny Grubb

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Some crime novels are intriguing puzzles begging for solution, some are sensitive character studies describing the relationship of investigator to crime and perpetrator, and some are fast-paced action stories packed with incident and threat. Penny Grubb, in Like False Money, has blended all three in one fascinating novel.

The heroine, Annie, a woman with balls, takes on her first cases with few expectations, learning she has been employed more as nursemaid than private investigator. The complex web of relationships surrounding the agency weave through the story, forming obstacles that Annie could do without as her investigations reveal convolutions she only suspects at first. Penny lays plenty of traps for her heroine and for the reader, feeding the fascination. Only at the denouement does all become clear, exactly as it should in such fiction. But this is no Poirot-like disposition. Annie has to work out the twists and turns and make sense of the misinformation, lies, half-truths and tricks as she wrestles to save her life.

The victims, witnesses, clients, agency staff and police contacts are all very real people. Some you would meet on the streets of the city of Hull every day, some in the villages and on the coast of rural East Yorkshire, some you would hope never to meet face to face. The locations are as much members of the cast as the people in this story of self discovery, murder, deception and misunderstanding.

Penny supplies the reader with facts, theories and puzzles, slowly revealing the plot with clues for those clever enough to spot them. But the solutions to the interwoven mysteries are unexpected and, in the case of the murder, breathtaking and ultimately inevitable. The novel starts with gentle intrigues, in-fighting and political games played by those with hidden motives, but develops into a cliff-hanger, almost literally.

Contrasting the urban environment with the rural, Penny explores motives, sub-texts and ambitions to show that location need not be the formative influence it is often considered. Here, it is the people and their personalities that direct cause and effect, acting out their parts sometimes in spite of their whereabouts. This novel surprises, entertains, scares and satisfies in equal measure and I heartily recommend it.

 http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=penny+grubb&x=9&y=18  For Penny's books from Amazon.

http://pennygrubb.blogspot.com/  Penny's Blog.

http://www.pennygrubb.com/  Penny's website

This has nothing to do with social media…

This has nothing to do with social media…

Progressing, slowly

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Chapter 45 is about to go under the knife. But I've spent much of the day doing other things. Bad news from Australia has meant some personal trauma and some time spent in speaking to unhappy relatives there. Also, step-mother is still in hospital and there were call regarding that as well.
I'm currently reading Carole Blake's From Pitch to Publication, which seems a good book so far, though it might be a little out of date in certain ways, as it was published in 1999. Used to be a factual book could stay up to date for years. These days, they can be old fashioned almost before they've populated the shelves of the local book store. But, in reality, is so much changing, or is it simply being presented in different ways? And, if there is so much change, is it all for the better? I think not.
I digress.
Tomorrow I must place a review of Penny Grubb's Like False Money on here, as her new book, The Doll Makers, is now out. Haven't read it yet, but intend to review it when I have, as I enjoyed her first one so much.

Back to the Detailed Edit

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So, my three days of part-time paid employment have passed again and I'm back to the real work. Just completed chapter 40 of the 68 and reduced the total number of pages by 12 along the way, making the whole piece tighter.
Had an interesting alert from Google the other day. A friend, Avril Field-Taylor, who writes crime novels, had done an interview with me on her blog http://silversongbird-seasidescribblings.blogspot.com/. I'd included a quote from Max Boyce in my replies and, lo and behold, the interview came up on a website dedicated to British Comedians. It seems the cult of the celebrity might bring benefits to the rest of us, after all.
Writing this in a short break between seeing my teenage daughter off to school and waking my patient, lovely, wonderful wife, who's having a lie-in following days of hectic activity.
Currently reading The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker; a huge tome of literate and informed analysis of what makes a story a story. Fascinating stuff and so well written and researched. Must also read From Pitch to Publication, by Carole Blake, as I've borrowed that from one of my writing group members and the rest are gagging to read it. Sorry, Carole; should buy my own copy, I suppose. And I will, when I've made more money from writing.

A Fathers' Day Dedication to the father I never knew

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Some three weeks before I emerged, unexpectedly, from my mother's womb, my natural father died of a burst duodenal ulcer. I knew Ken Burden only by reputation, initially through the tales from my mother and, later, through his sister, Vera, now 95.
I was told that Ken was a man much loved by those who knew him. He never had a bad word to say about anyone; preferring to remain silent rather than criticise. During the second world war, he worked as chief engineer on the small MTBs skimming the waves of the North Sea and the Channel in search of invading vessels from Germany. He was a Chief Petty Officer and often worked through his meals to keep the boat in tip-top order so it could do its job to the optimum. It was this habit of eating on the job that destroyed his digestive system and killed him just a few years after the end of the war. He was a car mechanic in peace time, and, by all accounts, a gifted one.
I inherited his sense of justice, a basic integrity and his faithfulness. I wish I'd gathered up his tolerance and humility along the way, but I don't blame him for that lack. There's an irony that I have almost no mechanical skills and that my interest in cars and engines extends only to their use as a means of getting from A to B. I understand he was not a very literate man but I live for words, so I must get that from my mother; a gifted painter who died two days after my 16th birthday. She and Ken were in love for the time they had together and I wonder what sort of life I might have had if they had both survived.
So, I'd like to thank you, Ken, my real dad, for giving me life and passing on your genes. I can only aspire to your gentle tolerance, your generous spirit and your kindness. May, my mother, loved you absolutely and unconditionally and, knowing her judgement of people, I am confident I would have loved you as much. Vera, your sister, tells me you were her best friend and she still misses you. I hear that you were fun to be with but had a serious side. I can never bridge the gap between my life and your death but I make this public declaration, for what it's worth, of my love and gratitude. Thank you for giving me a start in life and I hope I can be worthy of you for the future you never had. I love you, Dad, and always will.

Review of Torc of Moonlight by Linda Acaster

From time to time, when I come across a book I feel is worth the effort, I'll place a review on this blog. This is the first such. A review of Torc of Moonlight, by Linda Acaster.

In Torc of Moonlight, Linda Acaster gives us a book which is more than simply a damn good read. This well crafted paranormal romance leads the reader through mysteries that are only gradually revealed, frightening us along the route taken by the possessed lovers. She builds empathy for the central characters, putting us inside their minds to explain their motives, drives and fears, and shredding our hearts with their emotional experiences. That she handles the male point of view with as much skill and sympathy as that of the female says a great deal about this writer’s observational powers.

The story concerns a rugby-playing male student and the mysterious, beautiful and surprisingly tough history student he falls for. Her preoccupation with Celtic history and, specifically, the female spirits of sacred springs in North Yorkshire, underlines her very real concern for those she loves.

On a deeper level, though not intrusively, the novel deals with many themes. One that caught my imagination was the parallel of modern contact sports with ancient warrior ways. She portrays, with an understanding suggestive of her unlikely physical participation, the potential brutality of rugby. Her analogy shows how rule-breaking in sport renders the game less worthy and destroys team spirit. In the same way, her anti-hero, Ognirius, in his selfish pursuit of personal glory at the expense of his fellow countrymen, destroys trust and undermines the civilisation of his own time and that of the present day.

Linda handles sex scenes and love scenes with equal veracity, lending emotional honesty to the loving relationship of the main characters and contrasting this with the usage and guile displayed by those who indulge in sex merely for their own gain.

Detailed pictures of the city of Hull, its university, and the moorlands of North Yorkshire bring life to the setting of the novel without ever slowing the story. The plot moves, twists and turns to surprise, confuse and astound as it takes us through emotional, physical and spiritual conflicts to the inevitable denouement.

I could not put this book down and confidently recommend it to all who love well written novels with believable characters, intriguing stories and real settings.

www.lindaacaster.co.uk

And the Query Letter has landed

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Well, to tell the truth, it's actually still here with me, since I've yet to complete the final edit. Though, as I'm now on chapter 31 of 68, it's going quite well and, now I'm no longer concentrating on the letter or synopsis, I should be able to move that process along at a rip-roaring speed. My writing group, the redoubtable Hornsea Writers, gave their usual unstinting aid last night and I think I now have a synopsis and query letter I can present with the first three chapters with some confidence. So, on with the work.

Dancing through the query letter

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OK, so not entirely true. But I've been to my weekly dance class with my lovely wife tonight and come back knackered. Fox Trot, Quickstep, Waltz, Passa Doble, Tango, Jive and Samba. Great fun.
As for the query letter; well, I think I have some thing worth trying now. I'll have to see what my mentors, colleagues, critics and friends at the writing group have to say. They're a pretty astute bunch with a good deal of experience between them, so I tend to take note of what they say. I had the good fortune to come across a really good sample of a query letter, one which actually caught the attention of a literary agent and caused the book to be published. Check out http://allielarkin.blogspot.com/2010/06/yikes-my-first-book-event-and-whole-lot.html for a look at the book in question.  And check out the query letter here: http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/Successful%20Queries%20Agent%20Rebecca%20Strauss%20And%20Stay%20By%20Allie%20Larkin.aspx

The Dreaded Query Letter

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Just how, exactly, do you distil your writing life and the excellent reasons why your book should be published ahead of the trillions of others, into a one page letter? I suppose you can lie, make up contacts with people who are famous, create fictional past successes, but if, like me, you're saddled with the need to be honest, that's a non-starter. So, you examine all the material and sift it for the most relevant bits, in the hope you can make something not just interesting but sufficiently arresting to keep that busy literary agent reading long enough to consider the rest of your submission. It's all about optimism, of course. But all writers have to be optimistic, thick-skinned and able to deal with multiple rejection. Some might see it as arrogance but those of us who actually do it, know the pose is a necessary defence against the vagaries of fate. If the piece lands on the right desk at the right time, there's the slimmest of chances that it'll actually be read. From that point on, it's down to the quality of the submission and the judgement of the reader (not always as omniscient as they sometimes believe). It's a tough world out there. But at least I'm not digging coal out underground or rifling the local rubbish dump in order to buy food.

Synopsis complete

After much discussion at my writing group, I've finally come up with a synopsis I feel confident (well, fairly) about sending off to agents. Now it's the dreaded letter to go with it. A start, having researched those UK agents who just might be interested and learned what their requirements are. But I think this will be every bit as taxing as the synopsis. Meanwhile, I'm doing that last edit of the chapters; checking the spelling of character and place names for consistency and that sort of thing.
Updated my website as well this evening. Now 270 links to other sites of interest to writers.

And the synopsis progresses

It's harder work completing the synopsis of around 450 words that it was writing the novel of 270,000. Well, not really, it just seems like it. Have to see what my writing group think on Wednesday. Then, of course, there's the proposal letter to go with it. At least the constant rain today has meant I've not been tempted to leave the house for our usual walk. And the pond's full again.
Looking forward to some comments.

Gardening for a rest

Having exhausted the search for the perfect synopsis, yesterday morning I spent gardening; refreshing the spirit by manual labour. The hawthorn, berberis and pyrocantha are all now relatively tamed. At least they won't snag the clothes of unwary visitors or neighbours using their own paths to their houses. And the pond is now almost free of blanket weed. So, the afternoon found me knackered but spiritually revived enough to start again. But, first things first; I thought I should acquaint myself with the needs and requirements of the agents I intend to approach. That left me knowing I needed to produce a single page, double-spaced synopsis for most. That's around 450 words for a novel exceeding 270,000 words. But my writing friends sent advice and  samples and I've had another go. It seems to be goind well, but I'll let you know the general feeling of my writing group after next Wednesday's meeting.

Synopsis blues revisited

So, I was wrong. My writing group, a collection of published, talented, supportive and forthright writers, pointed out, last night, that my approach to the synopsis was off target. And, when they clarified their message, I had to agree with them, which, as a solitary male amongst a bevy of gifted females, isn't always easy. No matter. They have set me on the right track and next week I will startle them with my genius. Well, I might get them to make positive comments, anyway.