Category: Ann’s War

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Ann's War Books and Background Sam Smith Mystery Series Saving Grace

Books and Background #5

FACEBOOK HEADER SAM AND ANN

This month, Sam’s Song reached number one on the Amazon.com private investigators chart for the sixth time and number one in Australia 😃

I’m delighted to say that Suzan Lynn Lorraine, an actress, radio performer and theatre producer, has agreed to narrate my audio books throughout 2018. Suzan has narrated eight of my audio books to date and we start our ambitious 2018 programme with Smoke and Mirrors, Sam Smith Mystery Series book nine, Ann’s War Betrayal, Ann’s War Invasion and Saving Grace. Saving Grace will be published, simultaneously, in three formats – paperback, eBook and audio book. Watch this space 😃

FAMILY HONOUR AUDIO BOOK

And many thanks to Mat Hardwicke, editor of the Seaside News. Mat has kindly agreed to feature my mini mystery series in his popular magazine. This means a 200 word mini mystery will appear in the Seaside News every month 😃

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This is William Garrow, a champion of the underdog, a defender of the oppressed and one of the inspirations for Daniel Morgan, my advocate in Saving Grace. Incidentally, the eBook version of Saving Grace has now been listed on iBooks

Colossus

My Ann’s War Mystery Series is set in 1944-5. That era saw the development of the Colossus computer. Colossus was developed by British codebreakers to help cryptanalysts to crack codes and cyphers. Today, the machine is widely regarded as the world’s first programmable, digital computer.

Pictured, a Colossus Mark 2 computer being operated by Wrens Dorothy Du Boisson (left) and Elsie Booker.

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Pictured, the printing presses at Imprint Digital. A Parcel of Rogues, Sam Smith Mystery Series book thirteen, is with Imprint Digital now. When printed, the paperback version of the book will join the eBook version on sale from all major outlets 😃

 

 

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Ann's War Books and Background Sam Smith Mystery Series Saving Grace

Books and Background #2

FACEBOOK HEADER SAM AND ANN

A Parcel of Rogues, Sam Smith Mystery Series book thirteen, was published on 1st January. You can read full details about the book here

The River Wye plays a crucial role in A Parcel of Rogues. This painting of the River Wye was created by Thomas Jones, 1742 – 1803, a highly respected Welsh landscape painter. He was the son of Thomas Jones and Hannah 😃

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The writing of Saving Grace, my forthcoming Victorian novel, has reached the courtroom stage of the story. This is a scene from the Balham Inquest, the true story my novel is based on. As you can see, the courtroom is crowded. Indeed, interest in the case was so great that people were bribing police officers to get in.

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Saving Grace and Professor Vernon Pennington gives evidence on the first day of the inquest into the poisoning of banker Charles Petrie. This is an amazing chapter to write because it contains a dramatic incident that goes beyond the realms of fiction, yet it is true. For an author, true satisfaction comes from a successful writing session 😃

Victorian Gull

This morning, while writing my 1944-5 mini-series, I had an idea to take a character forward ten years into the mid-1950s. The story would be a mystery, influenced by classics such as Tiger Bay.

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Sam’s Song began the year in the top ten of the private investigator’s chart and, I’m pleased to say, the book ends the year in the top ten of that chart, with five #1 positions in between. Many thanks to everyone who made this possible.

 

 

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Ann's War Books and Background Sam Smith Mystery Series Saving Grace

Books and Background #1

FACEBOOK HEADER SAM AND ANN

While researching my forthcoming Victorian novel, Saving Grace, I discovered this Christmas card, which dates from the 1870s. It is so beautiful I felt that I should share it with you.

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Saving Grace is set in 1876, the year Mata Hari, the famous spy and exotic dancer, was born. Other notable events that year included the premiere of the stage production of the verse-play Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen with incidental music by Edvard Grieg, Elisha Gray (pictured) and Alexander Graham Bell’s application for a patent for the telephone while Wyatt Earp (also pictured) started work in Dodge City, Kansas, serving under Marshal Larry Deger.

The inquest into the poisoning of Charles Petrie, the centrepiece of my forthcoming novel Saving Grace, takes place at the Seabank Hotel, Porthcawl. The Seabank began life in 1860 and was redeveloped ten years later. The building is still in use as a hotel, though much changed from this Victorian photograph.

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I am a big fan of 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1970s movies and for Christmas this year I received a number of DVDs from those decades, including this classic

And a reminder that Betrayal, story number one in my 1944-5 mini-series is currently available free

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Ann's War Sam Smith Mystery Series Saving Grace

December Newsletter

FACEBOOK HEADER SAM AND ANN

This week, The Big Chill, book three in the Sam Smith Mystery Series, made the top one hundred on the Amazon private detective chart, alongside Sue Grafton, Arthur Conan Doyle and Robert B Parker.

Set at Christmas, and with a snow storm gripping the city, someone is out to murder private detective Samantha Smith. Using her wits and skills as a detective, Sam sets out to track down the assassin leading to a dramatic showdown in her snowbound apartment.

https://www.amazon.com/Hannah-Howe/e/B00OK7E24E

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I have storyboarded Boston, book fourteen in the Sam Smith Mystery Series. This story takes place over Christmas and features a range of new characters, including Gabe, a Boston private eye. The picture shows a south-east view of Boston, c1730.

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In chapter three of Saving Grace, my forthcoming Victorian mystery novel, Daniel Morgan, my advocate, meets Grace Petrie, his client, for the first time. Grace reminds Daniel of Jean-Baptiste Greuze’s paintings, in particular the sensuality of the lady in ‘The White Hat’, pictured, and the vulnerability of the girl in ‘The Broken Vessel’.

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The picture below is from my research into Victorian fashions for my forthcoming novel, Saving Grace. Saving Grace is set in 1876 when slimline dresses, bottom left of picture, were in.

Fashions

Below, the location for the dramatic finale in Betrayal, Ann’s War Mystery Series book one. This location also features in the Sam Smith Mystery Series.

If you have any comments or questions about my books please feel free to contact me via my website. Thank you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Ann's War

Ann Morgan Mystery Series – Cover Reveal

Here are the five covers for my forthcoming five story Ann Morgan Mystery Series. Set in 1944-5, these 15,000 word novellas will be set four months apart and published four months apart, starting in November 2017, so you can read them in ‘real time’ if you so wish. Each story will contain a complete mystery while the five stories will complete Ann Morgan’s story arc. Ann is a private detective’s secretary who, through a combination of circumstances, assumes the lead detective role.

I am delighted with these covers and only hope that my words can do them justice. More news about the series, including the offer of a free book, in the near future.