I am delighted to say that Sam’s Song, book one in the Sam Smith Mystery Series, is currently available FREE! Here is a recent review from Amazon:
I really enjoyed reading this character driven mystery. Sam is a female detective, damaged, determined. Her character is extremely well developed, real, the flaws serve her. There were several secondary characters who were also fleshed out, making this a richer read. Sweets gave me a few giggles, he played well against Sam. Dan, oh my, I wanted to pop that man on more than one occasion. The balance to him was Alan, a good man. Is she too broken by Dan to give Alan the chance he deserves? That she deserves?
In addition to rich characters, there is a lovely narrative that paints easy to imagine settings, and brings the characters thoughts to life. The pace was deliberate with a nice balance of intensity and introspection.
The mystery was interesting, with a satisfying conclusion. This is a great start to a series and I look forward to reading more.
Most of my books start with the central character and develop from there. However, with Sam Smith Mystery Series book sixteen the title, Snow in August, came first, with no idea regarding the content. However, an article read yesterday suggested a location, that location suggested an atmosphere, that atmosphere suggested the crimes, and the crimes suggested the central characters. Within five minutes the story unfolded like a movie in my mind. Snow in August will follow A Parcel of Rogues, Boston, and The Devil and Ms Devlin in the series.
In my forthcoming novel, Saving Grace, Carys Beaumond invites advocate Daniel Morgan and his associate, Mr Robeson, to dinner. After dinner, she entertains the gentlemen on the pianoforte. Then she encourages Mr Robeson to sing two songs, including this song, Woodman, Spare That Tree, from 1837, an early environmental song. Here is a modern version.
Thank you for your interest and support.
Merry Christmas!
Hannah Howe 