Tag: Mystery Fiction

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Sam Smith Mystery Series

Past, Present and Future

January to June saw record-breaking sales figures for the Sam Smith Mystery Series, so many thanks to everyone who read one of my books. Currently, I’m polishing Digging in the Dirt, book twelve in the series, ahead of its September 16th publication. I have just completed the storyboard for A Parcel of Rogues, book thirteen. I am very excited about both books in terms of subject matter and series development. I’m also researching Boston, book fourteen, for next year.

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I have a number of storyline ideas. Some of these ideas won’t fit into the Sam Smith framework, so I’m developing several miniseries to run alongside my main series. My first miniseries will be Ann’s War, a collection of five novellas set during the Second World War. Betrayal will be book one in Ann’s War, and I hope to publish this story in November. Betrayal will be available free from Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Smashwords and iBooks. Amazon control the prices on their websites, but I hope Betrayal will be free there too.

In addition, I’m working with my narrator Suzan Lynn Lorraine on the audio book of Family Honour, Sam Smith book seven. As usual, Suzan is doing a fantastic job. Suzan has agreed to narrate Ann’s War as well, and we hope to produce the first audio book in that series early in the new year.

 

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Sam Smith Mystery Series Sam's Sunday Supplement

Sam’s Sunday Supplement #19

Welcome to Sam’s Sunday Supplement #19, a weekly digest of news from Sam’s World.

FACEBOOK HEADER SAM AND ANN

Digging in the Dirt, book twelve in the Amazon #1 Sam Smith Mystery Series, is now available for pre-order, price $0.99/€0.99/£0.99.
The blurb:
Someone had posted a dead rat through Jana Jakubowska’s letterbox, and scrawled obscene graffiti on her garden wall. Harmless pranks, or something more sinister? Her boyfriend, Tom Renwick, hired me to find out.
During my investigation, I met Jana’s charming four-year-old daughter, Krystyna, her estranged former lover, Matt Taylor, and a local hoodlum called Naz.
As the case unfolded, the trail led to murder, and a situation that placed Krystyna in danger. The Rat Man had revealed his ruthless streak, but surely he wouldn’t harm a child?
Meanwhile, Faye Collister, my friend and colleague, was trying to reconcile her feelings for Blake the handsome bodyguard, and dismiss her troubled past.
Digging in the Dirt, a story of passionate love, and extreme hate.
In a Facebook group, we have been discussing the colour blue, which prompted me to write this blues. With apologies to all blues lovers. Picture, B B King.
The Hannah Howe blues.
Woke up this morning,
With the dog on my head.
He said, “You don’t look too good, girl.”
I said, “I’d better get out of bed.”
Staggered into the bathroom,
Bounced off the wall.
Opened the pill cupboard,
But could find no pills at all.
The dog followed me in,
Wagging his tail.
He said, “Good golly, Ms Howe,
You don’t half look pale.”
Wandered into the kitchen,
Where I spied a bottle of wine.
The dog said, “Are you sure?”
I said, “That’ll suit me just fine.”
Took a sip of the nectar,
It really hit the spot.
So I tilted my head back,
And I drank the lot.
Sat down to write,
But my mind was in a fog.
My canine said, “That’s what you get, Ms Howe,
When you sample the hair of the dog.” 😃

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Does the full moon influence criminal behavior? Psychology Today
Advice on writing from Stephen J Cannell, author and screenwriter on projects too numerous to mention.

This completes the Sunday Supplements for the time being. Many thanks to everyone who showed an interest in these posts.

 

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Sam Smith Mystery Series Sam's Sunday Supplement

Sam’s Sunday Supplement #15

Welcome to Sam’s Sunday Supplement #15, a weekly digest of news from Sam’s World.

FACEBOOK HEADER SAM AND ANN

Digging in the Dirt, Sam Smith Mystery Series book twelve, is mainly set in Kenfig, which is now a huge expanse of sand dunes on the South Wales coast. During medieval times, Kenfig was one of the largest towns in Wales. However, a series of sand storms during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries forced the burgesses to relocate elsewhere, and they established a number of smaller settlements. Around 1450 the sand had encroached to such an extent that the town was abandoned. The area became a sand covered Pompeii and it has fascinated historians and antiquarians for centuries. This picture shows antiquarian Edward Donovan visiting Kenfig and the remains of its castle in 1804.

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Ever fancied piloting a plane? This clip shows a pilot’s eye view of a Skyranger landing at Margam airfield, a location in Sam #12, Digging in the Dirt

Great news. My narrator, Suzan Lynn Lorraine, has completed the recording of Secrets and Lies and the audio book has been sent to ACX for publication on Amazon, Audible and iTunes. Even better news is that Suzan has agreed to narrate Family Honour, the next book in the series, and future audio books. Exciting times 😃

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The Royal Ordinance Factory at Bridgend, known locally as the Arsenal, will feature in Ann’s War. The Arsenal was the largest of sixteen Royal Ordnance Factories in Britain during the Second World War. Vital to Britain’s war effort, the Arsenal employed 40,000 people, most of them women, and is regarded as the largest factory in Britain’s history. The picture shows workers leaving the Arsenal at the end of their shift.

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A contemporary local scene – Llanmihangel – from Ann’s War. During the Second World War farmers were encouraged to plant crops and raise milking cattle, so sheep and other farm animals went into decline.

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Telephone directories were a lot thinner in 1944, and phone numbers a lot shorter. Ann had a three digit number, which was common for the time.

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Sam Smith Mystery Series Sam's Sunday Supplement

Sam’s Sunday Supplement #13

Welcome to Sam’s Sunday Supplement #13, a weekly digest of news from Sam’s World.

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Mind Games is published today, as a paperback and eBook. This story centres on Sasha Pryce, a young chess player. Chess is featured in the book, but the story is about family relationships and the many aspects of love. Amazon Link

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Digging in the Dirt starts with Sam and Faye sitting outside their office houseboat on a hot August day. They are looking towards Cardiff Bay, known in the Victorian era and throughout the twentieth century as Tiger Bay. Much of the land around Tiger Bay was owned by John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute (pictured). In the late Victorian era John Crichton-Stuart was regarded as the richest man in the world. That wealth came from exploiting the great mineral wealth of the South Wales Valleys and exporting it via Cardiff Docks. Through their business acumen and philanthropy the Butes are rightly regarded as the founding fathers of modern Cardiff.

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Ann’s War is a mystery series set against the social history backdrop of the Second World War. Ann Morgan, the reluctant detective in the series, is fictitious. However, she is loosely based on real women of the period. For example, in the 1940s Melodie Walsh established herself as a private detective. Melodie Walsh’s father was a close friend of G.K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc. Initially, Melodie worked as an actress – along with modelling, a middle-class career path for young women in the 1930s – before establishing her agency. Her bread and butter tasks included divorces and writ-serving, although glamorous assignments also presented themselves – on one occasion, Melodie went undercover as a model to foil a series of fur thefts. With her father’s social connections, Melodie was in demand, hired by people who wished to gain information while avoiding a scandal. In the 1940s, private detective work was still predominantly a male profession. However, through the likes of Melodie Walsh women were beginning to assert themselves.

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Betrayal, the first story in Ann’s War, starts on Friday, 24th March 1944. On that night this remarkable event occurred. Twenty-one-year-old Flight Sergeant Nicholas Stephen Alkemade survived – without a parachute – a fall of 18,000 feet when his Avro Lancaster aircraft was shot down over Schmallenberg (pictured). Alkemade’s fall was broken by pine trees and soft snow. Despite the fall of 18,000 feet he only suffered a sprained leg.
The Gestapo captured Alkemade and interviewed him. Initially, they refused to believe his story. However, after examining the remains of the Lancaster they realized that he was telling the truth.
Alkemade spent the rest of the war as a celebrated prisoner of war. He was repatriated in May 1945.

 

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Sam Smith Mystery Series Sam's Sunday Supplement

Sam’s Sunday Supplement #9

Welcome to Sam’s Sunday Supplement #9, a weekly digest of news from Sam’s world.

Last weekend Sam’s Song reached #1 on the Amazon.com private investigators chart, the third time in nine months that the book has reached #1. Once again, many thanks to everyone who has read Sam’s Song.

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I am storyboarding a mini series of five novellas set in 1944-5. The series will feature five mysteries with an overall story arc for the main characters. The timeframe includes the D-Day landings, the Welsh Great Escape when 67, 70 or 84 – depending on your sources – German POWs escaped from Island Farm POW camp in Bridgend, and the Victory in Europe celebrations. Pictured, Field Marshall von Runstedt, General Blumentritt, General Heinrici and Field Marshall von Kleist arriving at Bridgend Railway Station en route to Island Farm after attending the Nuremburg war crimes trials.

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Here is a sneak preview of the cover for A Parcel of Rogues, book thirteen in the Sam Smith Mystery Series. This story will centre around a murder investigation. I have a new cover designer and I’m delighted with the covers. Indeed, this cover actually suggested a plotline for the book, which is why I like to have my covers in place before I write.

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In Digging in the Dirt, book twelve in the series, Sam and another character discuss the poems of Dylan Thomas, including this one, Fern Hill, read majestically here by Richard Burton.
One of my hobbies is genealogy and I’ve traced my family tree back to the mid 1600s. So far, I have not come across any Scottish ancestors or bike manufacturers. Nevertheless, I thought I’d share this lovely picture with you.

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As ever, thank you for your interest and support. More news next week.