Welcome to Sam’s Sunday Supplement, #5, a weekly digest of news from Sam’s world.
Yesterday, April 1st, was Sam’s birthday and to help her celebrate Sam’s Song reached #3 on the Amazon private detective chart. I’m also very proud to make this list…Robert B Parker #15, Marcia Muller #17, Hannah Howe #22, James Patterson #25, Max Allan Collins #48 Amazon’s hot new releases 😃 This relates to Mind Games, which is now available for pre-order. Please click on the book cover on the sidebar for the Amazon link.
As usual, Sam has been wandering the streets of Cardiff this week. She also ventured to Monmouth. The Romans established a fort in Monmouth and a thousand years later the Normans built a castle there. The House of Lancaster took possession of the castle and, in 1387, King Henry V was born there. One of Monmouth’s claims to fame is its medieval stone-gated bridge, pictured, the only one of its type remaining in Britain.
While researching details about Cardiff Docks I stumbled across the following information, along with this fascinating film clip, which offers a flavour of the docks in 1926. In relation to women, 420 prostitutes worked the docks in 1860, while during the Edwardian era local women had the back-breaking job of unloading sacks of potatoes. During the Second World War women served as porters, wheeling trollies to and from the warehouses.
Mind Games features a young female chess player, though chess is incidental to the book and you don’t need any knowledge of the game to enjoy the story. That said, chess is full of interesting characters including Vera Menchik, the first women’s world champion. Vera defeated many male grandmasters including world champion Max Euwe. Sadly, Vera died in 1944 during a Nazi air raid.
Mind Games also features a storyline about Faye, Sam’s assistant. If you have read the books in the series you will know that Faye has endured a difficult relationship with her mother. This link might help people in a similar situation Psychology Today
I would like to end this week with these beautiful words. More news next week. As ever, thank you for your interest and support.
Hannah Howe 