Cathie Dunn writes...

Congratulations to author Catriona King who today celebrates the release of The Visitor , the latest novel in a gripping new 5* crime series. The Visitor  is book three in the modern D.C.I. Craig detective series. It takes Craig and his team into a dark world of cruelty and death, in a place where people most expect to be safe. Things develop for Craig's team in good and bad ways, while Northern Ireland is stalked by a killer intent on revenge. Blurb: Belfast is in danger.  Murder in a closed Belfast world where evil goes undetected; where caring people have uncaring intentions.  People should be safe in this place. They shouldn’t die unexpectedly. D.C.I. Marc Craig and his team hunt across Belfast for a psychotic killer who targets the vulnerable and leaves their children to pay.  The Visitor.  The third in the D.C.I. Craig detective series.  ~~~ Excerpt: The room was in darkness when Evie woke, hearing a noise out in the corridor. ...

Joe Murray , of Sanford 3rd Age Club fame, is visiting today, so I took the chance to quiz him before he starts pestering the locals for information about missing chocolate eggs. Joe? Joe!! Ahh, there you are... 1)  It’s Easter. You’re in Weston-super-Mare. Whatever happens on the Great Egg Hunt? I don’t wanna say too much, but I get my feet wet. That’s because it’s raining. It rained all the way from Sanford to Weston-super-Mare and when we got there, it rained even harder. And I think you’ll be surprised by what I did turn up on the Great Egg Hunt. It wasn’t just Easter eggs, although to be truly honest, it wasn’t my discovery. It was Sheila’s. 2)  You’re quite a way from home. How do the locals take to a stranger investigating a murder? The police were okay… eventually. As usual, they called our Gemma in Sanford, and she put them right. It’s handy having a niece who’s also a Detective Sergeant. The locals were a bit more iffy. I think it’s a language difficulty...

I'm delighted to welcome Australia-based author, Helen Howell . Helen's new suspense novella, I Know You Know , starts off with a shock - the cards don't lie...  Here's what Helen had to say when I quizzed her... 1) What inspired you to use tarot cards in your suspense novella? I think the element of being able to see someone's past, present and future in the cards has always been intriguing. Having read tarot myself for a number of years, I thought wouldn't this make a great element to jump start a thriller with. I asked myself the question what if not only could the tarot reader see something terrifying about a client in the cards, but what if the client suspected she knew his secret - what then?  It was easy for me to fictionalise the tarot readings, having an understanding of their meanings,  I was able to use this in a very basic way to weave this story. So I guess my inspiration to use them initially came from the idea 'write about what you ...

Today, I'm thrilled to feature new Crooked Cat Publishing author, Anthony Price , whose first novel, The House of Wood , is due out on 5th April. The atmospheric cover sets the scene perfectly for this dark horror story. No hiding behind cushions here...  ~hides~ Blurb: IT SITS OUT THERE ON THE HILLTOP.  Dark.  Foreboding.  The locals steer clear of it. The House of Wood.   Rachel James, a college student in her third year at The University of Maine, knows the house all too well.  When she receives a phone call informing her that her parents have died in a house fire, she must return to her hometown.  Rachel is forced to confront her biggest fear when she discovers the house of wood has been rebuilt in the last three years.  But it’s not until she accepts a dinner date with the mysterious Dr. David Cochrane that things take a turn for the worse, as now she must recount the story of what happened at the house thr...

Today on my blog: A character interview! ~drum roll~ Meet Iamo and Riga from the highly entertaining futuristic fantasy romance, Shaman's Drum by Ailsa Abraham . Shaman's Drum delves into the world of darkness, where demons threaten to take over. Two lovers from opposite sides of the energy spectrum unite in their fight against the dark forces.  Meet Riga & Iamo! 1) Riga, you're one feisty female. Your fighting skills are renowned. How do you reconcile the 'tough girl' image with your softer side?  To be honest, Cathie, I didn't think I had one until I started having feelings for Iamo. Yes back in my teens I had a hopeless crush on someone very unsuitable but it came to nothing. After that I just decided to concentrate on my career.  For a long time I found myself very uncomfortable with my feminine side. It is a cliché because it is true but when you meet a man that makes you feel like a real woman, then you live up to that.  My tough girl ima...

Today, a wonderful writer is visiting - Jane Bwye , author of breathtaking drama Breath of Africa , newly released from Crooked Cat. Breath of Africa is a tale of life in Kenya, of love, danger and fate. And, most of all, of an incredible country. You'll be amazed by Jane's story. I am.  Over to Jane... WHAT A JOURNEY IT’S BEEN! It all started in the early 1970’s. We’d sunk our savings into buying a mansion in the middle of a steeply sloping gum plantation in Tigoni. From the 11-acre plot you could see Nairobi on a clear day, fifteen miles to the south. We knew we’d fill the double-storeyed house with our fast-growing family. But the encroaching trees made everything so gloomy. And I wanted to have horses to ride with our five children over the hills and far away through the tea plantations of the Limuru highlands. Tons of wood were chopped and stacked to stoke the roaring fires in the sitting-room, which often held hosts of children for parties and home...

I'm delighted to welcome back fellow Wild Rose Press and Crooked Cat author, Nancy Jardine . Today, Nancy chats about shopping. In ancient Britain! Curious? Yes, I thought so. Let's find out... Who loves shopping?  Personally, I hate shopping, but I’ve recently had to indulge in a bit of hypothetical buying of goods. No, I’m not talking of internet shopping – though the internet has played a small part since it’s helped in my researches.  My current work in progress (which seems to be a long haul since I started it last September) is a historical novel, a sequel to – The Beltane Choice - my Celtic/ Britain adventure. It follows on from the period AD 71 and journeys through to AD 84. There’s clearly no major time difference involved in my new work, but what is very different is that I’m focusing equally as much on the Roman perspective as on the Celtic one. So, back to shopping. Today I shopped in Asda, only one of my possible supermarket choices. Maybe not ...