Summer's coming...

You could be forgiven for thinking it's actually November out there. I've put the central heating back on again today.

But I've been cheered up by the arrival of some gorgeous summer titles which are already getting great reviews - Sue Moorcroft's Love and Freedom and Allie Spencer's Summer Loving. They're going to make the sun shine, aren't they?

Well, even if they don't, at least I'll have something good to read while it rains! There'll be an author profile of Allie in the July issue of Writing Magazine, in the shops soon.

Cornetto, anyone?

Risky business?

I mean research for new novels. What do we novelists do when we need to find out how to poison someone, steal a million dollars, organise a heist?

In the olden days, we'd have read newspaper reports, other people's books, and perhaps private diaries, if we'd managed to get hold of them. We didn't leave any evidence of our research, or at least not much evidence.

Nowadays, of course, we Google or Blackle or whatever, and we leave an electronic trail. I've recently been finding out about different kinds of poisoning, how to do it, how long it takes, if the stuff hangs around in the body, and all that kind of thing. I don't want to poison anyone. I'm going to use the results of my research in a novel, and that's it.

I just thought the world ought to know that now!

Booksigning

I had a great time at Exeter Roman Gate Waterstone's this afternoon, meeting customers and signing copies of The Silver Locket and The Golden Chain.

The event was made special for me because several of my friends from Exeter Writers came along and bought books - thank you, everyone!

Thank you also to Montezuma, who supplied a lovely big box of chocolate truffles and bars of delicious plain chocolate, which proved to be a big hit with customers - except for one iron-willed Marine who stopped to chat for a while, but resolutely refused to sample a truffle as he told me about going on dangerous missions in Afghanistan...

Booksigning

I'm doing a booksigning of my novels The Silver Locket and The Golden Chain at Exeter Roman Gate Waterstone's tomorrow afternoon - that's Saturday 14th May, 2 - 5 pm.

If you come along, there should be a chance to try some of Montezuma's excellent chocolate...

RNA Interview

What's the RNA? It's the Romantic Novelists' Association, it's based in the UK, and if it hadn't been for the RNA I'd never have become a published novelist. So I owe the organisation just about everything, publication-wise.

Anyone reading my own blog who wants to write romantic, women's interest and/or relationship fiction should consider joining the RNA, because that's the way to get ahead in this profession. If you're already a published novelist, you just join - simple. If you're as yet unpublished, you'll need to apply as a New Writer and hope you're accepted into a scheme which is permanently over-subscribed. But all writers need persistence and determination!

You can read my interview on this link - http://romanticnovelistsassociationblog.blogspot.com/ - and find out more about the RNA, too.

May Book of the Month - Jane Casey

Gosh, is it May already? Where has 2011 gone, or half gone? I'm a day late with my May book of the month posting - must have had a long sleep yesterday!

Anyway - Jane Casey's The Burning is a fantastic read. A crime novel which is the first in a series featuring DC Maeve Kerrigan, this novel is about a serial killer who is targeting young women in central London, and it's a race against time to catch him before he kills yet again. Maeve Kerrigan is the youngest, most inexperienced detective on the team, patronised and sidelined by the men, and often unsure of herself.

In the course of the novel, she grows in confidence and even gains the respect of some (if not all) of the men with whom she's working. I'm looking forward to reading the next novel in the series, entitled The Reckoning, and following Maeve's progress over the coming years.