Author Interviews

Marsali Taylor’s Death in a Shetland Family – the blog tour

/ Caron Allan

Welcome to this week’s blog. I am thrilled to be taking part in the blog tour for Marsali Taylor’s new book, Death in a Shetland Family.

About the author

Marsali Taylor grew up near Edinburgh, and came to Shetland as a newly-qualified teacher. She is currently a part-time teacher on Shetland’s scenic west side, living with her husband and two Shetland ponies. Marsali is a qualified STGA tourist-guide who is fascinated by history, and has published plays in Shetland’s distinctive dialect, as well as a history of women’s suffrage in Shetland. She’s also a keen sailor who enjoys exploring in her own 8m yacht, and an active member of her local drama group.

Blurb

Shetland sailing sleuth Cass Lynch is definitely out of her comfort zone when she helps round up a prize-winning stallion escaped from the renowned Klaufister stud. She’s even less impressed by its owner, Keith Arthurson, a returned city slicker who’s already made enemies in his community.

An unexpected visit to the Arthursons shows Cass the tensions simmering within the family. When Keith’s found dead, can she uncover the motive for his murder without putting herself in danger?

My Review:

I think I said this about the previous book, and very likely the one before that, too. But I mean it this time, this is definitely the best book of the series! These books just keep getting better!

So what happens? No spoilers, but someone dies. Obvs.

Here in this part of Shetland, everyone knows everyone. They know them either by reputation or because they went to school with them or played in a hockey match against them. It’s a close-knit community but there is that sense of everything you do being noticed.

It’s not long before Cass comes to be involved and needs to find out what is going on. She meets a family, purely by chance, and then, of course, her life becomes intertwined with theirs.

Someone is killed. It wasn’t an accident, the police are sure of that. But it falls to Cass to move through her community to put together the bits and pieces of what they all know so that the truth can be revealed.

This was a great read, as I’ve already said, and one where you are asking yourself the whole time, ‘Was it them?’

A real page-turner! I recommend you read this asap!

How to buy:

PAPERBACK (click here)

KINDLE (click here) 

Where to find Marsali Taylor on social media:

Facebook (click here)

Amazon Author Page 

Or on her own website (click here)

***

Through Dancing Poppies: the blog tour starts 4th May!

/ Caron Allan
The book is out–so what’s next?
Promotion! Spreading the word!
I often talk about my books on Twitter/X, or occasionally on FB or Instagram, and often on Pinterest, but sometimes you need a bit more, so I’ve signed up with the lovely Lynsey at Instagram’s  ReadingBetweenTheLines and she has organised (thank you Lynsey!) a blog tour for Through Dancing Poppies!
What is a blog tour? I hear you cry mumble.
It’s where a bunch of people who are avid readers are bullied persuaded to read a book and review it.  No honestly, I didn’t have to bribe any of them, they brought it on themselves…
It starts on Monday 4th of May and runs all week. You will be able to find the reviews/book mentions on Instagram or on the individual blogs:
or if you want it the easy way:

Reading Between The Lines:

About the book:

Through Dancing Poppies: Miss Gascoigne mysteries book 3: an intriguing cosy mystery set in the swinging 1960s

Poppy Bell is a teenage singing sensation about to ‘hit the big time’ and newly engaged to a man old enough to be her father. Everyone says she’s a gold digger. But then…

Dee Gascoigne, now private investigator working for the law firm of Montague Montague, meets Poppy a couple of times and can’t help but notice she is a very talented musician who is young, naive and on the brink of something incredible. But she is also surrounded by people who know exactly what they are doing, they’ve done this kind of thing before, are used to the spotlight and the glare of media sensationalism, and know how to present the perfect image to grow a very public career. Then there’s a near miss in a car park, and suddenly Dee has an intense feeling of danger lurking in the shadows. But who is the target? Poppy or her new fiancé, wealthy entrepreneur Teddy Reynolds?

Reviewers of A Wreath Of Lilies: Miss Gascoigne mysteries book 2 said:
‘Every character becomes someone you know, someone you grow to like or dislike as Allan draws you in, not as a spectator, but as a participator…who becomes so enthralled…that you actually cannot help but try and solve this plot before anyone else does. Mystery, intrigue, suspense, romance, and nostalgia. This book has it all!’
‘another great cosy mystery which we’re so used to with this author… the description of the town and characters was so vivid it was like I was part of the community’
‘Set in the 60s, the novel is rich in period detail with fabulous descriptions of the homes and the clothing, and a great ‘ear’ for the dialogue of the time…A cracking book, peopled with memorable characters’
So remember the dates: 4th-10th May – I’ll see you there!
***

A little more about Through Dancing Poppies: release date: 24th April.

/ Caron Allan

Only two weeks until Through Dancing Poppies launches: it’s book 3 in my 1960s-era murder mystery series the Miss Gascoigne mysteries. In case you’ve missed me banging on about it for yonks, here’s a quick recap:

Through Dancing Poppies: Miss Gascoigne mysteries book 3: an intriguing cosy mystery set in the swinging 1960s

Poppy Bell is a teenage singing sensation about to ‘hit the big time’ and newly engaged to a man old enough to be her father. Everyone says she’s a gold digger. But then…

Dee Gascoigne, now a fully-fledged—or nearly fully-fledged—private investigator working for the law firm of Montague Montague, meets Poppy a couple of times and can’t help but notice she is a very talented musician who is young, naive and on the brink of something incredible. But she is also surrounded by people who know exactly what they are doing, they’ve done this kind of thing before, are used to the spotlight and the glare of media sensationalism, and know how to present the perfect image to grow a very public career. Then there’s a near miss in a car park, and suddenly Dee has an intense feeling of danger lurking in the shadows. But who is the target? Poppy or her new fiancé, wealthy entrepreneur Teddy Reynolds?

Research for this book mainly consists of remembering my early childhood, and trawling through old photos, or watching Juke Box Jury on YouTube!

Who is Dee Gascoigne? Well, she is the baby born in book 4 of my 1930s Dottie Manderson mystery series. She used to be a modern languages teacher at a posh girls’ school, but was sacked because the school board objected to her leaving her husband with a view to divorcing him. Yes, honestly, that kind of thing really happened. A divorced or separated woman was genuinely treated badly by many people who saw her as immoral or dangerous or subversive in some way.

Almost by accident, Dee falls into an investigating role when she lets her curiosity get the better of her in a village where she is convalescing. She solves the case, and at the end of book one, she is taken on by a family friend’s law firm as a fully fledged professional private investigator. A job she is very well suited to, in spite of her former mentor’s attempt to woo her back to the school.

It’s been great fun writing this book, and I’m already getting ideas together for book 4 of the series, called All That Glitters. As you no doubt guessed, that’s going to be set at Christmastime.

Meanwhile, here’s a short extract for Through Dancing Poppies:

She was about to tell her brother Rob how glad she was that he was with her, but immediately she was distracted by a couple a short way ahead of them, standing under a streetlight. An older man with, she presumed, his daughter. The man appeared angry about something, and the girl, arms folded across her chest, was glancing about her anxiously.

Dee was on the point of asking in her best schoolmarm voice, if there was something the matter, but the girl turned back to glance in their direction. Only then did Dee realise it was none other than the school’s former pupil and new media sweetheart, Poppy Bell.

‘Poppy?’ Dee said, and the girl fixed a look on Dee and Rob, wide-eyed, fearful. ‘Whatever is the matter, dear?’ Dee asked, falling into her role of responsible teacher.

Dee was aware of Rob looking in surprise first at Dee then at the young woman Dee addressed, but Dee fixed her attention on Poppy and the man with her.

‘Didn’t I meet you recently?’ Poppy asked, a frown creasing her brow as she tried to recall.

‘That’s right. I was coming out of the Holly Tree restaurant in London with Miss Evans two weeks ago, just as you were going in. Is everything all right?’

‘I don’t know…’ Poppy glanced at her companion, who turned to look at Dee and Rob. Dee realised he was angry. He said,

‘Some bloody fool just tried to run me down as I got out of my car. Luckily, I leapt back smartly enough, or I’d have been done for. The bastard—excuse my language—the devil wasn’t even looking where he was going. Probably drunk. Had to have been doing fifty, and in a car park too! Anyway, it shook me up a bit, that’s all. No harm done.’ He brushed his suit jacket down as if he’d been rolled in the dirt.

Dee’s hand went to her mouth in horror. Instinctively she glanced around her, as did her brother, but it was too dark to see if anyone was lurking, and they certainly didn’t spot any cars on the move.

‘Rotter’s already gone. Scared of getting into trouble, I don’t doubt. Anyway… Excuse me, where are my manners. I’m Teddy Reynolds. Poppy and I are—well, we’ve just got engaged to be married as a matter of fact.’

Dee, confirmed in her judgement of his appearance on the television, calculated that he was old enough—easily old enough—to be the girl’s father, nevertheless remembered to smile, and said,

‘Oh my! Congratulations! How exciting.’

He put a proprietary arm about the girl’s waist, pulling her close to his side. Poppy smiled up at him, leaning into the crook of his arm, but casting an anxious glance about her from time to time. Further away, another couple had just got out of their car, whilst more cars were pulling in at the gate.

‘Is this your old teacher, lovely?’ Teddy Reynolds asked Poppy.

Dee didn’t care for the old part, especially from him. She said,

‘That’s right. I used to teach here, though I never had Poppy in any of my classes. I taught modern languages: German and French, basically. Now I’m just a visitor like everyone else.’

‘Poppy said she’d met you recently. And this gentleman is your husband, I assume?’ Reynolds said, turning to hold out a hand to Rob. Rob shook the hand, but added,

‘No, no, I’m just her brother. Just come along for the fun of it.’

‘Well, it’s very nice to meet you both. I do hope you’ll join us at our party tomorrow evening. It’s at my sister’s place. She’s married to Poppy’s manager, my good friend Ivor Norton. You may have heard of my sister. Valerie Blackshaw? Anyway, we’d be delighted if you could both join us. It starts at eight o’clock, it’s not anything formal, no need to ‘dress’, haha. I’ll just jot the address down for you.’ He reached into his pocket for his wallet and drew out a small white card. ‘Do say you can make it; everyone from dinner this evening is invited.’

‘Of course, we’d be thrilled,’ Rob told him.

‘Valerie Blackshaw? My goodness, she is my absolute favourite actress! She was just incredible in A Fatal Redemption, and in The Younger Sister,’ Dee couldn’t help bursting out, though she knew it was probably silly of her. But Teddy smiled indulgently and she could see he was pleased. Putting away what appeared to be a gold-plated fountain pen, he handed her the card.

‘Well, you’ll be able to tell her that yourself tomorrow. She’ll be delighted to meet you. Miss Evans from the school will be there too, and others you’ll know. But thank you both for your kind concern this evening. Not everyone would bother. And now, look here, Poppy my lovely, we need to get a move on, or you’ll be late.’

‘Right,’ said the girl, calm enough now to slip back into the usual bored tones of a teenager. ‘See you,’ she added to Dee and Rob, then turned on her heel and walked away.

***

 

 

Torn between three loves

/ Caron Allan

As you might be aware, I’m putting the final touches to my book Through Dancing Poppies. It’s the third book in the Miss Gascoigne mystery series, set in the 1960s in the UK, and the release date for this book is 24th April. Not long now!!!

As one book nears its end–production-wise, anyway–other books call their siren song. It’s so tempting. Because when you’ve worked on the same book for one year, two years, more, you can start to feel a bit like someone waiting for the last guest to leave at a party. Just, go, already! I mean, you love them to bits, and will definitely invite them again, but right at this moment, you just need them to leave. That’s what it’s like as you near the end of a book you’ve worked on, in this case, for a little over eighteen months.

So the idea of another book to work on is very tempting.

But which one? Something totally new, like my roughly planned out Ain’t Misbehavin’ a kind of caper set in 1931, featuring a couple of clever con-artists, a mother and daughter who scam people out of a ton of money and are always a step ahead of the law.

Or the next Dottie book – book 9 of the series which is due out in December and still needs final revisions and proofreading? This book is called The Rough Rude Sea, and its appeal is very strong–a ship-based setting travelling between the Canary Islands and the Channel Islands in the summer of 1935. Here’s a teeny extract from the beginning. To set the scene, Dottie and William are about to return home from their honeymoon (spoiler! Now you’ve got to read the first 8 books! 😀 ) but they turn up at the docks to board the ship and…

‘This is not what I was expecting.’ Dottie Hardy gazed mournfully up at the small steamship moored a little ahead of them. The nameplate attached to the bow claimed this ship to be the SS Icarus. Dottie felt this did not bode well.
William paid the taxi driver and turned. He frowned as he looked at the ship. ‘Must be some kind of mistake.’
There was an official of some sort standing at the dockside, by the roped gangplank that led onto the ship. He held a clipboard and had a red pencil in his hand. William went over. The young man looked up, gave William an uninterested look and said, boredom oozing from every pore, ‘Name?’
‘Hardy,’ said William without even thinking. Then he said, ‘Hang on, what happened to the SS Tigris?’
The man yawned, and scratched his chin. William was aware of an urge to shake him. William shoved his hands in his pocket just in case.
‘The company’s gone bust. Three days ago, in fact. This vessel has been courteously provided to bring the first class passengers back to British shores, with no expense to yourself, I might add, all costs have been generously covered by SeaSteamers. Was that William Hardy? And er…’ He paused and looked Dottie up and down in a wolfish manner that had William shoving his free hand even deeper into his pockets, ‘I suppose that is the delightful Mrs Hardy?’
‘You suppose correctly,’ William growled, and thrust his tickets and the passports at the man.
The man perused them with minimum attention and handed them back. ‘Seems fine. Cabin 27, middle deck. Dinner’s at eight, in the main saloon bar and dining-room, top deck. No need to dress.’ He yawned again and turned away, all interest in the passengers lost.
William turned to find Dottie was coming up behind him, the taxi driver bringing their luggage from the back of his car.
‘What’s going on? Has our ship been delayed? Or is it moored up somewhere else?’
William, hardly believing it himself, explained.
She looked at the little ship in disbelief. ‘This is it?’
‘Yup.’
‘Really? It looks so small. You’ll never get five hundred people and crew on that.’
‘Nope. He says it’s just for the first-class passengers. I’m guessing there aren’t many of those.’
She stared at the vessel for a full minute. ‘And are we happy to go on board this little thing?’

OR… I could have a stab at the more contemporary book Dirty Work, which is book 1 of the new Families Can Be Murder trilogy, a spin-off from Friendship Can Be Murder, my books Criss Cross, Cross Check and Check Mate, which feature posh Cressida and her determination to get rid of annoying or nasty people. She confides all to her diary, so it’s not exactly a murder ‘mystery’. In the new trilogy, it’s her husband Matt who is keeping the diary and confessing everything on paper:

In the front of my wife’s old diaries, there’s always some romantic, sweet dedication, full of love and promises of devotion. I did one for her, years ago, but her first husband Thomas, did loads of them, and they were all flowery and romantic, the kind of thing posh blokes always do, and in really expensive diaries, too, you know the sort of thing, designer stationery. She still keeps them in a drawer of her bedside table and she gets them out now and again and sits there all emotional and lost in the past, and… It makes me wonder if she loved Thomas (she never ever called him Tom) more than me. I get a bit jealous when I think of him. Which isn’t fair, I know, but I can’t help it, I just do…
Oh yes. So now I’ve got my own diary, and all it says in the front is ‘99p from Last Chance Book Bargains: your last chance to buy ’em cheap!’ Really cheap too, there’s a calendar in the front, and there’s two 27th Februaries. Is that for some kind of late Groundhog Day, or in case I need a do-over?
But instead of sitting in comfort in the sunroom at home like she does, here I am, stuck in the cab of my van, writing a quick sneaky note as I wait to find out what my dad is getting up to.
‘Matt,’ he said to me one day last week, ‘Could you give us a lift to the New Mills Business Park? I’ve arranged to see someone about something next Friday afternoon, ’bout twoish.’
Well, I don’t mind doing things for my dad—we get on really well, he’s not as young as he was, and he’s always been there for me, even when I was in prison—but he was acting dead cagey, so naturally I was onto him.
‘What’s it about?’ I asked him.
He just tapped the side of his nose. ‘No need for you to get involved, mate. I just need a lift, and don’t for the life of you go mentioning it to your mother.’
Nothing sets off alarm bells like my dad telling me he’s up to something I can’t tell my mum. What’s the old bugger getting up to now? At first I thought it might be some kind of birthday surprise he’s got planned for her. But to be honest, I doubt he even remembers when her birthday is, after only forty-nine years of wedded bliss. It’s like the pin-code on her phone. He needed to use her phone, and it was locked. So he asked her for the code, and she (very cleverly as it turns out) said, ‘Just tap in the code. It’s our wedding date.’
So obviously he was completely stumped. Not big on remembering anniversaries or birthdays, or… just anything really.

So tempting, all these writing/rewriting options. And then there’s a new series idea I’ve been thinking about for several years, The Runaway Policeman. I’ll just leave that with you.

***

 

A Right Cozy Historical Crime, a deliciously diverse anthology of cozy mysteries that span centuries and continents: the blog tour!

/ Caron Allan
Welcome to the A Right Cozy Historical Crime anthology blog tour!
About A Right Cozy Historical Crime:

Step into the comforting fog of time with A Right Cozy Historical Crime, a deliciously diverse anthology of cozy mysteries that span centuries and continents. From ancient alleys to a Victorian medical school, American towns to Scottish glens, these tales take you on a gentle stroll through history – where murder hides behind lace curtains and secrets linger in candlelit corridors. Perfect for fans of clever sleuths, rich historical detail, and mysteries solved with brains and life-experience and observational skills.

The  anthology includes cozy mysteries written by these contributing authors:

Marti M. McNair                 Olga Wojtas

Sheena Macleod                  Loretta Mullholland

Lexie Conyngham                Barbara Stevenson

Meg Woodward                    Dianna Sinovic

Gareth Williams                    Lisa Harkrader

Sheila Dené Lawrence       Penny Hutson

Lisabeth Early

Wendy H Jones (author and compiler)

 My Review:

The is a collection of very varied work – some set ‘now’ and some set int he past, with a variety of settings. This kind of collection is a great way for authors to showcase their work, and many of the stories I read would make excellent ‘prequels’ to a full-blown series of novels.

There is a range of styles here, too, with more formal language suited to the 1920s or 1940s, to flowery descriptive language, and stories where the style is chatty, informal, immersive.

All the stories are good mystery stories with either amateur detectives or professional investigators, but I’d like to call out some special ones that I really enjoyed: Dianna Sinovic’s Curtain Call, Red Heart Summer by Sheila Dene Lawrence,  Lisabeth Early’s Second Sight and Loretta Mulholland’s story Cave Mouth Crime. You’ve got to read those! And of course, the story Cadavers and Conspiracies by the collection compiler Wendy H Jones.

I highly recommend this book!

About Wendy H Jones: 

International Award Winning Author Wendy H. Jones lives in Scotland, and her police procedural series featuring DI Shona McKenzie are set.Wendy has led a varied and adventurous life. Her love for adventure led to her joining the Royal Navy to undertake nurse training. After six years in the Navy she joined the Army where she served as an Officer for a further 17 years.

Killer’s Countdown was her first novel and the first book in the Shona McKenzie Mysteries. Killer’s Crew won the Books Go Social Book of the Year 2017. The eighth book in the series, Killer’s Curse, was released in 2023.

The Dagger’s Curse, the first book in The Fergus and Flora Mysteries, was a finalist in the Woman Alive Magazine Readers Choice Award Book of the Year.

Turning to humorous crime the Cass Claymore Investigates series was born.

Wendy is also a highly successful marketer and is currently in the process of rereleasing her completely updated marketing book Marketing Matters. This will be part of the Writing Matters Series following the release of Motivation Matters. She is also the author of the Bertie the Buffalo picture book and associated soft toy and colouring book.

Wendy is delighted to be one of the authors in two anthologies aimed at empowering women – The Power of Why, and Women Win Against All Odds. She is proud to be the President of the Scottish Association of Writers and is the host of The Writing and Marketing Show podcast, a writing and marketing coach. and CEO of Writing Matters online writing school, Authorpreneur Accelerator Academy.

LINKS TO BUY 

PAPERBACK

KINDLE  

Author links:

WENDY H JONES 

LEXIE CONYNHAM

OLGA WOJTAS 

SHEILA DENE LAWRENCE  

MARTI M MCNAIR 

LISABETH EARLEY 

GARETH WILLIAMS 

DIANNA SINOVIC

LISA HARKRADER 

SHEENA MACLEOD 

 See these other blogs below  for more info and reviews!

#ARIGHTCOZYHISTORICALCRIME

Queen of Grime: book 1 of a new crime thriller series with secrets and dark humour

/ Caron Allan / 1 Comment

The Queen of Grime is about to pay. Big time.

Erin Flett is used to clearing up the sad debris of forgotten lives and tragic deaths. A crime and trauma scene cleaner from a deprived Edinburgh housing estate, she’s made a good life for herself and her daughter. But a secret from the past is about to catch up with her.

Ten years ago, Erin told a desperate lie with serious consequences. Now, someone else knows, and they’re determined to make Erin and her loved ones pay.

Following a terrifying late-night attack, the tension mounts until Erin doesn’t know who she can trust. As she struggles to keep her family safe, little does she realise just how close the danger is…

Queen of Grime is the first in a new series introducing Erin Flett, crime and trauma scene cleaner, and a rich cast of characters, set against the backdrop of the city of Edinburgh. With an occasional undertone of dark humour, it is a tale of family lies and family ties, friendships, secrets and loss.

My Review:

I need to confess something. I’d already read this book a while ago, before I got involved in this blog. There. I’ve said it. Phew. Now you know I was already a fan. I feel so much better now.

What did I love about this book?

I love Erin, the main character, she tough, she’s snarky, she doesn’t suffer fools gladly, and she is a smart lady. She’s got some great – and not-so-great friends and family, colourful characters you completely believe in.

BUT…

She’s got a secret. And someone – we don’t know who – but someone knows that she has this secret. And they are determined to get it out of her. A series of seemingly unrelated minor events and issues arise, and Erin is asking herself, is it all connected?

As readers, we KNOW that, of course, it’s connected. But how? And who is the person lurking in the dark?

Because this book is full of lurkers. There are people everywhere Erin goes, just watching, waiting, setting her on edge, attacking her, attacking people she loves. Who is it? Are they sinister? Or is there some other motive behind all this? You just can’t tell. Erin herself is observing them all, and trying to figure out what’s on their mind, unable to let herself relax with them for a moment.

I reread this book again last week after a break, and the thing that makes me smile about it is, I always say to myself, I’ll just read that next chapter, then I’ll put it down. But I get to the end of that chapter, and I can’t help myself, I just have to read the next one, and the next… It’s compulsive.

So yes, I absolutely recommend this book. I’m really looking forward to the next in the series. Hint, hint.

BUT I’d seriously advise you to read the prequel, Spoils of the Dead, it sets the scene perfectly, introduces some back story and the main character and her people, and the eBook is only 99p so why not? If you’re going to do a thing, you’ve got to do it properly, right?

LINKS TO BUY Queen of Grime:

Paperback 

Kindle 

About Helen:

Helen Forbes is an author of Scottish crime fiction. She lives in her home-town of Inverness, in the Scottish Highlands. Helen began by writing contemporary and historical fiction, with no intention of turning to crime. It was a chance remark at a writing group about one of her short stories that led to her debut police procedural novel, In the Shadow of the Hill, set in Inverness and South Harris, featuring Detective Sergeant Joe Galbraith. Madness Lies is book 2 in the DS Joe Galbraith series, set in Inverness and North Uist.

Helen has had two standalone crime thrillers published by Scolpaig Press. Unravelling, set in Inverness, was published in July 2021. Deception, set in Edinburgh, was published in January 2022.

Spoils of the Dead, a novella, was published in November 2022, and Queen of Grime, the first in a new series, was released in December 2022.

Helen would be delighted to hear from readers. Please contact her and join her mailing list on her website http://www.helenforbes.co.uk to get her author news and a free copy of the novella, Spoils of the Dead.

WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:

Facebook 

Website

Amazon Author Page

#QUEENOFGRIME #Scottishauthors #crimewriters

Summer news – 2 things!

/ Caron Allan / 6 Comments

I hope you’re all having a fabulous summer–you parents are probably already counting the days to when the kids go back to school, though, right? I remember the first day back when I used to sit and just listen to all that silence… bliss!

Welcome to all the new subscribers–there have been quite a number of you just lately – thank you so much, and I really hope you enjoy your free book. And a warm welcome back to you stalwarts who have been with me for a few years now, thank you so much for your continued support and interest.

I just have two quick things to tell you this month–I’m keeping it short (about time, I hear you say…)

1. Guess what? I’m now ‘officially’ cancer free!!!!!!!!!!! Woo!!!!!!!!! After almost two years of really tough times, we finally got the good news from my oncologist a couple of weeks ago. I can’t take it in, it still seems unbelievable. Hopefully I will start to enjoy my new freedom from hospital appointments, treatment, endless tests and checks, and just… well, get on with my life. Trips to the hospital comprised 75% of my social life–I have no idea what I’m going to do with all that free time now. Here’s a pic of the top of my head – I’m ecstatic to have hair again, it’s soft like a baby’s and a bit curly – though rather greyer than I remembered! (Yeah but my skin’s still awful!)

2. My new Dottie Manderson mystery is out on the 6th September. It should have been two weeks earlier than that, but a few things have  prevented me from meeting that deadline. And it seemed better to put the date back by two weeks than a few days. So that’s Midnight, the Stars and You – book 8 of the Dottie Manderson mysteries coming out on the 6th September 2025. If you’re desperate for something to do, you could head to this page on my blog and find out more about the book, and if you’ve got a few dollars/pounds/euros burning a hole in your pocket, preorders for eBooks are available here. Pre-orders are not available for paperback, hardback or large print paperback but I promise you they will be available on release day in September.

Thanks for reading. Thanks for the encouraging/uplifting messages you’ve sent me in the past, helping me to get through the dreaded Big C. I really appreciated it.

 

Marsali Taylor’s An Imposter In Shetland #blogtour #ANIMPOSTERINSHETLAND

/ Caron Allan / 4 Comments

About ‘An Imposter in Shetland’:

When an internet lifestyle influencer arrives on Shetland to document her ‘perfect’ holiday, the locals are somewhat sceptical.

Joining a boat trip to the remote islands of St Kilda with sailing sleuth Cass Lynch and her partner DI Gavin Macrae, the young woman seems more concerned with her phone than the scenery.

But when it’s time to leave, there’s no sign of her. Despite mounting a desperate search, she’s seemingly vanished without trace – from a small island in the middle of the sea.

As a puzzling investigation gathers pace, there are more questions than answers – and uncovering the truth will reveal dark and long-hidden secrets…

Review:

5 stars!

I absolutely loved this book. It was good to catch up with some favourite characters from previous books, not just our protagonist Cass, but her lovely boyfriend/partner/cat daddy Gavin, a detective inspector with the police, and their sailing colleagues and Shetland pals, Magnie, Donald, and Inga… not to mention the cats!

Wouldn’t it be lovely to be in that sitootery right now with a cup of coffee and a chocolate digestive or two, with this book on your lap but really it would be as if it was a play going on in front of your eyes…

Add a cast of intriguing characters – some local, some visitors, a range of ages and experiences, yet all with a common passion for sailing around the Shetland isles, visiting the famous island of St Kilda along the way. Cass is teamed up with some trusty sailing colleagues to head up the trip. Then as always in this series, there is the constant challenge of the natural elements – human against the wind and the waves, Cass is teaching youngsters how to find their way at sea.  There’s an ‘influencer’ who keeps herself to herself – has she planned this? Is someone out to harm her? Questions and layers emerge as the story progresses, and like me, you’ll be trying to solve this case before Cass and Gavin do!

You’ve got to read this book! I’ve read them all and this is even better than the last!

The Blog Tour

Check out these other brilliant blogs and social media pages which are featuring this book this week:

kaz loves books 

miriam drori’s blog

bookaddict twylie

jo fenton’s blog

vicarious living

donna morfett andrews

writers block

anita d hunt

mason’s menagerie

bookaholic

val penny’s book reviews

bookmark and stages

sheena macleod all about books

celtic connexions

Author Biography

Marsali Taylor grew up near Edinburgh, and came to Shetland as a newly-qualified teacher. She is currently a part-time teacher on Shetland’s scenic west side, living with her husband and two Shetland ponies. Marsali is a qualified STGA tourist-guide who is fascinated by history, and has published plays in Shetland’s distinctive dialect, as well as a history of women’s suffrage in Shetland. She’s also a keen sailor who enjoys exploring in her own 8m yacht, and an active member of her local drama group.

Links

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The world of the murder mystery

/ Caron Allan / 4 Comments

Not sure this guy is really a detective, or just a businessman who is late for a meeting.

As you may know, I love traditional detective fiction aka murder mysteries. You can get mysteries where there’s no murder, but if the stakes aren’t high, my attention isn’t grabbed. And if you’re here, reading this, the chances are, you probably like them too!

In the old Golden Age of detective fiction, there is generally a Countess clutching her pearls, casting disapproving looks at the corpse leaking blood onto her Aubusson carpet, and declaring that surely the perpetrator is some stranger, some tramp or wandering vagabond. ‘It can’t possibly be one of us.’

For me, the thrill of these books is the certain knowledge that, yes, it is most definitely one of ‘us’. One of these characters, outwardly so genteel, so polite, offering around the drinks decanter, or standing when a lady comes into the room, or smiling pleasantly and asking after the vicar’s marrows, it’s one of them. Most of them have known each other for years and see each other almost every day out walking the dog or playing tennis, or at drinks parties or dinner parties, at bridge evenings and coffee mornings. (Because this is the life of villagers of that era, we feel.)

An old lady with glasses can be the rich countess, or the village spinster/busybody. She doesn’t mind whose role she plays so long as she’s busy and well paid in scones and tea.

Like the suspects now before us, we too would like to believe that those around us are just like us, and thereby comes the assumption that no one ‘like us’ could possibly do something so sordid as to kill another person. Because such an action implies loss of self-control, unacceptable levels of emotion, and of course, a denial of the never-say-die attitude that instils us with hope for a better tomorrow. Or if not better, then at least no worse.

So when someone—let’s call him Major Wainwright—is found underneath the billiard table with his head bashed in or a hat pin piercing his eye to skewer his brain, we automatically think, no one I know could possibly commit such an act. Therefore, it could only have been done by someone ‘not from here’. Here endeth the first act of our little fiction.

Sorry about that graphic image, by the way, that fictional situation got really bad, really fast, didn’t it? I’ve been reading Agatha Christie this week, in case you’re wondering. And while I’ve got you here, I’ve no idea why it’s always a major. I can only assume that a warrant officer or a corporal just doesn’t have the same ring?

But when we look at those cast members or story characters around us, we suddenly think, how well do we really know them? This is what writers sometimes call the second act world of the ‘unknown’ or the ‘new world’, where we suddenly see everyone as different and unknowable.

Let’s look at this bunch of weirdos and oddballs.

Take the major’s wife, for example. She’s known for her knitting circles and good works. As is the vicar’s wife, busily visiting the elderly and infirm, taking care of the vulnerable.

The major enjoys civil war reenactments, often heard to say ‘That’s not how I would have done it.’

Then there’s the vicar himself. Does he really need to spend so much time shut away in his office muttering scriptures or Latin phrases to himself? What’s he really doing in there?

What about Miss Simmons, the village busybody, who knows everyone and everyone’s history. They say she has a heart of gold, but is she really over that old romance? After all, she’s never married, does she still carry a torch for that certain someone? These country villages seem to always have a nosy old woman. (Often that’s me.)

What about the village doctor—I bet he knows a secret or two.

Then there are the rest who can change from story to story, as required: there might be a visiting artist, or an aunt from another village, or perhaps a daughter just returned from university to care for an elderly father who once threatened the organist with his walking stick. And of course we have the organist himself. But don’t stop there, there’s the butler, the maid, a hotel owner, the owner of the knitting wool shop… oh all sorts of people. Maybe a weekending couple, he is ‘something in the city’ and she is a famous model, renowned for her torrid affairs before she settled down to marry a man twenty years older than herself. There might even be a gay couple, known locally as ‘artistic’, (that was euphemism my mum used for a couple of gay men we knew when I was a child in the early 60s, when same-sex relationships between men were illegal) in those unenlightened days, they may have been viewed with suspicion.

But in spite of all these people with their secret backgrounds, their secrets thoughts, ideas and attitudes, we still keep coming back to the same thing: surely no one I know would commit such a vicious crime?

But how well do I really know these people? As I watch them gathered around the corpse, their various emotions—triumph, relief, satisfaction, fear, horror, dismay, anger, sorrow—fleetingly appearing on their faces, I’m forced to admit it feels as though I am in a room filled with strangers.

It’s the job of acts 2 and 3 to follow the clues, not be tricked by the red herrings, and to unmask all their carefully concealed plans and desires and arrive at the truth. Any one of them could be the killer…

And for readers of mysteries, that’s the beauty of it!

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Death at a Shetland Festival by Marsali Taylor #DEATHATASHETLANDFESTIVAL

/ Caron Allan

About Death At A Shetland Festival:

Crowds are gathered for a concert at Shetland’s renowned folk music festival when there’s a shocking discovery – international folk legend Fintan Foley has been stabbed backstage.

Sailing sleuth Cass Lynch and her partner DI Gavin Macrae are in the audience and must untangle a complicated case where nothing is quite what it seems. Cass soon discovers that Foley’s smiling stage persona concealed links with Shetland. He’d worked here in the 80s, the days when oil brought wealth to the islands.

Has a long-buried secret risen to the surface – and will it make Cass a target for a cold-blooded killer?

Review:

The folk festival is in full swing, and everyone is having a high old time – until, on the very first night, a man is found dead in the cloakroom! Everything seems to point to him having ‘history’ with the area, but no one wants to tell what they know. If indeed they know anything – the dead man knew how to keep a secret, and no one seems to quite know everything.

As a special unit of police from the mainland investigate, and Gavin, the local detective inspector is sidelined, his partner Cass who was with him at the festival on the night of the murder quickly finds herself drawn into the mystery.

Without saying too much or spoiling any surprises or plot points, this book has two facets to it: the here-and-now modern day mystery, and the events of the early 1980s, and each of these crucially sheds light on the other as the story progresses.

As always, Cass Lynch is unable to curb her curiosity and bit by bit she pieces the truth together – and still manages to squeeze in a spot of sailing, tea with her pals and spend time with her beloved cats.

The ending is by turns nail-biting and moving, but satisfying.

This is a tense, absorbing page-turner of a book, and definitely Marsali Taylor’s best yet. I thoroughly enjoyed this new mystery and highly recommend it.

About the author: 

Marsali Taylor grew up near Edinburgh, and came to Shetland as a newly-qualified teacher. She is currently a part-time teacher on Shetland’s scenic west side, living with her husband and two Shetland ponies. Marsali is a qualified STGA tourist-guide who is fascinated by history, and has published plays in Shetland’s distinctive dialect, as well as a history of women’s suffrage in Shetland. She’s also a keen sailor who enjoys exploring in her own 8m yacht, and an active member of her local drama group.

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#DEATHATASHETLANDFESTIVAL

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