Congratulations to Ros Rendle, whose moving contemporary romance, Sunflowers for Suzy, is published today!
Having recently lost her mother, 38-year-old Suzy Summers is anxious to make a fresh start. Leaving behind her old life in England, she flees to the idyllic village of Fleurus-le-Comte in Northern France.
On arrival, Suzy crosses paths with Jean Christophe, an unhappily married farmer. Irritated by his apparent conceit, she vows to have nothing to do with him.
However, as Suzy settles into village life, she and Jean Christophe are thrown together more and more. Witnessing his kindness and charm, Suzy softens and they form a tentative friendship.
Among the peaceful hills and rivers of the beautiful valley, Suzy’s weary spirit begins to heal. But as she finds herself falling for a man who already belongs to another, she begins to wonder whether she can bear to stay…
Congratulations to David Field, whose gripping medieval thriller, Traitor’s Arrow, is published today!
England, 1110
When King William Rufus of England is killed mysteriously during a hunting accident in the New Forest in 1100, his younger brother Henry, who had been present, loses no time in riding hard to claim both the Treasury and the crown.
Rumours quickly being swirling that Henry was himself responsible for Rufus’s death. One of Henry’s main accusers is his older brother Robert, Duke of Normandy, who believes the throne of England is his by right and threatens to invade from across the Channel.
King Henry entrusts the task of proving his innocence to Sir Wilfrid Walsingham, a Saxon-born knight who was elevated by Henry’s father, only to be cast by the perverted and tyrannical Rufus into a jail cell from which, after almost two years, few men could have emerged alive, or with their sanity intact.
Can Walsingham unearth the truth about Rufus’s death and clear his name? Or will England be torn apart by those in power…?
Congratulations to Graham Ley, whose gripping historical saga, The Baron Returns, is out now!
The Baron Returns is the first book in The Kergohan Regency Drama Series.
Devon and Brittany, 1795
In the aftermath of the bloody French Revolution, the British government is anxious to prevent revolutionary ideals from crossing the Channel.
As a seasoned army captain with an estate in Brittany, English-French aristocrat Justin Wentworth is sent to France to assist the Chouannerie — a royalist uprising against the new regime.
Back at Chittesleigh Manor, his Devonshire estate, Justin’s mother and sister anxiously await his return, alongside family friend Arabella Wollaston. Harbouring a secret affection for Justin, Arabella listens carefully for clues about his movements.
When she notices suspicious behaviour around Chittesleigh, Arabella suspects that the Wentworth family is being watched and decides to discreetly investigate.
But with plots and treachery seemingly rife throughout the realm, she soon begins to wonder whether she has stumbled across a wider web of subterfuge…
Seán Gibbons’ gritty, heart-pounding thriller, City of Death, is published today.
City of Death is the fourth novel in the Ben Miller Crime Thriller series: hardboiled gangland novels set in Galway, Ireland.
Galway, Ireland, 2010
When taxi driver and part-time private investigator Ben Miller finds his friend Meili brutally murdered, he and her friend Qiang go in search of her killer.
Miller soon enlists the help of his friend, Gárda Aaron Dempsey and they find themselves caught up in a war between rival Chinese triads, seeking to wrest control of the city’s illegal gambling activities from Superintendent Folan and his allies.
They all become involved in a hunt for a diary in which Meili has been keeping details of the activities of the clients’ who pay her for sex, possession of which will give whoever finds it the tools they need to protect themselves at the expense of their rivals.
Matters are complicated by the presence of three men claiming to be either Meili’s current or ex-husband.
When one of them is involved in trafficking Meili’s daughter from China into the sex-industry in Ireland, rescuing her becomes the priority…
When was the last time you sat down to just clear your head? While not all mental strain you might be under can be cured by writing, it’s one tool that can help in a big way. Research continues to show that you can — with a keyboard, typewriter, or pen — write down what is bothering you and explore it in unique and healthy ways.
Being More Mindful
Cambridge University Press conducted a study not long ago focusing on how writing and mental health went hand-in-hand. The study focused on individuals who spent around 20 minutes daily just writing. The writing was expressive, capturing how they were feeling in the moment.
The research found that those who were open and honest with their writing were in a better mental state. They were more mindful of how they felt and saw the benefits that went along with it.
Reduction in Anxiety
Anxiety impacts over 40 million adults in the United States. Only about one-third of all cases get proper treatment. Anxiety is different than just being nervous; it is the body’s response to a stressful event. Triggers can vary wildly. Being still can cause anxiety, as can having too many things going on at once. With anxiety, you are always looking for a way to battle back.
When you write, you can concentrate on just one thing. You can focus on what is in front of you and free your mind from everything bothering you. All the noise that is crowding your mind goes away. The more you write, the more you can concentrate and fight back the negative impact of anxiety.
Journaling as a Way to Battle Depression
Depression is another problem that writing can assist with, since it allows you to explore your thoughts and feelings.
You can sometimes get yourself out of mental holes by writing about future goals, current struggles, and giving yourself positive self-talk. When you can build yourself up through your writing, you can better set yourself up for future peace of mind and success.
Feel Better About Yourself and Where You Are Going
You may want to feel better about yourself, as well as where you’re heading in life. When you write, you can creatively accomplish all of that and more. What do you want your life to be like? Where do you ideally want to live? Do you have travel aspirations? How are you feeling about your current social relationships or your career?
When you write, you begin to realize exactly what’s on your mind. Your brain produced the words in front of you for a reason, and they can bring peace and direction for the road ahead.
How to Begin Your Writing Journey
Where do you begin when it comes to starting your writing journey? You can simply take pen and paper (or open up your laptop) and begin to write. But you can also take some steps to help your process along.
Create a Dedicated Writing Space
A solid first step is to find a dedicated spot where you can focus on your writing. Maybe it’ll be at a desk in your bedroom, or you can set aside a small writing nook. Also, how do you want to write? On your computer or laptop? In a journal? If you’re putting pen to paper, purchase a specific journal or notebook where your writing will go.
Make Sure You Write Every Day
Spend at least 15 to 20 minutes each day doing your writing. Resist judgment when you do this, letting your mind go wherever it wants to take you. There is no right or wrong way to write. As long as you dedicate the time to do so, you should be in good shape for the road ahead. When you can make writing a habit, it becomes a daily healing practice.
The mental health benefits of writing are well documented. You can reap a lot of benefits just by seeing what comes out of your head. Write a story, jot down words in a journal, and maybe even draw a picture. Examine your mental state or face your struggles by getting them out, rather than trying to bottle them up. Writing through your mental health struggles can be a valuable step towards improving your wellbeing.
Sources
cambridge.org – Emotional and physical health benefits of expressive writing
Congratulations to Michael Fowler, whose gritty psychological thriller, See Them Die, is published today!
Three years ago, forensic psychologist Dr Hamlet Mottrell’s life was completely destroyed when an intruder killed his wife and unborn child and slashed his wrists to make it look like a murder-suicide.
Though the case against him was dropped, Hamlet remained guilty in the eyes of many, and was forced into a life of solitude.
But then he hears of another brutal murder case and becomes convinced it is the same person who attacked his family.
He gets in touch with Detective Sergeant Alix Rainbow, one of the only people who believed him when he was initially arrested, and convinces her to help him track down the vicious killer.
But when more deaths occur, she starts to question everything…
Congratulations to Elizabeth Bailey, whose brilliantly written historical mystery, The Unwanted Corpse, is published today! The Unwanted Corpse is the eighth book in the Lady Fan Mystery series.
1794, England
When a body is unceremoniously dumped outside her home, Lady Ottilia Fanshawe is once more drawn into a murder case.
Ottilia is recovering from the birth of her first child and her husband, Lord Francis Fanshawe, is worried that she has finally taken on more than she can handle.
But Ottilia will not be diverted. Motherhood has always been her deepest desire, but solving crimes is her passion. And she is determined to balance both.
No one in her household recognises the dead man, and yet a note was left with Lady Fan’s name on it. Clearly, someone wants her to investigate the crime, but why?
We are delighted to announce that we have signed a new dual timeline series set in the modern day and Tudor times by Phillipa Vincent-Connolly.
Told in authentic detail, the four-book series explores the intrigue and plots within King Henry VIII’s court. The books include ingenious twists on Boleyn family history, retold through a twenty-first-century history student’s eyes. The first instalment will be published later this year.
In Phillipa’s words:
“It’s very exciting to be working with Sapere Books on my first historical fiction series. The series is very special to me, as it includes appearances from some friends and colleagues of mine, who are featured as cameo characters from the modern day, with the history of the Tudor period also wound through, creating an exciting retelling of Anne Boleyn’s story. The narrative moves between the present day and the middle of Henry VIII’s reign.
“Set in South London and Queen Mary University of London, the first book follows an enthusiastic history undergraduate called Beth Wickers, who gets the shock of her life when her professor’s gold cypher ring opens up a mysterious portal that takes her to Tudor England and Hever Castle, where she becomes an integral part of Anne Boleyn’s life. She’s been warned not to meddle or risk changing history, but can she allow her dear friend to go on to become the second wife of King Henry VIII and to meet a horrific death? Can Beth save herself from the machinations of the Tudor Court, or will she meet the same fate as the queen to be? Only the ring has the answer.”
Amy Durant, publishing director of Sapere Books, commented: “I am thrilled to be working with Phillipa on these books, which breathe new life into the Tudor period. We are sure our readers are going to love the series!”
On April 1, Robert Charles Cornett, “Bob,” sometimes known as R C Squared, passed away. Bob and I had been friends for nearly a half century. We met while we were both taking Air Force ROTC at the University of Iowa in the early 1970s. We shared an interest in science fiction and writing and a few other things.
Bob had originally majored in both physics and Russian, which seemed to be a very difficult path to follow. Eventually, he changed majors, and we both graduated in 1975. Bob remained in Iowa City.
It was in 1975 that I learned the Project Blue Book files had been declassified and were open for public scrutiny at Maxwell Air Force Base. Bob and I drove to Maxwell and began a search of those records. We might have been the first two outsiders to see those records. At the time, the names had not been redacted and we spent two days going through the index, writing down the names of all the witnesses for the unidentified sightings. At the time, this was a unique record, but today the information is available on the Internet. That search translated into a few magazine articles about Project Blue Book and sparked Bob’s interest in UFOs.
Writing had always been one of his goals, though I suspect he was more interested in writing science fiction than he was in writing about UFOs. We had written a book of science fiction short stories that was never published, but some of them have been posted to www.thesciencefictionsite.blogspot.com.
Bob had suggested that we talk to James Van Allen (a space scientist) about UFOs, because they knew each other. I thought it was just that Bob had taken a class from Van Allen and it was a sort of nodding friendship. But, one day, in the Physics Building, Van Allen got in the elevator with us. He looked at us and said, “Hi, Bob.”
And Bob said, “Hi, Van.”
Van Allen sat down with me for two hours to talk about UFOs. Bob missed the meeting for some reason, but it would not have happened had he not known Van Allen. That Van Allen would talk to me about UFOs said something about Bob.
We did investigate cattle mutilations for the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO). Jim Lorenzen (APRO’s co-director) had called me, asking me to look into them. With Bob, we went to Minnesota and spent a week to ten days there, learning what we could. We had been told that these mutilations were part of Satanic rituals, but we found no evidence to support that claim. Nor did we find anything to suggest that UFOs had anything to do with it.
All this resulted in Jim Lorenzen introducing Bob at a UFO convention as one of his top investigators. The irony was that Bob belonged to the rival National Investigations Committee On Aerial Phenomena (NICAP). But the recognition did help Bob place some stories about UFOs in the magazines that were popular at the time.
We began to attend science fiction conventions with a view to meeting the editors working for publishers. We thought that if we met them, if they knew who we were, then we might have a leg up when a manuscript was submitted. I’m not sure if that ever worked in our favour, but we did meet Sharon Jarvis, an agent looking for writers. She recognized our military connection and one day called, wondering if we could write books about the Green Berets in Vietnam. We said yes and set about creating those books, now all recently republished under the banner of Vietnam Ground Zero. This did not erase our quest to write science fiction. I don’t know if those books helped or not, but we did eventually publish science fiction.
I was at home one night when Bob called and told me he had started a novel that dealt with a war in space. We planned to meet the next day, and he suggested that I bring along something. His “chunk” of the book, as we came to call them, was in the third person, but mine was in the first person. Before we were done, the book, Seeds of War, had five first-person narrators, not all of whom survived the conflict, and the third-person beginning in which Earth declared war on another planet. I mention this only because we used Lyndon Johnson’s Gulf of Tonkin speech as the basis for the one in the book. We didn’t have to change much. It was a commentary on war. It was a strange attitude for us because of our connections to the military.
Bob and I attended many science fiction conventions, even after we had books published. At a party hosted by Berkley Books, we ended up as volunteer bartenders at about two in the morning. A very drunk science fiction fan wanted a Scotch, but we had run out. He was so drunk that we didn’t think he would know the difference, so we made some Scotch for him, using gin, Pepsi, and some wine, and we worked hard to make it look like Scotch. The man took it away happy.
We were at another science fiction convention in Minneapolis and were in the hotel room, working on a book. One of the characters was named Tom Waters, and I wrote the line, “Waters rushed up hill.”
Bob said, “You can’t say that.”
And I said, “Why not? No one will ever notice.”
From that point on, we often attempted to hide a bit of humour in the books for those astute enough to catch it. No one ever mentioned the waters rushing up hill to either of us.
Bob was popular on the science fiction circuit. I think it was a combination of things, including some of the stories that he wrote. He would do readings periodically, and I noticed that the fans sat quietly listening to his stories. He was sometimes slow in getting the story written, but it was always a good one. He was an imaginative writer, with a keen ear for human speech.
He was habitually late for nearly everything. We were to meet in Iowa City one day, but I got interested in a movie and figured that Bob would be late. So, I watched the end of the movie and was more than an hour late. Bob showed up about twenty minutes after I got there.
Bob eventually left Iowa City, moving to Moulton, Iowa, and our writing sessions waned at that point. We did a number of limited series, including one about time travel that started with Remember the Alamo, in which the time travellers return to 1836 to win the battle for the Texicans by using modern weapons.
But with the move to Moulton, our contacts lessened. I became involved in UFO research and Bob stuck closer to the science fiction. I think the last science fiction convention we attended together was in 1991, about the time of the Gulf War. We hadn’t been writing much together by that time. The Vietnam Ground Zero series had wound down and we didn’t have any contracts for science fiction novels.
Bob had trained as an EMT while living in Moulton and at some point had become a letter carrier. With his wife, MaryAnn, he eventually moved to Albuquerque where they hosted a few conventions.
Bob was interested in firearms and had a massive knowledge about them. Some of the writing about Vietnam showed just how much he knew about weapons. He was very good at describing the combat of the time. He was honourably discharged from the Air Force and later the Marines.
He was a very good friend, and I wish that I had been a better friend to him. I knew that his health had been poor these last few years. I had him on the radio version of A Different Perspective, and I was saddened by what I heard as we talked about UFOs. He just wasn’t as sharp as he had been when he was younger. You can listen to that show here: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/19655144
In the last several years, maybe the last couple of decades, he had lost his fire for writing. Bob Tucker (a mystery, action-adventure, and science fiction author), who turned out to be a good friend, had said in his later years that he had retired from writing. Neither Bob nor I could understand that attitude … but sometimes writing is a very difficult task. I think Bob retired from it without really saying that he was retired.
I had thought of writing a tribute to my friend, but this turned into more of a remembrance. I’m surprised by how much I miss him.
We are thrilled to announce that we have awarded winners in all six of the writing competition briefs that we set last year.
Top row: Richard Kurti, Laura Martin, Neil Denby. Bottom row: Patrick Larsimont, Bob Robertson, Rachel McDonough.
Each chosen author has won a five-book contract to work on the series they submitted for.
Screenwriter Richard Kurti has won The Medici Murder Mystery series brief.
The Second World War Aviation Thriller series brief was won by debut author Patrick Larsimont.
Established romance author Laura Martin scooped the Jane Austen Detective series brief.
Ghost-writer Bob Robertson snapped up the Age of Sail brief.
Academic author Neil Denby scooped the Ancient Rome Historical thriller brief.
And American author Rachel McDonough won the Tudor Maid Diaries series brief.
The quality of the entries were so strong that we have also awarded honourable mentions in nearly all of the categories and we are speaking to the shortlisted authors about writing other historical series for us based in the time period of their submission.
The shortlisted authors are:
Donna Gowland and Leann McKinley for the Jane Austen brief.
Daniel Colter and Ava McKevitt for the Ancient Rome brief.
David Bailey, David Mackenzie, Tony Rea and Suzanne Parsons for the WWII brief.
Kate MacCarthy for the Medici brief.
Alice Campbell, Angela Ranson, Katharine Edgar, Valerie Boyd and Maria Hoey for the Tudor brief.
Following the success of the first competition we are hoping to run the competition again later this year with a fresh set of writing prompts.
Congratulations to Natalie Kleinman, whose captivating Regency romance, Love’s Legacy, is out now!
When her father — a countryside reverend — dies suddenly, young Patience Worthington is left with no home and little money. In urgent need of support, she is forced to seek out her estranged uncle, a viscount at the vast Worthington Place.
Patience arrives to find that her uncle has died and that the current viscount is her cousin, Gideon. After hearing her plight, he agrees to give her a home on the Worthington estate.
However, when Patience and Gideon learn the cause of the long-standing rift between the two sides of the family, they quickly begin to clash. Now too proud to accept his accept the viscount’s charity, Patience soon leaves Worthington Place to seek shelter with her late mother’s relatives in Bath.
With her kindness and beauty, Patience is an instant success in Bath society and regularly crosses paths with Gideon. Despite their differences, they enjoy each other’s company and form a tentative friendship.
But when dark secrets once again threaten their growing bond, the cousins begin to wonder whether they can ever leave the shadows of the past behind…
Congratulations to David Field, whose thrilling Medieval saga, Conquest, is published today!
It’s 1065 and the Saxon kingdom is under threat of invasion at both ends. From the north comes Harald Hardrada of Norway intent on pillage, while across the Channel, Duke William of Normandy is about to enforce his claim to the throne.
Between the two lie the villages and townships defended only by part-time armies maintained by the Earls of Wessex, Mercia and Northumbria, barely united under King Harold Godwineson.
It falls to brave and determined young men like Will Riveracre and Selwyn Astenmede to stand firm against whichever marauding invader reaches them first.
But the initial battle could be the least of their worries as a new king ascends the throne – threatening to annihilate their traditions and customs forever…
Congratulations to Ros Rendle, whose breath-taking dual timeline saga, The Divided Heart, is published today!
England, 1975
Having recently suffered heartbreak, twenty-five-year-old Heather Rawlins is ready to give up on love. Her confidence in tatters, she seeks solace in her new job at The Beeches Care Home for the Elderly.
When Heather meets Izzy Strong, the home’s newest resident, she is surprised to find that they have an instant connection. And as they grow closer and Izzy begins to reveal her shocking past, Heather starts to question her own life choices…
Germany, 1927
With the Great War now a distant memory, Izzy is thrilled to be continuing her education in the beautiful city of Berlin. And when she meets the kind and handsome Garrit Shain, it seems that her happiness is complete.
But with the rise of the brutal Nazi party, ripples of unrest are once again spreading throughout Europe. And when war breaks out, the era of fragile peace comes to an end.
As a Jewish man, Garrit soon begins to fear for his life. Emboldened by her love for him, Izzy is determined to find a way to help Garrit and his family escape the horrors sweeping through Germany…
Congratulations to Coirle Mooney, whose enchanting Medieval romance, The Lady’s Keeper, is out now!
At Eleanor of Aquitaine’s palace in Poitiers, fourteen-year-old Lady Joanna of Agen is coming of age. Her aunt and guardian, Alice, rescued Joanna from her brutal father by bringing her to court. But now Alice fears Joanna could once again be at risk from the men around her.
When Queen Eleanor’s son, Henry, arrives at court, Joanna quickly catches his eye. But Alice overhears the lewd conversations of the male courtiers and worries that Joanna’s honour is at stake.
And as the relationship between Queen Eleanor and King Henry II of England becomes fractious, a dark mood settles over court.
Drawn into a world of intrigue, danger and adventure, Alice must fight to keep her and Joanna safe…
Congratulations to Seán Gibbons, whose darkly comic crime thriller, Find The Killer, is published today!
Find The Killeris the third novel in the Ben Miller Crime Thriller series: hardboiled gangland novels set in Galway, Ireland.
When somebody takes a shot at Superintendent Folan, killing his driver instead, the amoral cop reveals to his reluctant lackey Ben Millerthat the shooter is his illegitimate son, Ritchie Moran, the result of a youthful liaison with the wife of Mossy Moran, Galway’s most notorious gangster.
Folan tasks Miller with tracking Ritchie down and getting him out of the way before he, or anyone else, gets hurt.
But Miller soon finds out that a young woman connected to Ritchie has already been killed.
Things are complicated further when Miller and his friend, Gárda Aaron Dempsey, find themselves in the middle of a deadly feud between two rival Traveller clans…
We are delighted to announce that we have signed up a new Regency series by Graham Ley.
The Kergohan Regency Drama Series tells the story of the Wentworth family, English-French aristocrats living in Devonshire. The first book in the series, The Baron Returns, follows Justin Wentworth — a young army captain — as he makes the perilous journey to Brittany to assist a royalist uprising during the French Revolution.
The Baron Returns is available to pre-order and will be published in April 2022. The second book in the series will be released later this year.
In Graham’s words:
“I originally decided to write an historical novel in honour of my mother, Alice Chetwynd Ley, whose complete backlist (including a forgotten title, An Eligible Gentleman) has been published by Amy and the team at Sapere.
“After my first book had been accepted for publication, I found that a number of the characters were calling out for their stories to be followed through. So The Baron Returns was soon followed by a second novel, in which Arabella, the forthright heroine who had refused to let suspicions against her beloved Justin rest unchallenged, now stood up for his sister against an unscrupulous admirer.
“Both novels feature a dual and interweaved storyline, with characters in rural Brittany bound up with events in England in the turbulent period of the years just after the French revolution in 1789. And now a third novel is in preparation, which casts the intrigue into Devon and London as well as embracing love and betrayal in Brittany.
“The name of the series, The Kergohan Regency Drama Series, refers to the manor in rural Brittany that is at the centre of much of the story. The cover of The Baron Returns sets the scene magnificently, and I am delighted to have become a Sapere author.”
Congratulations to Simon Michael, whose gripping thriller, The Final Shot, is published today!
The Final Shot is the seventh crime novel in the Charles Holborne Legal Thrillers — gritty, hard-boiled mysteries set in 1960s London.
As England eagerly anticipates the World Cup Final, barrister Charles Holborne is briefed in another high-profile case.
Once a sadistic gangster, Reverend Stanley Sharpe found God while incarcerated and has run his own parish for a number of years since being released. But when he is convicted of murdering Frank Marshall, right-hand man to the Kray twins, he is sent back to prison for life.
Convinced that he is innocent, Reverend Sharpe’s wife begs Charles to apply to the Court of Appeal to reopen the case.
With his own question marks over whether Frank Marshall is really dead, Charles agrees to take the brief on.
But with the media now casting doubt over Sharpe’s redemption, Charles knows he is bound for failure unless he can find further evidence.
And to do so he must once again cross the most dangerous men in London…
Congratulations to Tim Chant, whose exhilarating nautical action novel, Mutiny on the Potemkin, is published today!
Mutiny on the Potemkin is the second book in the Marcus Baxter naval thriller series: action-packed, authentic historical adventures following former Royal Navy officer Marcus Baxter during the early 1900s.
Marcus Baxter may have survived one naval battle, but his troubles are far from over.
Despite serving with the Russian navy aboard the Yaroslovich, he is arrested by the Tsarist secret police for conspiracy and sent west on the Trans-Siberian railway to St. Petersburg. Competing factions within the secret police disrupt his journey and he finds himself in Odessa.
Odessa, though, is in the grip of revolutionary riots and Baxter finds himself trapped in the city as violence and anarchy spreads.
The crew of the Potemkin has mutinied, killing most of the officers and bringing the battleship into port.
When Baxter realises a friend is trapped in the carnage, he is determined to get onboard the battleship.
When the preserved foot of a dead man with extra toes arrives at St Bartholomew’s Medical College, the students are fascinated. However, despite this unusual feature being reported in the press, the man’s identity remains a mystery.
Intrigued by the puzzle, medical student Mr Stamford calls on his acquaintance Sherlock Holmes — an eccentric but brilliant young sleuth — to help him learn more about the deceased.
With only the man’s boots and a few possessions to examine, Holmes relishes the challenge. He soon finds a coded message hidden inside the man’s purse, which suggests a possible connection to criminals or spies.
Over the course of their investigations, Holmes’ and Stamford’s suspicions are strengthened when they learn of further shocking deaths. It soon becomes apparent that the men who died all belonged to the mysterious Explorers Club — and the lives of the remaining members may also be in danger.
Although the deaths look like accidents, Holmes is convinced that the men were murdered. And with conspiracy and intrigue lurking at every turn, he must now expose the secrets of the Explorers’ Club before the next member meets a grisly end…
Congratulations to Marilyn Todd, whose gripping historical mystery, Dead Drop, is published today!
Dead Dropis the fourth book in the Julia McAllister Victorian Mystery series: thrilling British detective novels with a courageous woman sleuth at the centre.
Seeing an easy way to pay off her debts, Julia McAllister takes in three female lodgers from a travelling show.
With musical halls more popular than ever, Buffalo Buck’s Mild West is the perfect antidote to the noise and smoke belching out of the factories, and the tide of Julia’s fortune quickly turns.
Until one of the three girls is found hanging under a bridge.
Julia doesn’t believe it was suicide. Annie had been excited about the future, not depressed.
And when another body is found on the railway line, a distraught widower, inspired by Julia’s role as crime scene photographer, asks for her help as the police are refusing to give out any details.
When Julia raises the matter with Detective Inspector John Collingwood, he explains that they’re keeping the case close to their chest because the body had ligature marks, showing he’d been chained up. Their fears are that this is just the tip of a particularly nasty iceberg.
Is Annie’s death connected to the body on the railway? Can Julia work with Collingwood to solve the mystery?
Or will the secrets they uncover put their lives in grave danger…?
Congratulations to David Field, whose thrilling historical saga, All That Glitters, is published today!
All That Glittersis the final instalment of The Australian Saga Series, set in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Lawyer Jack Bradbury is called upon to travel to the newly established Colony of Victoria to defend a man wrongly accused of attempted murder during a confrontation between the authorities and a group of gold prospectors.
Following his success he’s recruited by the miners’ leader to assist them in their battles against the colonial government and is joined in his new home by his wife and children.
But Jack and his family soon find themselves caught up in the affairs of the Kelly family whose black sheep Edward, known to everyone as ‘Ned’, courts trouble wherever he goes.
Their lives are about to be disrupted and sent down avenues they had never anticipated…
Congratulations to J. C. Briggs, whose absorbing historical mystery, Summons to Murder, is publishing today!
Summons to Murder is set in Victorian England and is the ninth book in the Charles Dickens Investigations series.
Pierce Mallory, a gentleman journalist, is found dead in his lodgings with a gunshot wound in his head and a duelling pistol beside him.
Though the death is deemed a suicide, Mallory’s friends — including Charles Dickens — don’t believe that he would have taken his own life.
Dickens therefore returns to the scene of Mallory’s demise, along with Superintendent Sam Jones from Bow Street. On further investigation, they soon find evidence that Mallory was murdered.
A notorious philanderer, there are plenty of people who could have wanted Mallory dead — including abandoned lovers and jealous husbands.
And as Dickens and Jones dig further into Mallory’s personal affairs, it seems that there are more shocking scandals waiting to be uncovered…
Congratulations to Natalie Kleinman, whose sparkling Regency romance, The Ghost of Glendale, is out now!
Having never been in love, twenty-four-year-old Phoebe Marcham has no interest in marriage. Fiercely independent, she spends her days helping to manage Glendale, her ancestral home — a centuries-old estate full of long-buried secrets.
While out riding, Phoebe crosses paths with Duncan Armstrong, a charming wanderer who has just returned from the Continent. Finding that they share a penchant for mystery, Phoebe shares the biggest enigma that haunts Glendale: the tortured ghost of her ancestor, Simon Marcham, who took a secret sadness to his grave.
Convinced that Simon’s soul will never be at rest until they uncover his secret, Phoebe and Duncan set about unravelling the riddles that he left behind. As they delve deeper, a story of heartbreak and intrigue soon starts to emerge.
Faced with the darkness of the past, Phoebe is determined to make the most of the future. And as she and Duncan grow closer, she soon begins to wonder whether she has at last met her fate…
Congratulations to Ros Rendle, whose moving romantic saga, Resistance of Love, is published today!
Resistance of Love is set in England and France before and during World War II, and is the second book in The Strong Family Historical Saga series.
After spending ten years in Australia, Delphi Strong is on a ship back to England with her daughter, Flora.
While on board, Delphi meets Rainier, a charming vineyard owner on his way home to France. Forming an instant mutual attraction, the two share a whirlwind romance before disembarking.
Unable to forget her, Rainier crosses the channel a few months later and asks Delphi to marry him. Equally lovestruck, Delphi accepts, and she and Flora join Rainier in France.
However, their idyllic lifestyle is shattered when war breaks out and the Nazis begin to occupy the country. Forced to flee to the Free Zone in the south, the family must now pull together to resist the enemy…
Congratulations to Seán Gibbons, whose gripping Irish crime thriller, Back Street Murder, is published today! Back Street Murder is the second novel in the Ben Miller Crime Thriller series: hardboiled gangland novels set in Galway.
When taxi driver Ben Miller picks up a couple of Lithuanian fares, he soon finds himself immersed in the violent world of drug-dealing.
With a criminal past of his own, and a wish to stay out of prison, Miller has little choice but to snitch on the gang to corrupt cop Superintendent Folan, who has plans to take over the drugs business for himself.
But when the drugs go missing from the Lithuanian’s home, and the Columbians to whom they belong start killing people, Miller is drawn into a case involving rival criminal gangs, shoot-outs, and murder.
In a race against time to locate the Columbian gang members and the missing drugs, Miller must work out who he can trust…
Congratulations to Tanya Jean Russell and Teresa F Morgan, whose sparkling Christmas romance novels are published today! Read on to find out more about each book.
Christmas at Honeyford by Tanya Jean Russell
Do Tess and Sam have a second chance at love this Christmas…?
Since being widowed, Tess Adamson has steadfastly avoided romance. And with a young son and a village bakery to run, she has little time for herself.
As the Christmas period approaches, Tess unexpectedly gains a temporary neighbour — celebrity artist Sam Harrison. Having suffered a public heartbreak, he has retreated to the village to hide from the press and lick his wounds.
Despite Sam’s wish for total seclusion, Tess is determined to make him feel welcome. Moved by her kindness, Sam soon steps in to make her busy life a little easier.
With their past pain and disappointments, both Tess and Sam are wary of pursuing relationships. But as they grow closer and the festive season starts to work its magic, the lonely pair begin to wonder whether they are ready to move forward…
Between setting up her boutique and raising her six-year-old son, single mum Beth Sterling has little time for romance.
Keen to expand her clientele, Beth moves her business into a cosy converted stable on the scenic Trenouth Estate.
However, her focus soon wavers when she meets Tristan Trenouth, the handsome but aloof owner of the estate. Each wilful and outspoken, Beth and Tristan are soon clashing whenever they cross paths.
With the estate’s charity ball and Christmas fayre on the horizon, the two grudgingly put their differences aside and agree to work together. And as they spend more and more time in each other’s company, their uneasy truce blossoms into a strong mutual attraction.
But with a young son, a fledgling business and a painful past to contend with, Beth needs someone she can rely on. And Tristan has demons of his own to face…
In this blog series, Sapere Books spotlights authors whose books have gone out of print and whose work we are republishing, in an effort to revive the most vibrant and engaging voices of the past. This month, we are delighted to spotlight Lynne Reid Banks, author of The Brontë Sisters Saga and several standalone literary novels.
Lynne Reid Banks was born in London in 1929, the only child of a Scottish doctor and Irish actress. During World War Two, she was evacuated to the prairies of Canada, where she lived for five years. Banks went on to have a rich and varied career: prior to becoming a writer, she studied at RADA in the 1940s and became an actress. She then worked for ITN, becoming one of the first female television news reporters in Britain.
Banks’ first novel, The L-Shaped Room — a frank and sensitive portrayal of an unmarried mother-to-be who is thrown out by her father — was published in 1960 and achieved much critical acclaim. In the early 1960s, Banks and her husband moved to a kibbutz in Israel, where she taught English. In 1971, they moved back to London and Banks continued writing.
As an author, Banks is outstandingly versatile; she has written numerous children’s books and ten adult novels. These include Dark Quartet, a fictionalised biography of the Brontë sisters; Casualties, a heart-breaking saga spanning from Nazi-occupied Holland to 1970s Europe; Children at the Gate, the story of a grieving mother living in Israel; Fair Exchange, a moving novel set in England during the Anti-Apartheid movement; and The Warning Bell, which portrays the life of an actress turned news reporter.
The shadows of Banks’ life experiences can often be seen in her novels, contributing to the commendable realism and depth of the settings. Whatever the genre, her wit, beautiful writing style and well-crafted characters shine through.
Marilyn Todd is the author of the Julia McAllister Victorian Mystery series: historical murder mysteries with a courageous woman sleuth embarking on traditional British private investigations in nineteenth-century London.
The case of the Lindbergh baby is infamous. In March 1932, he was snatched from his nursery, a ransom note left in his place, and although the money was paid, two agonising months passed without news. It was pure chance that his body was found, thrown or dumped just off the highway, suggesting he was killed almost immediately after his abduction.
I don’t know if it was because Charles Lindbergh was famous — the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic — but it struck me that all the sympathy for this horrific crime went to the father, rather than both parents. I desperately wanted to change that.
In Bad Blood — the third book in the Julia McAllister series — baby Thomas Forbes is also snatched from his nursery, and a ransom demand is left on the pillow. The difference here is that the money is never collected, and the baby never found. When, eight years later, his father is murdered, Julia’s heart breaks for the woman brought to her knees by these two tragedies. As an amateur sleuth, Julia determines to do whatever it takes to find Thomas.
But as I plotted the novel, I was drawn into other injustices of the era. Not just the social inequalities — class, race and religious divides feature regularly in my books — but also the impact of being a pawn in the marriage game among the powerful and the wealthy. I wanted to explore the misery that comes from being a strong woman trapped in a weak man’s world.
We are proud to announce that we have partnered with Carbon Neutral Britain to measure and offset our carbon footprint, to become Certified as a Carbon Neutral Business.
This means that any carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by Sapere Books’ activities will be balanced by an equivalent amount being removed or prevented. Carbon Neutral Britain is a non-governmental organisation that helps achieve this by planting trees and funding carbon offsetting projects around the world. These include the Nicaforest Reforestation Program in Santo Tomas, Chontales region in Nicaragua, and the Burgos Wind Farm Project in the Philippines.
Sapere Books have committed to carbon neutrality because we recognise the importance of taking responsibility for our environmental impact and thus helping to tackle the climate change crisis.
Richard Simpson, Sapere Books’ Operations Director says:
“We’re delighted to have been certified as a carbon neutral company and to have contributed to hugely important reforestation and green energy projects across the globe. As a company that sells books to readers from across the world, we’re proud to be making our contribution to the global fight against climate change.”
Sapere Books are looking forward to contributing to more offsetting projects in the future to ensure that the books that we publish only make an impact upon our readers and not upon the Earth.
Visit Carbon Neutral Britain to find out more about how to become a carbon neutral company.
Sapere Books are proud to have sponsored the Crime Writers’ Association’s Historical Dagger Award, which is for the best historical crime novel set in any period at least 50 years prior to the year in which the prize is presented.
The 2021 shortlist featured domestic poisons, sinister former spies, military occupations and more.
The wonderful Vaseem Khan has now been announced as this year’s winner. His winning novel, Midnight at Malabar House, is the first book in his latest historical crime series.
Compelling and cleverly plotted, Midnight at Malabar House opens on New Year’s Eve in Bombay, 1949. The first female detective in India, Persis Wadia has been repeatedly overlooked and struggles against a hostile, all-male environment. As a new decade dawns, she stands vigil in the basement of Malabar House, consigned to the midnight shift.
But when an English diplomat is murdered, Persis finds herself on the case of a lifetime. Against the backdrop of social and political turmoil, she teams up with Scotland Yard criminalist Archie Blackfinch to uncover the truth — at any cost…
We would like to send a huge congratulations to Vaseem, and to all of the wonderful authors who were longlisted and shortlisted this year.
Research can come in many forms, particularly when it’s for a historical novel. One of my shelves is heaving under the weight of the books I have covering my chosen period, Regency England. And those are just the research books. Another is overflowing with novels set in that era.
Unlike our predecessors, we also have access to a wealth of information on the Internet, so much that if we allowed ourselves to follow its pull we’d never get any words of our own written, so we have to be selective. All these sources have helped in bringing to the page my latest book, The Girl With Flaming Hair.
That said, there’s nothing like seeing real artefacts. Not so easy, you might think, living as we do two hundred years after the time in question. And here’s where I feel particularly lucky. I live in London with easy access to its plethora of galleries and museums. A while ago I visited the Victoria and Albert Museum and amongst its treasures I found things that not only helped with my work in progress at the time but which also affirmed why I love this period so much. One of my characters in another book is a keen artist, and this Watercolour Box circa 1820 is a particularly treasured image.
Women’s dress changed dramatically after 1785. The rich fabrics and complicated formal shapes of the late 18th century gave way to simple, lighter fabrics that draped easily. These new gowns achieved something of the effect of the simple tunics shown on classical Greek and Roman statues and vases. This beautifully elegant creation is muslin embroidered with cotton thread.
You can see how easy it is to get carried away by research when it can be so enjoyable. I’ll leave you with one more image before I tear myself away – I have another book to write!
This is an evening cap (1818-23) described as silk and net embroidery with silk thread; wired paper and muslin artificial flowers. I SO want one!
We are thrilled to announce that we have signed a new Tudor saga series by Amy Licence.
Told in vibrant, colourful detail, the series follows young Thomasin Marwood as she finds her place within the turbulent court of Henry VIII.
Amy’s previous fiction has been met with critical acclaim.
In Amy’s words:
“I’m very excited to be able to publish the story of the Tudor Marwood family with Sapere Books. The saga will bring to life the English court of the 1520s, with all its intrigue and drama, through the eyes of my narrator, young Thomasin. Newly arrived from the country, she and her friends must navigate the treacherous paths of politics and love, finding their loyalties divided as Henry VIII tries to cast off his Spanish wife Catherine in favour of the young, vivacious Anne Boleyn. Temptations lurk around every corner, and secrets are waiting to be revealed, as Thomasin embarks upon a lengthy court career that will span all of Henry’s reign.”
Sapere Books are proud to be sponsoring the Crime Writers’ Association’s Historical Dagger Award, which is for the best historical crime novel set in any period at least 50 years prior to the year in which the prize is presented.
The 2021 shortlist has now been announced, and features secretive aristocrats, murdered diplomats, dramatic public trials and more.
Snow, John Banville, Faber
A deftly woven country house mystery, Snow immerses us in the wintry depths of 1950s Ireland. The body of a priest has been found in Ballyglass House in County Wexford, the family seat of the mysterious aristocratic Osborne family.
Called in from Dublin to investigate, Detective Inspector St. John Strafford faces opposition at every turn as he attempts to unravel what happened. Up against the secretive attitude of the local community and the fast-falling snow, Strafford must hurry to apprehend the murderer before they can cover their tracks…
Midnight at Malabar House, Vaseem Khan, Hodder & Stoughton
Compelling and cleverly plotted, Midnight at Malabar House opens on New Year’s Eve in Bombay, 1949. The first female detective in India, Persis Wadia has been repeatedly overlooked and struggles against a hostile, all-male environment. As a new decade dawns, she stands vigil in the basement of Malabar House, consigned to the midnight shift.
But when an English diplomat is murdered, Persis is finds herself on the case of a lifetime. Against the backdrop of social and political turmoil, she teams up with Scotland Yard criminalist Archie Blackfinch to uncover the truth — at any cost…
A haunting thriller set in 1940s France under German occupation, The Unwanted Dead follows police detective Eddie Giral, a survivor of the previous World War. As the Nazis march into Paris, Eddie watches in dismay as terror descends over the city.
When four refugees are murdered, he vows to find the perpetrator. No longer knowing who to trust, Eddie must tread carefully between the Occupation and Resistance in order to survive long enough to untangle the brutal killings…
Atmospheric and darkly evocative, The City Under Siege is set between Dublin, London and Valletta during World War Two. After a gay man is brutally murdered, Detective Inspector Stefan Gillespie suddenly finds that this is one of a series of similar killings stretching across Ireland and England. What’s more, none of the deaths were investigated as thoroughly as they should have been.
Meanwhile, in Valletta, Malta, there are rumours that a British soldier killed a Maltese teenager. Determined to retain Malta’s loyalty to Britain, the authorities send Stefan to investigate. And as he delves deeper into the case, Stefan becomes convinced that this killing is somehow linked to the murders back in England and Ireland…
Skelton’s Guide to Domestic Poisons, David Stafford, Allison & Busby
A classic detective novel set in the 1920s, Skelton’s Guide to Domestic Poisons follows celebrated barrister Arthur Skelton as he strives to win another case against the odds. Accused of poisoning her husband after years of abuse, Mary Dutton has already been widely condemned by the press. Unwilling to concede her guilt without hard evidence, Arthur agrees to represent her.
Against the backdrop of the general election, the case becomes increasingly high-profile as Mary wins support from various members of the public. But as Skelton digs deeper into the murky depths of the Dutton family, he begins to wonder whether he will ever expose the whole truth…
The Mimosa Tree Mystery is the fourth book in Ovidia Yu’s witty, page-turning Crown Colony series, set in 1930s Singapore during the Japanese Occupation. Determined sleuth Su Lin becomes embroiled in another dangerous investigation when a neighbour, Mirza, is found murdered in his garden, a branch of mimosa in his hand.
Mirza was a known blackmailer and a collaborator with the occupying forces. The murder suspects therefore include acquaintances, Japanese officials and his own family. When Su Lin’s Uncle Chen is arrested, Hideki Tagawa — a former spy who has gained power in the new regime — offers her uncle’s life in exchange for Su Lin’s help in finding the real killer. Armed with her local knowledge and fluency in multiple languages, Su Lin must decide who she can trust as she is thrown into a world of treachery and subterfuge…
We are delighted to announce that we have signed up the fourth instalment of Alexandra Walsh’s captivating Marquess House Series – dual timeline conspiracy thrillers with ingenious twists on Tudor and Stuart history – as well as the next novel in her new Victorian series.
In Alexandra’s words:
“It’s wonderful to have signed with Sapere Books to continue writing about my favourite eras: Victorian and Tudor. THE MUSIC MAKERS tells the tale of another branch of the family tree established in THE WIND CHIME (the first novel in my new Victorian series). THE MUSIC MAKERS follows two timelines: one set in the Victorian era and one set in the present day. The Victorian timeline follows the life of Esme Blood, a singer and performer in the music halls and theatres of London. Adopted at birth, Esme has no desire to find her birth mother, but fate has other plans. In the present day, Eleanor Wilder is recovering from a serious illness and has returned to the family farm in Pembrokeshire to rebuild her life. Delving into Esme’s life, she uncovers a tale of love, loss and survival, all of which help her to unravel her own problems and those of the man who has unexpectedly arrived in her life.
“My other forthcoming book, THE JANE SEYMOUR CONSPIRACY, is a return to Marquess House. Although I had always intended this series to be a trilogy, when I completed it in 2020 it felt as though there was more to tell. I resisted for a while but when Perdita, Piper and Kit began interrupting my research with suggestions, I realised my trilogy was about to expand. Having always pitched it as three-book series, I was unsure how Sapere Books would feel about it continuing, but my editor, Amy Durant, said she would be delighted to return to Marquess House.
“THE JANE SEYMOUR CONSPIRACY follows Perdita and Piper as they fully embrace their lives at Marquess House. A friend of Kit’s asks for advice on a manuscript that has been in his family’s archive for generations, which seems to suggest an entirely new interpretation of the events leading up to Anne Boleyn’s execution, Jane Seymour’s marriage to Henry VIII and the death of the king’s only acknowledged illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset. In the present, danger reaches out to Perdita and Piper again as they realise their battle with the Connors family is far from over. THE JANE SEYMOUR CONSPIRACY will be released in 2022.
“Being part of the Sapere Books family is one of the best things about being published; Amy, Caoimhe, Richard, Natalie, Matilda and Helen make everyone feel so welcome and are a dynamic and forward-thinking team. My books could not be in safer hands. The weekly Zoom meet-ups with the other authors are fascinating, funny, inspiring and often educational! It’s a great feeling to be part of such a talented group of writers and publishers who are always willing to help or offer advice.”
Sapere Books are proud to be sponsoring the Crime Writers’ Association’s Historical Dagger Award, which is for the best historical crime novel set in any period at least 50 years prior to the year in which the prize is presented.
This year’s judges were Janet Laurence, the author of four cookery books and a series of articles on historical cookery; Angela May Rippon CBE, a television journalist, newsreader, writer and presenter; and Professor Edward James, Emeritus Professor of Medieval History at University College Dublin.
The 2021 longlist has now been announced. Many congratulations to the following authors and publishers:
Justice for Athena by J M Alvey, Canelo Digital Publishing Limited
Snow by John Banville, Faber
Midnight at Malabar House by Vaseem Khan, Hodder & Stoughton
Riviera Gold by Laurie R King, Allison & Busby
The Unwanted Dead by Chris Lloyd, Orion Fiction, The Orion Publishing Group
Execution by S J Parris, HarperFiction, HarperCollins
The Night of Shooting Stars by Ben Pastor, Bitter Lemon Press
The City Under Siege by Michael Russell, Constable, Little, Brown Book Group
Skelton’s Guide to Domestic Poisons by David S. Stafford, Allison & Busby
Chaos by A D Swanston, Bantam Press, Transworld
The Dead of Winter by Nicola Upson, Faber
The Mimosa Tree Mystery by Ovidia Yu, Constable, Little, Brown Book Group
“I consider myself blessed to have found Sapere Books, who not only share my enthusiasm for historical novels, but also provide the most generous author royalties in the business, and never lose sight of the fact that their many authors have invested a massive amount of emotional energy into creating, nurturing, and revealing their characters.
“It’s therefore with great optimism and a sense of purpose that I’ve embarked on my latest venture with them — the Medieval Saga Series, a set of seven novels that follow the fortunes of the same family from immediately prior to the Battle of Hastings all the way through to the death of Simon de Montfort in the Battle of Evesham in 1265.
“The first in the series — THE CONQUEST — introduces the Riveracres, a Saxon family living on the Sussex coast whose tiny village is directly in the path of Duke William of Normandy’s invasion army, and the Astenmedes, the local Thegn’s brood whose traditional privileged status is about to be shattered. Amidst the turmoil, two brave men, Will Riveracre and Selwyn Astenmede, form an unlikely partnership as they stand against both Duke William and Harald Hardrada’s invading Viking force to the north.”
Natalie Kleinman is the author of The Reluctant Bride, a glittering Regency romance with a strong-minded heroine at its heart.
I spent the first few years of my career writing contemporary romantic fiction, firstly short stories and then novels, until the burning desire I’d had for so long pushed itself to the forefront. I wanted to write a historical novel set in England’s glorious Regency period. Maybe I couldn’t, but I had to try. I’d previously looked upon it as a presumption on my part even to consider it, bearing in mind my love for the works of Georgette Heyer and Jane Austen. But I wasn’t trying to emulate them. I was trying to make my own contribution the genre that had given me so many hours of joy over decades. And so my first Regency novel, The Reluctant Bride, was born, to be followed by another, and then another. They’ll be coming soon, so watch this space.
Charlotte Willoughby — the heroine of The Reluctant Bride — is a young woman of her time. Born into the aristocracy, she is as much tethered by her status as privileged. When she is forced by her father to marry the Earl of Cranleigh, purely to satisfy his own interests, she has no choice but to comply. Six weeks later, fate takes a hand when her husband is killed in a riding accident. Free of a tyrannical parent and a loveless marriage, Charlotte begins to enjoy her newly found independence. Gresham, the earl’s cousin, undertakes to guard her from fortune hunters and, while she finds him arrogant and aloof, she cannot deny the security his protection affords her, particularly with regard to the unwelcome attentions of Lord Roxburgh. Acutely aware of the tension between the two men, Charlotte learns they have a shared history, the animosity of which still lies between them. With the coldness of one and the over-heatedness of the other, will she be able to find her own path to happiness?
Writing The Reluctant Bride, I settled into a deeply satisfying place where I was able to weave a tale while indulging in my love of the setting. I could see the magnificent houses and the glorious balls, but beneath all ran the story of a young woman, struggling with adversity, triumphing over it and finding her own way. I hope you enjoy it.
We are delighted to announce that we have signed a new Leicester-based crime series by C V Chauhan.
C V Chauhan
The series follows Detective Rohan Sharma as he unravels a succession of dark and thrilling mysteries.
In C V Chauhan’s words:
“I’m absolutely delighted to have been signed by Amy and her team at Sapere for my new, three-book series which breaks new ground in the genre. I’ve been made most welcome by all members of the team and by my fellow authors. It’s a very friendly and supportive community, and I feel privileged to be part of it.
“If you like your crime fiction with added spice, then you’ve come to the right place. THE DANCE OF DEATH, my debut novel, introduces you to Rohan Sharma, an able, erudite detective who lives in the heart of the Asian community in Leicester and who has a talkative, African grey parrot for company. Recently divorced, he is the father of two children.
“In the first instalment in the series, Rohan Sharma and his team hunt for a psychopathic killer while dark forces undermine his work and put others in danger.
“THE DANCE OF DEATH will be published in the near future, and I’m currently working on the next Rohan Sharma novel. I’m not going to give away too much at the moment, but suffice to say it’ll have an international dimension. More on this later…”
On Monday night, the wonderful Julie Houston was announced as this year’s winner at the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s digital awards ceremony.
Her winning novel, Sing Me a Secret, is a sharp and witty tale that follows the estranged Sutherland sisters, who each followed very different callings in life. Popstar Lexia is returning to her hometown, where she must face memories that she would rather keep buried. Juno, now the village doctor, juggles her career with the demands of her children and her role in the local production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Pandora devotes her time to village committees and taking charge of the local choir, and Ariadne is a dissatisfied schoolteacher. As the village musical draws them together, family secrets and past grievances are unearthed, and the sisters must summon the will to put aside their differences and move forward…
We would like to send a huge congratulations to Julie, and to all of the fantastic authors who were shortlisted this year.
Set in seventeenth-century Leiden, The Netherlands, Graham Brack’s funny and immersive Master Mercurius Mysteries follow Mercurius — a witty university lecturer-cum-sleuth.
The first four books in the Master Mercurius series are published, and we are delighted to have signed up the next instalment: THE VANISHING CHILDREN.
In Graham’s words:
“I’ve been delighted with the response from readers to the Master Mercurius Mysteries. It’s wonderful to read good reviews, not only for myself, but also for Sapere Books, who always had faith in the stories. Being part of the Sapere family is very encouraging to any author; we enjoy our colleagues’ successes. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
“The fifth book sees Mercurius sent to Amsterdam which — even in 1684 — was not a place where a minister who has led a sheltered life as he has would feel comfortable. On top of that, he has been sent to bully the city authorities into handing over their taxes in full. However, while he is there, he is approached by a local merchant who tells him that three children have gone missing, and their families have been fobbed off by Amsterdam’s powers that be.
“So begins an inquiry that makes Mercurius question his own faith as well as his suitability for the task he has been given…”
Sapere Books are proud to be sponsoring the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s Popular Fiction Award. Read on to find out more about this year’s fantastic shortlist!
Sing Me a Secret, Julie Houston, Aria, Head of Zeus
Sing Me a Secret is a sharp and witty tale that follows the estranged Sutherland sisters, who each followed very different callings in life. Popstar Lexia is returning to her hometown, where she must face memories that she would rather keep buried. Juno, now the village doctor, juggles her career with the demands of her children and her role in the local production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Pandora devotes her time to village committees and taking charge of the local choir, and Ariadne is a dissatisfied schoolteacher. As the village musical draws them together, family secrets and past grievances are unearthed, and the sisters must summon the will to put aside their differences and move forward…
Christmas Wishes, Sue Moorcroft, Avon
Christmas Wishes is a heart-warming story of missed opportunities and second chances. When old friends Hannah and Nico return to their childhood home, the village of Middledip, they soon wonder whether their chance for romance has finally arrived. But each faces their own complications — Hannah has recently lost her business in Stockholm and now must take care of her grandmother, and Nico is responsible for two children. And with more obstacles on the horizon, the would-be lovers must decide whether they can find a way to be part of one another’s lives…
Sunny Days and Sea Breezes, Carole Matthews, Sphere, Little Brown
Set on The Isle of Wight, Sunny Days and Sea Breezes is a gorgeously romantic summer adventure. Jodie Jackson has left behind her career and husband in London and has decided to spend some time on her brother’s houseboat, Sunny Days. But when she meets Ned, the handsome wood-carving sculptor who lives on the next-door houseboat, it seems that her craving for solitude is destined to go unfulfilled. And as she spends more and more time with her attractive new neighbour, Jodie begins to wonder whether a new life filled with sun, sea, and freedom is just what she needs…
A Perfect Cornish Escape, Phillipa Ashley, Avon
A Perfect Cornish Escape is a moving, uplifting tale of past pain and new beginnings. After the death of her husband seven years ago, Marina Hudson has never opened her heart to another. But when she meets the kindly newcomer Lachlan, she starts to wonder whether she is ready to give love a second chance. Marina’s cousin, Tiff Trescott, is living the dream as a journalist in London, but when her boyfriend betrays her, she is left reeling. After retreating to Marina’s Cornish cottage to heal, Tiff crosses paths with the mysterious Dirk and is thrown into a whole new way of life. And as the summer wears on, both cousins begin to hope that a fresh start is on the horizon…
The Two Lives of Lydia Bird, Josie Silver, Penguin
The Two Lives of Lydia Bird is a beautiful story of grief, love and healing. After ten years together, Lydia and Freddie are finally planning to get married. But when Freddie dies in a car accident, Lydia’s life falls apart. And then the impossible happens: she is given a chance to re-live her old life with Freddie, without the final tragedy. And now Lydia faces a dilemma: she must decide whether to retreat into her past, or accept the help of someone who wishes to guide her into the future…
The winner will be announced at a digital event on Monday 8th March.
The Scorpion Squad Military Thrillers follow an American Battalion fighting in the Vietnam War. Below, Kevin D. Randle (Lt. Col. USAR) — one of the authors behind the pseudonym Eric Helm — reflects on the real-life experiences that provided the inspiration for the series.
I graduated high school the day before my 18th birthday in June 1967. In July, I was on a bus headed to Fort Polk, Louisiana, for basic infantry training and in October, I was assigned to Fort Wolters, Texas, for my AIT, advanced individual training, which was as a helicopter pilot. From there I was sent to Fort Rucker, Alabama, to complete that training. In August 1968, as a 19-year-old teenager, I was appointed a warrant officer and then graduated from flight school as a helicopter pilot.
On September 23, 1968, I arrived in South Vietnam. We landed at Ton Son Nhut and were herded aboard buses that had no air conditioning. We all were covered with sweat within minutes of leaving the aircraft. The bus had screens over the open windows, but the pattern was something like an inch square. It wouldn’t keep out the insects. Someone said it was to keep out the grenades, and someone else said, “Yeah. Now they tie fishhooks to them.”
From Saigon we drove to Bien Hoa, Long Binh complex and the 90th Replacement Battalion. From there, a day or two later, I, with three other warrant officers, was assigned to the 116th Assault Helicopter Company at Cu Chi.
Kevin Randle after a day of flying combat assault missions in Vietnam.
During that first week, I flew rarely. There was an orientation flight to show me the local area. There was a check ride to ensure that I knew what to do if the engine quit, and to demonstrate my other skills. When that was completed, I was assigned to a flight, and then began flying combat assault missions. That meant that we picked up soldiers in one place, took them to another and landed. While many of those missions were without incident, some of them were more than a little exciting. Nothing beats sitting in a pick-up zone to evacuate soldiers while the enemy pumps small arms fire into the flight. You’re sitting in a plexiglass encased cockpit, easily visible to the enemy and have no recourse but to sit there as the windshields break and the instrument panel disintegrates.
One of the first night missions I flew, as what was known as a peter pilot, meaning that I was the co-pilot, was into an PZ we knew was going to be hot. The soldiers were taking fire and we were going to extract them. There were tracers flying all over the place. Red ones from our weapons and green and white ones from the enemy. They dropped a few mortars on us as well, which erupted into a shower of sparks and had that been just a little more colourful, it would have looked like fireworks.
Flying formation on the way to a combat assault.
Everyone took some hits, but most of the damage was superficial. One of the aircraft, if I remember correctly, was left in the PZ. The engine had been hit and failed. The crew was picked up by another aircraft, which means that they abandoned the aircraft and ran to one of the others. The gunships, which had been working over the tree lines and enemy positions, took it out with rockets, setting it on fire to prevent the enemy from getting anything of value from it.
We were on the ground for thirty seconds to one minute as the soldiers scrambled onto the helicopters. Our door gunners and crew chiefs used their M-60 machines in an attempt to suppress the enemy fire. They aimed at the muzzle flashes of the enemy weapons.
That was the last flight that night. Once we had the soldiers out, I suspect the Air Force might have dropped some ordnance on the enemy positions, or the artillery might have dropped a few rounds on them. I really don’t know. Once we dropped off the soldiers, we were released and returned to Cu Chi so that maintenance could patch up the aircraft.
We are delighted to announce that we have signed a new Tudor mystery series by C P Giuliani.
The Tom Walsingham Mysteries follow a young sleuth as he becomes embroiled in the shady world of espionage. The first instalment will be published in 2021.
In Giuliani’s words:
“Signing with Sapere Books for my first murder mystery series has been truly wonderful!
“Book 1, A Road to Murder, is set in 1581 between England and France, and follows a young diplomatic courier’s efforts to untangle a murder that could have wider, political implications. With France constantly teetering on the brink of religious unrest, and Queen Elizabeth toying with the idea of marrying the French king’s Catholic heir, even the death of a glove-maker can hide sinister machinations. And my hero, Tom Walsingham — a relation to Queen Elizabeth’s powerful spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham — knows better than most just what could be at stake…
“This is going to be my first publication in the UK, and Amy and the whole team at Sapere Books are being incredibly supportive, friendly and very competent — and they have gathered together a very welcoming author community. A lovely experience through and through.”
In this blog series, Sapere Books spotlights authors whose books have gone out of print and whose work we are republishing, in an effort to revive the most vibrant and engaging voices of the past. This month, we are delighted to share a guest blog written by Gary and Nigel Davison, in memory of their father, Geoffrey. Geoffrey Davison is the author of the Stephen Fletcher Espionage Thrillers.
Our abiding memory of our father is of him sitting back in his reclining red leather chair in his study, deep in thought and invariably with a glass of red wine to hand and to the sound of Perry Como or similar. Although he wrote all his books in longhand, we both seem to remember him most frequently ‘plotting’ rather than actually writing. To Geoffrey, the plot — the twists and turns of a good story — was the thing and he was never happier than when devising his storyline.
Born and living most of his life in or around Newcastle upon Tyne, Geoffrey always aspired to write, and it was no coincidence that he moved from his commercial practice as a quantity surveyor to lecturing at Newcastle upon Tyne Polytechnic, where he rose to Head of Department and where the extended holidays in the 1970s and 80s provided the ideal uninterrupted opportunity for his writing.
First published at the age of 40 with The Spy Who Swapped Shoes — a title which seems to typify the espionage genre in which Geoffrey began his writing career in the 60s with his Cold War hero Stephen Fletcher — he went on to publish twelve books. All would fall firmly within the thriller category, set against backgrounds ranging from Cold War espionage to World War Two (with titles such as The Honourable Assassins set within Valkyrie plot), the French Foreign Legion (with titles such as The Bloody Legionnaires) and international politics (his later work, such as The Malaysian Conspiracy). All also gave him the opportunity to follow his other great passion of travelling. Frequently accompanied by his friend, an amateur artist named Newton, and with the support of Northern Arts, he would set off to Berlin, other Eastern European cities, the South of France and later to the far East in the name of research whilst always still finding time for the odd period of relaxation and ‘character spotting’.
We remember the excitement as a box of new books would be delivered and opened, checking the covers and dedications, looking at the reference to the growing back catalogue, and the thrill of seeing them in foreign languages. But most of all we both remember the surprise and indeed the pride each us felt on the many occasions that we reminded ourselves that we had just read something written upstairs with a glass of red wine to hand and to the music of Perry Como, and that ‘the old man’ had just thrown in a plot twist that we never saw coming.
We are only passers by — through this world of sorrow
Here today a little while and gone tomorrow
Only once we come this way
We can’t come back
Let us make this world a little brighter
Scattering our seeds of friendship in the wayside grass
Some day they may bloom and cheer some poor pilgrim with a heavy load
Of doubt and fear
Life is just a journey, doesn’t it seem madness
The envy and enmity, the sorrow and the sadness
All the world’s great wealth for which men fight and kill and lie … is it worth it
when you think…
we are only passers by
Ronald Healiss wrote Passers By just a day or two before he passed away on 25th December 1980 (yes, at noon on Christmas Day! His Liverpudlian humour would no doubt have led him to think it was nice timing!). Ronald had been one the few survivors of the most tragic events of World War Two, the sinking of HMS Glorious and her two escorting destroyers, Acasta and Ardent, which cost the lives over 1,500 men.
Although he managed to record his memories of this horrific ordeal in his book, ARCTIC RESCUE, he rarely talked about his experiences and could never be found on Remembrance Sunday while other members of the family watched the commemoration at the Cenotaph on television.
In the years after his death, Passers By, which was dedicated to the deceased crew of the three ships, has been read out at a number of Remembrance Services held by the HMS Glorious, Ardent & Acasta Association at HMS Drake, Plymouth, and is being shared with you now to commemorate the lives that were lost.
Set in England during the Second World War, Charlie Garratt’s Inspector James Given Investigations follow a troubled detective as he uncovers the truth behind a series of suspicious deaths.
The first four books in the series are already published, and we are delighted to announce that we have now signed up the fifth instalment.
In Charlie’s words:
“I could hardly believe it when Sapere Books accepted my first and second novels, so I’m delighted to have signed a contract for my fifth: A LEAMINGTON DEATH. In this instalment, James returns from war-torn France to settle into a quiet life working for his father, when a request from his old boss to help with a simple factory theft turns into a murder investigation. James’ initial reluctance to become involved is tempered by the debts he owes to the victim.
“The team at Sapere could not have been more supportive to me as an author on this journey, with excellent advice, high-quality editing, great marketing and very fair royalties — paid very promptly. The regular get-togethers they organise for their authors also offer a great exchange of experience and ideas, something other publishers could learn from.”
Sapere Books are proud to sponsor the Crime Writers’ Association’s Historical Dagger Award, which is for the best historical crime novel set in any period at least 50 years prior to the year in which the prize is presented.
The 2020 shortlist featured eccentric doctors, notorious gangsters, stolen diamonds and much more.
On Thursday night, the fabulous Abir Mukherjee was announced as this year’s winner at the Crime Writers’ Association’s digital awards ceremony. His winning novel, Death in the East, is the fourth instalment in his Wyndham & Banerjee Mysteries Series.
Set in 1920s India, Death in the East follows the continuing adventures of dynamic duo Captain Sam Wyndham and Sergeant Surrender-not Banerjee. Wyndham is haunted by an old case from his early days as a young constable, when his old flame Bessie Drummond was found beaten to death in her own room. Arriving at the ashram of a sainted monk – where he hopes to overcome his opium addiction – Wyndham finds a shadowy figure from his past, a man he believed was long dead. Certain that the man is out for revenge, Wyndham once again calls on Sergeant Banerjee for help. Together, they prepare to take on a sadistic and slippery killer…
We would like to send a huge congratulations to Abir, and to all of the wonderful authors who were longlisted and shortlisted this year.
Stephen Taylor is the author of A CANOPY OF STARS, a thrilling historical 19th century saga stretching from the legal courts of Georgian London to the Jewish ghetto in Frankfurt.
When I start to write a novel, the first thing I always do is open a document that I call ‘Conceptualising’. I put down my initial thoughts, sketch out a skeleton storyline. Then I start researching and populate this document with historical facts and ideas that I can use.
When I came to write A CANOPY OF STARS, my first port of call was a website — Punishment at the Old Bailey: Old Bailey Proceedings Online. Here I could view actual cases going back hundreds of years. I came across the trial of Peter Shalley (REF: T17900113-17) that took place in 1790. Shalley was a German immigrant who was accused of the theft of half a sheep’s carcass worth just 40 shillings. His story, through an interpreter, was that he was offered a shilling to carry the carcass to Oxford Road from a field outside London. When he said he didn’t know where Oxford Road was, the man said: ‘Don’t worry, I’ll walk behind you and each time you come to a junction, look behind you, and I’ll point which way to go.’ When he got to Oxford Road, the Watchman challenged him, and the other man ran away. To me, this was a reasonable defence — he had been duped.
But the system was stacked against him, for while he was an educated man, he was a Jewish immigrant and spoke little English; he was seen as just another piece of London’s low life to be dispatched by the hangman with little ceremony and no one to mourn him. Even the valuation of the sheep at exactly 40 shillings made it a felony (not a misdemeanour) and therefore punishable by death.
I found this disturbing; it may have been over two hundred years ago, but I was stung by the injustice of the case. I was upset; the wrong done to this man was so plain to see and became like a nagging toothache. So I resolved to restructure A CANOPY OF STARS; it would still be a Georgian courtroom drama, but — through the character David Neander — I would also write Peter’s own story as I saw it. Images danced in my mind; what sort of man was this Peter? Why had he left his native Germany; why had he come to England?
In England, this was a time of the enlightenment; there was a clamour for reform. Power, however, lay in the hands of the aristocratic landowners who viewed reform as a threat. In the German states, this was a time of nationalism, a distrust of all things un-German. This is the backdrop to David’s story. How did he navigate his way through it?
Marilyn Todd’s witty and atmospheric Julia McAllister Victorian Mysteries follow a courageous female photographer-cum-sleuth as she investigates London’s shadiest characters.
The first two books in the series — SNAP SHOT and CAST IRON — are already published, and we are delighted to have signed up the next two instalments.
In Marilyn’s words:
“I’m thrilled to be continuing Julia’s story, and quite frankly, having this series in the hands of a dynamic publishing team like Sapere is the icing on the cake!
“The third instalment, BAD BLOOD, sees Julia tasked with photographing the scene of a factory owner’s murder. A man who treated his workers like dirt, and his wife even worse. It’s not so much a question of who’d want him dead — more who wouldn’t. But eight years earlier, his son was abducted, and Julia soon realises that the kidnap and murder are connected. The trouble is, knowing who’s responsible is one thing, proving it is quite another. Especially when the killer knows she’s on to them.
“This is followed by DEAD DROP. Music halls were a popular antidote to the noise and smoke belching out of the Industrial Revolution, but the lives of the entertainers were gruelling. When a young showgirl is found hanged, Julia doesn’t believe it was suicide. Too late, she discovers that the truth hurts, but secrets kill, putting her own life on the line…”
Gaynor Torrance’s absorbing DI Jemima Huxley Thrillers follow a determined and resourceful female detective as she unravels gruesome crimes.
The first three books in the series, REVENGE, SOLE SURVIVOR and STALKED are already published. We are excited to announce that we have now signed up a further three instalments.
In Gaynor’s words:
“I am delighted to have signed with Sapere Books for a further three instalments of the DI Jemima Huxley Thriller series, as Jemima has many more cases heading her way. It really is a dream come true for me and I’m thrilled that Amy Durant – editorial director at Sapere Books – is keen for Jemima’s story to continue.
“GONE – the fourth book in the series – is due to go on pre-order soon. What starts out as the investigation into a young woman’s murder quickly evolves in some surprising ways. And in the inimitable Huxley style, I guarantee that the story is both dark and shocking. Jemima’s life will change forever when it takes an unexpected turn, and Broadbent has the chance to become a hero.”
Anxiety impacts 
That said, there’s nothing like seeing real artefacts. Not so easy, you might think, living as we do two hundred years after the time in question. And here’s where I feel particularly lucky. I live in London with easy access to its plethora of galleries and museums. A while ago I visited the Victoria and Albert Museum and amongst its treasures I found things that not only helped with my work in progress at the time but which also affirmed why I love this period so much. One of my characters in another book is a keen artist, and this Watercolour Box circa 1820 is a particularly treasured image.
You can see how easy it is to get carried away by research when it can be so enjoyable. I’ll leave you with one more image before I tear myself away – I have another book to write!
Atmospheric and darkly evocative, The City Under Siege is set between Dublin, London and Valletta during World War Two. After a gay man is brutally murdered, Detective Inspector Stefan Gillespie suddenly finds that this is one of a series of similar killings stretching across Ireland and England. What’s more, none of the deaths were investigated as thoroughly as they should have been.
The Mimosa Tree Mystery is the fourth book in Ovidia Yu’s witty, page-turning Crown Colony series, set in 1930s Singapore during the Japanese Occupation. Determined sleuth Su Lin becomes embroiled in another dangerous investigation when a neighbour, Mirza, is found murdered in his garden, a branch of mimosa in his hand.
