Tag: kim fleet

Distract Yourself with these Heart-Pounding Thrillers

To help keep you entertained during quarantine we’ve put together a list of some of our most absorbing thrillers, featuring mysterious disappearances, historical conspiracies, ghostly dreams and more…

Paternoster, Kim Fleet

A compelling timeshift mystery, Paternoster moves between 18th Century and modern-day England. In 1795, kept woman Rachel Lovett is left homeless and destitute when her benefactor loses his money. Forced to steal jewellery to survive, Rachel finds herself constantly on the run from the law and the hangman’s noose. And when she joins a brothel, she is soon introduced into the ruthless Paternoster Club…

In 2013, Private Investigator Eden Grey is called in to examine a pair of skeletons found in the grounds of a prestigious school. It soon becomes obvious that these are not recent murders – the bodies have been buried for centuries. And now Eden must unravel a historic mystery while concealing her own personal demons…

Click here to order Paternoster

The Black and the White, Alis Hawkins

Set in 1349, The Black and the White is a chilling medieval mystery that explores the ravages of the infamous Black Death. Martin Collyer wakes up in his family’s charcoaling hut, having made a miraculous recovery. But his father, who showed no signs of the plague, is dead.

With no home to go to, Martin seizes his second chance at life and goes on a journey to seek salvation for his father’s unconfessed soul. Along the way, he befriends another traveller, the enigmatic Hob Cleve. But when more suspicious deaths occur, Martin begins to wonder whether he is travelling with a killer…

Click here to order The Black and the White

Abduction, Gillian Jackson

Abduction is an emotional psychological thriller that confronts every parent’s worst nightmare. During her third birthday party, little Grace disappears without a trace while playing a game of hide and seek.

As the years go by and the case goes cold, Grace’s parents lose hope of ever finding her and do their best to move on with their lives. But her older sister, Elise, refuses to give up. And a chance encounter leads her to believe that she may have found her…

Click here to order Abduction

Past Imperfect, John Matthews

Spanning three decades, Past Imperfect is a gripping international crime novel with a paranormal twist. In 1963, a boy is kidnapped and murdered in the French countryside. The killer is seemingly caught, but young policeman Dominic Fornier is convinced he is innocent.

In London thirty years later, a boy loses his parents in a car accident and is left comatose. And when he regains consciousness, he is plagued by eerie dreams of a life that isn’t his. When Fornier hears of a possible link between the two boys, he throws himself into a desperate race against time to catch a brutal killer and right the wrongs of the past…

Click here to order Past Imperfect

The Catherine Howard Conspiracy, Alexandra Walsh

The Catherine Howard Conspiracy is an absorbing dual timeline conspiracy thriller with a shocking twist on Tudor history. In 1539, young Catherine Howard is brought to the court of King Henry VIII to be a lady in waiting to the new queen, Ann of Cleves. But when she catches the king’s eye, her uncle begins scheming to secure a Howard heir to the throne. After the fate that befell her cousin, Anne Boleyn, Catherine is terrified of the unpredictable king and begins to fear for her life.

In 2018, Perdita and Piper Rivers inherit Marquess House from their estranged grandmother, renowned Tudor historian Mary Fitzroy. When Perdita sets out to uncover Mary’s reasons for abandoning them, she is drawn into the mysterious archives of Marquess House: a collection of letters and diaries that claim all records of Catherine Howard’s execution were falsified…

Click here to order The Catherine Howard Conspiracy

 

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MIDWINTER MYSTERIES: Our Christmas Crime Anthology

This Christmas, we’ve put together an anthology of festive crime fiction that is sure to give you the chills! Here’s a taste of what to expect from MIDWINTER MYSTERIES…

In Graham Brack’s AWAY IN A MANGER, a decidedly non-festive Lieutenant Josef Slonský investigates a string of thefts amid Prague’s bustling Christmas market.

At a Christmas Eve gathering, Charles Dickens weaves a gory, atmospheric ghost story that becomes a little too real in J C Briggs’ FOOTPRINTS IN THE SNOW.

Keith Moray’s LOST AND FOUND follows the residents of West Uist as they merrily prepare for their New Year’s Eve traditions – until one of them is found dead…

While trying to provide for his family, young Alfie finds himself investigating the disappearance of gold bars from a bullion store – which have vanished along with his beloved dog, Mutsy – in Cora Harrison’s THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS.

In Seán Gibbons’ THE STOLEN SANTA SACK, unlucky driver Ben Miller is stuck with a dead Santa Claus and a sackful of cash in the back of his cab…

While hurrying to develop her clients’ portraits in time for Christmas, photographer Julia McAllister is landed with a drunken newlywed and a photograph of a ghost in Marilyn Todd’s WILL POWER.

Gaynor Torrance’s CHRISTMAS SPIRITS follows headstrong Detective Inspector Jemima Huxley as she finds herself caught up in an armed robbery while doing her Christmas shopping.

In David Field’s THE ESSEX NATIVITY, Detective Sergeant Jack Enright discovers a destitute couple expecting their first child in the shelter of a barn.

When one of her clients is stalked by a mysterious figure, Private Investigator Eden Grey attempts to uncover the unwelcome follower in Kim Fleet’s SECRET SANTA.

Major Thankful and Thomazine Russell investigate the theft of a scandalous manuscript written by the king in M J Logue’s STIR UP SUNDAY.

In Linda Stratmann’s THE CHRISTMAS GHOST, wilful sleuth Mina Scarletti attempts to bring peace to a woman haunted by the spirit of her dead son.

 

Click here to order MIDWINTER MYSTERIES!

Author Q&A with Kim Fleet

Kim Fleet is the author of the Eden Grey Mystery Series, coming soon from Sapere Books.

Hi Kim! Welcome to the Sapere Books Blog!

What first got you into writing?

I started writing when I was 9. My dad gave me a book called Write Your Own Novel. It was the first time I’d make the connection that the books I loved reading were written by real people, and I thought I’d like to have a go. Dad also gave me a hardback notebook with beautiful marbled endpapers to write in. I filled it with large, round writing; enormous speech marks; and classic lines of dialogue such as, “Hello, Queen Elizabeth the First, would you like a cup of tea?”

What are your typical writing habits?

All my planning is done longhand. I write out character lists, character portraits, and scene outlines with just enough information to get writing but with enough space for the story to grow on its own. I also draw maps of places and maps of connections between characters: this shows me instantly whether I’ve got enough material for a full novel or if I need to come up with another subplot. It helps to avoid the dreaded soggy bit at 30,000 words in. I do a lot of the planning in cafes as I like the buzz of people around me (and the cake). When it comes to writing, though, I use a laptop and sit up in bed to write with the radio on in the background. It’s terrible for my back but does mean I eat less cake.

What part of the writing process do you find most difficult?

The first three chapters are always a nightmare, mostly because I’m still feeling my way into the novel and don’t know the characters fully yet. Those chapters will be rewritten time and time again. Once I got 30,000 words into a novel, realised I’d got the wrong character as the murderer, and had to scrap the whole thing and start again.

How much research do you do?

Every novel requires some research, whether it’s on places, historical detail, or forensic procedures. Research is so absorbing it’s easy to get lost in it, so I discipline myself to do enough to feel confident to start writing and no more. During the writing process, if I realise I need to research something, I write it on the manuscript and come back to it once I’ve got a complete first draft.

Do you ever find your characters controlling their storylines?

Absolutely. The characters become incredibly real, not only when I’m writing but during ‘normal’ life, too! I often have a voice chuntering in my head as I walk round the supermarket or when I’m gardening. In recent years, in addition to hearing characters I’ve started to be physically touched by them, too. It sounds bonkers, but sometimes when I’m in the car I can feel my character’s knees poking into my back. I think I need to create characters who are a bit shorter.

Do you ever feel guilty about killing off characters?

It’s very hard to kill off some characters, but I think that’s necessary to the story. In crime, there has to be something at stake, an offence against society that we care about and want the sleuth to avenge or solve. If I don’t care who dies, if it doesn’t hurt me while I’m writing, then there’s no power in the set-up and nothing for the sleuth to put right.

Do you find it hard to know when to end a story?

All the time. I either stop too soon or drivel on for too long!

Which book do you wish you had written?

Red Joan by Jennie Rooney. It’s a crackingly good read. It’s the book I always recommend to friends when they say they don’t know what to read next.

Tell us something surprising about you!

I can sing ‘Three Blind Mice’ in the Aboriginal language of Pitjantjatjara.

 

Paternoster, the first book in the EDEN GREY MYSTERY SERIES is available to pre-order now.

GET PATERNOSTER HERE!