It’s happy release day to Lords of Iron, the third and concluding book in the Dark Age Chronicles Trilogy. Let’s talk about battle standards #newrelease #MenOfIron #WarriorsOfIron #LordsofIron #histfic
Battle standards
Well, here we are my friends, book 3 in the Dark Age Chronicles concludes this foray to the ‘Dark Ages’ (a term I don’t like but is correct for this time period). I thought I’d address the idea of battle standards.
As many stories as I’ve written about war, I’d never considered the battle standard. My editor mentioned to me that ‘they make for great cover ideas,’ and so I did a little bit of research and discovered some information about them, but it was actually in an ‘ask the historian’ section with Mike Everest hosted by the History Quill that I discovered battle standards might not have been fabric at all, but rather perhaps made from metal and more hollow depictions of whatever the battle standard was to be (so perhaps more similar to the Romans and their eagle standards).
As such, I have touched on this idea in Lords of Iron. As often as I’ve tried to place myself in my characters’ boots, I’ve perhaps overlooked how difficult it might be to find your fellow warrior in the middle of a battle. Below are two images which might have served as an idea of what a battle standard might have looked liked. As you can see, these are very far from being huge banners made of fabric. They are much more intricate, or so it appears. In Warriors of Iron, Wærmund encounters such a battle standard and then hungers to have one constructed for himself. I can see why.
It’s happy release day to Lords of Iron, the third and concluding book in the Dark Age Chronicles Trilogy. Watch and listen to a short recording about the research books I used #newrelease #MenOfIron #WarriorsOfIron #LordsofIron #histfic
A whizz through the research books I used when writing the Dark Age Chronicles
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It’s nearly happy release day to Lords of Iron, the third and concluding book in the Dark Age Chronicles Trilogy. Let’s talk about Wærmund, warrior of the Gyrwe #newrelease #MenOfIron #WarriorsOfIron #LordsofIron #histfic
Wærmund, warrior of the Gyre
Wærmund, the lead male point of view in the Dark Age Chronicles, has come a long way since our first encounter with him, when he was young, angry, reckless and unable to assure himself of the loyalty of others. (I’m not saying he didn’t have cause to be angry).
While I’ve written novels in this era where the main male lead is strong and fiercesome (as well as treating everyone to young Icel), I’ve not really written a character like Wærmund before. One early reviewer complained he was ‘annoying’ and that was intentional. For him to become the character I needed him to become, he couldn’t start the novels ‘fully formed.’ I needed him to learn, grow, and become someone more thoughtful than his angry young self allowed.
Along the way, he’s had much cause to doubt himself, and really, it was Heafoc, his loyal warrior, who was the most fully formed of the warriors who pledged their often dubious loyalty to Wærmund. Heafoc, perhaps very much cast in the shadow of the rather wonderful Wulfstan from the Earls of Mercia series, and potentially, also the older Icel from The Last King books, was the epitome of a Saxon warrior, whereas Wærmund wasn’t. Indeed, in deciding to run away from his home, Wærmund hoped to outrun his past, which was never really going to be possible for him.
Now, as we turn to the concluding book in the trilogy, I feel Wærmund has come full circle. Is he, perhaps, now a better man than his father? Or, is he still driven by the desire to show his father he is the ‘better’ man? These are some of my favourite quotes from Wærmund in the final book.
You will need to read Lords of Iron (available from 5th January 2026) to discover whether Wærmund enacts his vengeance against his father. Enjoy.
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It’s nearly happy release day to Lords of Iron, the third and concluding book in the Dark Age Chronicles Trilogy. Here are the original (very long) historical notes for Men of Iron #newrelease #MenOfIron #WarriorsOfIron #LordsofIron #histfic
The original historical notes for Men of Iron (they were so long I rewrote them)
This is not really a story of historical fiction, but rather archaeological fiction. Pick up any non-fiction history book on Britain at this time, and you’ll find very little written about what was happening, because we do not know what was going on, other than perhaps in the south and south-west (where there was more continuity from the earlier ‘Roman’ period). If it’s a book about Mercia, there’ll be even less until the seventh century. It’s impossible to write about the history of a kingdom when there are no written records. And so we must rely on archaeology.
The decision to write about these formative years in what would become Mercia has been a long time coming for me (and it is set mostly in what would become Mercia although the name never appears in the books).
All that can be said with any certainty about Mercia is that a narrative had formed by the eighth century which was an attempt by the rulers of that time to explain how they came to be in control of the heartland of Mercia. It also attempt to explain how they ruled the wider Mercian kingdom (which included many other tribal affiliations: from the North Mercians, South Mercians and Middle Mercians to the outlying areas – the kingdom of the Hwicce, alongside that of the Magonsæte, being two of the best known tribal areas which people have heard about, and the Hwicce the region where I’ve based the Eorlingas). Bede, writing his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, finished by 734, knew some of these details, although he really did not like Penda the pagan – one of the most powerful Mercians in the seventh century (who it’s believed may have been from the Hwiccan kingdom) – but did grudgingly admit that his contemporary ruler of Mercia, Æthelbald, was a powerful individual, eclipsing the kings in his homeland of Northumbria by the eighth century.
Barbara Yorke has written:
The surviving sources allow us to say with confidence little more than that the kingdom of Mercia was in existence by the end of the sixth century. p. 102, Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England
How that kingdom came about, we do not know. I’ve chosen the date of this series carefully. It falls between the Battle of Camlann, said to have taken place in 537 according to the Welsh Annals, a later written source, and a later battle between ‘kings’ which occurred in the 570s and is mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, written 300 years after these events.
It’s difficult to determine any cohesive narrative from what is truly the Dark Ages for the whole of Britain. Others might look to the stories of the legendary Arthur (no, I don’t believe he existed), and Hengist and Horsa and think that’s enough, but having read K. R. Dark’s fascinating look at Britain at this period, Civitas to Kingdom, many years ago, I realised that what happened elsewhere might not have happened in Mercia, and equally, that generalisations shouldn’t be used about what would become the Saxon kingdoms in any single part of it. It was an island of petty tribal chieftains. It was not a country or a kingdom. This is an attempt to make some sense of what archaeological findings have been made and devise something that ‘could’ have happened. These people did not exist as I have named them, although I have adopted tribal names that are recorded in a later document (see below).
Wærmund is a name taken from a Mercian genealogy found in the Welsh Annals. There are a number of different variants of a Mercian genealogy. This is the one I’ve used, below.
Woden begot Watholgeot, begot Waga, begot Wihtlæd begot Wæround, begot Offa, begot Angen[geot], begot Eomer, [begot Icel,begot Cnebba, begot Cynewald, begot Creoda], begot Pybba. Pybba had twelve sons, two of whom are better known to me than the others, namely Penda and Eobba. Aethelred was the son of Penda; Penda was the son of Pybba. Aethebald was son of Alweo, son of Eobba, [brother] of Penda, son of Pybba. Egferht son of Offa, son of Thingrith, son of Eanwulf, son of Osmond, son of Eobba, son of Pybba.
Other versions of a Mercian genealogy are found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry for the year 626 (A2 Version, also known as the G version) when discussing the later reign of Penda which lists many of the same names, but has Wihtlæd as the son of Woden. David Dumville has noted that this represents a West Saxon interpretation of Mercia (the ASC was conceived of and begun in Wessex) – as such, he stresses the ‘Anglian’ tradition of this source, i.e. possibly Mercians writing about Mercians.
I’ve chosen Wærmund’s name somewhat randomly, but with the idea that he wasn’t the first of his family – and that, indeed, he is originally from one of the Wash tribes for which we have details from the Tribal Hidage. Every time I write a new series, something clicks for me, and in this case it’s that whatever the genealogies represent, it needn’t be those who ruled Mercia as a kingdom as we recognise it, but those who ruled the ‘tribe’ beforehand. Yes, they did claim descent from the god, Woden, but most of the Saxon kingdoms did.
It’s believed that the kingdom of the Hwicce was perhaps a native British one and that they came to merge with the Saxons, or rather at this time, Anglian invaders, and then fell under the sway of the wider Mercian kingdom. (The terminology is complex to get right.)
The names of the tribes come from the problematic and difficult-to-date Tribal Hidage, which survives in an eleventh-century document, but is believed to be a copy of an eighth-century document. It lists thirty-five kingdoms, which comprise ninety-five different tribal names believed to have amalgamated to form these thirty-five kingdoms, which were then further merged to form the six main Saxon kingdoms of the Heptarchy (the seventh, Northumbria, is not included in the Tribal Hidage). Feel free to go and try and make sense of the Tribal Hidage. Every non-fiction writers seems to use slightly different spellings and because some are so similar, it is incredibly confusing. Some of my tribes changed names repeatedly as I endeavoured to make them ‘fit’ the narrative and the journey my characters make. All mistakes are mine.
There are a wealth of Roman villas surviving in Gloucestershire, perhaps most famously Chedworth Roman Villa, and also many Roman mosaics, some of which are not available for public viewing as they have been covered up beneath the soil that has preserved them to ensure that continues. The tribe of the Eorlingas is associated with Arlingham, just below Gloucester, to the east of the River Severn. As far as I can tell, Frocester is the closest Roman villa ruin to have been discovered from nearby to where I wanted to base the Eorlingas, but with so many of them, it almost feels as though they might have been falling over them – there are fifty-two known Roman villas in Gloucestershire alone.
The idea of an economy dependent on iron had not really resonated with me before, but Robin Fleming’s comment that mining, metallurgy and smithing stood at the heart of the Roman economy made me reconsider this. She points out that from the late fourth century (which is traditionally deemed to be the end of Roman Britain – well, 410 is) there is a scarcity of traditional, crucial and once common everyday items – nails, evident in the lack of hobnail books and also coffins. She does, however, stress that the Romans had a successful ‘recycling’ scheme and that forging iron objects from these recycled elements may well have continued. However, pattern-wielded blades (which had largely come to dominate what we believe early Saxon/Anglian kings wielded in their battles) could not be made from recycled iron or from a single type of iron alloy, with at least four different iron alloys needed. Therefore, an age ‘without’ iron almost ensued. It is possible that these skills were lost and then needed to be rediscovered. Equally, it is possible that the evidence for such occupations as smelting have disappeared from the archaeological record in many places because of the transient nature of the process. I find the lack of nails in the archaeological record, however, very intriguing. It certainly points to something being lacking.
Languages in this era are, of course, impossible to reconstruct. It’s believed that English, Latin, British, Pictish and Irish would have been spoken. It must also be assumed that those coming to this island from Scandinavia and Germany would also have brought their languages with them. I’ve decided to use the terms Latin, Saxon, British and Brythonic in the text. (I had to make myself a chart to ensure I didn’t have people speaking to other people who didn’t share a language – it wasn’t pretty). There would potentially have been a vast number of local dialects as well, just as there are today.
The small iron-cast horse which Meddi has is based on a bronze object uncovered at Frocester. It is a fabulous piece, described in the site report as ‘crudely designed, with wide open mouth and large upstanding ears’. It is quite small, less than two inches in length, if I’ve understood the dimensions correctly, and shows the horse having reins but no stirrups. The horse was controlled by a bridle alone, and the horses were smaller, at twelve to fourteen hands, the equivalent of a hackney pony, or forty-eight to fifty-six inches tall (according to the internet). Stirrups were introduced by the Saxons.
I have struggled to find references to the religions at this time. Ronald Hutton’s Pagan Britain contains some useful passages. This somewhat leads into burial rites, which are often much of what we know of our ancestors. It does appear confusing – the magnificent ship burials at Sutton Hoo were preceded by burials beneath what is now the visitor centre (and which I think are more fascinating than the ship burials – or rather, the process of how they went from the one to the other within a generation.) Cremation and interment were somewhat haphazardly applied throughout Britain. My own distinctions between peoples are merely an attempt to highlight the differences between them. The depiction of the burial of Meddi’s daughter beneath inhabited buildings is a known phenomenon from this period, and written about by Robin Fleming in her chapter Living with Little Corpses in The Material Fall of Roman Britain 300-525CE.
For anyone affected by this storyline, or concerned by it, as someone who has experienced the loss of a child, I’m perhaps too comfortable including such story elements. To those who have also endured it, I extend my heartfelt sympathies and assure you, it does get easier. Eventually. (what follows below has been added at the end of the proofread for Lords of Iron).
This passage leads somewhat well to a thought by Meddi as she nears the end of book three.
‘I’m Meddi, seeress of the Eorlingas. It’s been a long and troubled journey to reach this moment in my life when hatred has bled away to nothing but a dull ache where the life I thought I’d have has a child has failed to come to fruition. But I would change nothing, aside from the loss of my daughter.’
I think this is perhaps the most ‘me’ I’ve included in a novel (not that I’ve spent my lifetime filled with hatred, but I hope you understand the sentiment).
Perhaps, in the end, this trilogy has been as much for me, as it has been for my readers. Thank you.
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It’s nearly happy release day to Lords of Iron, the third and concluding book in the Dark Age Chronicles Trilogy. Let’s talk about Meddi , the seeress of the Eorlingas #newrelease #MenOfIron #WarriorsOfIron #LordsofIron #histfic
Meddi, the seeress of the Eorlingas
When I was thinking about writing this trilogy, set in the undocumented and little-understood ‘true’ Dark Ages, it was Meddi’s character that came to me most forcefully. I had thought she appeared pretty fully formed, but I’ve actually found a very early attempt which doesn’t mention her (it was only about 250 words, admittedly). After that, she evidently developed quite quickly in my mind. Of the two main points of view characters, Meddi and Wærmund, she is the one who was the most different to what I’ve written before, so I was surprised by how strongly she manifested and became ‘real’ to me. I ran a few elements of her character passed a number of trusted early readers. I wanted her to be strong and determined, but also broken and healing from a terrible trauma, a terrible trauma even I can only imagine. But I also didn’t want her to be stereotypical. I needed to make her realistic and both a product of what had happened to her, and also not. Don’t worry, it was a confusing mix for me, too.
Making her a seeress allowed me to give her an influential position amongst her people. But of course, it brought some problems. What sort of seeress should she be? What magiks should she possess? And how to make those more ‘fantastical’ elements work in what was intended as a piece of archaeological fiction (yes, historical, but so much is based on archaeological finds, it seems wrong to misname it).
I am, and no doubt, will always be a ‘pantser’ (someone who doesn’t plan their stories but just writes them – perhaps in many wats somewhat similar to Meddi when she reaches out to communicate with her ‘god’ only I’m reaching out for my muse and a story that plays out on the page). As such, some elements of Meddi’s personality just appeared for me, and others had to be worked at. I was also conscious of not making her too similar to the wonderful Wynflæd in The Eagle of Mercia Chronicles, or indeed, the Wolf Lady, who also features (both of them healers). Yet, a seeress would possess the abilities to tend to the sick. It was tricky to get it just right. It was really only when I heard her words brought to life by her fabulous narrator, Antonia Breamish, that I truly appreciated that Meddi was a creation I could be very satisfied with (you can listen to her below). I believe, and I hope my readers will agree, that she’s fully rounded, entirely understandable, and if she does things we wouldn’t, then we can be sympathetic to what drives her.
The symbolic adorning of her face and hair with chalk or charcoal as she conducts her magiks was based on little more than my imagination, and yet the imagery is stark. She is sometimes cast from shadow, and sometimes from light. She is a character who loves and hates with equal fierceness, and sometimes, her love shows itself in ways that are perhaps more akin to hatred. But she is certainly most critical of herself. She is driven by ambition, and in this final book, I think we see her at her most vulnerable and also at her strongest. Enjoy.
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2025 has been a challenging reading year for me. I’ve failed to hit my reading target of 100 books (although I’m not worried about that because hey, it’s just a bit of fun to even set a target), and there have been a few months where I barely read anything at all because ‘life’ got in the way. I’ve also noticed this year that my reading preferences have changed, moving even more towards mysteries and away from my writing genre of action and adventure historical fiction. I have also, however, joined my local book club, and so I’m reading one book each month to discuss in the group, and this means I’m not necessarily always reading books I would usually choose. This has been a bit of an eye-opener. In our book club, we do read the books, and we do talk about them. If you can find a book club like that, then I highly recommend it. It’s a great experience.
Goodreads (and The Storygraph) tell me I’ve read 82 books this year (as a point of note, I don’t usually put my audiobooks on multiple times (I listen to the same few audiobooks at night to help me sleep and I am almost word perfect on some of them these days)). As last year, I’ve not included my own books in this, which get read repeatedly while writing and editing.
My most read category (a third of all books) has been historical mysteries – (some of these might also be classified as cosy). I’ve read anything from The Rush by Beth Lewis, about the dash to Dawson City to mine for gold at the end of the nineteenth century, to Desolation by Keith Moray (set in the 1300s) and Monstrous Murder by Elizabeth R Andersen (also set in the aftermath of the Black Death) to a huge collection of early twentieth century mysteries, including Michelle Salter’s new series, Murder in Trafalgar Square. I think my favourite (and most surprising read) was The Bookseller of Inverness by SG MacLean (our first book club read, and my recommendation (there were opinions about it – which was brilliant – and I would warn it certainly helps if you know something about the Battle of Culloden and its aftermath). Click on the images to visit the reviews (if I’ve reviewed on the blog).
Behind historical mysteries in my reading year are just plain old contemporary mysteries. Again, some of these are also cozy reads. I don’t like my murder mysteries to be too graphic (when I was much younger, I read all the Scarpetta and Jonathan Kellerman novels and freaked myself out), and I’ve discovered that my preference is for a style known as ‘police procedural’ even when there are no police involved. I started the year with Death on Ice, which was a slow build but delightfully engaging, and ended with the equally brilliant The Retired Assassin’s Guide to Orchid Hunting – a fabulous New Zealand-based mystery (I’m going to read book 1 now), and Simon Whaley’s Flaming Murder (reviews to follow for these two books in Jan 2026). I also discovered Antony Johnston’s lovely Dog Sitter Detectives Series. These are such great books – quick reads but with compelling mysteries.
You can also check out my three favourite reads of 2025 over on Shepherd.
I do want to give a huge shout out to Kalahari Passage (which I’m classifying as historical fiction as its set in the 1960s (I think). This is a beautiful story, if sometimes a hard read. Do check it out.
What I’m classifying as thrillers came next – from the new Harlan Coben to the rather brilliant Dolos by a debut author, LH Fox, which almost had me understanding how cryptocurrency works, and is also my most visited review on the blog.
Six titles were historical romance. Jane Dunn, Melissa Addey and Susanna Dunlap all kept me entertained with their Regency romances, while The Ladies Road Guide to Utter Ruin could also be classified as a Regency romance, but I’ve popped it into the historical mystery category, as it certainly crosses over more into a mystery with the romance element in the background. (If you’ve not read Alison Goodman’s Dark Days Club books, then you’re missing a treat, my Regency fans – a hint of fantasy in the Regency era – what is not to love (still not convinced – I would compare it with Cassandra Claire’s Victorian trilogy).
I also read a couple of romance novels (one for Book Club) and certainly enjoyed some more than others:)
I didn’t read (or at least finish) many non-fiction titles in 2025 (I am still reading Max Adams’ Mercian Chronicles and I have his new title on Northumbria to read as well). My only complete historical non-fiction title for the year was that by Amy McElroy on Mary Tudor – a great depiction which I found very inspiring. Mary is so often overlooked.
The title I enjoyed the most out of the other non-fiction reads was You Know the Drill, an account of a dentist’s life. I made myself read it because I’m so terrified of the dentist. Has it helped? Maybe.
I also read a writing guide, which I enjoyed. It’s always intriguing to discover how other people write their stories. Check out Planning the Perfect Plot.
I’ve also half-read many other titles (apologies to those authors). Hopefully, I’ll get back to them when I have time in 2026. Every year I explain I’m a ‘mood’ reader, and if something isn’t working for me at that moment, it doesn’t mean I won’t come back to it when I fancy something different.
One genre I’ve really neglected is fantasy (aside from the Discworld audios), although I have managed a few short story collections (reviews to follow). I will need to get back to it. I have a few series I need to finish. Maybe the problem is, I don’t want to finish them. We shall see.
Our local book club started in August 2025, and so far we’ve read four very different titles. The Bookseller of Inverness was my choice, and I’m slowly gathering all of Shona’s other titles, including her new release for Feb 2026. Next, we tried Joanne Harris’ Five Quarters of the Orange (which I didn’t like for very different reasons to the ones I thought when I started reading). We then tried The Christmas Postcards by Karen Swan, and most agreed the one element of the story was much better than the other. We ended the year with Before I Go to Sleep by SJ Watson – a novel that was incredibly slow, with something of a predicatable ending (and no, I hadn’t seen the movie). I’m excited to see what we read in 2026. And as you can see, there’s a great variety of titles there. When it’s my turn to pick again I will be championing some of my fellow indie/Boldwood authors.
Here’s to 2026 and all the reading I hope to enjoy.
I read a lot of books by my fellow Boldwood authors, and I’m also a host for a couple of blog tour organisers. This means I often get to read books before everyone else. Yay.
I’m sharing a fab post from crime novelist Ian McFadyen about writing ‘The Twist’ to celebrate the release of The Corpse Bell #blogtour #newrelease #mystery
The Twist
Having a clever and enticing plot and introducing a range of vivid, life-like and interesting characters are paramount for any successful murder story. However, in my view, the kernel of all the best and most memorable whodunits has to be the twist.
I read once that ‘plot twists can be a thrill for the reader, but they’re overwhelming for the writer’. I’d agree with that.
If the novel is constructed in such a way that the reader has absolutely no inkling it’s coming, and when it’s revealed to the audience it is as plausible to them as it is surprising, then the twist will elevate the story to a new level.
And why just have one twist, if the book has sub-plots or a series of red herrings, why not introduce a little twist with those, to add even more intrigue and, dare I say, confusion in the reader’s mind – particularly if your twist reveals that a character high on the reader’s list of suspects is, in fact, innocent of the main crime and there’s a credible reason why they have been behaving in a way you ( the reader) thought was suspicious.
If you don’t agree with me, I’d ask you to just think of your favourite murder mystery books. I’m sure they all will have many, many truly wonderful elements – the setting, the use of language, the plot, the characters for example. However, I’d wager it’s the twist that you remember.
When thinking about a new Carmichael book it’s the twist that almost always comes first. Whether it’s a character who isn’t all they seem to be, a misunderstanding which only comes to light late on in the story, or a lie that’s not unearthed at first, the twist is my starting point.
For my books, it’s only once the twist is fleshed out in my head that I feel I can then create a storyline. A plot that builds up to that twist being revealed to the reader. Then using my team of ever-present detectives and introducing new characters, I attempt to take the reader on a journey that leads to the twist.
One of my favourite twists is in ‘The Death of Roger Ackroyd’ by Agatha Christie. I’ll not share the details here, for obvious reasons, but if you’ve not read that particular book, I’d recommend you give it a whirl.
However, if pushed, I’d say my favourite twist was in the TV programme, Tales of the Unexpected in 1979. In an episode written by Roald DahI, called ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’; the twist is delicious! If you haven’t seen it, look it up on YouTube.
I’ll obviously not be sharing the twist in my latest book, ‘The Corpse Bell’, but I hope you enjoy it when it arrives.
Here’s the blurb
The last thing Penny Carmichael expected when she joined the local bellringing group was for her debut to be thwarted by the discovery of a body just yards from the belfry door. As her husband and his loyal team painstakingly sift through the evidence and delve deep into the dead man’s past, it’s clear that solving Peter Mackenzie’s murder may prove a challenge, even for someone with DCI Carmichael’s renowned detective prowess.
What was a man who’d lived for decades in North London doing in Moulton Bank? Was his chequered past a factor?
And what about the other members of Penny’s bellringing group. Did any of them have a reason to do Peter harm?
As the case unfolds, DCI Carmicheal and his trusty team seek answers to a complex puzzle which leads them along various paths and, at times, way outside the comfort zone of their rural Lancashire surroundings.
This fast-paced, cleverly crafted whodunit is the eleventh murder mystery in the gripping Carmichael series from the pen of Ian McFadyen.
IIan McFadyen was born in Liverpool and enjoyed a successful career in marketing before becoming a writer. Ian’s titles are available in Italian and Czech and, although the author isn’t totally convinced it’s true, he’s been favourably compared with Wilkie Collins and Colin Dexter. He lives in Hertfordshire with his wife but spends a great deal of his time writing in his bolthole retreat on the Norfolk / Suffolk border. The Corpse Bell is the eleventh in his series featuring DCI Carmichael.
I’m sharing my review for The Little Black Book Killer by Fiona Walker, the third book in her The Village Detectives series #bookreview #cosycrime #newrelease
Here’s the blurb
Matchmaking has never been so murderous… 💔🔪
Juno is feeling ready – at last – to start dating again, after losing her husband some years ago. She is sure she can make time from being a Village Detective, indeed it might help distract her from her crush on hunky (but far-too-young!) pub landlord – Mil.
So she’s signed up to an exclusive new dating app and cannot wait. But when one of the founding investors in that same dating app drops dead in front of fellow Village Detective Phoebe in a nearby hotel – and then a second investor is found hanging in the local cricket pavilion just days later – Juno knows she’ll have to put her love life on hold.
Teaming up once more with Phoebe, Felix and Mil… the Village Detectives are back. And this time Juno – who’d thought she was getting under the covers with a new lover – is going undercover to catch a killer…
Wickedly funny cozy crime, from million-copy bestselling author Fiona Walker! Fans of The Thursday Murder Club and A Death on Location will love the Village Detectives!
The Little Black Book Killer is the third book in the Village Detective Series, and I definitely think it’s my favourite so far. I laughed so hard at one line in particular, and I think all readers will love it.
Freddy is out of her ‘funk’ (which has been a running theme). Juno is certainly ‘dialled down’ a few notches (yay), and their switching narratives ensure the reader almost always knows what’s happening. The characters involved in the actual mystery are a delightful mix of local villagers who all bring something to the table. The graveyard vandals and the missing underwear also add a delightful side story.
The mystery itself is quite complex, and there are a ton of red herrings (yay), so I didn’t work out all the elements of the resolution, which I always appreciate.
As I said, this is the third book in the series, and my favourite so far.
Check out my review for The Poison Pen Letters, the second book in the series. I have read book 1 too, but clearly not popped it on the blog.
Meet the author
Fiona Walker is the million copy bestselling author of joyously funny romantic comedies. Most recently published by Head of Zeus, she will be turning to cozy crime for Boldwood.
I’m welcoming Then Came The Summer Snow by Trisha T Pritikin to the blog #HistoricalFiction #Downwinders #AtomicJustice #1950s #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub
Here’s the blurb
In 1958, Edith Higgenbothum, a housewife in Richland, Washington, downwind of the massive Hanford nuclear weapons production site, discovers that the milk her young son Herbie drinks contains radioactive iodine from Hanford’s secret fallout releases. Radioactive iodine can damage the thyroid, especially in children.
When Herbie is diagnosed with aggressive thyroid cancer, Edith allies with mothers of children with thyroid cancer and leukemia in communities blanketed by fallout from Nevada Test Site A-bomb tests on a true atomic age hero’s journey to save the children.
Praise for Then Came the Summer Snow:
“In Trisha Pritikin’s crisp and sweeping novel, the Cold War comes home to live with a family in Richland, Washington. Not the Cold War of ideologies, but the one that included 2,000+ nuclear tests, and the production of hundreds of tons of plutonium; that contaminated our homes, food and communities; that actually took family members.”
~ Robert “Bo” Jacobs, Emeritus Professor of History at the Hiroshima Peace Institute and Hiroshima City University, author of Nuclear Bodies: The Global Hibakusha (Yale 2022).
“Then Came the Summer Snow is like an unexpected gift in its surprise and freshness. Absurdity informs its realism, its poignancy, and its humor. A troubling, hilarious, weird, and wonderful novel.”
~ Mark Spencer, author of An Untimely Frost
Triggers: misogynist culture of 1950s; no violence, but cancers in children are a focus, and thyroid cancer treatment.
This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.
Meet the author
Trisha is an internationally known advocate for fallout-exposed populations downwind of nuclear weapons production and testing sites. She is an attorney and former occupational therapist.
Trisha was born and raised in Richland, the government-owned atomic town closest to the Hanford nuclear weapons production facility in southeastern Washington State. Hanford manufactured the plutonium used in the Trinity Test, the world’s first test of an atomic bomb, detonated July 16,1945 at Alamogordo, NM, and for Fat Man, the plutonium bomb that decimated Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. Beginning in late 1944, and for more than forty years thereafter, Hanford operators secretly released millions of curies of radioactive byproducts into the air and to the waters of the Columbia River, exposing civilians downwind and downriver. Hanford’s airborne radiation spread across eastern Washington, northern Oregon, Idaho, Western Montana, and entered British Columbia.
Trisha suffers from significant thyroid damage, hypoparathyroidism, and other disabling health issues caused by exposure to Hanford’s fallout in utero and during childhood. Infants and children are especially susceptible to the damaging effects of radiation exposure.
Trisha’s first book, The Hanford Plaintiffs: Voices from the Fight for Atomic Justice, published in 2020 by the University Press of Kansas, has won multiple awards, including San Francisco Book Festival, 1st place (history); Nautilus Silver award (journalism and investigative reporting); American Book Fest Book Awards Finalist (US History); Eric Hoffer Awards, Shortlist Grand Prize Finalist; and Chanticleer International Book Awards, 1st Place, (longform journalism). The Hanford Plaintiffs was released in Japanese in 2023 by Akashi Shoten Publishing House, Tokyo.
Come with me to Great Witcombe #newrelease #MenOfIron #WarriorsOfIron #histfic
Great Witcombe Roman Villa
Great Witcombe Roman Villa is no longer open to the public, but it is managed by English Heritage, and it’s possible to get a glimpse of it, although you do need to be careful. I think it’s currently closed due to safety concerns, so be mindful, and stay behind all the barriers, especially as the location is pretty remote.
From what I could see of the remains of Great Witcombe Roman Villa, it does seem to have been set in a beautiful place, and it quite appealed to me. I relied heavily on the idea of the location when devising the home for one of the tribes that features in the Dark Age Chronicles. (It probably helped that I visited on a lovely sunny day.)
MJ Porter 
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