I’m delighted to welcome Jennifer Wizbowski and her book, Poinsettia Girl, to the blog with an excerpt.
Excerpt
Margarita closed the door to her bedroom and entered the hall with some of her spunk back in her step. She needed those afternoon naps more than she had in all her years in the Pietà. Every day, when early afternoon came, she’d feel her shoulders slumping and her patience waning, ready to shut out the worries around her and blow her bedside candle out.
She would never admit that to anyone. It would make her sound old, and then there would be all their fussing. While her schedule no longer consisted of classes, private lessons, or choral rehearsals, it was as full as the girls in new lace collars. She still had hers, that lacy shawl, a little more cream than stark white- one could never stop the cycle of aging. She would wear it when special occasions called for it: a full choir for a dignified guest or a celebration, but mostly, it hung in her closet, a trophy of her femininity, not the public image of virginal and ethereal but the honest image: persevering, unruffled and wise.
The Pietà took careful measures in recording the names, titles, entrances, and exits of every woman who spent any time behind its protective walls. Some listings were short, poor, sick babes that only lasted a night or diseased women who spent their final days cared for with the dignity society did not give them—others, like herself, whose decades were sub- marked by all her different roles in the Pietà. The path was different for everyone. Some women did not possess the musical predisposition to train for the Coro, which is why they tested every foundling’s aptitude by the age of eight.
The less musically inclined girls trained in textile arts or medicine, with the potential of working in the Pietà’s ground-floor ventures in their later years. The hospital administered vaccines and cared for the unwanted, while the textiles area had a successful laundering and hat-making business.
In her current assignment, she was listed as Discrete, a nice way of inferring: a retiree with no more obligations to the Coro—and as Margarita internally joked, whom they decided to keep around a bit longer instead of shipping off to a convent. Indeed, she was worth more than the average old woman slippering around.
Here’s the Blurb
Poinsettia Girl is based on the story of Agata de la Pieta, an orphan musician of the Ospedale de la Pieta.
Ten-year-old Agata’s world is shaken at the sudden death of her mother. Left only with her egregious father, a working musician in Venice, her ailing grandmother sends her to the well-known orphanage, hidden from everything she’s ever known.
Agata auditions for the conservatory style music school where music is both salvation and spectacle. Hidden behind ornate metal grates, adorned with poinsettias in their hair, the singers are veiled in mystery, their ethereal music drawing noble audiences, including gilded young men who see them as treasures-not only for their sound but as coveted marriage prizes.
Just as she reaches the height of her musical journey, a marriage proposal from someone outside the audience tempts her with the promise of a new life-a return to the old neighborhood she’s longed for and a home she barely remembers.
Torn between the music that has defined her and the hope of belonging to a family, Agata must confront the most profound question of her life: is her purpose rooted in the music that shaped her, or in the love that might free her?
Jennifer Wizbowski spent her childhood days lost among the spines of her favorite books. Inspired by the daffodil fields of Wordsworth and the babbling brooks of Shakespeare, she earned her bachelor’s in English literature, a minor in music, and a secondary teaching credential, then wrote freelance for local business journals, taught in classrooms, and authored a Teen and Tween column for a parent magazine—all while raising her family.
As those years ended, she knew it was the right time to pursue her lifelong aspiration of bringing her own books to life. She now devotes herself to illuminating everyday women’s stories often lost in the shadows of history, revealing how they became heroines of their own time and place.
Portrait by Valentina Photography at Macardi Images
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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It’s time to go back to the beginning of the year and work out exactly how I’ve been spending my time. 2025 has been a pretty decent year in terms of writing, but I have largely missed out on writing for three months this year. Let’s find out why.
In January, I was busy working on what would become Shield of Mercia. In my notes, it’s simply called Icel 8. I started it in December 2024 and finished it in January 2025. It looks like my writing was pretty consistent for this one, and quite often, I was able to write about 4000 words a day, which makes me wonder whether I was maybe a bit behind at this point. I can’t quite remember. I’ve checked, and yes, I was running late with this one. That explains why I was so busy tapping away throughout January. I also completed the proofreading for Men of Iron and was working on some other stuff in the background, for my ‘other’ writing name. January was my most productive writing month in terms of word count gained. It was a good start to the year, but it didn’t continue.
In February, I seem to have been working on a few projects at the same time – one of my fantasy titles, as well as copyedits for Warriors of Iron, and some finessing for Shield of Mercia (I have a feeling this is the point I realised I needed some locations for Icel’s journey through Wessex and hightailed it to the uni library for some research books – somewhat amusingly the one I found was written in 1978). I also started work on what would become The Secret Sauce. It was not one of my most productive months in terms of word count achieved, but I evidently spent a lot of time editing and rewriting things. Sadly, it wasn’t my least productive month, which has ended up being December.
March was a tough month as I lost my Dad, and all writing plans, understandably, went out the window. I had structural edits to work on for Shield of Mercia, and it was very hard going. For a few weeks, I worried I wouldn’t get back into writing, but I did. It just took a while. My writing process is very creative. I pop on some music, ‘transport’ myself to where my characters are, and tap away. It can be hard to achieve when there’s too much going on in my head besides writing. I also managed a bit more work on The Secret Sauce.
April was also very messy – I pressed on with The Secret Sauce, and then after all the stress of March, completely relaxed on holiday in Orkney for two weeks. I definitely needed it.
May marks the start of the exam season at school. But, with everything going on, I was very behind with Lords of Iron (like so behind that there was barely anything there). But I trusted myself to get it done and spent the half-term holiday (9 days in total) writing. I wrote over half of the first draft for Lords of Iron in just those 9 days. It sounds crazy, but it was the final part in the trilogy, and I knew my characters. It was very much a return to my old writing style (you can listen to me talk about my writing process over on my Patreon). I enjoyed it, and I also think it helped me ensure the book (due out on 5th January 2026) flowed really well, with no let-up in tension during the second half of the novel.
I continued work on Lords of Iron throughout June (this was the first, and I hope, only time, I had to ask my editor for an extension). I was also back with The Secret Sauce and had completed copy edits for Shield of Mercia. 26th June was my most productive writing day all year. Away from The Secret Sauce for such a long time with everything that had happened, I bashed out 8989 words in one day (that doesn’t happen very often any more – my most productive day ever saw me clock in over 17000 words over an 18-hour period – crazy).
July saw me concentrating on finishing The Secret Sauce, and also starting work on Icel 9. I completed my proofreading for Shield of Mercia. I do like it when I’m editing the previous book while writing the next one. It ensures I don’t miss any huge details – for instance, when someone has been badly wounded. July was my fourth most productive month in terms of added word count. It also saw the release of Warriors of Iron, the second book in the Dark Age Chronicles.
August saw me working properly on Icel 9 (Storm of Mercia). I also started work on The Barrage Body (another mystery), completed the proofreading for The Secret Sauce (released at the end of the month), and found some time to start playing around with ideas for a new series. I also completed proofreading Lords of Iron and spent a bit of time messing with one of my fantasy titles.
September was a good month. I was working on three projects, the main one being The Barrage Body. I completed the copy edit for Lords of Iron at the start of the month, and structural edits for Storm of Mercia at the end. It was my third most productive month in terms of word count gained. Yay.
October was the month when I had to ignore the draft for The Barrage Body, which should have been complete, but wasn’t, because I’d made it so complicated, I couldn’t solve my own mystery (the curse of being a pantser rarely rears its head these days, (I don’t think it has since I wrote Lady Estrid) but this time it was a real pain). I distracted myself by working on the first book in the next series, the House of Mercia. It was a good writing month, even though I was very frustrated about The Barrage Body.
Since 2012, November has been the month I write whatever I want as part of a writing challenge. But the writing challenge as I used to follow it, is no more, and while I intended to try and do it anyway, that’s not what happened. I did manage to bash out about 20k for one project, but mostly spent the month solving The Barrage Body (which I managed, and could then release at the end of the month) and working on The House of Mercia.
For December, I was once more in school, and have since spent much of the time being unwell, so my writing count is woeful. I need to finish the first book in the House of Mercia, but I have a whole month to go, so I’m not worried. Right now, the biggest problem is not writing too much for this story. I’ve also been toying with a new mystery and trying to get back to my other new project. Hopefully, January 2026 will be as productive as January 2025, and it will be a breeze to get everything done.
So, I’ve not written a new Coelwulf in 2025, but I’m working on something related. I’ve also not written a new Earls of Mercia book, but I will try to get to it in 2026 (we’ve reached the point where events are very complicated). I also need to finish my fantasy title, which I’d hoped to have done months ago, after all, it is half written.
In terms of words written this year, it comes in at about 520k. Considering the three ‘missing’ months where I’ve hardly written anything, I’m pleased with that.
Forthcoming releases for 2026 will be Lords of Iron, Storm of Merica, the new House of Mercia in August, and the second one later in the year. I also hope to write a mystery or two, and I want to finish my November 2025 project about events after The Last King.
So, in 2025, I wrote five novels, give or take 20k or so on some of them, Shield of Mercia, Lords of Iron, Storm of Mercia, The Secret Sauce and The Barrage Body (I’m not counting the House of Mercia book, although perhaps I should, as it is over 70k). (Click the book covers for links to purchase/preorder).
As ever, a huge thank you to all my wonderful readers who allow me to spend my time with my characters. It is a privilege. That said, 2025 has been a tough year in terms of sales (as well as other life related items). Do support your favourite authors in anyway you can. It’s not nice in the publishing world right now and lots of people are worried about the future.
I’ve also been getting new covers for some of my older books throughout 2025, and some titles are now available from platforms other than Amazon. Enjoy.
If you want to follow my writing journey, join my newsletter. I update readers each month on what I’m doing, and it also gives you access to my Exclusive Subscriber page on the blog. And, you will also be able to download a copy of my title, Mercia, a compendium of all things related to the Tales of Mercia. There might be some short stories in there, too (as well as a sneak peek at my new project). And if you’d like a signed copy of one of my books, then visit my online store.
I’m sharing my review for Death of a Stranger, the first book in John Pilkington’s Elizabethan mysteries featuring Matthew Cutler #histfic #historicalmystery #bookreview #blogtour #TheRufflersChild #boldwoodbloggers @BoldwoodBooks @rararesources @theboldbookclub
Here’s the blurb
BE YE HUNTER OR PREY?
Introducing Thomas Finbow – falconer to Sir Robert Vicary and Lady Margaret of Petbury, Berkshire. He keeps his mind sharp and his body primed as he goes about his duties with the diligent confidence of one who once served Queen and country.
When Nathaniel Pickering, Lady Margaret’s older brother is found murdered, Thomas takes her away to London, in search of gryfalcons. Lady Margaret being a keen lover of the sport of falconry herself, Thomas hopes it will help distract his mistress from her grief, however once they reach the city it becomes apparent that much bigger things are at play – and the murder of Master Pickering was just the beginning…
Thomas’s astute mind is unable to ignore the clues, and in uncovering some dark secrets, he places himself – and his mistress – in grave danger. Now a target himself, Thomas must face some of London’s most notorious criminals, in a battle of both brain and brawn.
The Ruffler’s Child is an atmospheric Elizabethan mystery, set around the time of Mary Queen of Scots’ trial and subsequent execution. It is a time of unrest, and Thomas finds himself, a good country lad, thrust into the murk of a busy London. There are many unsavoury characters, and the mystery itself is quite complex, and not without peril for him.
I do love a good historical mystery and this one really intrigued me. Thomas and Lady Margaret have an unusual relationship, and he does seem to be trusted with a great deal of familiarity with the lords and gentry he comes into contact with, while also being just about able to hold his own in London’s Elizabethan underworld of crime, trugging houses and petty theft.
I really didn’t guess the resolution for this one, and very much enjoyed journeying along with Thomas as the elements of the mystery slowly clicked into place. The start of the series, I’m looking forward to reading my way through the books featuring Thomas the Falconer.
A writer for over forty years, John Pilkington was born in Lancashire and worked at many jobs including laboratory assistant, farm worker, weaver, shipping clerk, picture frame-maker and cabaret musician before taking a degree in Drama and English and finding his true 2 vocation. He has since written plays for radio and theatre, television scripts for a BBC soap, a short-lived children’s series and numerous works of historical fiction, concentrating now on the Tudor and Stuart eras. He also ventured into speculative fiction with his biography of Shakespeare’s famous jester, Yorick.
He now lives in a village on a tidal estuary in Devon with his long-term partner Elisabeth; they have a son who is a psychologist and musician. When not at the desk he walks, swims, listens to music and tinkers with d.i.y. projects, and is enjoying being a grandfather.
The inspiration for The Barrage Body, book 4 in The Erdington Mysteries (and why this isn’t quite the book I thought it would be) #histfic #mystery
Why did I write The Barrage Body?
I’ve not been quiet about explaining how hard I found The Barrage Body to ‘solve.’ I don’t think I’ve been restrained in explaining why either. Which brings me to the inspiration behind this latest mystery set in the 1940s.
When I finished writing The Secret Sauce, I was sure there was more ‘mystery’ to solve (if you’ve not read it yet, don’t be put off, the mystery is solved in the book, this is more a background element). I checked with a few advanced readers, and their response was reassuring, ‘We just thought you’d get to that in the next book.’ And this was absolutely my intention.
BUT, well, the huge BUT is that after I’d started writing the book, my research led me down a very different path. My intention was to base the fourth book at the Fort Dunlop/Dunlop Rubber Company factory. I found a lot of aerial photographs and a book about memories of working at the factory, and all seemed good. Only then did I discover the barrage balloons. The resource I consulted said they had been situated at Fort Dunlop, or at least one of them had (I am now not quite so sure, but it was too late). So, the original title went out the window, and the story changed quite a bit. The barrage balloons, constructed by Dunlop, although at a different factory, were just too enticing, and so the story veered away from my original intention. It veered so much that I eventually realised I had two halves of two very different stories. My mystery (and you should all know I don’t plan them – if that wasn’t already obvious enough) couldn’t be solved. GRRRR.
Fort Dunlop (a still from one of the PATHE recordings)
So frustrated was I, that I had to put an almost complete manuscript to one side for a month and write something else. I didn’t even think about the book during that month. I was very cross with myself. Eventually, I realised what had to be done (but it was not a single lightbulb moment, but rather many of them) and the mystery became solvable. So, while my inspiration was to base this mystery at another Erdington staple, the Fort Dunlop site, it was even more inspired by the barrage balloons that were flown during WW2 to act as a deterrent to enemy aircraft. Curious, you can watch a fabulous video over on the PATHE website https://cutt.ly/NtpYVUD8.
Chief Inspector Mason of Erdington Police Station is summoned to the Dunlop Rubber Company by an irate Mrs Adams from the Buying Department on a cold Tuesday morning in December 1944.
No sooner have he and O’Rourke managed to uncover the cause of Mrs Adams’ telephone call to the police station, than events take a far more chilling turn than the rogue situation’s vacant advertisement first alluded. It might just be that they’re in the right place at the right time to prevent a terrible tragedy. Or are they?
As the barrage balloon threatens to break free from its winch truck in the terrible wind, Sam Mason makes a most unwelcome discovery. Who killed the man, but more importantly, how did he end up, roped to the barrage balloon? And with the WAAF denying their involvement, how was the barrage balloon even floated? What does it all mean? And when they discover the secret tyre formula from the Testing Department has also been stolen, Sam starts to fear there is even more at stake.
Join Mason and O’Rourke for the fourth book in the quirky, historical mystery series, as they once more attempt to solve the impossible in 1940s Erdington.
Buy The Custard Corpses here, available in ebook, paperback, hardback and audio. Or, check out the signed editions page to get a copy directly from me. Book 3, The Secret Sauce, is available now, (as is book 2, The Automobile Assassination).
Haunted by the memory of a secret love affair in Nazi-occupied Prague, American intelligence officer Julius Orlinsky is caught in a deadly web of espionage when a routine assignment in Washington, D.C., disintegrates into murder, attempted murder, and blackmail.
Determined to uncover the truth, Orlinsky’s quest takes him from the halls of the Pentagon to a prisoner-of-war camp in Maryland, and, finally, to the city of Budapest under siege. It’s a shadow world where a lifetime of loyalty can be undone by one secret revealed. Orlinsky soon learns the personal stakes couldn’t be higher. His investigation threatens to expose a betrayal by the woman he believed was the love of his life.
But Orlinsky has no choice. Charged with an assignment critical to ensuring America’s safety, he must confront the ghosts of his past as he navigates a terrain of double agents, war-hardened German and Russian soldiers, and fanatics who will stop at nothing to silence him.
Praise for Red Snow in Winter:
“Red Snow in Winter is a gripping, ingenious cat-and-mouse political thriller. A young U.S. Army Intelligence officer finds himself caught up in a deadly espionage battle involving Americans, Nazis, and Russians that he can only survive by finding out who to trust–and also by finally uncovering the truth about long-buried secrets from his own shadowy intelligence past. Smart writing, a high stakes plot, and fascinating historical background. Author Max Eastern really delivers the goods in this must-read page-turner of a novel.“
— R.G. Belsky, author of the Clare Carlson mystery series
“I found a great new-to-me author in Max Eastern. I love how he brought his characters to life and made the situations in this novel seem as though they were happening in front of me.”
— Terrie Farley Moran, national bestselling co-author of the Jessica Fletcher Murder She Wrote mystery series
“Red Snow is a well-paced thriller capturing the paranoia and moral complexity of WWII’s twilight hours. This is spy fiction that respects its readers’ intelligence, offering a nuanced exploration of loyalty, betrayal, and a little romance.“
–Emilya Naymark, author of Behind the Lie
“A masterclass in espionage and moral ambiguity, it’s an atmospheric ride of a thriller with plot twists worthy of Hitchcock.“
–Mally Becker, author of The Turncoat’s Widow
“This is a fast-moving, page-turning espionage thriller set just after the war. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to be kept up at night!“
–Deborah Swift, author of The Shadow Network
“Max Eastern attacks his story with dry aplomb and a stripped-down journalistic surety, yet it’s got more switchbacks than San Francisco’s Lombard Street, and every curve is taken with his foot on the gas.“
— Timothy Miller, author of The Strange Case of the Pharaoh’s Heart
This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.
Meet the author
The stories his father told him about his time as an intelligence officer in World War II inspired Max Eastern to write Red Snow in Winter. He has written about history for several magazines and online publications, with subjects ranging from Ulysses Grant and Benedict Arnold to Attila the Hun.
His modern noir novel The Gods Who Walk Among Us won the Kindle Scout competition and was published by Kindle Press in 2017.
A lawyer specializing in publishing, he resides in New York State. To learn more, go to maxeastern.wordpress.com.
MJ Porter 
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