Carol was a guest speaker at our local u3a meeting; she had been part of the team making a popular local radio program about a character living in the fens, Dennis of Grunty Fen. Carol was not only the sound recorder for the programme but she edits and illustrates books written about Dennis’s Grunty Fen. We met at an Indie Author Book Fair in Huntingdon where I bought another of the Grunty Fen books, written by Christopher South, the third in the series. Carol illustrates and edits, these books.
But enough about Huntingdon, when Carol gave her brilliant talk at our U3a meeting about Dennis of Grunty Fen, she brought books with her. In addition to the Grunty Fen books was a book of her own; Gingerbread Children. I bought my copy there and then.
. Gingerbread Children, is apart from the architecture nothing like that of Hansel and Gretel, (What about the children?), well children are involved a boy and a girl. There are witches too, not just one but lots of them and cats, together with other ‘Familiars’ but mostly cats. The story starts with the failing health of the Matriarch of The University of Nature, (The Union), with her failing health comes the question of who will succeed her. The question of succession, the building of an edible house, a gymnasium for dogs which is managed by a cat, are among just some of the remarkable events within this fantastic book. And of course, there is magic, gingerbread and lots of cake.
Gingerbread Children is one of the most unusual books, I have read but it is without doubt one of the best. Thank you Carol
Gingerbread Children is available to buy from bookshops or on Amazon.
The story is set in Inverness and the surrounding rural area of the Scottish Highlands. An escalating series of fatal road accidents on straight sections of the A9 road are beginning to interest Detective Inspector Alec Mc Kay, of Inverness’s Major Investigation Team, (MIT). He starts to think these accidents are being deliberately caused, to kill or injure the occupants of the targeted vehicles. However, there doesn’t seem to any common factor regarding the victims or connection linking them to each other. Interwoven with this investigation is a press campaign casting doubt on a twenty year old murder conviction. The murder was investigated by Detective Superintendent Rory Grant the late husband of the current head of the MIT, DCI Helena Grant. Helena Grant, is concerned that the campaign will defame the reputation of her late husband. Investigating the murder story and employed to write ghost articles for rabble rousing campaigner Iain Pennycook; is veteran free lance reporter, Craig Fairlie. The outcome is unpredictable in every respect.
This crime fiction story is fast-paced, engaging and well-told; I raced through it and will seek out other books by Mr Walters. This is an excellent book.
This book had been lurking on my TBR pile for a while, I wish now I had got to read it sooner. I met Christine at an Indie Author’s book fair in Huntingdon’s Commemoration Hall. I liked the title and being a lover of crime fiction After a brief chat with the author, bought a signed copy of “Make You Sorry.”
Detective Inspector Nick Morgan has relocated from the Met in London to the South Coast and Gullhaven Cove. He has slept overnight, downstairs in the family’s new home, Cliffside House, belonging to his mother-in-law. The family is due to move in that day, and the furniture van is on its way when Nick discovers the body of a dead teenage boy in the master bedroom on that Friday Morning. Although not due to start his new job until the following Monday, Nick finds himself thrown into the fray three days early. From this point on, a succession of bodies turn up; in the main, singly but not always. The killings seem to be linked but finding the link is difficult. The plot is twisty with the growing number of murder investigations complicated by, difficulties finding temporary accommodation, marital problems and a very troublesome interfering mother-in-law.
I enjoyed the book immensely and will be exploring other books by the same author, I’m pleased I stopped and spoke to Ms Rae Jones and bought the book.
Detective Sergeant Alex Brady is the unpopular new boy at Moorford police station. His sudden arrival following a personal, tragedy and professional misjudgment, leading to demotion, doesn’t help him settle into this new workplace. Despite the difficult relationship with most of his colleagues, the experience from a career in the tough areas of Manchester becomes an asset. A series of gruesome murders gets underway within and near the town soon after Brady’s arrival, it is then the value of Brady’s experience and sharp intellect show their worth. The murder investigation is complicated by a persistent unknown stalker, terrorising a woman living alone. Solving the murders seems a near-impossible task. Although the murders appear to follow the pattern of earlier unresolved events, no clues, are left behind by the perpetrator to these or the earlier murders.
The characters are well drawn and believable; the plot is intricate but accessible, the balance in terms of description and information is for me exactly right. I enjoyed this book immensely reading it very quickly and I found it difficult to put down. I shall seek out more books from Mr Devine.
Along with Cathy Cade, a talented fellow U3a Whittlesey Wordsmith, I have had some of my short stories published on Marsha’s Blog.
Story Chat Volume 2 is the second collection of short stories previously published on Martha’s blog. Together with each story are comments from the blogs’ followers and readers, this is the chat part.
The book is available as a paperback or on Kindle. Click on the links if you would like to buy a copy.
Story Chat started as a unique online blogging program for authors and readers. This second book includes a diverse set of original short stories by authors from almost every continent in the world. While most of the stories would fall into the category of drama at all ages from children to older adults, this collection includes sci-fi, comedy, and two non-fiction articles about the writing process. All of the selections are family-friendly, even though the topics are aimed at adult readers.
In this book, you will enjoy realistic fiction, surprise, and open endings. Halloween vampire horror stories, it might make you laugh and wonder how you could. Traveling to an alternate universe – that happens to be familiar to some of you will keep you entertained. You might find yourself stepping into another universe or two that are so bizarre you don’t know what to do with them.
Characters will bring you to tears as they bravely reach for love or face tragedy you hope no one will have to face. You will laugh at the older couple discussing booking the adventure of a nudist cruise. You will cheer for a mother and her autistic child as they surmount obstacles. One story will remind you of Toy Story or the Velveteen Rabbit. Another is an epic children’s poem with illustrations made of fondant by the talented author and her son.
This book is so much fun. Yet, it can be educational, especially for writers who constantly work to improve their craft. Each story has discussion questions that you can use if you belong to a book club or writing group.
All of us, known as Story Chatters, hope this book will make an impact on your lives.
Other Factoids about Volume II
Twenty published and previously unpublished authors from eight countries on six continents submitted short stories. Most of these stories were lighthearted family or youth drama, several comedies, coming of age, and science fiction. The stories covered relevant topics like planning vacations, managing estate assets, walking in the fog, trick or treating, solving mysteries, robbing robbers, creative solutions to autism, double-dealing, life-long companions, recycling garbage in space, and many more topics.. Most of the stories have surprise endings. Some have open endings, leaving the reader to imagine what might happen next.
Each story takes about three to five minutes to read, making it the perfect book for readers who need something to read in short spurts. The twenty-seven stories are pure entertainment, yet each probes a deeper conception to stimulate and delight thoughtful readers.
New this year are three posts on writing tips, and two poems.
Comments about Story Chat Volume II:
International Short Stories Generating Conversations:
“That sounds like a great initiative, a very interesting book. I love short stories” -Thomas
“The balance is perfect. There has been a good mixture of male and female writers from all over the world.
Five years ago nearly to the day, in August I took the Cambridge Spies Tour and enjoyed it so much I wanted not only to repeat it but share it with some of my family. As a result, four elderly men waited with others outside Great St Mary’s Church for the tour to start. Perhaps, part of a torn postcard would have made a more appropriate ticket than the downloaded and printed affair we brought with us. Particularly as our tour guide was Sophie Smiley, no relation to George, she assured us but she would say that; wouldn’t she?
As before when I went on the spies tour comments and names of people set me off researching and making further enquiries, information I have added to this report.
The Eagle Benet Street
The Eagle pub, Saint Benet’s Church and Corpus Christi College
Our first stop was outside the Eagle, Cambridge’s oldest pub, we didn’t go in but Sophie mentioned the RAF bar and the connection to Watson, Crick, Franklyn and Wilkins discovery of DNA. We then crossed the road and entered Saint Benet’s church, once everyone was settled in the pews Sophie pointed to a small window cut in the stonework looking out into the church. She said it was there so the priest could watch the worshipers from his office behind the closed door. Corpus Christi College had been built around the church by the city. The playwright and contemporary of William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe was a graduate of Corpus Christi and was according to some sources a spy in the service of Sir Francis Walsingham the Elizabethan spymaster. Sophie mentioned the uncertainty over Marlowe’s supposed death and whether it was staged to allow him to move incognito abroad to continue his career in espionage. Also a graduate of Corpus Christi and a man who had occupied the same room as Marlowe had was, Cedric Belfrage, he became a British/Russian Double agent. Harry Shergold the British handler of Penkovsky a Russian intelligence officer spying for the west at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, also graduated from Corpus Christi.
Sophie highlighted the nature of surveillance within the city, indicating that espionage was woven into the very fabric of the university and town. We moved on from the church into Free School Lane and stopped briefly outside the old Cavendish Laboratory to discuss the important discoveries made there. Behind the laboratory is the Mond building with a crocodile motif by Eric Gill incorporated into the brickwork of the building. Ernest Rutherford was given the nickname ‘Crocodile’ by a Russian scientist Peter Kapitza. I can’t remember whether Theodore Hall’s name was mentioned at the Cavendish he was an American working there post war until he retired who passed nuclear secrets to the Russians.
Pembroke College
Pembroke College
We moved on turning into Botolph Lane, stopping briefly to look at the Hangman’s house and then to look in the window of Bodies in the Bookshop. Our next stop was Pembroke College in Trumpington Street it is one of Cambridge’s oldest colleges founded in 1347 by the Countess of Pembroke. The college had an original statute that required students to report fellow students if they indulged in excessive drinking or visited disreputable houses.
Maurice Dobb studied here and went on to teach at Kings where he met Kim Philby, Dobb was thought to be involved in the recruitment of the Cambridge Five, Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean, Anthony Blunt, John Cairncross and Kim Philby. Sophie mentioned that one of Philby’s greatest acts of treachery was to disclose a list of Germans who were hoping to rebuild Germany after the war to his Russian spy masters. The list had been shown to him by another MI6 colleague, Nicholas Elliot who wasn’t a Russian double agent. Everyone named on the list given to Russia was murdered.
A former master of Pembroke was Sir Richard Dearlove, a retired chief of the SIS (MI6). Sophie told us a little about him and also about the escape through Finland of Oleg Gordievsky, a double agent supplying the British with intelligence. He was driven out of Russia in the boot of an embassy car, the wife of his driver distracted the dogs of the Russian border guards by changing her baby’s nappy on the top of the boot of the car then dropping the dirty nappy on the ground. This distracted the dogs long enough to allow them to get the all clear to cross the border into Finland. An added irony was the man in charge of the border guard at the time of Gordievsky’s escape was a certain KGB officer by the name of Vladimir Putin.
Kings College
From Pembroke College we moved on into Kings Parade until we reached the entrance of Kings College, Queen Elizabeth the first’s, spy master Francis Walsingham studied here, he is famous for discovering or possibly constructing the Babington plot that let to the execution of Mary Queen of Scots.
Kings is also where Alan Turing studied for his BA and MA, leaving in 1938 to travel to Princetown in the USA to study for his PhD. Although his work in decoding German ciphers is said to have shortened the Second World War by two years the blue plaque celebrating his life and connection with King College is placed so high on the wall it is difficult to read without the aid of a step ladder. Dilly Knox, responsible for decoding the Zimmerman telegram that helped bring the USA into the First World War and for helping set up Bletchley Park also graduated from Kings College.
Alan Turing’s Blue Plaque at Kings College
Alan Turing’s Blue Plaque.
Trinity College
Trinity College Great Gate Henry the eighth’s sword replaced with a chair leg
After Kings College we moved onto Trinity College, I know we had a look down the Senate House Passage but can’t recall now, quite how we arrived outside the gate of Trinity College.
An early cryptographer who worked for Walsingham and studied at Trinity was Thomas Phelippes responsible for deciphering the code used in the Babington Plot, used to convict Mary Queen of Scots and secure her execution. Trinity and Trinity Hall were where the Cambridge five studied, all were members of a group known as the Apostles.
Gordon Welchman, also studied here, he is credited with discovering the concept of traffic analysis which proved crucial particularly during the early part of the Second World War before the German Codes could be effectively deciphered. The method was also said to have helped track down Bin Laden.
Cambridge University Bookshop
Close up of the plaque.
We returned to Kings Parade and Great St Mary’s Church to end the tour with Sophie mentioning that although members of the Cambridge Five were disgraced and living in exile they were still receiving books and gifts from friends in Cambridge, with Sophie stopping outside the University Bookshop on our way back to mention this. We all enjoyed the tour and our guide was excellent, thank you, Sophie.
A locked room and an unresponsive guest in Dorothy Little’s, Tulip Cottage prompts Dorothy to ask her neighbours, Dr. Laurel Nightingale and Albert for help. Later the same day a famous crime author Hugh Quintrell, consults Laurel to help cure his writer’s block. However, the professional relationship he wants with Laurel is not as client and therapist but a collaborative one to solve the crime discovered at Tulip Cottage.
Elderwick, Laurel’s new home has seen a number of murders since her arrival from Somerset a few months earlier, prompting her thoughts that she may be the catalyst. Reluctantly at first together with her friends Albert and Maggie, she sets out to unravel this new mystery.
Elderwick is an ideal village with the Plump Tart Village Bakery, The Snooty Fox Pub and of course the centre of much of the cognitive action, The Pleasant Pheasant tea room. The pictures formed in the mind’s eye are something I particularly enjoyed.
With numerous twists and turns to keep me on my toes, I raced through the book very quickly. I found it an enjoyable read, more please Ms Gray.
The Master’s lodge of Downing College Cambridge, was the impressive venue for the launch of Alison Bruce’s latest book, Because She Looked Away. The launch was organised by Richard and Jon of Bodies in The Bookshop, Cambridge’s specialist crime bookshop. I was fortunate to be invited. There was a long queue of those attending to buy their signed copy.
The Master’s Lodge Downing College from the garden.
This book introduces us to a new hero, Detective Sergeant Veronica (Ronnie) Blake. Ronnie’s childhood was traumatic and so are the events that prompt her move to Cambridge. She moves in to live with her half brother, Alex and their orphaned nephew, Noah.
Ronnie joins a small team of detectives, known as the DEAD Team, at Cambridge’s Parkside police station. The unit which is under threat of disbandment, is unable to solve an outstanding unsolved case, Operation Byron. Then a list of three names is passed to the group anonymously, one of the names is that of Ronnie’s sister Jodie. With a fresh pair of eyes Ronnie, with the help of a fellow newcomer to the team Malachi, is able to help the DEAD team start to make progress with this complex enquiry.
This is an intriguing who done it, a crime novel which kept me reading at every opportunity I had. It is easy to understand why Richard, of Bodies in The Bookshop stayed up until 3.30am to finish reading it.
The all-important book signing (photo credit Alison Bruce}
I have enjoyed every book of Alison Bruce’s I have read, Because She Looked Away, is the best yet. I thought it was impossible for her writing to get any better, how do you improve on perfection? Somehow she has managed it. I’m looking forward to the next Ronnie Blake book in the series.
I have joined Cambridge University Library’s Really Popular Book Club, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, was September’s chosen book. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to attend the Zoom meeting to discuss it. I have an unexpected journey to undertake at the same time the meeting is due to happen.
The story starts when Harold Fry receives a letter sent on behalf of a former work colleague, Queenie Hennessy. Harold hasn’t heard from Queenie in twenty years, the letter is from a hospice in Berwick on Tweed. The letter written on Queenie’s behalf, informs Harold that Queenie is suffering from terminal cancer and has very little time left. Harold writes a reply and sets out to post the letter he hesitates at the post box and then at the next one. He decides instead to walk to Berwick on Tweed to see Queenie in person.
Harold’s journey is a remarkable one, not only for the people he meets on the way some of whom and a dog walk with him but also as an examination of his past, his personality, relationships and regrets. The walk north from Kingsbridge in Devon, without preparation, proper hiking equipment a map or compass, is physically arduous, as Harold discovers. Yachting shoes are not ideally suited for a long hike, in all weathers. It was a companion walking with Harold that coined the title The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
As Harold walks, the back story of his life, his marriage to Maureen, his childhood and his relationship with his son David, is slowly revealed. We are drawn into an emotional journey as Harold reflects on these things. It is as much a journey of self discovery for Harold as a physical journey. For myself as the reader I found it incredibly moving and like all really good books The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, will inhabit my thinking for a long time.
Laurel’s first day in her new home, wasn’t exactly ideal. The sudden death of a yet to be acquainted with neighbour can be unsettling, even for someone with Laurel’s experience. Her career had been in end of life care. As the story moves on Laurel begins to question her choice of Elderwick for her new home. However, despite the machinations of a property developer and a pocketed councillor, intent on contentiously bringing new homes and a leisure facility to the village, there are the redeeming features of an excellent village bakery, The Plump Tart, The Pleasant Pheasant Cafe and the Snooty Fox, the village pub.
It isn’t long before murders blight the ideal appearance of the village, whose history has also been darkened by that of the area’s leading family, the Hartfields, owners of Elderwick Hall, the site of the new development. Marcus Hartfield the present occupant of Elderwick Hall is the development’s prime mover.
The story is inhabited by a variety of interesting, colourful, characters both human and animal. A Little Bird Told Me, realistically details the conflicts and friendships within a small village community. However, at its core this is a crime story albeit a cosy one. The revelation at the book’s end is surprising which is as it should be.
For me it was a quick but absorbing read, well done, Ms Gray.
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