Category: The Writing Life

  • And – it’s a wedding! #books

    Wedding Bells are set to ring for Stacy and Rico in my coming book, out in under two weeks now and available for preorder around January 15th. Have a look at the lovely cover image, designed as usual for this series by James at Go On Write – thank you so much, James. I particularly…

  • 2023 – the year that was…

    It’s been a busy year here in N.E. Switzerland, both in my writing and more generally too. And it’s been an odd one, because this is the first year since 2012 that I haven’t had a new suspense book published. On the other hand, it’s the first year ever where I’ve self-published four books (the…

  • Merry Christmas to all!

    I’m sure everyone has more than enough to do on Christmas Eve, so this is a very quick post to say MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, and great good luck for 2024! I really appreciate all the help and support I have from the reading, writing and blogging communities – especially this year when I’ve had…

  • Book Bargain #99p/c and a gorgeous chalet pic #travel

    Christmas at the Lakeside Hotel is out now and a bargain at 99p or equivalent – this won’t last long, so grab it while it’s hot! Meanwhile, book 1 in the series, Saving the Lakeside Hotel is in Amazon Prime Reading in the UK at the moment, so if you have Prime, you can download…

  • Book news – and other things… #travel #books

    I didn’t keep the date of the day when I first saw my (pen) name in print. I couldn’t even tell you the year, now, but it was in the 1990s and it was a short story in The People’s Friend, the first of 50-60 stories and articles I wrote for them and a couple…

  • The Summer of ’23… #writing #travel #books

    It’s been a mixed one here – we’ve had everything from searing heat to days on end of wall-to-wall rain. We’re back in a searing heat phase now, with no rain in sight until the end of the coming week. Lake Constance is over half a metre lower than average for the time of year,…

  • The start of summer ’23

    It’s been a long time coming, but at long last we’ve had some lovely summery weather here in N.E. Switzerland, and I’ve been out and about. Last week started with a trip to Zürich Zoo, something I haven’t done for at least a decade. It’s a good zoo, with huge enclosures for the animals, but…

  • Cover Love – with Amanda James… #books #amreading

    I read once that the main purpose of a book cover is to attract the reader’s attention. Obviously, it should have something to do with the subject of the book too – you wouldn’t put an image of a vegetable garden on a book called How to Crochet, but the cover needn’t tell the story…

  • The year the lake spilled over… #travel #books

    In Problems at the Lakeside Hotel, one of the main challenges hotel owners Rico and Stacy have to face is a rising – then overflowing – Lake Constance. Having to issue guests with wellies to get to the restaurant for dinner each night must be in the top ten of every hotel manager’s worst nightmares……

  • Out now: Problems at the Lakeside Hotel #books #newrelease

    Book three in the Escape to Switzerland series is out – tap HERE to see the entire series in your local Amazon Store! To celebrate, Problems… is just 99p etc worldwide this week, and the other two are 99p/c in the UK and US too. It’s not all going smoothly at the Lakeside Hotel… When…