VAL PENNY

I am delighted to have been invited to take part in the tour for Shannon Symonds book, Murder by the Book, run by Jessica Thompson of BitterSweet Book Tours. The author tells me that this cozy mystery is perfect for fans of small town whodunits, quirky book clubs, and scrappy amateur sleuths with heart! So she thinks that if you enjoyed Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club, Agatha Christie’s Murder is Announced or The Secret Book & Scone Society by Ellery Adams, you won’t be

I am delighted to have my friend and fellow author Sharon Jackson visit the blog today for a chat about her new book Ash's to Ashes . I thoroughly enjoy Shoron's crime novels, but they are not for the faint hearted as she does not shy away from violence or gory decriptions. I would recommend her books to those who enjoy Chris Carter and Jo Nesbo novels. Thank you for taking time to join me today, Sharon. Tell me all about your new book. Thank you for having me on your blog to

There are some authors whose books you just know you are going to love. For me, Helen Matthews is one such writer and so I am thrilled that she has been willing to share an extract of her new book, If I Were You, which was published by DP Books only a couple of days ago. I'm sure you'll be as excited to read it as I am when you have enjoyed this taster. The Blurb If I Were You  – a gripping standalone psychological thriller from Helen Matthews. Dark, emotionally charged a

I genuinely feel that if you have put in all the work required to complete and novel (congratulations) it is a shame if it wastes away in your cupboard or on your computer. Therefore, I happily share the routes to publication with you in the hope it will help gain your book a larger audience. I previously dealt with vanity press, hybrid press and self-publishing. Now let’s look at traditional and independent publishers.               When people talk about traditional publish

Let me start at the very beginning. You will often hear people say - everyone has a book in them … This is not true. Others will tell you – I’m going to write a book when I retire … Most of them don’t. This is because writing a book is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes months of creativity, weeks of editing, time to work through the comments of beta readers and the editor and ends with continual marketing. So, if you have completed writing a novel and whatever state it is in

I am always pleased to welcome authors of interesting books to my blog, so it is a special pleasure to welcome back my friend and fellow author Jo Fenton whose crime fiction I have always enjoyed. Thank you for taking time to visit with me today, Jo to discuss your new book, Consequences. Thank you so much for having me on your blog, Val. I’m so excited to be here to tell your readers about Consequences. What inspired you to write your most recent book? Consequences has been

I am pleased to be able to support Kay Parquet and her novel entitled, The Bookshop on Blossom Street, as part of the tour arranged by Jessica Thompson of Bittersweet Tours. It is always an exciting thing to meet new authors and my thanks to Kay for sharing an extract of her book with me. The Blurb Sometimes love shows up between the pages ... and far too many coffee refills.   Emma Carter is a curvy, quietly stubborn bookshop owner in the heart of Maplewood who is perfectly

I am pleased to chat with author T.G. Campbell to the blog today to discuss her books and writing. Thank you for featuring me on your blog, Val. It is always a pleasure to discuss my books and writing. T.G. Campbell writes gripping crime mysteries set in nineteenth century London with the case being investiged by the members of The Bow Street Society. The Bow Street Society is a fictional group of amateur detectives, operating in Victorian London. What inspired you to write y

It has been a busy old writing year this year for me. I am beginning to find my feet in the world of Book Signings and enjoyed a successful event in Sheffield, Sugar and Spice run by the talented author C.N. Marie. I was grateful to have the assistance of fellow author A.J. Roberts at that event. I was also thrilled to be included in the line-up at Wonderland run by the Powerhouse who is author Annalee Adams. This event took place in Nottingham and fellow author Mollie Sykes

I am delighted to have been included in the blog tour for Helen Forbes on the publication of her new book Queen of Grime arranged by Lynsey Adams of Reading Between the Lines. Thank you for your time today Helen. Let me share the details of our chat with my readers. What inspired you to write your most recent book? In Deception, an earlier novel of mine, I had a subsidiary character with a crime and trauma scene cleaning business called Queen of Grime. My agent at the time s

It is a great pleasure to welcome historical fiction writer Eleanor Swift-Hook back to my blog today to discuss seventeenth century England and the pirates who patrolled the waves. Thank you for your time today, Eleanor. It is lovely to be back on your blog today, Val. It is interesting how terminology changes its meanings over time. For example, today if you refer to ‘the Dunkirk spirit’ it conjures up the idea of working together, against the odds. But go back four hundred

It is a pleasure to be part of the tour for Hetty Waite's new YA novel Evolve. Many thanks to Lynsey Adams of Reading Between the Lines for including me. Many thanks to Hetty for taking time to chat with me about her writing and her new book. Let me share the recent conversation I had with the author. What inspired you to write your most recent book? Evolve  is the second part of The Chromosome Trilogy . The idea for the trilogy came from a single,unsettling thought: what if

I had never read any books by Sharon Jackson, but the title of the first book in her Haunted Past series intruiged me. Who wouldn't be interested by the title My Cradle, Your Grave ? Let me tell you about this singular novel. The Blurb DI Devlin Doyle is a detective with a past, if only he could remember it. After a case goes wrong he finds himself in a new city and launches into an investigation that hits closer to home than he knows. DI Serenity "Wren" Jones is a woman in a

I first met author T.G.Camp bell when both of us attended an event to celebrate our novels being considered for dramatisation. It is therefore no surprise that when we met again at Authors at the Armouries in Leeds I bought one of her novels to read on my journey home. The Blurb In The Case of the Curious Client, the Bow Street Society are hired by Mr Thaddeus Dorsey to locate a missing friend he knows only as ‘Palmer’ after he fails to keep a late night appointment with him

I was delighted to have the opportunity to meet fellow author Neil J. Hart at Authors at theArmouries run by the powerhouse who is Sarah Michelle Lynch. Neil suggested that he and I do a book swap and as he wrotes break-out books for midteens, he agreed that I might gift the book to our local library's gift hunt for less fortunate children. Neil chose my first novel, Hunter's Chase and gave me The Last Scarecrow , (Scarecrows of Coldharbour Farm Book 1), however, as predict

It is a joy to have my friend Miriam Drori return to the blog on the publication of her new book Re-Connection. It is always lovely to have early details of a newly launched book, but especially when the author is a personal friend. The tour for the book of short stories entitled Re-Connections is run by Lynsey Adams of Reading Between the Lines and I am grateful to her for inviting me to take part. Thank you for having me back on your blog, Val. I was inspired to put Re-Con

I attended my first Book Signing in the summer of 2024. Books on the Beach was held in Blackpool and run by Lizzie James. Lizzie is a delightful human being. She is organised, patient, kind, runs exceptional author events and is a USA Today bestselling author. Of course, as this form of author celebration was new to me, I needed a great deal of support and asked many questions, all of which Lizzie asnwered with patience and a smile. What I enjoyed most about this book signing

I write two series of books and chose to write my books in series in order to develop my characters. However, I have also written stories with standalone characters and, indeed, all my books can be read in any order as standalone novels. There are certainly advatages and disadvantages to writing a series or standalones books. I want to explore those here. Advantages: For me the big draw for writing a series was the opportunity for character development because writing a serie

We are always told that we shouldn't judge a book but its cover. However, in reality is everybody does just that and covers are crucial to the success of any book. For authors it acts as a primary marketing tool because it creates the readers' first impression of the book and the story within. This is how it helps to drive sales. For the readers the book cover sets their expectations of the tale the book will tell. A strong cover conveys genre and tone, builds credibility, a

Once, many years ago when I was studying creative writing, I wrote a poem about Mary Queen of Scots. It was subsequently set to music and...