Sarah Jane Weldon
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  • Free Book Friday

Free and Hot New Release Cozy Mysteries for the Weekend Ahead

31/5/2019

2 Comments

 
Never Miss a Free Book Friday Again
​PLEASE NOTE: Whilst I do my best to make sure that all of the cozy mysteries included are free to download at time of writing, they do sometimes revert back to their regular price as the promo period ends. I have zero control over this, the authors themselves set the price promos, each author lives in a different time zone and even then, glitches with technology, etc can mean that the book is no longer on offer. Make sure that you double check the price before downloading. 
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​Free Kindle Books on Promotion this Week

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Free on Saturday and Sunday

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​​Free Books on Bookfunnel

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​Cozy Mysteries Free with Kindle Unlimited

Try Kindle Unlimited for Free for 30 Days
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​Audiobooks that you can Buy for a Discount when you get the Ebook

Try Audiobooks for Free for 30 Days
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​Brand New 'Hot New' Release Books (These are NOT free, but some are in Kindle Unlimited) 

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​Become a Patron for $1 a Month and Get All My Books Before Anyone Else

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Support Free Book Friday for $1 a Month and Get All of my Books Free, Before Anyone Else, as a Thank You
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Celebrate Cozy Mysteries on the 15th September for #cozymysteryday
2 Comments

Cornish Cozies

30/5/2019

0 Comments

 
We're almost at the end of British cozy mystery month and there was no way in the world that I wasn't going to post a collection of cozies set in the wonderful county of Cornwall. I mean, what's not to like. Think of Cornwall and you'll probably think of Poldark, Cornish ice cream, clotted cream and scones, Cornish pasties, mermaids, basking sharks, pirates, piskies, saffron buns, smugglers and wreckers, shipwrecks, copper mines, fishermen, Celtic language and arts, King Arthur, and fudge. You may even want to visit the Museum of Witchcraft and Wizardry or explore the reasons why J.K.Rowling used Cornwall as one of the locations for hiding the horcrux in Harry Potter!  I say we find a nice Cornish beach somewhere, grab a load of local delicacies to feast on, and sit awhile with a lovely collection of cozies. Who's with me? 
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If you love free cozy mystery books, then check out Free Book Friday
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How to Become a Full-Time Author When You Are Broke: Downsizing

29/5/2019

4 Comments

 
When I first tell people that I'm a full-time author they generally have one of two reactions. Either they wrongly assume that I'm some rich writer with a 7 figure publisher deal, or they tell me how they had a dream of being an author but that it would never be possible for them. So I thought that I would share some of the lessons I've learnt since deciding to become an author back in November 2018.  I'm still learning and figuring things out, but I hope that by sharing some of my experiences, you can cut to the chase on your own author journey, if that is genuinely, in your heart of hearts what you want to do for a living. I should warn you now, that the road is long and hard, but it isn't impossible, provided that you want it enough.  
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A Bit of Context

OK, so first things first. I should tell you up front that at no point did I intentionally sit down and decide that I would become a full-time author, it kind of just happened, by accident. You see, I was living happily in the Lake District but my my landlords suddenly notified me that they were selling the property I rented for them, and so began my struggle to find a place I could afford, that would allow pets, It was impossible. They all wanted at least 6 months rent upfront, plus two months deposit, a sum of around £9000 for a manky old place with no heating and lots of damp. I was working like crazy to make ends meet each month, and when I sat down and thought about I realised that all I wanted in life was to have time to go wild swimming as much as I could, and to have lots of lovely hikes with my little dog and time to play with my three cats. It was an incredibly stressful time, because no way would I give up my pets and the prospect of being truly homeless was terrifying. 

As luck would have it, I found a property that I could buy, on the other side of the country, in a place I'd never been to before, and it looked like I might just be able to get a mortgage, and the total cost of the mortgage would be a fraction of what I was paying in rent. Plus it would be a place of my own, brand new, with no damp or mould or dodgy floorboards.

I sold everything I owned and travelled by train with one rucksack and a pet carrier. Three trains in total. I found a guesthouse as close as I could to the property that allowed pets, and was supposed to complete in 7 days time. But that all changed, when the mortgage company suddenly decided that I wasn't meeting their 'affordability' assessment even more. All because I was £4 short on what they considered affordable, and even though my mortgage would be around £100 per month compared to the £1000 a month I'd been paying in rent! My world was turned upside down and the feeling was awful. I felt trapped and helpless in a place where I knew no one and missed everything I had come to love.  

The Silver Lining

Once I had calmed down and started to re-evaluate the situation, I actually came to the conclusion that this was likely the best thing that could have happened to me, and that if I continued to work from 'home' with my couple of regular clients, then not only would I be able to make ends meet, but I would also be able to pursue my writing - something I had only recently started doing after participating in NaNoWriMo. I did a lot of sums and realised that not only would I be able to buy a house in the Lake District for cash, but I would be able to buy the house of my dreams  - provided that I work hard. The working hard bit hasn't been easy at all, and I'll share more about that in future posts, but the important thing to note here, is that if you are currently stuck in a rut and feeling really miserable, and all you want to do is to become a writer - then go for it, but be prepared to make sacrifices. 

What I Should Have Done in Hindsight

Had I known then, what I know now. I wouldn't have messed around so much or wasted time and money on trying to buy a house and getting a mortgage. Instead, if you want to be a full-time writer, my advice would be as follows:
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  • Sell everything you own (I moved to the guesthouse with one pair of pajamas, one pair of shorts, a t-shirt, and some undies, and my pets) and put this money aside for your new author business or your first month's accommodation costs.
  • Put everything important on a digital cloud or storage base, like Dropbox so you don't have to pay for storage or have to cart all your papers or photos with you. 
  • Move into the cheapest possible accommodation you can find (short-term sacrifice for long-term gain). That might be your parents' home, a smaller flat or house, a house share, or a hostel or guesthouse. It will really depend on your personality and circumstances. 
  • Downgrade and cancel any memberships or regular outgoings. Living in a guesthouse meant I didn't have to pay council tax or utilities, and I downgraded my data package for my phone which saved a small fortune.
  • Stop spending money as much as you possibly can. No more magazines, coffees (we'll tackle coffee in a future post), and no more socials with friends. You'll be able to enjoy all of these to your heart's content next year.  
  • Work out the absolute minimum you can survive on. For me I need to cover my guesthouse accommodation which is about £22 per night, plus £5 per day for my food, pets, mobile phone, and anything else I might need. So I estimated that I needed to bring in around $40 a day from my freelance work (we'll tackle income  in a future post too). 

Basically you need to take a long hard look at every single penny that you spend, and every item that you own or subscribe to, and see what you can do to get your overheads down as much as you possibly can. A really good book that helped me with this was Alvin Hall's 'Your Money or Your Life.'  I purchased a copy second hand from Amazon, having read it several times when it very first came out. This is one of the few things I would spend money on at this stage, but you could also get it on Kindle as an ebook, or from your local library for free. Start saving the pennies now. But you'll likely come back to this book in the future or when you need a gentle reminder so it's a avery good investment in your future. It is more geared to the UK audience since it accompanied the UK TV series, but it will still be of benefit wherever you are in the world.  

I'll be tackling things step by step in future blog posts so don't get overwhelmed by how much there is to think about. For now, just write a list of what you spend and see if you can find ways of cutting down your costs. Even if you stay in your current home, look at comparison sites and see if there are any better deals out there for utilities or credit cards and things. Good luck!  
4 Comments

Cozy Mysteries Set in Brighton, England

28/5/2019

0 Comments

 
With the summer soon upon us and a first day back to work for many folks after this weekend's Bank Holiday, I figured that it was time to turn our attention to the cozy mystery books set in the seaside town of Brighton, on the south coast of England. So grab your buckets and spades, Punch and Judy shows, sticks of rock, and a portion of fish and chips and we shall begin! 
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OK, so this one is not a mystery, but it is written by world renowned cozy mystery author M.C.Beaton so will definitely be one for fans of her work.  

Lady Beatrice is fleeing an arranged marriage, by stagecoach to Brighton, where the proud beauty meets her match in Miss Hannah Pym who is determined to find her a proper beau.
M. C. Beaton is the author of the best-selling Agatha Raisin series. She has also written several Regency romance series. She lives between Paris and the Cotswolds.

​Plus, there are a lot of Kindle books on Amazon.com that have a $5 gift voucher you can grab for free and use to purchase books like this one before midnight on the 31st May 2019! You need to click under the Kindle price box where it says 'Claim your $5 Kindle Credit.'

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​Audiobooks that you can Get for a Discount with your Ebook

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NOT A MYSTERY BUT A ROMANCE.

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Isle of Man Cozy Mysteries

27/5/2019

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OK, so technically I shouldn't be including Isle of Man books under the umbrella collection of 'British Cozy Mysteries' but I'm going to anyway, because there are way too many treasures here to miss.  You see, the Isle of Man (or Mann as most people call it) is an island in the Irish Sea, right between the west coast of England and the east coast of Ireland. 

Now, I've sadly never been to the Isle of Man, but funnily enough I did have an 'Uncle Douglas' (my granny's brother) and an 'Aunty Kathleen' (whom I sadly never met because they died when I was a tiddler) who lived in the island's capital also called Douglas! I also discovered recently that my paternal grandfather (who died long before I was born) was stationed on Mann as a teen when he first signed up with the Royal Navy. I shall post the video below so you can hear the full story for yourself. But I really should go and visit one day because it's a place filled with Celtic and Norse history and that really interests me, especially having discovered my Scandinavian and Irish ancestry as part of the Channel 4 documentary series.   
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Just take the Kirk Malew Church, for example. This is the burial place for the Norse kings of Mann, as well as being the final resting place (so legend has it) for the Manx vampire! And near the summit of Meayll Hill is a stone circle known for its ghostly hauntings, prehistoric rituals, and Viking burials. Jurby Church has Pagan and Viking burial mounds, and St Trinian's Church is connected with an ogre (Buggane or shape shifter) who got so fed up of the noise from the church bells, that he eventually tore off the roof of the church. All of which makes the Isle of Man a perfect location for a paranormal mystery or two in my humble opinion! What do you think?
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More Isle of Man Cozy Mysteries on Pinterest

Audiobooks that you can Get for a Discount with your Ebook

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More British Cozy Mystery Books and Blog Posts Here
Celebrate #cozymysteryday on the 15th September
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Free and Hot New Release Cozy Mysteries for the Weekend Ahead

24/5/2019

6 Comments

 
Never Miss a Free Book Friday Again
​PLEASE NOTE: Whilst I do my best to make sure that all of the cozy mysteries included are free to download at time of writing, they do sometimes revert back to their regular price as the promo period ends. I have zero control over this, the authors themselves set the price promos, each author lives in a different time zone and even then, glitches with technology, etc can mean that the book is no longer on offer. Make sure that you double check the price before downloading. 
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​Free Kindle Books on Promotion this Week

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Free on Saturday & Sunday

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$0.99 until Sunday (Usually $4.99)

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​Free Books that are not on Amazon 

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​Cozy Mysteries Free with Kindle Unlimited

Free Kindle Unlimited Trial for 30 Days
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​Audiobooks that you can Buy for a Discount when you get the Ebook

Try Audible for Free and Get Two Free Audiobooks
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​Brand New 'Hot New' Release Books (These are NOT free, but some are in Kindle Unlimited) 

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New Books to Try Out (Not Free)

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Magda Caraganic already is a successful chocolatier. When she inherits an old stable from her aunt, she decides to convert it into a chocolate shop and café. The best contractor to help with the conversion is the man she has argued with since she was fifteen. 

The work sparks off spirit activity marked by the appearance of a mysterious ghost cat. Magda’s beautiful Birman cat, Crystal, starts to act strangely. What can it all mean? 
​

This is a story of friendship, friendly ghosts, cats, chocolate and true love. ​

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When Meghan’s most troublesome customer loses a relative, she’s torn between doing the right thing or minding her own business.

As she discovers that the murdered victim left a mark, both good and bad, on several people in Sandy Bay, it becomes obvious that her demise might be outside the realm of the ordinary. This leaves her with an equal measure of dread and awe.

Could the real motive behind the murder be linked to the deceased’s alleged wealth... or something much more sinister?


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6 Comments

British Seaside Mysteries

22/5/2019

3 Comments

 
When I was about 4 years old, my dad got a new job, selling greenhouses for Capability Brown at Haskins Garden Centre in Ferndown. This meant a big move from the Royal County of Berkshire to the south coast county of Dorset, right before I started at school for the first time. There were lots of nice things about the move, firstly we would have a little garden, surrounded by what was called 'the common' - ideal for a tomboy like me to find baby adders and catch lizards. Secondly, as I grew up I learnt a lot about the ground that our housing estate was built on, and it turned out that there were tunnels used by smugglers as well as a druid burial site, and an old gallows. 

But best of all, was that we started to go to the seaside on really hot days after school and if we were really lucky then on a weekend or on school holidays. One of my favourite places by the sea was Kimmeridge Bay and to me it was heaven, full of mysteries to be solved and nooks and crannies to be explored. It was the ideal place for making up stories and imagining what life must have been like in other times - important for an only child like me at the time, because I needed to keep myself entertained and not be too bothersome around grownups.

Kimmeridge Bay was the best playground you could want as a child (and as an adult). The cliffs were made from black shale that would collapse in heaps throughout the day to reveal fossils of dinosaurs, and the large rock pools would get warmed by the sun so were never too cold to swim in. Sometimes, we'd have a barbecue and I'd set fire to the oily rocks. Further along the coast there was actually a cliff that would spontaneously catch fire, owing to the high content of 'fossil fuels' within. Just around the headland was an army range, and if I wandered off when the red flags were flying then I might just catch sight of a tank firing. That was where the best rock pools were, and where you could find the biggest crabs and brightly coloured fish and better still, where there were no other people to interrupt your thoughts.

Close by the cliff top there was an old World War II pill box made of concrete that always smelt like wee, and right on the top of the cliff, was an abandoned tower looking as if it might just drop into the sea at any moment. I'm always at my happiest when I'm at the seaside in Britain, and that is why I just LOVE cozy mystery books set by the sea, because it brings back a sense of nostalgia. I'd love to know what your earliest memories are of the seaside, and if you have any favourite beaches in the world.   
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Me as a toddler on the beach with my dad at West Wittering in Sussex.
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Not sure where this one was taken, but yes, I am wearing an old dish cloth fashioned into beachwear!
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At Kimmeridge Bay in a hand made bikini!
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Cornwall
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Skegness
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Fictional Location
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South West
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South Coast
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Fictional Location
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Whitby
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Devon
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East Coast
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Somerset
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Cornwall
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Isle of Man
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South Coast
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Cornwall
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Devon
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Fictional Place
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Somerset
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Isle of Man
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Whitby
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Fictional Place

#NationalCozyMysteryDay
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Cozy Mysteries Set in London

21/5/2019

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I just love London. In fact, I was lucky enough to live in London for quite a few years, right before I went to work on a childhood research project  in Tamil Nadu, India. You see, I used to work at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in Queen Square (you might know it from the TV series 'The Brain Hospital'), and during that time I lived in an apartment right by the Thames Barrier, before moving to the more village-feel of Muswell Hill and Highgate. It was an incredibly exciting time in my life, not just because I found myself working alongside the people whose theories I had studied as part of my earlier degrees, but because I was on the cutting edge of developments and treatments for conditions linked to forensic and developmental neuropsychology -. from phantom limb pain, to autism, acquired brain injury, migraines, parapsychology, and synesthesia. 

I was at the height of my career, had a beautiful flat, an amazing Italian restaurant right across the road, and for the first time in my life, I had started to get the opportunity to travel to other countries as part of my work. I'd really only been on school trips to France and Germany before then. Admittedly I had to wear a suit to work everyday (not nice on the hot underground in summer), and I worked long hours, with a lot of stress, but it was a time for discovering more about the world at large, and about people and cultures.
PictureOne of my favourite rooms at the British Museum in London, England.
​One of the most incredible things about my work, was that the British Museum was right around the corner from the hospital, which was perfect for grabbing a coffee and sitting and watching people during my break. More importantly, I got to sit in on some forensic archaeology (and anthropology) sessions, including scans of the Egyptian mummies, to learn more about public health diseases and what life might have been like for them. What did they eat, what diseases or injuries did they have, and why did they die? Were they perhaps murdered or injured in battle? I even spent time in an MRI scanner as a volunteer, to learn about my own brain, and see what happened to it when I tried to learn new skills, like learning a new language, or when seeing different images or photos. I attended radiology rounds, found patients for case demonstrations, looked through hundred year old archives, worked on my own research, and attended as many brain dissections as I could. Whatever opportunity I spotted, I grabbed it with both hands! My brain and senses were hungry for knowledge and everywhere around me were things that intrigued me, like museums and architecture, and streets to walk along. 

​In my free time, I joined the Royal Geographical Society in South Kensington and attended as many of the lectures as I could, hanging out with some great explorers and personalities at the 'Explorer's Bar', like Michael Palin, Stephen Fry, and Douglas Adams, eventually becoming a 'Fellow' myself. I soaked up every tale I could and I must have asked each guest at the RGS a hundred questions about their adventures. I was fascinated! Just to be in an old building, surrounded by so much history was inspiring. A pocket watch that had belonged to Ernest Shackleton, or a painted portrait on the wall of an early pioneer, hundreds of years old. I stared at every object for hours, sat in the map room, and read through original travel journals, wondering what stories those items held if only they could talk. Little did I know that one day all of these little experiences would somehow find their way out into my own cozy mystery books!! London is certainly a place to become inspired to write.
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​Admittedly, I much prefer to visit London these days, than to live there, but it's great when I get a job on a film or television production and get to hang around on set looking at things I wouldn't usually notice when rushing by on a normal day. Last year, for example, I spent a whole day getting on and off a train at a platform at London's Paddington Station for a murder mystery episode of The Romanoffs. And I've filmed at lots of different London locations for the different Harry Potter movies over the years. That means that I have a lot of time spent watching and absorbing the world around me, just perfect for thinking up new cozy mystery plots!  
No wonder there are so many cozies set in London, and I just know that you will find at least one new book to read from the collection below. Don't forget to add any more books you've enjoyed, in the comments section too. 
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London, Paddington
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London, Wimbledon
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1929, London
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London, Belgravia
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London
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London
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Streets of London
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London
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1923, British Museum?
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London, Soho
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London, Whitechapel
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London, Hackney
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1920s London
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1924, Regent Street
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London, King's Cross
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Jazz Club in London
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London, Mayfair
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Victorian London
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1924, London
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London, Shoreditch
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WW2, The Blitz
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London, Belgravia
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Victorian London
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London, Globe Theatre

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Paddington
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Jazz Club
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London
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1920s
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Blitz
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Whitechapel
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1929
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Soho
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Hackney
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1923
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Belgravia
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Victorian

Celebrate #nationalcozymysteryday on the 15th September
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Cozy Mysteries Set in Wales

20/5/2019

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You will be completely forgiven for thinking that I am just pulling your leg with today's blog post, but I promise you I am not. If you are going to write a bestselling cozy mystery book, set in Wales, then you can't go far wrong with the Anglesey village of...wait for it....and I bet you can't pronounce the name....Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch! 
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The long form of the name, with 58 characters split into 19 syllables, is the longest place name in Europe and the second longest official one-word place name in the world.[6] Although this name is generally stated to have been invented in the 1860s for promotional purposes, a similarly lengthy version was recorded as early as 1849. Wikipedia
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Llanfair (as it can be shortened to) would actually make a pretty awesome setting for a paranormal or historical cozy mystery since it was originally a Neolithic settlement (that's about 4000-2000BC), and with so many different folks living here in history - kings, Romans, monks, farmers, it would be perfect for some ghosts and ghouls and epic battles. 
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As the townsfolk of the Welsh valley town of Llanelen settle in for the snowiest winter in twenty-five years, an American stranger arrives. Harry Saunders charms the ladies, one of them in particular: Evelyn Lloyd, the town's former postmistress, who was left comfortably off after the death of her husband. After Mrs. Lloyd invests a good deal of money with him, Harry goes missing, as does her money. His body is soon discovered outside the walls of Conwy Castle, and Mrs. Lloyd is implicated in the murder.
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Although Penny Brannigan and her business partner, Victoria Hopkirk, are busy overseeing the grand opening of their new spa, that doesn't stop Mrs. Lloyd from desperately seeking Penny's help to prove her innocence. It's quite possible that Harry made other enemies while in Llanelen and Penny's investigation unfolds while she juggles her work at the spa, her growing relationship with Detective Inspector Davies, and the Christmas window competition that she signed up to judge.

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Set in North Wales

M. J. Holliday has the unusual ability to talk to the dead. But when it comes to a vengeful ghost and a mysterious drowning, this time she may be in over her head…. 

THAT SINKING FEELING 

Kidwella Castle in northern Wales is rumored to be haunted by a deadly ghost—the Grim Widow, who allegedly drowns unsuspecting guests in the castle’s moat. Not long after M. J. and her crew arrive at the castle to film their ghost-hunting cable TV show, Ghoul Getters, two new victims are added to the Widow’s grisly roster. 

Fear ripples through the castle, especially when it’s discovered that the victims may have had help into their watery graves from the land of the living. The local inspector suspects father-son serial killers, but M. J. thinks that theory is all wet. To catch the true culprit she will need to dive deep into the castle’s past and bring some long buried secrets to the surface.

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Henry Twyst, eighteenth Duke of Chellingworth, is convinced his mother is losing her marbles. She claims to have seen a corpse on the dining-room floor, but all she has to prove it is a bloodied bobble hat.

Worried enough to retain the women of the WISE Enquiries Agency – one is Welsh, one Irish, one Scottish and one English – Henry wants the strange matter explained away. But the truth of what happened at the Chellingworth Estate, set in the rolling Welsh countryside near the quaint village of Anwen by Wye, is more complex, dangerous, and deadly, than anyone could have foreseen . . .

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A charming and clever traditional mystery debut set at a bucolic Welsh convent, The Shadow of Death introduces Sister Agatha, a mystery-loving nun who finds herself in the midst of a real-life murder case.

The sisters of Gwenafwy Abbey have cherished their contemplative life—days spent in prayer, reflection, tending the Convent’s vegetable gardens and making their award-winning organic cheese, Heavenly Gouda. Life seems perfect, except for Sister Agatha, a die-hard mystery fan who despairs of ever finding any real life inspiration for her own novel. That is, until the Abbey’s sexton is found dead under an avalanche of gouda. Despite the reservations of the local constable, Sister Agatha is convinced it’s murder and the game is afoot.

Armed only with the notes she’s scribbled during her favorite podcast, How to Write a Mystery Novel, as well as a lessons learned from crime heroes ranging from Hercule Poirot to Stephanie Plum, Sister Agatha leads the nuns of Gwenafwy Abbey (and her unwitting sidekick, Father Selwyn) as they begin a race against time to resolve the death of Jacob, save the Abbey, exonerate a beloved postulant, and restore the good name of their cheese.

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Set in Llanfair

When Constable Evan Evans is persuaded to join the local male choir for the upcoming eisteddfod (cultural festival), he doesn't think the addition of his mediocre voice will do them much good. In spite of all the effort that choirmaster Mostyn Phillips puts in to the choir, it is not exactly first class. Hope arrives in the form of world renowned tenor Ifor Llewelyn, come home to Llanfair to rest, on doctor's orders. 


Llewelyn immediately sets about renewing old friendships, and Mostyn even persuades him to sing with the choir. But Ifor isn't in Llanfair long before the residents decide that his presence is a mixed blessing. Noisy fights between Ifor and his wife, a threatening stranger, and Ifor's own warped sense of humor make life in Llanfair increasingly tense. When he announces that he is planning to write his memoirs, telling all about his numerous relationships with famous and infamous women, he jokes that some people won't be happy. But is someone unhappy enough to commit murder to stop him? While tracking down a dangerous killer, Constable Evans also manages to navigate the treacherous waters of neighborhood rivalries, lusty barmaids, and local gossip. 

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Set near Swansea

A sheepdog in training. A flock under threat. Can he find a killer before the case unravels?

Beau dreams of being a champion sheepdog just like his aunt. With the help of new livestock friends and a kind-hearted farmer, he vows to lead the herd proudly through the lush valleys of South Wales. But when one of the sheep goes missing, Beau never expected a woolly crime scene…

While his aunt warns him not to get too friendly with the flock, his connection with the sheep gets him both respect and a target on his back. As the brave pup frantically sniffs for clues, he's got one chance to solve the mystery before the farm starts counting sheep for all the wrong reasons.
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Will Beau learn the ropes in time to protect his friends from a flock fatality?

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Set in Cardiff

When PI Jordan Jenner returns to work following the death of his mother, his first case involves a murdered writer...James Fairview has been killed. As a member of a prestigious writing group hosted by bestselling author Joseph Gordon in the heart of Cardiff, Jordan not only has to cope with solving the mystery, but also deal with press attention. As Jordan investigates, he discovers his mother's death may not have been so simple. And when another writer is murdered, Jordan realises the killer could strike again... A murdered writer, a mysterious death, and a group with jealousy at its heart, this is Jenner's toughest case yet.A cosy murder mystery with a gay male detective, Murder on the Rocks is the first in the Jordan Jenner Mysteries series. 

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The Anwen Morris Dancers are to play a pivotal role in the imminent nuptials of Henry, eighteenth Duke of Chellingworth. But it looks as though the wedding plans might go awry unless Mavis, Annie, Carol and Christine can help Althea, the Dowager Duchess, by finding a missing Morris man and a set of ancient and valuable artefacts in time for her son’s wedding.
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Anwen-by-Wye might look like an idyllic Welsh village where family values reign and traditions still mean something in a modern world, but what will the WISE women find when they peer behind the respectable net curtains?

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Not set in Wales - but is about the Prince of Wales!!

Albert Edward, Prince of Wales—Bertie, as he’s known—is the eldest son of Queen Victoria, and future King Edward VII. Bertie is a pleasure seeker, always searching out the best meals, the most beautiful women, and the most lavish parties. 

As Prince Regent, Bertie is expected to behave like a proper royal and avoid scandal. Instead, his love of excitement leads him to a decidedly unprincely hobby: sleuthing. Bertie is not the best detective, but that does not stop him from trying to solve every case that crosses his path, including the feverish suicide of the greatest jockey of the century, the mysterious death of a member of the royal hunting party, and the murder of the son-in-law of an old friend.

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Set in Llanfair

Bron’s a traditional Welsh hedge-witch. She walks between the worlds, helping both the living and the dead. She’d rather be pottering in her garden and drinking tea, but when you’ve a Fated Mission, then you’ve a Fated Mission, and so here we are.

The body that turns up in Bron’s garden one day has actually been there for decades, hidden deep, and he died of natural causes. Just rebury him and carry on as normal, right?

But it’s kinda hard to be normal when the ghost of the dead man has been disturbed, and now he wants … well, just what does he want? He hasn’t figured out the whole speaking-as-a-spirit-thing yet.

It’s down to Bron to find out. If she doesn’t, that ghost is going to be lingering in corners and upsetting kitchen chairs for the rest of her life. Creepy, tedious and noisy, all at the same time.

She’s helped by the unexpected arrival of her cousin Maddie from America, who is seeking connection and history in this uncertain age. And there’s another mystery – why is this vivacious, friendly young woman so evasive and afraid? 
Soon they are up to their knees in faery folk (don’t trust em), druids (keen on trees), wild animals (Bron’s a healer), the obligatory smouldering blacksmith (sorry, he prefers men), and the maddest Mad Great Aunt of all.

Life is never dull in Llanfair! 

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Another Prince of Wales connection, but not set in Wales.

​In the new Royal Spyness Mystery from the New York Times bestselling author of Crowned and Dangerous, Lady Georgiana Rannoch juggles secret missions from the Queen, Darcy, and her mother. But it’s all in a day’s work when you’re thirty-fifth in line to the British Crown. 

When Darcy runs off on another secret assignment, I am left to figure out how to travel to Italy sans maid and chaperone to help my dear friend Belinda, as she awaits the birth of her baby alone. An opportunity presents itself in a most unexpected way—my cousin the queen is in need of a spy to attend a house party in the Italian lake country. The Prince of Wales and the dreadful Mrs. Simpson have been invited, and Her Majesty is anxious to thwart a possible secret wedding.  

What luck! A chance to see Belinda and please the queen as I seek her permission to relinquish my claim to the throne so I can marry Darcy. Only that’s as far as my good fortune takes me. I soon discover that Mummy is attending the villa party and she has her own secret task for me. Then, Darcy shows up and tells me that the fate of a world on the brink of war could very well depend on what I overhear at dinner! I shouldn’t be all that surprised when one of my fellow guests is murdered and my Italian holiday becomes a nightmare...

And just in case you were wondering how to actually pronounce Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch here are a few pointers to help you on your way!! Let me know if you've come across any other difficult to pronounce Welsh words, or if you have any other cozies set in Wales to recommend. I'm sure there must be more to find. 

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Free and Hot New Release Cozy Mysteries for the Weekend Ahead

17/5/2019

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Never Miss a Free Book Friday Again
​PLEASE NOTE: Whilst I do my best to make sure that all of the cozy mysteries included are free to download at time of writing, they do sometimes revert back to their regular price as the promo period ends. I have zero control over this, the authors themselves set the price promos, each author lives in a different time zone and even then, glitches with technology, etc can mean that the book is no longer on offer. Make sure that you double check the price before downloading. 
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​Free Books that are not on Amazon 

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A sheepdog in training. A flock under threat. Can he find a killer before the case unravels?Beau dreams of being a champion sheepdog just like his aunt. With the help of new livestock friends and a kind-hearted farmer, he vows to lead the herd proudly through the lush valleys of South Wales. But when one of the sheep goes missing, Beau never expected a woolly crime scene…
While his aunt warns him not to get too friendly with the flock, his connection with the sheep gets him both respect and a target on his back. As the brave pup frantically sniffs for clues, he's got one chance to solve the mystery before the farm starts counting sheep for all the wrong reasons.
Will Beau learn the ropes in time to protect his friends from a flock fatality?

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Cozy Mysteries Set in Tea Shops

16/5/2019

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There's nothing I love more than a visit to a proper British tea shop, with teapots and tea strainers, milk in ceramic jugs, and freshly baked cakes under glass domes on the counter. Coffee and walnut cake is my all time favourite tea shop cake!! Closely followed by carrot cake, and if available, a well made Victoria sponge. If you get those little sugar lumps on the table then you really know that you've entered a fancy tea shop. Likewise silver cake forks and china saucers. That's when you know that you have to stick out your little finger (pinky) when you drink your tea. It's no surprise that the tea shop cozy mystery has proven popular, and the only way to serve that kind of book is with a nice slice of cake and a cup of cha. Enjoy!   

I couldn't find many tea shop cozy mysteries set in Britain, so I've gone with a worldwide collection instead! I'd love to know of any other tea shop cozies that need adding to this collection. 
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Set in Oxford, England
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Set in California, USA
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Set in a Fictional Place
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Set in a fictional place
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Set in Oxford, England
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Set in Charleston, USA
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Set in California, USA
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Set in a fictional place
Get Involved with #nationalcozymysterybookday 15th September
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Cozy Mysteries Set in Oxford

15/5/2019

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Ahhh! The British (English) city of Oxford. City of Spires. Home to many a famous writer and academic, and of course the world renowned 'University of Oxford'. A city that has a rather personal connection for me too as it happens. You see, my father was born in Oxford, and my nan spent many years of her life as a patient at the santorium where she lived in as part of the treatment at the time for tuberculosis. It was also where I was based for my work with the Royal Navy, and in my earlier career as a Neuropsychologist I was very involved with neuroscience research at the hospital and the university, spending long summers involved in different projects, including research on phantom limb pain, and on autism.

Oxford was the place where my nan would take me for treats when I stayed with her, and we would often catch the bus there and nip into one of the department stores for a cup of coffee, something my nan found quite exciting since most people just drank tea at home and coffee shops were a relatively new thing. It's hard to imagine an Oxford pre Starbucks or Costa Coffee, or McDonalds!

For me, Oxford was always really exciting, but it must have held different memories for my nan, as she would only really visit for hospital appointments or spend her hours desperate to get back home to her family whilst residing at the sanitorium. For me it is a place filled with memories of dining in my Royal Navy Uniform at fancy balls and drinking a little too much port as part of the maritime traditions! Lots of late nights polishing boots or doing drill practice, or working on improving my knots.

Funny how a single place can mean so many things to different people, and I suppose that is what I love about cozy mysteries that are set in Oxford. Each author draws on the thing that most inspired them about the city, experiences they had there, or people that they met. That's the beauty of books, and there is definitely no shortage of wonderful places to read a good book in Oxford. And plenty of lovely bookshops to visit too. I don't think I ever came back from Oxford without at least one, brand new, sweet smelling, and shiny covered paperback!   
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"Scones, a tea shop in England, a kitty & a murder - yes, please!"
When an American tourist is murdered with a scone in her quaint English tearoom, Gemma must solve the mystery with the help of the nosy Old Biddies and a mischievous little feline named Muesli. Soon she finds herself apron-deep in a mystery involving long-buried secrets from Oxford's past. But between her bossy, matchmaking mother and the return of her old college love as a handsome CID detective, Gemma has her hands full and her head spinning!

Murder is bad for business, especially when customers think your scones are more deadly than delicious. With the body count rising and her tearoom going bust, can Gemma find the killer before things turn to custard?

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Meet Jenny Starling: travelling cook and reluctant amateur detective. 

Jenny Starling has a summer job cooking at a prestigious Oxford college. But she’s not expecting murder on the menu.

Then womanising taxidermy society president, Maurice Raines, is found with a knife in his neck in the dining hall.

Everyone is in classes at the time of his death. So, frustratingly it seems they all have an alibi.

However there are many suspects, including Maurice’s wife and his lover.

The college and police need Jenny’s help to solve this perplexing case. But can Jenny keep her concentration with a budding romance on the cards?

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Every family has annoying relatives; mine just happen to be undead.My Grandmother, Agnes Bartlett, used to own Cardinal Woolsey’s knitting shop in Oxford then died and left her shop to me, without informing me that she wasn’t actually dead.
She’s a vampire and part of the world’s strangest craft circle – the Vampire Knitting Club.As you might imagine, this means she’s free to interfere in how I run the business that used to be hers. She’s trying to teach me to knit and it’s not going well. She’s also trying to teach me how to be a witch, since it turns out I’m from a long line of witches. Another tiny detail about my family that no one ever told me, along with the long-lost witch cousins I recently discovered. But I’m learning. I’ve got my family spell book, my black cat familiar, some powers that sometimes scare me, and an interesting new group of friends. My archaeologist parents are coming to visit and bringing me a gift I could do without. So, to recap, I run a knitting shop and I can’t knit. I’m a beginning witch who can’t always control her cat, never mind her magic, and my love life is as tangled as the last sock I tried to knit. Oh, and for some reason, I keep getting involved in murder investigations. Good thing I have my vampire knitters to help sniff out clues. At least I’ve finally hired the perfect assistant, a real demon with the crochet hook. Or is she too perfect?

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(The first part is set in Oxford with Oxford Girls Maddy and Eloise)

A murdered chef. A poisoned pastry.

Can a young barista deliver a killer their just desserts?Maddy dreams of opening her own detective agency with her best friend. Fresh off her A-levels and looking to save up funds, she and her BFF take a gap-year job serving coffee to rich tourists at an Austrian ski resort. But when someone tampers with one of Maddy’s sweet creations to snuff out a snooty pastry chef, the offending doughnut becomes a recipe for disaster…

With her dreams of becoming a PI in serious danger, Maddy has next to no time to preserve the cafe's reputation and clear her name. But as the suspect list rises and the trail of breadcrumbs grows stale, her future rests on bringing the killer to justice.
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Can Maddy close her very first case before she's cooked?

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The Best British Amateur Sleuths

14/5/2019

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It would be remiss of me to not share a selection of amateur sleuths as part of British Cozy Mystery month now, wouldn't it. Here are some of the characters that immediately spring to my mind when I think of an amateur sleuth, who are some of your favourites? 
An amateur sleuth mystery features a protagonist who, having no direct ties to the police or other investigative agency, stumbles upon and sets out to solve or help solve various crimes, most notably murder. They do not receive monetary compensation for their investigation. Goodreads
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Miss Marple (Agatha Christie)

"An elderly spinster who lives in the village of St. Mary Mead and acts as an amateur consulting detective, she is one of the best known of Christie's characters and has been portrayed numerous times on screen". Wikipedia



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Rosemary and Thyme

Rosemary & Thyme features two women brought together by a sudden death who discover their shared love of the soil. Being gardeners means that they overhear secrets and dig up clues which lead them to handle floral problems, solve crimes and capture criminals. Wikipedia

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Agatha Raisin (M.C.Beaton)

Agatha Raisin, a public relations professional, gives up her life in London in the hope of starting a new life in the seemingly quiet village of Carsley, but soon finds herself a suspect in a murder case when she enters the village's annual quiche-making competition in an attempt to ingratiate herself with the community. She sets out to clear her name and solve the mystery of the quiche of death. Wikipedia

Filmed in Biddestone, Wiltshire, England. 

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Mrs Pargeter (Simon Brett)

Mrs Pargeter is a widow with a shadowy past who, with a little help from her dead husband's friends, is able to solve uncanny mysteries. Wikipedia

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Daisy Dalrymple (Carola Dunn)

The hero of her crime novels is the Honourable Daisy Dalrymple, a freelance writer, sometimes known as "Miss Daisy". Dalrymple's husband is Detective Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher. He tries, unsuccessfully, to keep her out of crime investigations. His superiors at the Yard are terrified of her meddling but find it difficult to stop her because of her relatively high social position. Wikipedia

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Father Brown (G.K.Chesterton)

A slightly crumpled, shambolic and mild-mannered Roman Catholic priest who, by appearance, is easily forgotten. His apparent innocence belies a playful wit and a razor-sharp intellect. His greatest strength, both as a priest and as a detective of crime, is his love and understanding of other people. He’s not there to judge, but to save souls. He is also a World War Iveteran who served in the Gloucestershire Regiment. Wikipedia

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Lord Peter Wimsey (Dorothy L. Sayers)

Lord Peter Death[1] Bredon Wimsey DSO is the fictional protagonist in a series of detective novels and short stories by Dorothy L. Sayers (and their continuation by Jill Paton Walsh). A dilettante who solves mysteries for his own amusement, Wimsey is an archetype for the British gentleman detective. Lord Peter is often assisted by his valet and former batman, Mervyn Bunter; his good friend and later brother-in-law, police detective Charles Parker; and in a few books by Harriet Vane, who becomes his wife. Wikipedia

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Tommy and Tuppence (Agatha Christie)

Thomas Beresford and his wife Prudence (née Cowley).

Tuppence appears as a charismatic, impulsive, and intuitive person while Tommy is less imaginative and less likely to be diverted from the truth (as their first adversary sums him up "he is not clever, but it is hard to blind his eyes to the facts") which is why they are shown to make a good team. It is in this first book 
The Secret Adversary that they meet up after the war,[1] and come to realise that, although they have been friends for most of their lives, they have now fallen in love with each other. Wikipedia

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Poppy (H.Y.Hannah)

City girl Poppy desperately wants to pay off her debts, quit her dead-end job, find her father… oh, and keep a plant alive. But she knows these are just hopeless dreams–until the day a letter arrives. Suddenly, Poppy is on a train heading deep into the English countryside to collect a mysterious inheritance. And the last thing she expects to receive is a cottage garden nursery–complete with romantic climbing roses, fragrant herbs, a ginger cat with serious attitude… and a dead body.
Now she must solve the mystery or risk losing her new home and the chance for a fresh start. But who would want to murder a gardener in a sleepy little village? Could a reclusive inventor have something to do with the killing? What about the brooding crime author next door? And why is her long-lost cousin so desperate for her to sell the cottage? Amazon

#nationalcozymysteryday 15th September
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Is it 'Cozy' Mystery or 'Cosy Mystery'?

13/5/2019

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I've a little confession to make! When I very first came across the words 'cozy mystery' it sent my teeth on edge a bit. You see, as a Brit I've been brought up to use the letter s instead of the letter z (pronounced zed rather than zee, of course) in my words, and being a little bit OCD when it comes to things that seem out of place, I needed a lot of therapy before I was finally comfortable with calling myself a 'cozy mystery' author rather than a 'cosy mystery author.' I'm on a very steep learning curve as a new author anyway, and I frequently have to try and re-educate myself on things like grammar, but after reading reviews on cozy mystery books by other authors, whilst hunting down books for Free Book Friday, I've come across two things that have got me thinking recently.

My first observation was that there are a lot of British authors on Amazon who seemingly get poor reviews because of 'bad spelling and grammar', but when I actually looked at the book for myself, the spelling and grammar were absolutely normal - at least to me as a Brit. It also seems that British authors tend to use the 'Oxford comma' but American authors don't, and this was the main reason for the references to 'terrible grammar and punctuation' in the reader reviews. My second observation was that the British and Australian authors seemed to have a disclaimer on their book description, no doubt in a desperate attempt to avoid the poor reviews for their spelling and grammar....'this book is written in British English, and uses British grammar and spelling'. And yet, as Brits and Americans and Australians we apparently share a common language - English!

This got me thinking...should it actually be 'Cozy' or 'Cosy,' is there actually a right or wrong, and does it even matter? Technically, you could say that since Agatha Christie was one of the first authors in the genre and she was a Brit, therefore it should be 'cosy', and you might even argue that 'British English' was around way before 'American English.'  But the fact remains, that the genre is still relatively unknown here in the UK, but is the second most popular genre after romance in the US.   
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This led me to another question. As a British author, I prefer to write in my own language of British English, but I can't deny that I have very few readers in the UK, and that the vast majority of my readers are in the US. If I want to please my readers and avoid the bad reviews for spelling and grammar, then there's a strong argument for me switching to American English in my books, but that would feel really weird, especially given that most of my stories have British characters and settings because that's what I know best. I've only been to the US briefly, passing through on my way to other countries and I just wouldn't feel right writing about a culture and places and in a language that I know so little about. America is a big place, and I wouldn't know where to start when world building! I would feel like I wasn't being authentic, and that I'd be doing a disservice to my readers.  I'm not saying that you have to be a Brit or even have visited Britain in order to write cozies set in Britain, it's just that for me personally, I wouldn't have the first clue about writing an American English or cozy, but I have written a story set in Austria even though I've only been there once.  I just happen to have had enough exposure to the setting I was writing in, that I felt I could write the story with a fair sense of authenticity.  

But perhaps, therein lies the reason why I don't have many British or Australian readers. You see, I use the word 'Cozy Mystery' on my book covers and in my keywords, blurb, and description. So maybe that puts the 'Cosy' Mystery readers off my books, because like me when I first found the genre, I cringed at seeing the use of the letter 'z' instead of the letter 's'.  I'm a little bit the same when it comes to audiobooks, because my brain has to work that much harder to get my ear around American narration, because I'm more used to hearing the varied dialects of Britain, even though I've lived all over the world, from India, to the West Indies, to the former USSR.   
The other thing that I now find myself contemplating when I write, is the different words for objects, on top of all the weird and wonderful expressions that we Brits use in daily conversation without even 'batting an eyelid.'  I feel like my readers are educating me with each new book that I write, and I love having a go-to community of lovely humans from around the world that I can ask for questions about word usage. Some words are rude in American English but not in British English (I once had an American editor who used the word 'period' rather than 'full stop' and I cringed each time I saw and heard the word used), and vice versa.  Language is hugely important, and it can completely set a relationship off on the right or wrong foot. I'll give you an example...

I previously worked for the Ministry of Education and Science in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, and one day happened to be introduced to the young daughter (about 4 years old) of one of the government Ministers. Without thinking about it, and after spending a fair amount of time interacting with his daughter, I happened to call her a little 'bossy boots' in jest. It's one of those British subtle and sarcastic ways of telling someone in an affectionate way that they are being a little bit too bossy and should reign it in a bit, in this case, rather harshly giving her poor baby brother the run around by getting him to do her bidding.  Unknown to me at that time, was that there is a word in Georgian 'bosi' which basically means 'hoar.'  No wonder all the Georgians in the room stopped and stared at me in horror!  I had to very quickly explain that the word meant something entirely different in the English language!    
It's these subtle differences between languages and culture and traditions that make me love my craft of writing. I get to explore what it means to be who I am, and to understand my own history, and where the language I use in daily life comes from. It also means that I get to explore the world through the eyes and ears of my readers too, to work out those branches where we divided in our shared history and to see how things change so quickly. You only have to look at the prose in a Shakespearean story or sonnet to see how much the English language has changed in Britain, and in a relatively short length of time. There are new words added to the English dictionary each year, words that didn't exist when I was a child, that are now used on a daily basis in normal life and situations. I find that quite exciting as a writer! 
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Anyways, I would love to know what you think. Are the books 'cozy' or 'cosy' where you live, and does it matter to you whether they are written in British English, American English, or Australian English? Are there any words that grate on you, like the word 'period' does with me when used in place of the word 'full-stop?' Or any British words or expressions that you would love to know the meaning of? I'd really love to hear what you think in the comments section below.  
Celebrate #CozyMysteryDay 15th September
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Cozy Mystery Books with a Scottish Theme

12/5/2019

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This month is all about celebrating the British themed cozy mystery books, and today's post is all about mysteries with a Scottish theme. Think haggis, Hogmanay, Highlands, and Hamish Macbeth! If you love stories set in Scotland, then you will certainly find something here to whet your whistle.  
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The City of Edinburgh, Scotland
Love Free Cozy Mystery Books? Check Out Free Book Friday Here
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General Scottish Themed

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Set in Edinburgh
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Set in the Highlands
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Fictional Location
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Set in Edinburgh
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Set in Edinburgh
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Set in the Highlands
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Fictional Location

Kilt and Tartan Themed

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Set in the Highlands
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Set in the Highlands
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Set in the Highlands
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Set in Edinburgh
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Set in the Highlands
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Set in the Highlands

Bagpipe, Dance, and Jig Themed

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Set on a fictional island
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Fictional Location
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Set in Edinburgh
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Fictional Location

Whisky Themed

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Set in the Highlands
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Set in the Highlands
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Fictional Location
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Set in the countryside
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Fictional Location

Castle Themed

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Fictional Castle
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Fictional Castle
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Fictional Castle

Audiobooks that you Can Download for a Discount with the Ebook

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More British Cozy Mystery Books and Blog Posts Here
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180 Days Since I Launched my Business

11/5/2019

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Flippin' eck' I can't believe that it is already 180 days since I first launched my cozy mystery business under the publishing house Isla Britannica Books Ltd. In some ways it feels like I have learnt and achieved a lot, and yet, in other ways, that I haven't progressed and still have a long way to go. My aim in sharing my personal journey as a new author, is firstly that I can have something to look back on and see where my path led, and secondly, that it might help others, as well as allowing readers of my books to get a feel for the behind the scenes of life as an author.

When I imagine the life of other authors, I think of them sat in beautiful wooden panelled studies or libraries, with an old wooden desk and lamp, leather armchair, and log fire. The stereotypical author, much like a character from an Agatha Christie book. That they spend their day writing and their evenings out at social events or dinner parties. Of course, real life is very far from that, at least for most authors, especially ones like me who are just starting out.  
Check Out my 90 Day Reflection Here

A Place to Call Home

I moved to the guesthouse where I am currently living, on the 15th June 2018, expecting to be here for a matter of weeks, before moving into a house I was in the process of buying. That didn't exactly go to plan, but on reflection it was one of the best outcomes possible. 

Prior to my move, I was renting an overpriced, not especially great house in Kendal, in the beautiful Lake District in the north west of Britain. Up until my landlords decided to sell the house and gave me notice (that house is still for sale!). It felt like the end of the world. No way could I find anything locally that allowed pets and was affordable, and all of the properties I was eligible for wanted 6 months rent upfront, two months deposit, and charged for application fees (that's about £8000, the equivalent of a deposit to buy a house!). I was working all hours, just to make the rent, council tax, and utilities each month. If I had been eligible for a mortgage and not been self-employed, then I could have bought the same house I was renting, and been paying four times less for a mortgage than I was paying in rent. A ridiculous situation! But as I'd been living abroad and the amount they were asking for the property was more than I could get a mortgage for, buying the house was not an option.

But I did find a property that I was eligible to buy, in the north east of the country on a shared ownership babis. I wouldn't know anyone, it was away from my outdoor swimming and friends, but at least I would have a roof over my head and for less money. That property ended up falling through, just after I had moved into the guesthouse where I am now. But instead of being disappointed, I felt a huge sense of relief. Shared ownership wasn't really where I wanted to be in terms of having control over my own life. My solicitor had sent me the contract to sign, and what I saw was clause after clause about what I could and couldn't do with my property. I would have to get written permission to even paint the walls of a room, and couldn't put in a garden pond or build a rockery. It felt like a trap. That once I was in the property, I would never be able to sell it, and since the house was supposed to be my stop gap to getting my forever home, back in the Lake District, I knew in my gut that to buy would be a bad choice. But I didn't want to be homeless either, nor did I want to end up losing my pets.

As it turned out, my three cats and small dog settled amazingly well into our one room at the guesthouse, far better than I could even hope given that they were used to playing outdoors whenever they wanted. I also realised how devastated I was to lose the things that I had come to depend upon and trust - our veterinary practice, dog walker, my dentist, local doctor. The local services were not a patch on the relationships I had built up over a long period of time. Those things were priceless and more important to me than I could have realised. 

It was clear that I needed to be back in the Lake District, and the silver lining was that my overheads were now a fraction of what they were where I was renting. I realised that I could now focus on becoming a writer and building up my business, one that would eventually not only allow me to buy a house, but to buy an amazing house for cash, provided that I focused on my writing and put in the hours. It was also pretty scary, because being in the guesthouse meant that I couldn't leave my pets for work each day since I no longer had my pet sitter, but that didn't matter because if I built up my own business, then I could simply work from home. This would be a good thing longer term, since I knew that I wouldn't want to keep travelling so much for work as I grew older anyway.  

Research

I spent a good few months researching my chosen genre, watching podcasts on YouTube, speaking with other authors, and putting out test books, and trying new things to get a feel for the market and world of publishing. My testing gave me the confidence to know that the future I had in my dreams was ACTUALLY possible, now I just had work on the psychology side and start to believe in myself and treat my writing as a business.  It would be along. hard road, with a lot of sacrifice, but it would be worth it.  

Starting from Zero

At the moment I'm frustrated with myself, but equally know that this is a phase I simply have to go through as well. I'm sure that very soon, something within me will just fall into place, and that the resistance I currently feel will disappear. I should be further along as a writer than I am!

However, over the past 180 days I have built up a newsletter of almost 3000 people from scratch, and having started to offer my publishing services to other authors on Fiverr, I now have a fairly consistent stream of repeat clients that I Vellum format and do book promo for. This has definitely grown organically in ways I wasn't expecting, an important reminder that hard work eventually starts to pay dividends in the long game. To be honest, I was really surprised to find other authors recommending me on sites such as K-Boards and in their blog posts. For example K-Boards here and on Nicholas Erik's website. I only become aware of these because some of my clients told me that was where they found me, and I have a lot of romance authors to thank too, because they began recommending me to others in their writers groups. It was hard to accept such positive comments at first, I still have imposter syndrome in all walks of my life, it's just who I am, but for the first time, I feel like I'm starting to embrace what it means to be a small business owner. I'm someone who actually has 'clients' now....even if I still can't quite get my head around that!     
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From a business perspective, am I earning money from offering my services on Fiverr, or would I be financially better off if I put that time into my writing? I admit that one out of three enquiries I get on Fiverr are time wasters. People trying to get rich quick and wanting to use me to do jobs for their clients which they then get credit and charge twice as much for. Those make my blood boil, especially as they aren't serious about quality or longevity and sem to think that publishing is a really easy way to make your millions.  I dislike the orders I get where the client tries to bribe me or lure me with promises if I'll get their book on the promo sites immediately, even though I don't make the rules for the promo sites themselves. I get irritated when people place orders without reading through the information I provide on what services I offer. And I find it irksome that Fiverr penalises me when I cancel an order because a client has set me up for a job that I don't even offer because they think they are somehow special and the next big thing. That hurts my ratings and takes months to build up. But on the whole, I love my serious authors, the ones who appreciate a quality job and understand how many hours I invest in making their book interior look just how they want it. Business wise, I should be charging a lot more, especially taking into account the hours it takes me to do a job, but that isn't why I'm offering my services to other authors.  

A traditional or old school business person would say that I am wasting my time with Fiverr, and that what I should really be doing is investing my time in writing and publishing my own books. But I actually don't see it that way. I see this as my apprenticeship, a stepping stone to producing better quality books in the grand scheme of things. I get to experience books from many different genres in the space of a week - see their covers, blurbs, description, layout, book stuffing and what not to do's, and answer any questions they have. I'm always learning and improving my own craft. Only then do I realise just how far I have come in my own education and I get a little confidence boost as I realise that I am capable of being a great author and publisher, that I know my field, I have a toolbox of expertise now, skills I have unknowingly mastered on my journey. What's more, I get a huge sense of satisfaction, seeing other authors do well, or being over the moon with how their book looks. I'm growing into my own skin little by little each day and I'm learning important lessons in marketing, communication, and knowing when to say no. 

What's more, the money I am earning on Fiverr gets paid into my Paypal account and aside from the exchange rate between dollars and Stirling fluctuating to my detriment, I'm now super close to being able to access Paypal Working Capital. This is money that I can draw down into my Paypal account, based on my annual earnings. I want to invest heavily in my books - in editing, covers, ISBN numbers, all of which costs money. Paypal Working Capital will be the biggest step up in my career, and I have a strong sense that as soon as that happens, my business will snowball quickly. I just have to be patient as I try to get to that financial starting line. 

Financial Freedom and Fear

Since my 90 day review, I have made some really scary moves financially. I've gone from having no credit cards or loans, to taking out credit cards. I don't like having debts, I like to be as independent as I can with no ties or trappings. But I realised that if I wanted to publish books, then I would need to buy covers, pay for editing, and invest in my business. It also turned out that if I took out credit cards, it would help me to get my credit rating up, just in case I wanted to get a mortgage in the future. Which seemed ridiculous to me.

I did some shopping around and used a platform called Noddle to see my credit rating and which, if any credit cards I would be eligible for. In a short space of time, I went from a near perfect credit rating and zero debts, to taking whatever credit cards I could and watching my credit score plummet. It should seem counter intuitive, but I'm not worried even though it is logically insane. I used those cards to buy ISBNS and covers and a desk and printer and chair. The cards are zero percent interest for a year and my plan is that every penny of that money is invested into my business and will earn that money back, and more within the space of a year. It should allow me to publish a lot of books, and the more books I have out, the more chance I have of being able to buy a house for cash, back in the Lake District. I'm starting to get enough money in from my business on Fiverr that I pay back £1 a day on each card for now, reinvesting that money in upfront costs of film work and getting to paid speaking events, as these don't pay me for round three months afterwards. Flipping things in the American terminology. Again, I'm focusing on long term gains here. I don't make regular payments into a pension but whenever my income goes up each day, I put 1p, 10p, £1 whatever I can afford each day, aside into separate pots in my Monzo account to be able to buy things in my future life; like health insurance, pension, tax, accountant fee, book covers, and I put £1 into an ISA as my 'emergency fund' as well as paying into my Share Dealing ISA and my Share Dealing account. I've so far bought a couple of shares, and am now starting to get quarterly income into my account from those, not a lot, but still growth on my original investment, that I can then invest back into my account and into more shares. This will become my passive income stream for my pension longer term (alongside my pension plan). I'm 43 now and though I have no plans to ever retire, I'm aware that this will be important to have as I get older. 

I have downsized to the maximum I can to reduce my overheads, and am investing heavily in my new business, without taking any money out for myself, or wasting it on things that I don't need. I am living as frugally as I can. I eat homemade soup each day from reduced price veggies which costs me around £4 for a week for all my meals. I work long days at my computer, and sleep for around 4 or 5 hours a day.  At no point does it feel like a chore, it instead feels like a step closer to my dream home and lifestyle. It's a year of my life on hold, but the long term gain will be more than worth it, especially when compared to my monthly struggle of making rent on a house with damp walls and a leaky roof.

Mind Set and Other Changes

Mindset is definitely something that is shifting all the time with me, especially as I reflect on the past 180 days since starting my business. I've become more goal focused, I waste less time, and I don't tolerate others as much as I did.

It's very easy when living in a guesthouse, to procrastinate. To put off jobs because you are waiting to use the microwave or bathroom, or waiting to clean your room or change your sheets. It's also very easy to get the life, energy, and time sucked out of you by doing a quick nip to the toilet, only to get drawn into a conversation with another guest who is bored and killing time. Initially I felt rude, or would politely make small talk, but I soon realised it was detrimental when writing and getting yourself into the creative flow and voice of a character. As soon as I bumped into a guest in the hallway or dining area, I would come out of that flow and lose the voice or place I was in writing that story. I could easily lose a whole day that way. I've learnt to be more blinkered, to not switch on Facebook or Twitter or to check my emails when writing, and to try and time my pee breaks or breakfast at times when I know there is likely to be no one around. I'm not quite there yet, but I've clawed back hours of each day just by keeping myself to myself, including writing at night, often until about 4am because it is quiet then. It's the only way I'll ever be able to write my books and get my own home. Sometimes in my frustration I would start looking at houses to rent or buy, but I've learnt that this is another form of procrastination. That it doesn't get me anywhere other than feeling depressed. The only way I'm going to be able to move into a place, is if I focus on my writing. Simple as that.

I've started to use a free app on my phone called 'BeFocused'. I was struggling to get any sessions in with a 25 minute sprint setting, but have started to do 5 minute sprints on the timer for absolutely EVERYTHING I do in the day. I intersperse this with little physical exercises because I know that my health is deteriorating and I've gained a lot of weight with being inactive. I'd like to get 10,000 steps in per day really, but I don't enjoy walking here as much as I did in the Lake District, and this leads to me faffing around and sleeping in because I can't find the motivation to get started with a walk. There's a lot of glass on the streets here and that doesn't make for nice dog walks. I was beating myself up for not achieving my desired walks and number of steps each day, but I've decided to switch to just walking at the weekends, and do exercises between sprints during the week. 

Back when I lived in the Lake District, I could write 10,000 words a day and had a lovely structure, even with working a full time job. Because it was easy to get up at 5am, hike around the lake, have a quick lake dip, and then catch the bus home before going to work at 9am. Getting a structure has been tough. Even with it being summer and lighter earlier now. 

Another free tool I'm using recently is Habitica. It's a way to turn your habits into games, but I'm not so interested in the gamefy side. For me, it just helps to have a list of things to do each day, which I get the satisfaction of ticking off, and I like it when I get the psychological sound or noise of success - just like on the Be Focused app, Habitica is great for things like remembering to stay hydrated and for ticking off my 5 minute sprints because then I get a sense of reward when I'm on track.

The other change is that I'm no longer afraid to admit when things aren't working, or to mix things up a bit and experiment. Psychologically this would have felt like failure before. The old school world I was brought up in, was about sticking with things until the end, and putting up with them as part of life. You made your bed, now lie in it kind of attitude. I suspect that this change in my attitude is due to me now feeling like I'm a business woman. I'm a creative and an entrepreneur, I'm supposed to be a bit more ad hoc about things. One of those big decisions was to switch from Instafreebie to BookFunnel for giving away copies of my books to subscribers. I'd been unhappy with the attitude of Instafreebie's customer service and their lack of interest in stopping erotic romance authors from spamming my book collections.  I was paying Instafreebie each month for a service that was just making me irritable and draining hours from each day in removing romance books from my cozy mystery collections. It was taking away my time, energy, and money.  Switching to BookFunnel has been a Godsend, albeit a little frustrating at having to learn the set ups from scratch  and setting up 18 months of promos from the start again. But it's lovely to have a sense of respect and being treated seriously. I've also dropped one of my agents for film work and joined a new agent, which was incredibly refreshing to be treated professionally. And now, instead of long suffering through things that aren't working, I'm able to quickly and easily try something new for a bit, see if it works for me, and if not, then I drop it, no feelings of guilt. 

I loved Schedugram for scheduling Instagram posts, but it was pricey for where I am in my career and that money was instead invested in the SPF 101 course. So I cancelled my subscription and now only post once or twice a day on Instagram, whereas before I would schedule months ahead. I also decided to drop the Cozy Mystery Book Explorer page on Instagram, and at the start of May began daily blogging on my website again. That one little tweak alone, has increased my affiliate income on Amazon by a couple of cents each day, and saw my Pinterest view jump from 45k per month to over 100k. I'm also averaging $100 a month in affiliate income. In terms of the SPF 101 course, I'm not sure that I've learnt anything new so far since I'd watched their videos religiously over the last 18 months, but the course has come with a lot of discounts and offers, chance to be in a special Facebook group that I'm enjoying, and I now have a kind of Bible or manual full of resources that I can go to directly whenever I need to know something. So I'm still glad that I took the course, even though it is a huge investment each month compared to my income. Psychologically it was an important investment and step in terms of taking my career more seriously. 

I've learnt that being ruthless and picky is liberating, that I love having freedom. Previously I would have felt bad at having a negative experience with someone, but now I just see those things as destructive and dead wood. If I don't want to work with a client on fiverr, I don't. If someone complains that one of the 100 free books to download is no longer on promotion, days after I posted the promo, then instead of feeling like I should apologise, I now tell them that they are perfectly free to move along if they don't like me or what I have to offer. People seem to have a sense of entitlement unfortunately, they expect the world for free. I've come to realise that this energy is better spent on investing in the clients and readers I love working with, rather than feeling like I failed or let people down, or need to keep everyone happy. I've learnt to stop caring what other people think, and instead to keep focusing on moving forward and doing the best job I can do now. That has given me more energy and time to focus on the people that do matter within my community, people who will actually buy a service from me on Fiverr for their book, or people who actually read the books on offer and generally love the genre. I don't want to live in a world of negative people who just moan, so I'm not doing that now.  This has had a knock on effect on my social media channels oddly enough, and I feel incredibly lucky to have some really cool and creative people who inspire me, now following me. This is really lovely to wake up to each day and see a like or comment or follow from someone I aspire to be like. I've taken a step back from a lot of author groups too, where I felt there was too much negativity, complaining, or people asking silly questions instead of using Google or at least making an effort to learn. Those sites had started to get me down mentally and were no longer giving me any benefit. I would find that hours had passed by, or that I would quickly check my Facebook notifications and suddenly get caught up in some kind of drama that had no connection at all with the group's purpose as a support for writers. 

At the Heart of Business

In the past 180 days I have made a lot of headway, I'm building strong foundations, but the heart of the business is still missing and is something I am going to focus everything on as I move forward. That is the writing. It is no good me building up a mailing list, spending money on advertising, or buying beautiful book covers, if I don't have the most basic and important thing in place - the writing. I've struggled with writing a lot since I started my business, but for ridiculous reasons. I am afraid of being successful, and I feel a huge sense of guilt at earning a living from something that I actually enjoy doing. Writing is the one thing I need to become a success, to get a forever home, and yet I struggle to start. It is purely psychological. I have a story, I have a plot, a title, a cover, a desk, time to write, and yet I still struggle to get started on the writing. It is the one component that will pretty much guarantee me success as a writer, it isn't rocket science - I just need to get the words onto paper!

It isn't going to be easy overcoming this mental hurdle, but I have made big steps towards overcoming this. I've started joining author Orna Ross for a meditation session online each morning to help quiet my distracted mind and get me into the creative flow. I've switched from 25 minute to 5 minute sprints on the Be Focused app and with Habatica. I've also decided not to try and fit a big walk in each day. The silly thing is, I have zero problem at all when it comes to doing work for clients and putting them first, and yet, if I only put in as much effort with my own writing as I did with their books, I would be winning. I need to treat myself as well as I treat my clients, no matter how less important I see my work to be. As a way of overcoming this, I've decided to set up a Patreon page where I give away my books for free to patrons who pay $1 a month to support my writing and weekly newsletter. That way, I am writing for real, actual, physical clients now, rather than for myself. I don't want to let them down and I made a promise to them that I will write them books. I currently have ten patrons and that feels great for writing now. Going forward I think that will help me to make the mental shift and to treat myself better. 

If I can get the words mastered on a daily basis, and start to get more books (products) onto the market and into the hands of my readers, then I will have a proper business, at which point I think things will quickly snowball and build momentum. All I have to do is write, every day. 
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Free and Hot New Release Cozy Mysteries for the Weekend Ahead

10/5/2019

2 Comments

 
Never Miss a Free Book Friday Again
PLEASE NOTE: Whilst I do my best to make sure that all of the cozy mysteries included are free to download at time of writing, they do sometimes revert back to their regular price as the promo period ends. I have zero control over this, the authors themselves set the price promos, each author lives in a different time zone and even then, glitches with technology, etc can mean that the book is no longer on offer. Make sure that you double check the price before downloading. 
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​Free Kindle Books on Promotion this Week

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​Free Books that are not on Amazon 

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​Cozy Mysteries Free with Kindle Unlimited

How to Read Books for Free on Kindle Unlimited
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A New Book You Might Like to Try

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SOAP ON A ROPE: COLD CREAM MURDERS - BOOK 3

​When Nelson Dingler is found dangling from a chandelier—feet-side up—Grams Dingler determines to find her son’s killer. Can Olive help her best friend save her feisty grandmother from suffering the same fate? And can the Cold Cream Shop survive while Olive psyches out the killer?
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Contains a recipe for heavenly lavender lemon honey soap.
Check All 3 Books Out Here

​Audiobooks that you can Buy for a Discount when you get the Ebook

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​Brand New 'Hot New' Release Books (These are NOT free, but some are in Kindle Unlimited) 

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Become a Patron for $1 a Month and Get All my Books Before Anyone Else

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If you would like to support Free Book Friday, then why not become a patron for $1 a month, and in return I will send you every single book I ever release, BEFORE it gets published on Amazon. You'll also receive first dibs on any free audiobook codes, signed print book copies, and cozy mystery swag.

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National Eat What You Want Day Cozy Mystery Book Collection

10/5/2019

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In honour of National Eat What You Want Day on the 11th May, I thought I would put together a little collection of all you can eat cozy mystery books that you can download for free to help you celebrate the day. And yes, I did stupidly forget to include my own book and missed the cut-off date for submission to the collection, even though I was the one organising it. However, you can get my Dead on Doughnuts book, and all of my other books for free by supporting this blog and my Free Book Friday newsletter for $1 a month over on Patreon. Or read for free on Kindle Unlimited with the free trial, or download a sampler of the book from Bookfunnel here. I promise I will get more organised in the future!  

Never come across #nationaleatwhatyouwantday before? Well, this national day is all about treating yourself by giving in to those cravings - for one day only. Need some suggestions for things to eat, here's a list to start you off:
  • pizza
  • pasta
  • burgers
  • cheese
  • cookies
  • ice cream
  • tacos
  • buritos
  • chips
  • crisps
  • chocolate
  • french fries
  • doughnuts
  • cake
  • waffles
Or you could REALLY live a little and mix things up! What about having lunch for breakfast, or having your pudding before your mains! This national day is all about having a bit of fun, getting into the kitchen and cooking up something tasty with the kids, or going out to that place you walk past but have never been in before. 
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Comfort Food for the Soul: British Cozy Mystery Television Series to Perk you up this Weekend

9/5/2019

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It's been a bit of a drizzly weather kind of week here in the North East of Britain and with the weekend soon upon us, I figured it was time to create the all time list of British cozy mystery series that you can watch this weekend. Let me know your top ten favourites, and of course, if I've missed any off the list! 
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More Traditional Cozy Mysteries

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Cozy and Borderline Cozy Mysteries with police 

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Australian Cozy Mystery with British Connections

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Popular British Cozy Mystery Themes

8/5/2019

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In yesterday's blog post we looked at some of the cozy mystery books set in English villages, which got me noticing some common themes you might find in a British cozy mystery (this month's free cozy mystery collection has lots of British books to download and is our topic for May 2019).  One of those themes was tea, or more specifically tea shops or afternoon tea.  Funnily enough, a decent cup of tea is the first thing that I miss whenever I visit a new country and I can see why it is associated with Brits and why we have such an obsession with it.   

Afternoon Tea, London, and the Victorian Era 

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The Grosvenor Hotel at Victoria Station, London, England
Between my cruise ship and keynote speaking events and my work on film and television productions, I'm privileged to travel a lot, which is probably why I appreciate being at home with my pets so much. The one constant between those two different worlds, is tea. It is my go to drink when I need a hug, need grounding, or want to imagine myself living in some fancy world like the ladies of the past. For that reason, I carry with me my trusted Stanley travel mug at all times so that I always have a brew on the go. It's my comfort blanket.
But I also have favourite places to enjoy a cuppa depending where I am, and how much spare change I might have. One of my  go to places when I'm in London is the Grosvenor Hotel. I discovered this haunt many years ago after my train was cancelled at London Victoria Station and the toilets that you have to pay 20p to use were closed for cleaning. Busting for a pee, I noticed some old wooden doors along a long stone wall, and decided to see where they led. It was incredible to go from the noise and thick black smog and fumes of the railway platform of London Victoria Station, up a grand wooden staircase and to suddenly find myself in the plush-carpeted lobby of a stunning Grade II listed Victorian building, built in 1862.  

It was one of those moments where you wait for a hand on your shoulder, to escort you from the premises for trespassing. Me in my shorts and t-shirt with a backpack having travelled from Europe by coach over a couple of days, and being met by a man who looked like a butler in his smart black suit and crisp white shirt. At which point I was whisked into a large room with chandeliers and comfortable furniture and before I knew it, was sat enjoying perfectly shaped cucumber sandwiches and drinking tea from a china pot! From that moment on, whenever my train was delayed or I found myself killing time between meetings or catching coaches, or meeting people to talk business, the Grosvenor Hotel became my go to place in London. Never have I been so excited as when my train is delayed - especially since you then become eligible for a refund on your ticket as compensation! My little slice of paradise. I can totally see why tea shops, afternoon tea, and Victorian things might end up as themes in a British cozy mystery book!  
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Tea Drinking and Types of Tea

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Tea Tasting at Twinings, The Strand, London, England
Yep, I admit it, I'm a huge drinker of tea especially when I'm home writing a new cozy mystery book. In fact you might spot me in a campaign for the face of Yorkshire Tea Gold back in 2014 (see if you can spot me in my sports kit in the videos!). And a little while ago I was super lucky to be invited along to a tea tasting at Twinings in London.  

FYI, Twinings "holds the world's oldest continually-used company logo, and is London's longest-standing ratepayer, having occupied the same premises on the Strand since 1706" (Wikipedia).
Before tea, Britain was a nation of coffee drinkers, and the reason for Twinings being based at the Strand is because of the proximity to the coffee houses (men only) where the legal and business people of London would have their meetings and make important investment decisions. It was actually a Portuguese princess who first brought tea to Britain, and at that time tea was like gold dust - locked up in a tiny box, taken out for her to enjoy with her maids.  Tea must have seemed even more important to that princess, given that people mainly drank ale at that time, and on arrival in Britain and after stepping off the ship, that was the first thing that was offered to her. Drunk instead of water, because water wasn't so clean back then and would make you pretty sick. 

When other ladies in high society began to see the princess drinking tea, a new trend started, and over a long period of time, began to spread to the different fancy houses throughout Britain. Each house having its own special blend, chosen by the lady of the house - so it could be enjoyed in the comfort of one's own home. That is how we came to have 'Earl Grey' tea (after the Prime Minister Charles Grey in 1830 - he liked a hint of bergamot in his blend) and 'Lady Grey' tea (created for the Nordic market in the 1990s because they were less keen on Earl Grey, and it had the addition of orange and lemon).  If you visited the Grey's home and happened to have tea with them and liked the blend they had, then the next time that the Twinings representative came to your house to deliver your tea leaves, you could ask them to make up the blend that you had at the home you had visited. There's a lot more complicated history where tea is involved, many themed perfectly for cozy mysteries - Boston tea party, Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatter's tea party, tea tax...oh for more writing time:)  

I suppose, in a way, you could say that women were responsible for the rise of tea drinking in Britain, the men tending to drink coffee. Growing up, I had tea drinking great aunts who got me hooked right from when I was a baby (laced with sugar and milk and served in a pink Tommee Tippee beaker with a lid! No doubt purchased from Boots or Woolworths), and as I grew up, there was no such thing as Starbucks or coffee houses on the corner of every street.  Tea was always drunk at home, up until the 80s I suppose, when McDonalds and coffee shops became a thing in Britain, and the nation began to enjoy coffee again. It always makes me laugh to think of my grandparents and how excited they seemed to be to order a cup of coffee as if it was some brand new, unusual thing to do. People didn't go out to coffee shops when they were growing up, so they really seemed to embrace this in their retirement years or after a meal at a pub or on a cruise holiday with Saga. 

Tea is like blood for a Brit like me, it runs through my veins. Tea with milk of course! Milk or tea first is an ongoing and important case for debate, as is the shade of the tea. During the Victorian era, the British army soldiers would use tea to stain their white pith helmets - to help camouflage themselves against the enemy. Then in World War I soldiers were given tea as part of their daily rations, to help boost morale in the trenches. The tea was just what they needed to conceal the horrid taste of water supplies that had been transported in old tin petrol cans.  

I'd love to write a cozy mystery set in the 300 year old Twinings store one day. It was an incredible place to visit, with so many jars of wonderful looking and smelling teas. It's the narrowest shop in Britain, and even has its own resident ghost.....just perfect for a paranormal cozy! Do visit it, if you ever get the opportunity on a trip to London. But make sure you have room for all the teas and coffees you find yourself sampling and buying! I'd love to have my own blend of tea one day. That's definitely one for the bucket list. 

Other Common Themes in British Cozy Mysteries

I've tried to compile a list of themes that I have spotted in British cozy mysteries, but I'm sure there are more to add:
  • tea (different types)
  • tea houses
  • afternoon tea
  • Victorian era
  • Regency period
  • manor houses
  • villages
  • vicar/monk/nun/verger
  • vicarage
  • ageing sleuth
  • castle
  • countryside
  • thatched cottage
  • vegetable patch
  • arsenic
  • cocaine/recreational drug use
  • village green
  • Bishop
  • Magistrate
  • heirloom
  • jewel/jewellery
  • post office
  • Bohemian/eccentric neighbours
  • travel
  • cruise
  • vicar's wife
  • hotel
  • women's movement
  • house party
  • Lady's Maid/Companion
  • Irish employees
  • fete/country show
  • jailbreaker
  • pickpocket
  • actress
  • claret/port/wine
  • monogrammed handkerchief
  • dressmaker/fashion house
  • gun/starter's pistol
  • masked ball/debutant ball
  • Great War
  • attic
  • poisoned milk
  • madness/lady in the attack/asylum
  • film producer
  • self made millionaire
  • nephew
  • pilot
  • secret child/wedding
  • Oxford 
  • Cotswolds
  • London
  • 1920s racing cars
  • Scotland Yard
  • Golf
  • Bed and Breakfast
  • Stratford Upon Avon
  • motorcars
  • Beatrix Potter
  • Lake District
  • cliff top building
  • Brighton
  • cucumber sandwiches
  • eligible batchelor
  • jealous wife
  • lawn
  • boating/lake/river
  • World War I/II
  • Local Police Man
  • detective/Inspector
  • bog
  • Cornwall
  • beach
  • British Museum
  • Egyptology
  • collector or antiques
  • bell ringer
  • flower arranger
  • Women's Institute
  • soldier
  • inheritance
  • Titanic/Ship Passengers
  • circus
  • Red Cross/Salvation Army/Nurse
  • Jane Austin
  • smuggler
  • ancestral home/name
  • statue/monument
  • cook/chef
  • maze
  • factory/mill
  • coming of age
  • affair
  • Honourable
  • greengrocer's
  • hunting/gun dog
  • syphilis
  • tea total
  • mugging
  • birthday party
  • dwindling fortune
  • war veteran
  • butcher
  • Spy
  • library in an old house
  • aristocracy
  • Scotland
  • Butler
  • party/social occasion
  • Alice in Wonderland
  • literature
  • Shakespeare
  • gardener or gardens
  • public (boarding) school
  • seaside
  • pier
  • buried secret
  • scones and jam
  • servants and maids
  • spinster
  • newspaper
  • duck pond
  • Colonel
  • weather
  • moors
  • pub/public house
  • retired
  • charity work/volunteer
  • governess
  • nanny
  • choir/choral society
  • suffragette
  • farm
  • Women's Land Army
  • Baker Street
  • Sherlock Holmes
  • theatre/cinema
  • secret letters
  • will reading
  • Mr Darcy
  • Viscount/Lord
  • orangery/greenhouse
  • well
  • Home Office
  • Ascot/races/horses/Derby
  • trust fund
  • sailor/Royal Navy
  • ladies magazine
  • cream tea
  • doctor
  • headstone/memorial
  • flutter/gambling
  • River Thames
  • washer woman
  • archaeologist/explorer
  • crypt
  • delivery boy

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English Village Cozy Mysteries

7/5/2019

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Growing up in Britain, I confess that I took the English village for granted, assuming that it was essentially something that existed everywhere in the world. I hadn't travelled outside of Britain until I was in my mid to late twenties, apart from the odd school trip to Germany or France on an exchange. It wasn't until I lived in the West Indies, and later in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, that I found myself really appreciating just how special and unique the English village is. There is nothing like living abroad to make you all nostalgic about your own country! 

Finding myself surrounded by a group of small children in Georgia, who were keen to read to me in English to show me how good they were at learning, they happened to read a piece in their text book about Britain and the things you might find there. The opportunity to travel seemed as unlikely to them as it had to me at that age - the equivalent of taking a spaceship to the moon. Money was minimal and visas a rarity, so it was up to me to try as hard as I could to bring the outside world in to the children. One small boy on reading a passage about social life in Britain, happened to ask me whether people drank Chacha (a Georgian drink, a bit like vodka). Before I knew it, I found myself trying to explain that people drank things like ale and gin in the local pub, and sometimes people liked to go out for a 'pub lunch'. It turns out that it is really difficult to explain something that has little comparison to those who have never experienced or seen it - especially when those people are children. Apart from which, I then had to explain the different types of settlement; city, town, village, hamlet. It was a fascinating learning experience for me and the first time that I realised why tourists to Britain love the places they visit and refer to them as quaint.  
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You see, I had grown up in the Royal County of Berkshire where I lived in a house in the middle of a field on a vineyard in Hampstead Norreys for my first few years of life. I had grandparents in the pretty towns of Henley-On-Thames (you might know it from The Social Network) and Wallingford (plenty of Midsomer Murders filmed here) and when I was about 4 we moved to the coast in Dorset where I did things like geography field trips to pretty places like Corfe Castle. Later on, I lived near to the village of Turville where The Vicar of Dibley was filmed, and when I went to college in the north of England, I lived in other lovely towns and villages like Ambleside and regularly hiked to my favourite lake from the village of Grasmere.  
From my experiences of living in and around English villages, there are certain aspects that make them the lovely things they are - an old church, sometimes a castle, ruins, or at least a long sense of history. They tend to have few roads and houses, wooden sign posts the wrong way around, usually at least one pub but not always shops. They have lots of flowers and hanging baskets, and are in rural locations, with red telephone boxes or post boxes, walled cottage gardens full of lavender and roses, and old stone buildings with moss or plants growing up them. Sometimes the house might have a thatched roof, and the door is usually low so you have to stoop as you enter into rooms with beamed ceilings. Villages almost always have a graveyard with falling down headstones and lots of graves with similar surnames on them. If you are really lucky, then there might be a village green where people play cricket in the summer and eat cucumber sandwiches or drink tea during the afternoon tea break, or perhaps a duck pond or some kind of stream or river flowing through them. Sometimes the village has a ford that you have to cross to get into the village. With a stone bridge or creepy looking old forest and trees filled with bluebells. But best of all, the village pub has a beer garden and on sunny days you can sit outside on a rickety wooden bench and eat fresh, hot crusty rolls filled with ham and pickle (or perhaps you prefer a Ploughmans lunch or pork pie?), and then get cross because the wasps are annoying you and the sun is in your eyes. I love a proper English village! I live in a noisy and stinky town at the moment and am very nostalgic for a childhood filled with villages, so I'm very prone to cozies set in rural England.

Here are a selection to get you started. Let me know if you have other recommendations in the comments section below. Happy reading! 

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Set in a fictional English village
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Set in a fictional English village
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Set in a fictional English village
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Set in a fictional village in the Cotswolds
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Set in the county of Kent
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Set in the county of Berkshire
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Set in the county of Lincolnshire
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Set in a fictional English seaside village
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Set in a fictional English village
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Set in a fictional English village
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Set in a fictional English village
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Set in the fictional village
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Set in the county of Lancashire
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Set in a fictional English village
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Set in the county of Hampshire
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Set in a fictional English hamlet
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Set in a fictional village in the Cotswolds
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Set in a fictional village in the Cotswolds
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Set in the county of Cornwall
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Set in a fictional English village
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Popular British Cozy Mystery Books

6/5/2019

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In yesterday's blog post I wrote about my understanding of what makes a cozy mystery, and what we mean by a British cozy mystery. So today, I thought I would share with you some examples of popular British cozy mystery books. I'm sorry to say that I've not yet managed to read most of these, but I'm certainly going to be adding them to my 'to be read' pile. I'd love to know if you have read any of these, or perhaps you have other books you would like to recommend. I'll add one of my own books to the mix as well in case you want to give it a whirl. Happy Reading!
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Lady Emily Hardcastle is an eccentric widow with a secret past. Florence Armstrong, her maid and confidante, is an expert in martial arts. The year is 1908 and they’ve just moved from London to the country, hoping for a quiet life.
But it is not long before Lady Hardcastle is forced out of her self-imposed retirement. There’s a dead body in the woods, and the police are on the wrong scent. Lady Hardcastle makes some enquiries of her own, and it seems she knows a surprising amount about crime investigation…
As Lady Hardcastle and Flo delve deeper into rural rivalries and resentment, they uncover a web of intrigue that extends far beyond the village. With almost no one free from suspicion, they can be certain of only one fact: there is no such thing as a quiet life in the country.

City girl Poppy desperately wants to pay off her debts, quit her dead-end job, find her father... oh, and keep a plant alive. But she knows that these are just hopeless dreams--until the day a letter arrives. Suddenly, Poppy is on a train heading deep into the English countryside to claim a mysterious inheritance. And the last thing she expects to receive is a cottage garden nursery--complete with romantic climbing roses, scented herbs, a bossy, talkative ginger cat... and a dead body.
Now she must solve the mystery or risk losing her new home and the chance for a fresh start. But who would want to murder a gardener in a sleepy little village? Could a reclusive inventor have something to do with the killing? What about the brooding crime author next door? And why is her long-lost cousin so desperate for her to sell the cottage?
Poppy might not know her pansies from her petunias, but that doesn't stop her digging for clues. The only problem is - she could be digging her own grave too...

When a strange child follows her home on the train from London, Ella Bridges feels bound to help her. However she soon discovers the child is not what she seems.

Having recently moved into a large home on Linhay Island, affectionately known locally as The Yellow Cottage, Ella finds herself at the centre of a murder investigation thanks to a special gift from the previous house owner.

Along with her unusual sidekick, a former cottage resident, Ella follows clues which take her to the heart of London. 
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As the mystery unravels she is forced to enter the lion's den to solve the crime and stop the perpetrator. But can she do it before she becomes the next victim? 

After the recent death of her mother and the dissolution of her marriage, thirty-something Eden Elliott is seriously in need of a fresh start. At the urging of her best friend, bestselling author Ami Pederson, Eden decides to embark on an open-ended trip to the picturesque village of Glenkillen in the Scottish Highlands, to do some hands-on research for a book of her own. But almost as soon as Eden arrives in the quaint town, she gets caught up in a very real drama…
 
The town’s sheep shearer is found murdered—clipped with his own shears—and the locals suspect Vicki MacBride, an outsider whose father’s recent death left her the surprise heir to his lucrative sheep farm. Eden refuses to believe the affable heiress is a murderer, but can she prove that someone is out to frame her new friend before she finds herself on the receiving end of more shear terror?

Retired PR boss Agatha Raisin is enjoying life in her pretty Cotswold village of Carsely. It even seems likely that the attractive new vet, Paul Bladen, has taken a shine to her. But before romance can blossom, Paul is killed in an accident with Lord Pendlebury's horse. Only the circumstances are rather suspicious.
Agatha decides she must once more play amateur investigator. And this cloud has a silver lining - she can persuade her usually stand-offish neighbour, James Lacey, to become her partner in the quest. As usual, Agatha is quite prepared to rush in, heedless of the lurking menace to both James and herself.

A sheepdog in training. A flock under threat. Can he find a killer before the case unravels?Beau dreams of being a champion sheepdog just like his aunt. With the help of new livestock friends and a kind-hearted farmer, he vows to lead the herd proudly through the lush valleys of South Wales. But when one of the sheep goes missing, Beau never expected a woolly crime scene…
While his aunt warns him not to get too friendly with the flock, his connection with the sheep gets him both respect and a target on his back. As the brave pup frantically sniffs for clues, he's got one chance to solve the mystery before the farm starts counting sheep for all the wrong reasons.
Will Beau learn the ropes in time to protect his friends from a flock fatality?

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What is a British Cozy Mystery?

5/5/2019

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What is a British Cozy Mystery?
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It might surprise you to learn that I had no clue what a cozy mystery was, even though I had been working on films and television dramas for some 20 years. In fact, it wasn't until I was on the set of an Agatha Christie series and had started writing books myself, that I came to learn that the books and TV programmes I had devoured all my life were considered to be 'cozy mysteries'. How is that possible you might ask? Well, the thing is, though I was and still am one of those people who love hanging around libraries and book shops, I had never seen a section entitled 'cozy mysteries' and even today, I've not come across a single label that even mentions the word 'cozy' or 'cosy' (the preferred British and Australian spelling). I even asked for cozy mystery books in some of the bigger book shops and chains and was met with a confused face, yet ask for the sci-fi, romance, or gardening section and you have no problem at all being guided to rows and rows of books to choose from. This is pretty surprising when you come to realise that the second biggest selling genre on Amazon - romance being the number one most popular genre- is cozy mystery. I am so jealous of readers in the US who post pictures of their cozy book hauls from book shops and even from thrift stores. It just doesn't seem to be a thing here in the UK (FYI, I'm planning to change all that with the first National Cozy Mystery Book Day in September, but I'm really going to need your help with this!). I am longing for the day when I can walk right up to the cozy mystery section of Waterstones, WHSmiths, Foyles, or Blackwells and have a range of books to choose from - including my own! 

Yet the genre is hugely popular in Britain, and when these kinds of books do appear, they are simply stacked on the shelf alongside 'hardboiled' crime and thriller books. And even then, you will most likely only find the books of Agatha Christie. It is a sad fact of life here in Britain (Britain is made up of the countries England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland), that the cozy mystery is just not a genre that people know the name of, even though every other television show could in fact be considered a cozy; Poirot, Miss Marple, Death in Paradise, Rosemary and Thyme, Shakespeare and Hathaway, Father Brown, Cadfael, Hetty Wainthropp Investigates, Jonathan Creek, Midsomer Murders...you get the picture!

That makes it even more ironic that British Cozies are a bit of a thing, loved by Anglophiles the world over, and often not written by British authors. But there are plenty of great books and authors to choose from: Rhys Bowen, Carola Dunn,  Nancy Atherton, Robin Stevens for a start.

What is a Cozy Mystery?

A cozy (or cosy) mystery is just that - COZY. It makes you feel warm and snug. It is a sub-genre of crime fiction, but without the explicit sex and violence, and the person doing the investigating or solving the mystery is generally an amateur sleuth rather than a police officer. It usually features quirky characters, sometimes a bit of humour, but is generally light-hearted and good always wins in the end and just desserts are served once the mystery is solved.   

Cozy mysteries are the kind of book that you don't get embarrassed about when your child or granny finds them and starts to read out loud.  ​The focus is on the atmosphere rather than the violence or murder itself. The murder tends to happen 'off stage' as it were.  

What is a British Cozy Mystery?

A British cozy mystery to me, is a cozy mystery that takes place in Britain or at a stretch has British characters as the lead characters. Though some people might argue that a British cozy mystery could be defined as a cozy mystery written by a British author, but I'm not sure that I strictly agree with that. My Dead on Doughnuts story has British characters and is partly set in Oxford, but the majority of the book is set on a fictional ski resort in Austria, with other European characters taking lead roles. Even though I'm a Brit, I'm not sure that I would consider this a British cozy mystery. Compared to 'Baa'd to the Bone' which is set on a farm near Swansea, Wales, and is definitely a British cozy mystery. 

To me, the magic of the British cozy mystery is that it evokes the senses - the smell of an English rose in a fabulous Downton Abbey style manor house garden, the taste of bangers and mash in some backstreet London cafe, the sound of the River Thames flowing past the chiming Big Ben, or the look of the colourful beach huts and seagulls eating from fish and chip wrappers at the seaside in Brighton. It should make you nostalgic for everything British. I've lived all over the world and it was only when I started to live and make friends in other cultures that I started to really understand this whole Anglophile thing. As an ex-pat there were things that I came to miss about Britain (salad cream, Cheddar cheese, tea with milk, Branston pickle, Baked Beans on toast, British sarcasm) and these are what really bring a British cozy mystery to life. Brits are strange creatures (myself included) and you can usually spot them a mile off when you see them abroad. I used to live in the West Indies and I knew a Brit from far away, because they were usually lobster pink from over exposing themself to the sunshine, or had their shirt tucked into their shorts, or wore socks with their sandals. They generally looked grumpy and uptight, but at the end of their holiday they blended in a little more with their surroundings, and then looked miserable again as they realised it was time to return home. I'm stereotyping here, but you get the gist. Probably why I loved that first episode of Death in Paradise so much as it was something I could definitely relate to!

British cozies include things like references to the weather, and expressions or words that have resulted from an island nation shaped by invaders and their languages over hundreds of years. As I say, it is about the atmosphere that the author creates - this is what makes a British cozy mystery for me.  
​In many ways Death in Paradise has all the feels of a true British cozy mystery because of the strong main character Richard Pool and references to British quirks, as well as being set on a fictional island with historical connections to Britain. Apart from which, the Brits generally have a love/hate relationship with anything French, so we get these vibes even more so with Death in Paradise because we see the Britishness presented against a contrasting backdrop.  Plus tea references, sarcasm, and being a misery or grump. Death in Paradise doesn't really meet the cozy criteria since it is based on a police department, but it certainly has all the cozy feels! 

​What makes a story a 'cozy' or 'British cozy' for you? Do you have any favourite settings - pub, manor house, tea room? Do you have any favourite authors of British cozies?  I'd love to know what you think in the comments section below. Don't forget that you can get all of my books BEFORE I publish them on Amazon, for $1 a month by becoming a patron.
More Posts About British Cozy Mysteries
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Free and Hot New Release Cozy Mysteries for the Weekend Ahead

3/5/2019

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Never Miss a Free Book Friday Again
PLEASE NOTE: Whilst I do my best to make sure that all of the cozy mysteries included are free to download at time of writing, they do sometimes revert back to their regular price as the promo period ends. I have zero control over this, the authors themselves set the price promos, each author lives in a different time zone and even then, glitches with technology, etc can mean that the book is no longer on offer. Make sure that you double check the price before downloading. 
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​Free Kindle Books on Promotion this Week

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