A woman of letters...... and a Missy Christmas

Good morning friends!

Did you all have a wonderful Christmas?

I have to tell you, one of my presents confirmed that I'm a woman of letters now :)

This is it - a wonderful box frame, with scrabble letters, that spell out all my interests - plus the Series name of my novels - 'The Leaves Series'
All in the Leaves is the first and on sale, now. HERE

Missy had a lovely Christmas too. She had quite a few presents to open - but some of the photos ended up blurry - as you can imagine, when trying to photograph an eager jack russell!

So I'll simply post these few, to give you a flavour ...

Thanks to all who sent our darling girl presents and good wishes.
A happy New Year to you all .

When I met a policeman... purely for research!

It has been a fascinating week on the research front.
You all know that 'All in the Leaves' is part of a series, it being the first book.
The second is 'Leaves for Chloe', with the third and final being 'The House in the Leaves'.
They can all be read independently, so no waiting for the third to actually reach a conclusion!

So, the research.... I was planning an accident in one of the books - so I had a lunch date with a policeman and a coroner's officer to find out what would happen if there were such an accident.

I now know more about accidents and Inquests than I ever knew before. From road tyre marking measurements, to taking of statements, how and when you need to be interviewed in the Police Station; to the fact that Coroner's Inquests are always opened and immediately adjourned. That allows for the release of the body for burial. The Inquest hearing may be another further six months to a year down the line, especially if there is a fatality, which would need a jury trial!

There were so many interesting factors involved, I can see me writing more books, that include all I learned from this most fascinating pair. Only I'll have to change genres. Which I wouldn't mind doing. A meaty murder mystery, perhaps, or maybe even a horror!

This is an interesting road I'm travelling!

My birthday book launch party

We had a lovely time at my birthday book launch party.

We had afternoon tea - and cake. Lots of cake!
Thanks to Tracy for my book cover cake, and thanks to Debra for the Victoria Sponge (cookie shaped!) and the lemon drizzle cake. They were all delicious! 

Thanks also to Sparkling Jewellery, who gave us some gorgeous goody bags to celebrate the event. You're a star and I'm proud to call you friend.

We had about 50 people turn up, staggered through the hours of 12 until 4pm.
Many had already bought my novel 'All in the Leaves' and some downloaded it on the day. If you would like to buy it, the links are HERE

I was so busy socialising and making tea, that I totally forgot to take pictures during the party, and so did my second delegate. In one way, I'm pleased, because it means we were all enjoying ourselves. I'm sorry for the fact there are no pictorial memories of the people here, which I could have included in a scrapbook.

However, I have some fabulous presents to remind myself of the wonderful people who were here!

These lovely flowers - and vase - were sent  from Scotland, by my good friends the McLagans - who couldn't make it on the day, but sent their best wishes.

My darling Missy was present throughout the party - and she was fussed by many. For the love of Battersea Dogs Home, who kept her safe for two years, while she waited for us -- we had a little raffle/loose change donation .....

and that made enough to sponsor a kennel in Battersea for the whole year - and to buy three Christmas dinners too.

Thanks to everyone who came,  to everyone who made this party such a wonderful event. I love you all -and I hope you enjoy my book - All in the Leaves.