The Christmas season arrived while I was still working on this and that, but I did manage to prise myself away from the computer to meet and greet friends and family – and, despite running out of milk on one important occasion, it all went well. The only really bad thing that happened was that I saw a clothes MOTH!!! one day. Fortunately it was only tiny and I managed to deal with it straight away – not always easy when they’re flying around – and two more since!!! But, my brand new sparkly top has been worn on several occasions and received one or two compliments. I do like being complimented on my taste by people who are well-dressed themselves.
So, the festivities over, what happens next? It takes an effort to switch my mind back to work, but the hardbacks of the latest Bea Abbot – FALSE IMPRESSION – should be hitting library shelves now, and I’m looking forward to the professional reviews in due course, although we’ve had some good ones through NetGalley already. For the storyline, see the end of this letter.
I believe that the Methodist Recorder has my next short story scheduled for the New Year or Epiphany, but I haven’t got a date as yet. This one has my three heroes looking back over the past and it’s called UNFINISHED BUSINESS. If you can’t get hold of a copy and would like to read this story, then e-mail me a request and I will send it to you by email – after it’s officially published.
The latest catalogue from Frances Lincoln does include a Noah’s Ark book for children, but it doesn’t yet have the new pop-up by Francesca Crespi, for which I did the text. However, almost everyone I’ve shown this book to, has wanted to buy a copy, and it is now available for bookshops to order. The child in me loves making Noah and his son saw wood, the clouds drop away from the sun, and the fish swim round and round . . .
Frances Lincoln, ISBN 978-1-84507-937-6.
You may remember that I delivered another Ellie Quicke story to my publishers at the end of November. Then there was the usual difficult wait for my editor’s verdict . . . which fortunately was positive. Although there are a couple of tiny points to clear up in the text, MURDER BY SUSPICION has now gone through for copy editing, and is scheduled for publication in May or June next year. Whew! I’m always on tenterhooks till I hear what my editor thinks about the latest book.
And – you will not be surprised to hear – that on December lst I began work on the next book, which will be a Bea Abbot Mystery called FALSE WALL. I haven’t got very far with it over the Christmas period, and I’ve got to do some more research before I’m happy with the development of the plot but at least I have made a start.
What else? Well, there is a new e-book out on Amazon for SUE FOR MERCY, which was the very first book I ever had accepted for publication in 1974. The heroine is a practical girl, somewhat overweight. When she rescues the handsome victim of a road crash, she has no idea what she’s in for . . ..
And, sometime in January the Ellie Quicke MURDER IN TIME comes out as a paperback from Severn House. ISBN 978 18475 15186.
A blessing: give kindness to others and surely it will be returned to you in due course.
Veronica Heley
www.veronicaheley.com
http://blog.veronicaheley.com/
Just published: FALSE IMPRESSION, 9th in the Abbot Agency series. Bea has taken in the helpless Dilys, who accidentally infects the agency’s systems with a virus, while Bea’s on-and-off friend Leon also seeks sanctuary with her. Both Leon and Dilys’s boy-friend Orlando had been lured to the car park of a swimming pool where a murderer had been at work – leaving them entangled in a web from which they find it hard to extricate themselves. Everything that happens can be interpreted in different ways and it’s some time before Bea realises exactly who was murdered and why. Before she does so, she and everyone else in the house and at the agency find themselves under siege. Severn House. ISBN 978 0 7278 8445 9.
One of my earliest historicals – My Lord, the Hermit – has just come out on audiobook. Libraries usually stock my audiobooks, so you can ask for it there. CD/9781407951638.
Sue for Mercy, my very first published book, is now out as an e-book, as is Cry for Kit, and The Siege of Salwarpe – which is a romance set in the middle ages.
You can hear me reading various bits and pieces in recordings made by Isis (Soundings) as follows: Podcast & Interview:
https://soundcloud.com/isisaudio/isis-unabridged-podcast-3-veronica-heley-interview
Collected newsletters 2011-2014 (one audio file)
https://soundcloud.com/isis/veronica-heley-newsletters-2011-2014
Links to individual newsletters (click on each title)
https://soundcloud.com/isisaudio/sets/veronica-heley-newsletters
Severn House e-books released recently
Bea Abbot: FALSE STEP: http://aerbook.com/books/False_Step-8687.html
Historical: LONGSWORD: http://aerbook.com/books/Longsword-8830.html
Ellie Quicke: MURDER IN TIME: http://aerbook.com/books/Murder_in_Time-8823.html
UNSUNG HEROES is now available as an e-book. This is a collection of short stories concerning the problems of three retired men and their families, plus some Ellie Quicke short stories. £3.40 UK, and $4.90 USA. http://www.veronicaheley.com/othertitles.php?l1-11
Find details of all the other E-books at http://www.veronicaheley.com/ebooks.php?l1-11