The first ever Lee-on-the-Solent literary festival is taking place this Saturday, 9th August. Here’s the programme of events –
There will be books to buy – quite a few authors (including me) will have stalls and of course the bookshop will be open. Please come along if you’ll be in the area. Entry is free and the sun is almost guaranteed to shine!
Two of my cosy (cozy) crime novel ebooks are reduced to 99p (99c) for the next few days.
Disguised Murder and Community Spirit in Little Mallow is the first book in my Little Mallow cosy crime series. Each book is a complete story, but the character’s lives carry on one from another.
‘plenty of twists and turns … a clever plot that keeps you guessing until the end’ 5 stars
‘Patsy’s humour comes through in bursts throughout’ 5 stars
‘moves along at a good pace and was a joy to read.’ 5 stars
‘characters who you care about … as well as concocting a darn good mystery to solve’ 5 stars
Acting Like A Killer is a stand alone novel.
‘ lovely read, gentle but not afraid to confront some difficult areas, all wrapped up with a goodly dose of humour.’ 5 stars
‘felt like I was right there … I love the characters …They seem like real people that I’d love to read more about. 5 stars
‘a delightful read’ 5 stars
Both novels are set on the south coast of England. Both can also be read through kindle unlimited, bought as paperbacks, or requested from the library. The price reduction ends 8th August, when they’ll go back to £2.99 / $3.99.
Selective means, using or categorised by selection, or able to select. It can also mean able to tune into a particular frequency without interruption from others.
I’ve been selective in compiling this set of photos – and if anyone says they don’t like them, I shall employ selective hearing!
Some of my stories, which have previously been published in My Weekly are available to read for free on their website.
A sphinx is a creature with a woman’s head and lion’s body. Sometimes it has wings too. Sphinx-like means an enigmatic or inscrutable person.
When people refer to The Sphinx, they generally mean this one at Giza.
Altruism is unselfishness, concern for other people or regard for others. An altruist is a person who behaves altruistically.
Btw, running this website isn’t simply an altruistic action on my part. You’re supposed to be suckered into buying my books!
That’s quite a bossy post title, but I have a good excuse – it’s also the title of my story in the current The People’s Friend Special. It’s about someone who gets nagged to eat his vegetables. Eating vegetables is good for you, so whilst I’m being bossy, I’ll tell you to make sure you eat at least a few. And drink some water. It’s for your own good!
Stray can mean to wander from the right place (e.g. don’t stray off the path) or to deviate morally (she promised to be faithful, but strayed with at least three of his golfing buddies, a caddy, the chaps in the pro shop and the club barmaid). In that case she could be described as straying or having gone astray (and no doubt called worse things by her husband!).
It can also be a person or thing which has strayed or become lost (I think this dog was a a stray). Stray is also some weird sciency thing which interferes with radio reception, or it can be something isolated or unusual (e.g. most bluebells are blue, but sometimes you see a stray white one).
The former Royal Navy Hospital Haslar, just down the road from me, is being converted into rather nice (and expensive) apartments. On Saturday they had an open day, so I went for a nose round. Sarah from The Bookshop at Lee-on-the-Solent told me there was a library which served cake, so obviously I had to investigate that!
The library is lovely – very comfortable and relaxed. Did I mention the cake? They have an interesting selection of books, many by local authors and including my Little Mallow cosy mystery series. Sarah tells me she’ll also be running a book club there. I believe these facilities are available to anyone, not just those people living in the new apartments.
Browse can mean either to read in a rather unmethodical manner or to look through items for sale or a collection in a similar fashion. Imagine you’re in a bookshop which has a massive sale on and you keep flitting between titles by your favourite authors and pretty, shiny notebooks.
Another meaning of the word browse is vegetation eaten by animals and their method of consuming it. A browser is someone who browses.
So, you could browse the library for a book on browsers browsing on browse, to browse through. By now you maybe raising your eyebrows!