Beware of readers bearing guns… I asked Mister John Dacombe to fact-check a rather explosive passage in Scatterwood. “Oh no,” he said, “you’d have to turn the flintlock on its side and use the spark to set off the powder trail.” “How would that work?” I asked, foolishly. “Come up north and find out,” he replied. “Our […]

I’m delighted to announce that The Pigeonhole, a very cool new publishing house, are serialising both The Bitter Trade and Scatterwood. It’s a brilliant new way to share the experience week by week with friends and fellow readers around the world. If you have, then do please tell your friends about it. They have some really interesting original titles, […]

The Bitter Trade’s plot follows hard on the heels of the Monmouth Rebellion. I asked the 17th century historian Andrea Zuvich (aka The 17th Century Lady) to share some of her expertise on the Duke of Monmouth and his attempted coup in 1685. Portrait: Museum of Somerset Andrea Zuvich writes: If there’s one historical person you need to know about from […]

I’m tickled to be heading back to Barton’s – Peter Snell and his team are a lot of fun. Peter really knows how to sell a book – he reads them, enjoys them, and shares them – and he REALLY knows how to tell a story. If you’re passing near Leatherhead, do drop in and […]

“Jamaica, rising stormily out of the night horizon. Mountains in shades of winter grey, floating on a blazing strip of light: the Sodom of the Caribbean; sleepless, home of the damned…” In Scatterwood, Calumny Spinks faces a new and deadly challenge.