Double delight

I know I’m meant to do it for the love of it, and honestly, most of the time I do: Sam, Martha, Wilson and I sit in my back bedroom (grandly called “the study”) and between us we put enough words on the page to release a new adventure every eighteen months or so.  And it is a pleasure and a privilege to be able to spend all those hours on something so self-indulgent and enjoyable.  But I cannot deny that it is thrilling to get recognition for the effort and the hours and the words.  And in the past couple of days, I have had double recognition!

The marvellous Jo writes a book review blog called JaffaReadsToo (Jaffa being her feline office manager) and on her regular feature Hist Fic Saturday she graciously published a blushingly lovely review of “Heir Apparent”.  Jo has been a supporter of the series since “Fatal Forgery”, when I was casting around for reviewers of historical fiction and she kindly agreed to take a punt on a complete unknown (whereas now I have reached the dizzy heights of “not quite unknown”).  I was particularly nervous about sending her “Heir Apparent”, as it has the most complicated plot so far and – with Jo’s sharp eye – I knew that any inconsistencies would be laid bare…  Thankfully she and Jaffa have given it their paw-print of approval – calling the Sam books “perhaps one of the best historical crime series I have read” – and I can breathe once more.

And then yesterday I was travelling home on a crowded train, having been separated from my phone all day by the welcome distraction of a family gathering, when I spotted that the wonderful Helen Hollick of the Discovering Diamonds book review website has named “Heir Apparent” her Book of the Month for November 2019!  She had already published a lovely review, so this is an unexpected extra plaudit – and comes with the spiffy badge that you can see on the left of the page.  Helen, it goes without saying, is a doyenne of historical fiction – as both a writer and a reader – and her opinion is one of the most valued around.  I did a mini dance of delight on the train (95% internal, so as not to alarm other passengers) and then had celebratory fish and chips for supper.  What a week!

My far-from-Blue Monday

What a day!  It has quite restored my faith in humanity and – perhaps more usefully – my faith in plodding on with book marketing (of which more in the next post: I’ve found some new ideas and will let you know how they go).  You remember that a while ago (at the end of November) I moaned about writing in to an airline magazine with an idea and not hearing back?  Well, today I had this lovely email out of the blue (airline magazine reference – geddit?): “Thanks very much for your email – somehow I hadn’t read it or realised what it was!  Please could you supply a hi-res profile pic of yourself that we could use in the magazine?  I think we may be able to use your ‘Inspiration Time’ page in our April issue.”  No promises, obviously, and the poor woman may be quite put off by a hi-res photo of a gurning Grossey and fear that it will cause panic in the aisles, but you never know.  If anyone is travelling anywhere with FlyBe in April, you’ll have to check for me.

And that’s as if the day wasn’t marvellous enough already, with the appearance this morning of the latest (get me: not the first, not the only, but the latest) five-star review of “Portraits of Pretence”.  Jo Barton, who blogs under the name JaffaReadsToo, has been a stalwart supporter of Sam from the outset but she is a professional book reviewer and blogger, so I know she won’t be complimentary just for the sake of it.  The terror of writing a series (much outweighed by the joys, but still, a genuine terror) is that the new one won’t measure up to the old ones.  )If you’ve been following the recent excoriation of the latest “Sherlock” episodes, you will know what I mean.)  But HUGE sigh of relief: Jo reckons that “Portraits” sits as it should alongside the other Planks.

The more, the merrier

I really can’t get over the kindness of reviewers and other authors, who have rallied round to help me promote “Portraits of Pretence” in particular and the Sam Plank series in general.  Today, for instance, fellow historical author Victoria Blake has featured a Q&A with me on her blog.  When she suggested the idea and I had bitten her hand off, she sent me the questions and apologised for there being so many, and said that I could have a fortnight to reply to them.  Well, give me a chance to talk about Sam, and there’s no fortnight needed – she had her answers the same day.

It’s a fascinating thing, this writerly co-operation and mutual support.  I think what we all realise is that it’s not a zero sum game.  Yes, when someone is choosing what to read next, there is an element of competition and elimination: if they’re reading Victoria’s book, they’re not reading mine.  But the more good books there are out there, and the more variety there is, the more people will become readers.  And the more people read, the more capacity they seem to develop for reading.  I know myself that when I’m on a reading jag, I can gobble down a book a day.  So thank you Victoria, and thank you Jo, and thank you to all the reviewers and authors who have taken time from their own work to promote mine – I am so very grateful.

“Portraits” goes promotion potty!

This is turning into quite a day.  The lovely Toppings bookshop in Ely has agreed to stock “Portraits of Pretence” and so I planned a delivery run today.  Realising that this gives me the perfect excuse to celebrate (again!) the publication of the book in the very building where I first worked on the Sam Plank series (while I was enrolled on the Gold Dust mentoring programme, when “Fatal Forgery” was a twinkle in my eye, my mentor Jill Dawson and I would meet here for cake), I have booked lunch at the Old Fire Engine House.  But before that I had to cycle out to the Fitzwilliam Museum shop to drop off the three copies that they have agreed to try to sell – that’s two stockists in one day!

As if that wasn’t enough, I wandered over to Amazon this morning (three stockists in one day!) and spotted that I have two five-star reviews for “Portraits”.  With comments like “beautifully researched”, “immense charm” and “assured and entertaining”, my cup runneth over.

And then – and then! – my generous reviewer Jo (she of the delightful book blog Jaffareadstoo) has featured me and a chapter of “Portraits” on her blog today.  So far I have been a very selfish blogger; every post I have done has been written by me, and in essence has been about me.  This will change, as I can’t continue to benefit from all this kindness without reciprocating.  But for today, I am wallowing, wallowing I tell you, in “Portraits” promotion.  And you know what?  It’s made me start to miss Sam, and I know I have two years in which to write “Plank 5” but perhaps I’ll just write a few notes, and read up on the weather in 1828, and do some research on slavery in the Caribbean-but-not-the-places-you-think-of, and…

“A superior time travelling machine”

Today did not start well: I slipped going down the stairs first thing, and now have a very large and painful bruise on my bottom.  And my dignity.  But then I heard from one of my reviewers, the lovely Jo at Jaffareadstoo, and she has written me the most wonderful review.  I’ll leave you to read it for yourself, but it is such a fillip to my spirits, and makes me determined to get back to Sam this very afternoon.  I’m beaming like a loon.