Tag Archives: cozy crime

The return of Abby Finch, in the vineyard, with a murder…

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Maybridge Murder Mystery #4

Cover of Murder in the Vineyard by Liz Fielding, A country house against a setting sun sky.It’s a golden summer’s day in the Cotswolds. And garden designer Abby Finch is about to uncork the perfect murder! 

I am absolutely thrilled to introduce my latest Maybridge Murder Mystery, Murder in the Vineyard, which is available for pre-order now and will be published on 8 September.

This is the fourth outing of garden designer, Abby Finch, who has the unfortunate habit of stumbling over dead bodies and, on a couple of occasions, falling under suspicion as the perpetrator.

It’s a strong motive for doing her best to uncover the truth with the help of her friends, estate agent Megan West and police officer Dee Newcombe.

One of the main differences between writing romance, which I did for thirty years, and crime, is the amount of research involved. If anyone in my own circle died in suspicious circumstances, my search history would certainly raise eyebrows.

Research

Cover of the book POISON, with poisonous plants against a black background.My search for poisons – especially the less detectable ones – has been extensive! As is my library…

But before I get to the murder method, I need a victim and a location. In some instances, the one leads to the other.

In the case of Murder in the Vineyard, it was the location that came first.

The Liberta Hive, plus a couple of other author friends and their partners, were on a writing retreat in Dorset which, happily, was located next to the Bride Valley Vineyard.

The Vineyard

A vineyard tour and tasting was booked. Well, it would have been rude not to. And here we are sitting under an awning, with the vineyard in the background and a lot of glasses on the table. The wine was wonderful. Quite a lot of it went home with us.

Group of authors sitting beneath a canopy enjoying a research trip to a vineyard which is in the background.

From l to r – Janet Gover with her husband, Louise Allen with her husband, Joanna Maitland, Liz Fielding and Sarah Mallory with her husband.

So, having my location – and a title – my victim wasn’t hard to find. After that, it’s all about finding who might have wanted them dead. Oh, and what to do about the dog? Did I mention that there’s a dog? There’s a picture of her lower down.

For those of you who have read the previous books, June and Beattie have a bigger role in this story. I love them, but I put them both through the wringer this time.

Lovely Jake is there of course, urging caution, worrying about Abby getting herself into danger but well aware that once she’s got her teeth into a problem, she won’t let go.

And it isn’t only a suspected murder that has Abby worried. She has other responsibilities that are causing her concern. She has a lot on her mind. And then she encounters a dog.

The dog

Scout. Scruffy grey mongrel dog lying in a garden..

bigstock-140158661.jpg

The dog came out of nowhere and Abby Finch, with no time to brake, instinctively swerved.

Her tyres squealed in protest and the hedge rattled against the colourful paintwork of her van before it jerked to a halt and stalled. It wouldn’t have won any prizes as an emergency stop but both she and the dog were in one piece.

But that, of course, is not the end of the problem. Abby can’t leave the dog running loose on a busy road. She’s wearing the collar of an animal rescue centre, close by on land owned by the May Valley Vineyard, and that’s where she takes it.

What happens next?

VineyardSearching for the current carer of the dog, Abby and the woman who runs the rescue centre, find Clementine Courtenay.

The elegant, stately lady, a doyenne of the county set and a total legend as a vigneron, is lying beside a stream in the vineyard she had planted fifty years earlier. And it’s clear that she’s celebrated her last prize winning vintage.

The police assume that she must have slipped and drowned. But June, Abby’s neighbour and Clemmie’s close friend, is adamant that something is wrong. Before she knows it, Abby is up to the handle of her border fork in a murder investigation.

Between jilted lovers, greedy offspring and bitter rivals, Clementine kept her friends close and her enemies closer still. What secrets will Abby find fermenting in the darkest corners of the Courtenay family cellar?

And how will Abby handle an affair that comes uncomfortably close to home?

The early reviews from Netgalley are coming in. Here are a few of the comments.

“Great atmosphere, enjoyable plot, and characters who feel like old friends.”
“…wonderfully reminiscent of a classic Agatha Christie-style mystery…”
“I’m sorry, why isn’t this already being made into a brit box/masterpiece mystery episode?”
“Perfect for anyone who loves quintessentially British cosy mysteries.”
“Cannot wait to see what Abby gets up to next.”  (I’m busy working on it!)
“And the dog!”  (Her name is Scout.)

 

Murder in the Vineyard is available to pre-order here at a launch price of 99p/99c or, if you’re a reviewer, it’s available on Netgalley, here.

And my publisher, Joffe Books, are celebrating the publication of the new Abby Finch mystery with a fabulous prize for one lucky reader – a £50 Virgin Experience Voucher. Sign up for their newsletter – free books every week – or their FB page to get the latest news.

Liz Fielding

Liz

Cosy Crime? How Can Crime be Cosy? (Or Cozy)

Two French cheeses on a wooden counter, with shelves of individual cheeses in some disorder behind.

Image by corinnabarbara from Pixabay

This week I’ve found myself distracted by wrestling with this conundrum: how can a crime be cosy?

Yes, my current book is proving particularly troublesome. And yes, this problem is a nice distraction from tearing my hair out. But it’s not entirely irrelevant to my work in progress. I discovered this when a kind friend asked about my book, when we bumped into each other at the cheese counter. Continue reading →

Why romance writers turn to crime…

Changing genre to crime

Cover of Murder Among the Roses by Liz FieldingSince I made the major step to turn to crime writing (with just a touch of romance) I’ve noticed how many other romance authors have decided to turn to crime.

In my case, the story that became Murder Among the Roses (which is out in audio later this month) had been at the back of my mind for years. I had written a few thousand words, but had never had time to take a serious look at it. But it never let go. It was always there, a little voice nagging at me to get on with it.

It was lockdown, combined with the end of a publishing contract that did it. I realised that if I didn’t write it then, I never would. That gave me the push to take six months away from romance and go for it.

Crime needs more Characters

Cover of Murder Under the MistletoeIt was a sharp learning curve. Writing crime is a lot more complex than romance, no matter how many twists and turns it takes to get to the happy ending.

You need a lot more characters for one thing or, as I quickly discovered, the murderer is going to be obvious from about chapter two!

And some advice to anyone thinking of starting a series. You need to keep a very clear bible of who they all are, as they appear, and all the places you mention.

But, with the publication of the second of my Maybridge Murder Mysteries – Murder Under the Mistletoe – this week, I decided to ask a few other authors why they had been drawn to the crime genre. Continue reading →

Poisonous plants lurking in the border

Gardening…

When I started writing my Maybridge Mysteries series, the opening scene for the first book had been in my “ideas” file for years. And I already knew that my main character, Abby Finch, was going to be a gardener.

I had a title in my head – A Rose for the Dead. Since I envisaged a series, it seemed like a really good idea to have a plant name in all the titles.

However, since it appears to be the convention for cozy crime is to have either murder, or death in the title, my publisher, Joffe Books, changed it to Murder Among the Roses.

Having spent thirty years having my working titles changed by my publisher, this didn’t come as a huge surprise. I still prefer mine but whatever sells the book. And I had my flower.

Since the use of plants was going to be part of the branding of the series (next up this autumn, Murder With Mistletoe), I fell down the research rabbit hole looking for plant life that can kill. Continue reading →

Books Set in Bookshops

Reading Recs

I was talking to my daughter over lunch the other day about the books we’re reading.

She belongs to a book group that reads “serious” fiction and, coming up on their list is Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus. It’s a book much loved by Sophie Weston and I have taken advantage of Amazon’s “download a sample” button to get a feel for the voice, the story.

Reading cozy crime

My daughter and I talked about a crime series that I’ve read (not cozy) Harry Bingham’s Fiona Griffiths series. Annoyingly, it appears to have stopped, leaving a lot of questions unanswered.

She downloaded the first book but she’s not sure. She didn’t quite take to the main character and while I read very fast on kindle, she listens on audio (she has three children and doesn’t have time to sit down with a book) which gives the listener a surprisingly different experience.

I knew the series was set in Wales but she was getting the accents, which can make listening hard work.

Books set in bookshops

Then, because I enjoy cozy crime, she mentioned a book by Helen Cox, called A Body in the Bookshop that she thought I might like and we started talking about how many books are set in and around bookshops.

Amy suggested I try the Pultizer prize winner, The Sentence by Louise Erdrich, which was on her book group list. Time for another sample because there is something inherently appealing about a book set in a bookshop.

I fell in love with Helen Hanff’s 84 Charing Cross Road a lifetime ago – and Anthony Hopkins in the film, playing the man with whom she had a long and profitable correspondence.

Anne Bancroft fell in the love with the book, too, and her husband, Mel Brookes, bought the film rights so that she could play Helen.

Romances set in bookshops

Continue reading →

The Amateur Sleuth: Guest Blog by Lesley Cookman

crime writer Lesley Cookman on the amateur sleuth

Lesley Cookman
creator of amateur sleuth Libby Sarjeant

Today our guest blogger is Lesley Cookman, an author who is probably most widely known for murder mysteries featuring her amateur sleuth, Libby Sarjeant.

But Lesley also writes in lots of other genres.

Lesley is the author of seven pantomimes, a Music Hall Musical, two romances and sixteen books in the Libby Sarjeant series. She has also written the first in what she hopes will become a new series about an Edwardian Concert Party. In describing her professional life, Lesley says she “writes a lot, reads a lot and occasionally acts a bit.” Sounds like a typically tongue-in-cheek description!

Libertà hive members know what it’s like to keep trying to find new plots for romantic entanglements, but Lesley’s challenge is probably even greater. Her sleuth is established, but how do you find yet another scenario for an unexplained death that your amateur sleuth can solve?

Over to Lesley…

frustrated crime writer seeks plotNew Ideas for the Amateur Sleuth

 

New ideas for the amateur sleuth?

“If only,” says the beleaguered writer.
“Can’t wait,” says the eager reader.

Suspension of Disbelief

murder will out

I sometimes think that, apart from Fantasy Fiction, the amateur sleuth mystery is the one genre in which readers are the most determined to suspend disbelief. Take my own Libby Sarjeant. How could one middle-aged woman actually fall over murders in sixteen novels, one novella and a short story? That’s eighteen crimes she has managed to investigate. Continue reading →