Liz Fielding's Blog

A freebie to start the New Year

I‘m starting the new year with a gift to my wonderful readers. It’s a romance, there’s a very hot hero, a career focussed heroine and a lot of ice cream! I hope you all love it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

You can download it here.

 

And it’s moving day… Box day cardboard moving cardboard box moving day white

This is the last post I’ll be making here.  In 2026. I’ll be blogging at http://lizfielding.blogspot.co.uk/ where, hopefully, I’ll soon be able to share news about the latest Maybridge Mystery and a fun project I’m working on with some friends. I hope to see you all there.

 

Wishing you joy for 2026

Wishing a very happy new year to all my followers, with endless thanks for the support, for the shares, for reading the books. You are cherished!

Bigstock: Happy New Year Table Setting 55634066

With love, Liz

Moving on

My blog has moved.  To all my lovely followers, to keep in touch,  click the link.

Liz’s blog

 

Many thanks to everyone for your support this year, for reading the books and the wonderful reviews.

Wishing you a very happy holiday season with friends, family, your cat or dog and a good book!

I’m off to make mince pies – see you all next year.

It’s been a while

The good news – the really good news – is that I have finally finished the fourth book in my Maybridge Murder Mystery series. – Murder in the Vineyard.

It’s taken far longer than it should, which is what happens when you set off into the mist, flying by the seat of your pants, as you follow your characters through the story.

The Process Sue Grafton

The wonderful Sue Grafton, author of the Kinsey Millhone crime series (A is for Alibi etc) once said that when things got tough with a book she was writing she “relied on the process”

E L Doctorow wrote that “Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.!

It’s what I’ve done all my writing life. Sit down at the keyboard and leave it to my characters to show me the way. If I’ve set them up with a strong enough situation they will show me the way.

It’s a process that has worked for me through nearly eighty romances. I am here to tell you that it does not work for crime. At least not a crime series.

The series

It worked for the first book. New characters that I didn’t know well, who I’d set up with a strong situation and followed to see what would happen. I had a good plot idea for the second book and Abby and I worked it out together. In the third book I threw Abby into a situation that I had already set up in the second book.

By the time I came to the fourth book, I had a title and a great set up.  I wrote the opening, couldn’t figure out how it was going to work. I may get there, but this time the headlights were not helping.

I started again. Wrote fifteen thousand words. Hated it. Scrapped them. (You can see why book 4 has taken a while!)

I was rescued by the dog. Then I had a body. The mist, however, was thick and remained like an old-fashioned London pea-souper as I inched my way to the end.

That is to say that I reached a conclusion, named the murderer and have sent it off to my editor.

Lesson learned

I have always said that when writing my crime novels my sleuth, Abby Finch and I, have worked out what happened together.  This will always be the case to some extent, but I have had to accept that when writing crime, you need a road map and some very good headlights.

When…

Your next question, when will you be able to read it…

Well, there will undoubtedly be revisions coming back at me in the near future – that is normal and a fresh pair of eyes is vital to spot plotholes, repeats and all the other things that you miss when you’ve read something a gazillion times and your brain sees what it expects to see.

Starting research for book five – Murder at the Holly Bush Inn – I’ve discovered at least one error that I missed. Possibly two…

And honestly, not much seems to have in publishing in December, so the chances of get my notes before the middle of January at the earliest are remote.

 

Stock Photo ID: 140158661
Copyright: SerjantKaysa

I will keep you informed but in the meantime, as I mentioned, Murder in the Vineyard starts with a dog.

Meet Scout.

In other news

Harlequin have reverted the English language publishing rights  for some of my romances and, in the gaps, when staring at a blank screen became intolerable, I have published a few more.

Risky Business

Is a two-in-ne containing A Wedding at Leopard Tree Lodge and Anything But Vanilla – available here wide for the first time

And Family for Beginners is a two-in-one,  Mother Makes Three and Her Ideal Husband, again available wide for the first time. (I played with the cover for this one. What do you think?)

All books are available individually on KU at Amazon.

 

This is not on Amazon

Although both these books are available to download from Amazon, I’m aware that some readers prefer to buy from other online stores.

With that in mind I have put this two-in-one edition of two linked books on the Draft to Digital platform, which means that it’s available where ever you prefer to shop.

And because it’s a holiday weekend here in the UK, I’m giving it away free for a few days.

This link will give you all the options.

Free book

On Tuesday I had the thrilling news from my publisher,  Joffe Books that because my  Maybridge Mystery series has been so successful, they have turned it into a a box set.

It’s already a bestseller!

 

There’s thrilling news for you, too. It’s on sale at an introductory price of 99p/99c from Amazon.

Here’s the link

The Maybridge Mysteries Box Set

If you haven’t signed up for Joffe Books newsletter, then I urge you to do so. They don’t just publish crime, but romance and more general work and there are bargains and a free book on offer every Friday.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

…or three

Just a quick heads up that that anthology of three of my classic romances will be free to download from Amazon from today, Saturday 9th August until Tuesday, 12 August.

Here’s the link – which will take you to Amazon wherever you are in the world.

Fill your books, tell all your friends!

Liz Fielding’s Classics

 

An evening at The Actors’ Church

The highlight of this week was a joyful open-air production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at The Actors’ Church, St Paul’s in Covent Garden, London.

We were already winning with the weather. The steamy heat of earlier in the week had been blown away by rain on Wednesday. The sky was a clear, bright blue, the temperature a very pleasant 25C – just perfect in fact.
I was taking my daughter and two granddaughters to see the play and everything dovetailed beautifully. Getting thereThe girls and I caught the train at East Grinstead, my daughter joined us at Hurst Green and we arrived in plenty of time to create a picnic in the M&S food hall at Victoria.

 

Theatre and a picnic – how much better could it get!

 

The taxi dropped us outside the church entrance in Bedford Street – where we saw this pretty little thing parked.Obviously a pink car with hearts cried out to  my romance writer heart (I left the crime writer at home!) and could not go unphotographed. I have cut  it so that the registration number isn’t showing.Inside The Actors’ Church garden

At the entrance to The Actors’ Church, I had my phone in my hand to show our ticket but I was asked my name and the young woman counting us with a welcoming smile said, “There are four of you? You’re all here? Great?” and she ticked us off on her list, then pointed the way. “Bar is on the left, seats on the right. Have a lovely evening.”

So civilised.

The garden

The church garden was full of roses and an impressive array of  hollyhocks – a flower that has always defied me.

We settled ourselves on a bench (maybe a cushion would be a good idea if you can carry one). The show was sold out but  there was plenty of room.

We had half an hour to visit the bar (the gets better bit) tuck into our picnic and then enjoy the lovely ambience as people arrived.

I have to confess that we had got rather carried away in M&S – it was, frankly, a carb fest. But very, very good.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare

Programmes were bought and the show commenced. It had a 1980s vibe with plenty of pop music, terrific moves from the men in the cast and some great acting.

The Dream is, frankly, crazy and the cast hammed it up wonderfully in an utterly joyful production.

They were completely unfazed when St Paul’s  clock struck the hours at eight and nine or, when whatever was happening in Covent Garden on the backside of the church , got a bit noisy.

(For any Rivers of London fans among you, this is the church where Peter Grant met the ghost!)

I can’t wait to go back when there’s something else I want to see.

Getting home

We’d had the foresight to book an AL cab to pick us up which was, frankly, the least successful part of the night. The driver sailed past the pick up point and had to be chased down the road and his route to the station was bizarre to say the least. There are entrances on either side of the station where a taxi can stop. He didn’t find either of them, leaving us to cross a busy road.

Despite his worst efforts  we made it  in plenty of time to catch our train, so no drama.

Last night felt like London at its best. People walking through the famous streets, happy and relaxed, French flags along the Mall to welcome Macron and everything set up for the Pride march today.

My independent bookshop…

I mentioned my visit to  my local indie bookshop  (oh, and by the way it’s Independent Bookshop Week) I was introduced to the author Jane Thynne/C J Carey (not in person – her books).

I was having a cup of coffee with the owner, and he was enthusing about her writing and bringing out copies of her books. When he described Widowland I picked it up and said. “This one. I’m taking this one home.”

Widowland is a dystopian tale set in 1953 at a time when England was in an “alliance” with Germany.

It’s an alternative history, a bit like Fatherland (Robert Harris) but set in the UK. It’s basically a police state with people categorized by status. Women, as is usually the case, come off worse. The lowest of the low are the widowed, childless, women who are not serving a man. They are banished to the edges of society with the smallest rations, the worst jobs, slum housing.

A coronation is about to take place – King Edward VIII and Queen Wallis are about to crowned. They have been waiting since 1940 so that Hitler can be present. Then words from  Mary Wollstencraft’s Vindication of the Rights of Woman, written in red paint, begin to appear on public buildings.

The widows are the prime suspects and Rose Ransom, in the highest category of womanhood, whose job is to rewrite the classics for schoolchildren — taking out the bits where were women find their own voice and challenge men — is sent undercover to find their leader.

I love this kind of dystopian fiction and I thoroughly enjoyed Jane Thynne’s writing.

I have just read her pre WW11 book, Midnight in Vienna and I’m about to start reading her Clara Vine series of thrillers.

I am so looking forward to her event at my local indie book shop later this year.

…eventually

I started Friday morning with a plan. Early rise, write, have my nails done, write, go out to lunch with a friend, write.

The alarm went off at six am. I lingered in the comfort of my bed until 6.30 but then forced myself into the shower, made tea and fired up the laptop. There was, inevitably, a delay while I checked emails, book sales and wasted time messing about on the internet. But not too much time because…nails.

I edited the scene I’d written the day before, havered over a plot point then – because the lovely lady who used to do my nails deserted me to have baby, I set off to grab an early spot at the nail bar.

So far so good

A last minute decision to take my umbrella proved sensible. I was only a couple of hundred yards up the road (yes it’s a hill) when it started to rain. And the nail bar was packed. There wasn’t even waiting room.

Clearly 9.30 on a Friday morning was when, having dropped off their infants at school, the mummies arrived en masse to have their nails gussied up for the weekend.

It was raining heavily by then and there was only one thing to do. Cross the road to The Bookshop – all nooks and crannies and ancient oak beams – for a cup of their very good coffee. They have delicious brownies and shortbread, too, but Saturday is weigh-in day at Slimming World so, with great strength of mind, I resisted.

Always a warm welcome

John, the proprietor and a huge supporter of my books, brought across his mug of tea to join me for a chat.

We talked about publishing, books and the author events he holds regularly. The next one is Marian Boswell and her book, The Kindest Garden – here’s the link should you be around East Grinstead on June 18.

 

He mentioned Jane Thynne (who also writes at C J Carey) who is coming to The Bookshop in September to talk about her latest Clara Vine WW11 set spy thriller

Jane Thynne

By this time the table was covered in books and John picked up a copy of her dystopian thriller, Widowland.

This is London in 1953. Thirteen years have passed since the Grand Alliance between Great Britain and Germany and the Coronation is for Edward VIII.

There are outbreaks of insurgency and suspicion has fallen on Widowland, the run-down slums to which, childless women over fifty have been banished.

Before for Leader arrives in England for the Coronation, Rose Ransom has been tasked with infiltrating Widowland to find the source of the rebellion and ensure that it is quashed.

Reader, I bought it… I am desperate to get started  but first I have to finish my book club choice for this month, The Glass Maker, bought when Tracy Chevalier came to the The Bookshop a couple of months ago.

Finally…

An hour later, with the sun finally making an appearance I went back to the nail bar. The pack had thinned, I took a seat and a little while later the job was done.

I’m ready for my trip into London week.