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Kathy Shuker

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Effie K...
409 books | 243 friends

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Kathy Shuker

Goodreads Author


Born
The United Kingdom
Website

Genre

Influences
Too many to mention individually!

Member Since
March 2014

URL


I am a British author of absorbing and compelling mysteries, stories of intrigue and long held secrets. I trained as a physiotherapist but a back injury forced me to change career and, after studying design I worked as a freelance artist.
I started writing many years ago and now write full-time. I have written four stand-alone mysteries as well as four novels in the Dechansay Bright Mysteries, a series featuring two itinerant art restorers who become involved in a range of intrigues on their travels.
I live in Devon in southwest England. Art is still a major passion as are the natural world and music. Sadly, despite years of trying, (and the tolerance of both husband and neighbours) mastery of the piano, guitar and fiddle remains as elusive a
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Popular Answered Questions

Kathy Shuker I don't think I've ever suffered complete writer's block fortunately. I write fiction and If I'm stuck with a scene or a section of plot I distance my…moreI don't think I've ever suffered complete writer's block fortunately. I write fiction and If I'm stuck with a scene or a section of plot I distance myself for a short while, try to do something easy on the mind like taking a walk or working in the garden. Then my sub-conscious seems to work on it and often the answer just comes to me. If I try too hard I can just go round in circles. Coming back to a story with fresh eyes is invaluable.(less)
Kathy Shuker Good question! Lots of things. I love inhabiting the worlds I create, getting to know my characters and how they will react to what life will throw at…moreGood question! Lots of things. I love inhabiting the worlds I create, getting to know my characters and how they will react to what life will throw at them, juggling all the different pieces of the jigsaw so the plot intertwines but hopefully comes out making sense at the end! I also love playing with the language, choosing the right words to - with luck - create the same image in the mind of the reader as I have in my own. Despite the inevitable angst, it's a privilege to be able to do it.(less)
Average rating: 4.07 · 149 ratings · 50 reviews · 8 distinct worksSimilar authors
Silent Faces, Painted Ghosts

4.14 avg rating — 36 ratings — published 2014 — 6 editions
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Deep Water Thin Ice

3.82 avg rating — 33 ratings — published 2014 — 9 editions
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That Still and Whispering P...

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The Silence Before Thunder

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A Crack in the Varnish (Dec...

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The Angel Downstairs (Decha...

4.13 avg rating — 8 ratings3 editions
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By a Hand Unknown (Dechansa...

really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 6 ratings3 editions
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The House at Dart's End

it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating2 editions
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More books by Kathy Shuker…

The fourth instalment in the Dechansay Bright mystery series

It's been nearly two years since The Angel Downstairs was published. I'm shocked. Where has the time gone? In truth, along with the inevitable demands of everyday life, I've spent it writing the next book in the Dechansay Bright series. No AI (just saying...), but a load of research and then the usual drafting and redrafting, editing and re-editing that I always do. Hard work but fun.

Book number 4 Read more of this blog post »
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Published on April 06, 2026 05:24 Tags: coastal-setting, mystery, series, standalone-story
A Crack in the Varnish By a Hand Unknown The Angel Downstairs
(3 books)
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4.14 avg rating — 29 ratings

Kathy’s Recent Updates

The House at Dart's End by Kathy Shuker
"Every time I start reading one of Kathy Shuker's books I am suddenly taken aback and I remember how well she writes… Her prose is clear, confident and effortless. The pages seem to be writing themselves. I’m a big fan, I have read all her books.
I esp" Read more of this review »
" Anisha wrote: "Book added!"
Thank you so much Anisha. Brilliant. You're a star!
...more "
220
"Ah, reviews. The Holy Grail of every merchant, company, production, businessperson, artist, entrepreneur, and, yes, author. Photo by Deniz Demirci on UnsplashWe need them, we want them; we pursue them, convinced they’re not only heartening to t..." Read more of this blog post »
" In the late 1960s and mid-1970s, so many of us suffered through the anxieties of a world tainted by the shadow of war and political hypocrisy. Some sixty or so years later, the questions the Vietnam War raised still echo. The following poem is..." Read more of this blog post »
Kathy Shuker wants to read
The End of Her Honeymoon by Marie Belloc Lowndes
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Kathy Shuker wants to read
Theo of Golden by Allen  Levi
Theo of Golden
by Allen Levi (Goodreads Author)
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Kathy Shuker and 2 other people liked Effie Kammenou's review of Theo of Golden:
Theo of Golden by Allen  Levi
"This is a book that will stay with me long after I've finished it. From the start, I knew this story had religious undertones, and wondered if the protagonist, Theo, Greek for God, was an angel or a saint. The coffeehouse where he finds the portraits" Read more of this review »
Kathy Shuker wants to read
My Friends by Fredrik Backman
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" Sounds wonderful! "
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Quotes by Kathy Shuker  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“Letting go’ sounded like such an easy thing to do...but actually involved a lot of pain.”
Kathy Shuker, Deep Water, Thin Ice

“There was almost an air of penance about her, as if, by doing these dirty jobs which she found so distasteful, she was trying to repay some debt. And, to judge from the shadowy sadness which she carried around her like a mantle, it was about as effective as throwing in spadefuls of sand to dam a flowing river.”
Kathy Shuker, Deep Water, Thin Ice

“He had found that jealousy – or perhaps the fear of betrayal – was no respecter of age. Indeed, if anything, he thought getting older simply made it worse; he felt more vulnerable now.”
Kathy Shuker, Silent Faces, Painted Ghosts

Topics Mentioning This Author

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“Look at how a single candle can both defy and define the darkness.”
Anne Frank

“The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions - the little, soon forgotten charities of a kiss or a smile, a kind look or heartfelt compliment.”
Samuel Taylor Coleridge

“The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear”
Aung San Suu Kyi

“Every book, every volume you see here, has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it. Every time a book changes hands, every time someone runs his eyes down its pages, its spirit grows and strengthens.”
Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Shadow of the Wind

“If you knew in advance that something momentous and terrible would happen you’d make an effort to imprint it all in your mind, wouldn’t you, every detail. But of course you don’t know. And perhaps that’s just as well.”
Kathy Shuker, Silent Faces, Painted Ghosts

148434 Devon Book Club — 603 members — last activity May 12, 2026 02:42AM
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This group is moderated by Jessica Bell, publisher of Vine Leaves Press. Jessica is also a widely published indie author and a Goodreads Librarian. Sh ...more
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