A fascinating insight into what 28 modern day crime & mystery authors (including yours truly) think is the lasting legacy of Golden Age detective fiction.

You can read the results of the survey on the Cross Examining Crime website.

Tomorrow is the launch date of The Art Fiasco! Hurrah! In previous years, with previous books, I’ve always had a jazz-filled live launch with 1920s attire at various venues in an around Newcastle upon Tyne. But this year, sadly, due to Coronavirus restrictions, that is not possible. But never fear! Poppy will be lovingly released into the world with a jam-packed online blog tour, hosted by a fantastic crop of book reviewers and Poppy Denby fans. You can follow Poppy’s tour around the internet from Friday 23rd – Friday 30th. She’ll be delighted to have you along.

Here’s a lovely video review (vlog) of The Art Fiasco by Trip Fiction. I’ll be doing a couple of guest posts on their website next week about how I researched locations in Newcastle for the book, giving readers and insight into my process. I’ll post the link next week. For now, enjoy this delightful little review – with your sound turned up!

This week I’m a special guest on Keith Newman’s Northern Culture Show on Radio Northumberland. You can catch me and Keith talking about my Poppy Denby books and doing a brief tour of locations of the latest book set in Newcastle and Northumberland. The show will be aired 1pm tomorrow, 2pm on Saturday and 4pm on Sunday. Tune in via their website, the TuneIn app or ask Alexa to find it for you. www.radionorthumberland.com

Readers of my Poppy Denby books may have noticed that in each of my books there are always some characters with disabilities. There are of course the regular characters who appear throughout the series: the fabulous Aunt Dot who is in a wheelchair and the tough-as-nails editor Rollo Rolandson with dwarfism. However, in each book there are also additional characters with some form of disability.

I have been speaking to disability awareness charity Through The Roof about the reasons I include disabled characters and why I think more novelists don’t do so.

You can read the interview here.

Last night I had the privilege of having a consultation with the incomparable Dr Noir (the founder of Newcastle Noir) talking about my Poppy Denby books, and in particular, The Art Fiasco, set at the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle. The conversation ranged from my great grandfather’s murder, the importance of women’s voices in my books, to where to find loos on 1920s cruise ships. And all over a lovely glass of champers! Here’s a direct link to the video with Dr Noir ..

Poppy Denby, the 1920’s most flapulous reporter sleuth, has a new adventure coming out in October. And here, ladies and gentlemen, is the cover! The Art Fiasco is available to pre-order now. If you haven’t read the first four books in the series (available in paperback, ebook and audiobook) then there’s still time to catch up. Click here to put in our order.

I’m not sure how I missed this when it came out two years ago, but the lovely Miss Jane featured the first two books in the series in her Mystery Monday video review. Lovely to hear that Poppy has another fan.

Poppy Denby does get around. This week she has made her way onto the Ezvid Wiki website and is in a video featuring six mystery and thriller authors. She very kindly allowed me to come along for the trip too. Check us out here on the Ezvid Wike website.