Hello from Western Australia...

... where it's all hands on deck as we count down the days to the release of the new Bewitched by Chocolate mysteries book! 

So without further ado, I'm going straight into book news first:

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In book news...

Just six days to go! The 8th volume in my Bewitched by Chocolate series - A WITCH WORTH PRALINE FOR - should be out on Amazon and available for purchase in both Kindle (ebook) and paperback format this coming Sat 20th Jul. (And I'm hoping that Audible will approve the audiobook version to be released this coming weekend as well... fingers crossed!)

But don't forget: you can pre-order the Kindle version if you like. Then it'll be automatically delivered to your device when the book releases and you can curl up with the new story practically "hot off the stove"! 😄

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon DE

(** pre-order is only for the ebook version - 
paperback & audio will be available after Jul 20th)

And just to give you a taste of what's coming, here's a little sneak peek of the new book:

     Inspector Walsh turned back to the Widow Mags. “Several villagers have reported that Percy Wynn was seen visiting your chocolate shop yesterday evening, before arriving at the Manor.”
     Caitlyn made an impatient noise. “That’s just Vera Bottom and her cronies trying to stir up trouble again!”
     Inspector Walsh raised his eyebrows at her. “Are you saying that they’re lying?”
     “No, Percy did come to the shop,” Caitlyn admitted. “But he never saw my grandmother. She had already gone out. It was me he talked to.”
     “And did he purchase some chocolates?”
     “Y-yes,” said Caitlyn reluctantly. “Although that wasn’t the reason he came in the shop. He was asking for directions to Huntingdon Manor. Then he saw one of our special displays and bought a couple of packets of Florentines before he left.”
     “These Florentines—did they contain berries?”
     “They contained wild autumn berries, such as elderberries and sloe berries,” said the Widow Mags. “Why?”
     Inspector Walsh looked thoughtful. “Elderberries, eh? And sloe berries—the fruit of the blackthorn bush, isn’t it? And they are both fairly large, round, dark berries, aren’t they?”
     “Well, elderberries are a bit smaller and sloe berries are more oval in shape… but what is your point?” asked the Widow Mags impatiently. 
     The inspector looked smug. “My point is: the deadly nightshade plant—also known as belladonna—also has berries which look very similar: large, round and black. And those berries are high in atropine, which is one of types of poisons that can give you a heart attack.”
     “You think I poisoned that young man with my Florentines?” growled the Widow Mags. 
     “Oh, maybe not deliberately,” said the inspector said hastily. “I mean, they do look very alike. Perhaps you just made a mistake—”
     “Are you suggesting that I don’t know the difference between elderberries, sloe berries and belladonna berries?” demanded the Widow Mags, sounding more offended to be accused of berry ignorance than to be accused of murder. 
 

COMING SOON! Pre-order now:

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon DE

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"A Scone to Die For" - now in Japanese!

絶品スコーンは死を招く
(オックスフォードティールーム・ミステリ- Book 1)

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For those who love a gossip...

I just had to show you these new dish cloths I bought recently! I'm quite passionate about being as "environmental" as possible, you see, and apparently, one of the best ways to do this is to "vote with your wallet" - ie. choosing to buy brands and products that are sustainable alternatives to all the nasty plastic and chemicals that we're used to (plus selfishly, it's much better for your health too without all the microplastics and carcinogens, etc!). 

So I've been slowly swapping everything in the household over to compostable / biodegradable natural materials if possible and supporting companies that make genuine efforts towards sustainability and reducing waste (although you have to watch out coz there's loads of disgusting "greenwashing" around! 😠) 

Anyway, when I saw these "sustainable" dish cloths online recently, I just had to get them! As you can tell from my book titles, I love a good pun and these really made me giggle. They're the perfect sort of dishcloths for a "cozy mystery author" to own, don't you think? 😉 (Or maybe they just show me up as being a child of the 80s and 90s - haha!) Anyway, if you wanted to chuckle through the rest of the puns in the pack, you can check them out here: https://www.shopnaturally.com.au/product/happy-sparrow-dish-cloth-song-pun-12-pack/)

By the way, I'm not sure if "smashed" is a slang term that's common in America, so in case any US readers are confused, it means "very drunk" - so the picture is a play on words with "smashed avocado" - a popular brunch dish in many cafes.

Actually, when I first arrived in the UK back in the early 1990s, to start as a "fresher" at Oxford University, I was a bit bemused by the number of colourful British slang terms there were for "drunk"! They included things like: plastered, trashed, off the wagon, sloshed, paralytic, trollied, legless, squiffy, ratarsed, sozzled, hammered, three sheets to the wind, bog-faced, blotto... the list goes on.

Are there this many different slang words for the same condition in America? What about Canada? Or Germany? Or France? 

I have to confess, I have never been "sloshed" or "hammered" or "off my trolley" or whatever in my life. That's one experience I wouldn't be able to write about realistically - haha! 😜 You know, people always ask authors how much of their books are autobiographical and how much their heroes & heroines are actually based on themselves... 

Well, in this respect, Gemma Rose - the heroine of my Oxford Tearoom Mysteries - was very much based on me. She's a complete lightweight and her friends are always making fun of her for not drinking much. Those scenes in the books are definitely based on my own experience of arriving at university and being met with blank looks of disbelief when I accompanied friends to the pub and asked for a soft drink!

It's embarrassing to admit but I've just never learned to like the taste of alcohol (and trust me, I've tried!) - it either tastes sour and vinegary (wines, champagne) or bitter (beer, spirits) - and I'd much rather have a sweet, fizzy lemonade, thank you very much. 

It seems very childish, I know - sigh - but at 50, I've finally resigned myself to the fact that I don't seem to have developed a sophisticated adult palate!! 

(Oh, but I do like very sweet, fruity cocktails where you can't taste the alcohol. Pina colada is my favourite!)

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For the cat lovers...

Finally, for all the Muesli fans - I thought you'd enjoy seeing this picture of her in a stand-off with a grasshopper... 

It's amazing how cats can sit there, in a staring match, for hours, isn't it? Despite her best efforts, Muesli didn't get him in the end. I wish she had - that big ugly thing had chomped his way through several of the plants in my garden!

(ps. if you missed my last newsletter and wanted to catch up on "the goss" - you can find it HERE - it's the one about "book travel bucket lists" 😉)

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