A crazy week in Perth, recent winners and more...

Published: Thu, 02/11/21

Oh my goodness, I was going to email you shortly after my last newsletter with more updates... and then all mayhem broke loose here in Perth!

Well, OK, not mayhem exactly but pretty close. First a huge bushfire erupted on the outskirts of the city. Of course, sadly, bushfires are something we are resigned to in Australia but this was in an unexpected area that was unusually close to the inner city suburbs. It was very surreal, with an eerie orange haze across the skies over Perth, ash raining down and the smell of smoke everywhere...

And then - after a 10 month streak with zero cases - we suddenly faced a potential COVID outbreak. You know, we've been very lucky here in Western Australia: because of our initial fast lockdown and strict government controls on borders, plus quarantine rules for all arrivals from overseas (and interstate!) - we'd effectively eliminated the virus completely. Which meant that life here was completely normal within our "safe bubble", with no restrictions, masks or social distancing of any kind.

Then a guard at one of the quarantine hotels tested positive and instantly, the state government put us into a 5-day hard lockdown: all schools & businesses closed, all events cancelled; only allowed out of house for 1hr each day for exercise or grocery/medicine, and of course, masks everywhere, all the time...

It seemed like a strong reaction for just one case but the idea was to stop people who might be infected moving around and spreading the virus, while contact tracers were racing to find them...

Well, thankfully after no further cases were found (and all close contacts rounded up & isolated in quarantine), we came out of full lockdown last weekend! :-) We're not totally out of the woods until 14th Feb, due to the virus incubation period, so there are still masks & some restrictions, but it's looking encouraging!

And in more good news, after battling it all week, the firefighters finally managed to contain the huge bushfire - just as rain finally arrived in Perth last weekend. I feel awful for the many affected, with entire communities evacuated, homes burnt to the ground, pets lost and livelihoods destroyed... but at least there were no deaths.

So! It's been an eventful week here Down Under to say the least!

Of course, Muesli has been blissfully unaware of everything going on. Ahh... to be a pampered pet cat, whose only concern in life is: where to sleep today? 😉

Anyway, getting down to business... haha!

First of all - did you hear about my latest new release? It might be cold and wintry where you are but don't worry! Come and enjoy the sparkling blue waters & white sand beaches of Gulf Coast Florida as you join barefoot sleuth Ellie and see if you can solve the latest mystery before she does!

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2NRK4lZ

Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/3aq3PJ4

(** Audiobook recording is complete & we're awaiting Audible approval, so any day now!)

"Ellie’s vacation in Florida is coming to an end but there’s barely time to savor her last days on the beautiful Gulf Coast. When death strikes a bikini contest at her luxury beach resort, Ellie must use all her sleuthing skills to find the killer. Helped by Hemingway the parrot and Mojito the resort cat - not to mention her eccentric Aunt Olive – Ellie is soon busy combing the beach for clues. And she finds that this case could be her toughest case yet: there are jealous rivals with murder in their hearts, sinister spa treatments with deadly effects, and powerful men who will stop at nothing to silence others. But the mystery isn’t the only thing on Ellie’s mind. With her time in the Sunshine State ending soon, will she decide to return to her old life in London? And what about her "vacation fling" with handsome resort doctor Blake Thornton—does she dare follow her heart and allow the budding romance to grow into something more?"

Big Audiobook Giveaway winners:

Congratulations to the winners of my last giveaway!

These lucky 20 get a free audiobook of their choice, from one of my series starters.

egood5628 / J. P. Gibbons / mvanduren1 / C. George /

hmplondon / pamelas352 / tanagadogs / C. Kermer / turtle642 / J. Estroff / michspen4him / theflyingkoi / kdihope / zkjaz2 / l wpickle353 / A. Lehmann / chin_waoi / F. Crombie / R. Baxter / T.R. Jones

All winners should have been contacted by my assistant Erin via email, to organise your prize. If you haven't heard from her, please drop her a line at: assistant@hyhanna.com

And don't fret if you didn't win this time! This audiobook giveaway was so popular that I'll be running a similar one again soon :-)

Coming Soon...

I've started work on the next Bewitched by Chocolate mystery (am grappling with the plotting at the moment!) and am still hoping to finish it in time for release in May... I'll do my best!

But in the meantime, I'm delighted to announce that I have a title at last! Thanks to help from an old Oxford uni friend, we came up with a pun that incorporates "chocolate" and "magic".

So the 7th book in the series is going to be called: SALTED CARAMEL SORCERY

(Hmm... does this mean I should be tasting lots of salted caramel treats to get inspiration for the story...? 😉 )

Meanwhile, the next English Cottage Garden mystery is currently with my editor and that should be on track for release in March. And I found time to finish designing the cover! What do you think?

I've got lots of other exciting things coming up (including French translations... Ooh La La!) - so keep an eye out for my next newsletter!

Thanks for reading - talk soon!

Hsin-Yi

(H.Y. Hanna)

Website: www.hyhanna.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/hyhanna.books

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