I was browsing through my Smashwords dashboard the other day (www.smashwords.com - another place to get hold of the Pitkirtly mystery novels) when I found I had a 5 star review on the Barnes and Noble website for 'Crime in the Community' - thank you very much to the reviewer. This was a lovely surprise. …
preview
Because I am preparing to publish the latest in the Pitkirtly mystery series, here's a quick preview of A Reformed Character (from somewhere in the middle of the novel). Jock McLean liked to take his wheelie-bin out last thing at night, so that nobody could see him doing it. He believed firmly in the ill-will …
the age of steam
I visited Culross again at the weekend - you would almost think there was something drawing me back there - and I noticed the car park was very busy and there were lots of people on the path that runs beside the railway line towards Longannet power station. Something quirky was about to happen - …
charting the reformation
I am pleased to say I've almost finished editing 'A Reformed Character', the third instalment in the Pitkirtly series of quirky mystery novels. It will probably give a flavour of the storyline if I mention that there are now only three questions left to answer: (a) does Amaryllis really know a secret way across the …
let’s talk about crime
I don't think I've said much here about the original Pitkirtly novel, 'Crime in the Community'. However, the Kindle version has now been made available for free on amazon.com so I think I owe it to the 7,000+ people who have downloaded it to talk about it a bit. First of all, thank you very …
too picturesque for Pitkirtly
I took some pictures in Culross last weekend. Culross is an old town in Fife, just along the coast from Longannet power station and across the Forth from the massive oil refinery at Grangemouth. In that sense it is similar to Pitkirtly. However, I realised when we got home and I looked at the photographs …
filling out the plot
Now that I've finished with my Camp NaNoWriMo novel, the next task is to carry on with my edit of 'A Reformed Character', the next in the Pitkirtly series. This is a story which revolves around the theme of whether people can really change. The main plot starts with a murder, said to have been …
enhancing the setting
We walked over to Cramond Island last weekend, and once we got there I realised again what a good addition it would make to the setting for a novel - especially a thriller or murder mystery. It is only accessible at low tide via a causeway, and because it was used in the Second World War …
Different kinds of screaming
A taste of 'Reunited in Death': Amaryllis thought at first that it was jolly, girlish screaming of the kind people might do if they had suddenly found they were descended from Jesus Christ or related to Princess Diana. She could imagine some of the women here indulging in that if they got really excited by …
Background music
Sitting in my conservatory, overlooking a garden so overgrown it has almost encroached on the house, I am listening to John Barry's 'The Beyondness of Things.' This made me wonder what sort of theme tune the Pitkirtly mystery novels should have. And I decided that instead of having one general theme music, each character should …
Cecilia Peartree - woman of mystery 