I’m honoured to be a founder member of the group of Bury St Edmunds authors called ‘The Writers of Bury and Beyond’. The driving force behind the group is Rachel Churcher, award-winning author of YA sci-fi, who also provides editing services for other independent author/publishers.
The group have established a Local Author bookshelf at the iconic Market Cross in Bury. Thirty-three titles by twenty local authors, including me, are currently represented and books are free to read with coffee and cake supplied by the in-house café.
A different group of authors are in attendance each month, at the Makers’ Markets held at the Market Cross every month from April to November. It was my turn to attend recently and what a rewarding session it was, with lots of local interest and shared stories and experiences.
You can read more about the group, the Market Cross itself and the events there by following this link – we are in the February 2023 edition.
Pauline
P.S. The Local Author Shelf is under the window opposite the café counter
Photograph courtesy of Writers of Bury and Beyond
Five days ago I was up in the Lake District at an event near Carlisle touring with my latest book, Utterly Dredged. A quick pause for breath and time to dry out after all the wet weather, and then today – lockdown art!
Tesco Staff Tributes
It was so moving to watch my cover design artist, Rebecca Moss Guyver present portraits she painted during lockdown as a tribute and thank you to key workers. Today it was the turn of the key workers keeping the Stowmarket Tesco food store open during lockdown – shelves stacked, tills manned and ‘click & collect’ baskets filled. So – six wonderful portraits of Stowmarket Tesco staff with Rebecca in the centre of the store – a very special moment.
This is a photo I took last weekend of a Waterstones window display. To be more specific it was the window of their Buttermarket branch in Bury St Edmunds. It was rather nice to see my name and latest crime novel on a poster in a bookshop window – namely Waterstones.
I didn’t think to check if the poster gave the correct information. That is to say – I will be in the Bury St Edmunds Waterstones bookshop, Buttermarket branch, with my crime novel ‘Utterly Roasted’ on Saturday the 24th August from 10 am to 4 pm. A book signing and meet the author event.
I hope that if you are in Bury St Edmunds on that Saturday and pass this Waterstones window display, you will drop in to say hello. I’d love to see you. I’ll be the one with a neat pile of books with burnt orange/apricot covers stacked on a small table. I hope it will be a sunny day to reflect the warmth of the covers.
‘Utterly Roasted’ is set in the summer of 2013. August, to be precise. Chrissie Jax and DI Clive Merry return from a short break in Amsterdam. Within a week, two bodies are delivered to the morgue and the international spotlight is on Clive and his investigation. The action moves from Alton Water to Ipswich; Bury St Edmunds to Felixstowe; Hadleigh to Woolpit and Woodbridge. Tension mounts as a tangled web of car paint re-spraying, a catering outfit, pike fishing and chocolate draws in long term friends Matt and Nick. Chrissie becomes part of the investigation in a way no one could have predicted.
This is a classic crime novel with so many twists it makes it feel completely fresh and different from anything you have read before!
Two paintings by artist Rebecca Moss Guyver were selected for this year’s Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) annual exhibition. How cool is that? I feel so lucky to have Rebecca as the artist designing my Utterly Crime Series book covers.
The exhibition runs from the 4th to the 14th of July. It features over 500 works by established and emerging artists. It’s held at the Mall Galleries, The Mall, London SW1.
It’s sourced from member artists and through open submission, to produce high quality works in an eclectic mix of style and media. The show also includes entries from the finalists for the Society’s prestigious Rome Scholarship award, and work from the recipient of the Rome Scholarship from the previous year.
I went along for the official opening and took lots of photos. The gallery lighting cast a few frame shadows – it all adds to the atmosphere of the event! I have posted one of Rebecca’s two selected paintings along with Rebecca Moss Guyver next to the painting. Catch the exhibits at www.royalsocietyofbritishartists.org.uk.
ORANGE COLLECTION
Egg tempera
Imagine how surprised and pleased I was when I spent a December Friday in the Woodbridge Library and while there spotted my crime novel – Utterly Dusted – amongst the crime novels on the library ‘Suffolk Loves’ shelf. I had to take a quick photo. Unfortunately the snowflake design on the seasonal cover tends to disguise the ‘Suffolk Loves’ sticker. It isn’t immediately obvious and doesn’t leap out at you from the photo, but if you screw your eyes up and focus hard… yes it is there. A ‘Suffolk Loves’ sticker. Wow!
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