'Dirty Deeds in Downdene'.

This is the start of 'Dirty Deeds in Downdene', the 2nd Cleo Marjoribanks Murders Mystery. The cockney millionairess gets into trouble when trying to outdo the police in solving the murders.

Chapter 1.

There I was doing my vastly improved dog-paddle up and down the pool when the phone rang.  Yeah, I know that like all modern marvels it can answer itself but, I dunno, it sounded urgent.  I made it to the steps and clambered out, grabbed a towel and picked up the receiver as it was about to self respond.

“Hello.”

“Queen of the Nile, how’re you doing?”

“Hi, Primrose.  I’m fine.  You?”

“Fine!  Fine!”  This was said airily and I grew suspicious of my crime journalist friend.

“Really?  So to what do I owe the honour of this call?”  A peal of laughter came down the wire and I held the receiver away from my ear so that she didn’t split me ear-drum.  Prim is a sweet girl, born on Primrose Day and as her surname’s Day, her parents got a bit carried away.  (Primrose Day?  19^th April, the anniversary of the day Disraeli died and, as primroses were his favourite flowers Queen Victoria had the day so named in his memory).  When I first knew Prim her hair was braided and trimmed with hundreds of beads.  Noisy.  Now she’s got it short and curly.  Natural like.  She’s black, beautiful and works on one of the national dailies.

“Not much gets past you does it, Cleo?”

“At my size, ducks, no.  So, why are you calling?”

“Well, I hear lover boy’s got himself another murder to investigate.”

I frowned.  “Really?  How did you hear about this before me?”  Not fair.  David hadn't mentioned it.  That's DCI 'Steaming' Kettle and my lover.

“Contacts,” Prim responded succinctly.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, alright.  So what are you calling me about?”

“Thought you might have some idea about it, but as I’ve been the bearer of the news I guess you don’t know anything.”

“You guess right and I’m not going to get involved this time.”

“No, I’m sure you're not,” she said disbelievingly.

“I’m not,” I told her indignantly.

“Okay.  Don’t you want to know anything about it?”

Can’t keep my curiosity to myself can I?  My friends know me too well.  “Not really.”  I tried to match her earlier airy tone.

“Come off it, girl, course you do.”  Yeah, she’s also a cockney but it don’t come out as often as mine.

“You’re going ter tell me anyway, aren't you?”

She chuckled.  “Of course.”

“Go on then,” I urged as she kept me waiting.

“Seems like an estate agent dropped dead in his soup at some do in Lymington last night.”

“Oh?”  Definitely interesting.  So who had done for him?  A disgruntled client?  Someone who had been gazumped?

“Well, not exactly in the soup.  It was a bit later than that.  At the moment the cops aren’t calling it murder, just a sudden death which they have to investigate.  Seems strange to me that Steaming is in on it, though.  Doesn’t it?”

“Definitely.  Wonder what he was given?"  The victim I mean.  "In Lymington you said?”

“Yeah.”

“So I gather you’re on your way down here?”

She laughed again.  “Well, I've been told to come down there and thought it might be a good idea to visit you?”  Why was she querying it?  She knew I’d want her to stay here. “I thought I could stay in the house instead of the flat over the garage.  You know, keep you company while lover-boy is working.”

“What d’you mean, keep me company?”

“As they say in my job, if you ain’t got contacts, you ain’t got a job.  No point in not using them, is there?”  I could almost hear the smile.

“You win.  What time shall I expect you?”  We fixed an approximate time in the afternoon, then she asked, “What you doing?  Sounds as if you’re in the pool room.”

“I was just practicing.”

“Good girl.  I’ll give you some more lessons, if you like.”

“So that I can start powering up and down the pool the same way you do?”

That made her laugh.  “Sorry, Cleo, I don’t think you’d quite manage that.”

“I don’t think so either.  Anyway, see you later.”

I put the phone down and picked up me robe and put it on.  That was the end of my swimming practice for the day.  Time to go and shower and get dressed.  I should explain that the pool room was once a conservatory.  When I bought this place it was missing most of its glass and the plants had run wild. 

.......................

The golf carts on the cover? Cleo has friends at the golf club as well as being insulted by the Club Secretary!

This book is available on KOBO

Also on KINDLE and paperback. 

'Excitement Builds for Bognor Regis park plan'

Just quoting this week's headline to a two-page advertisement in the Bognor Regis Observer.

Most of the residents in this area are tenants rather than homeowners, but we still pay Council Tax and haven't been consulted. Arun Council at its very best. Barge ahead with their grand scheme with no thought for others. 

1. The preliminary drawings appear to have forgotten Fitzleet House (the tower block where I live!). Is the Council going to re-house the tenants? Or compensate them for having to move?

2. Noise and dirt pollution. Whilst the work is being carried out is the Council going to provide residents with ear defenders? Not everyone goes out to work - there are retired and disabled people living in the area. The alternative would be for the Council to have triple (at least) glazing fitted to the existing properties. We would also like compensation for the fact that we would have to keep out windows closed to keep out the dirt. (Hope the Council members are going to clean up after the workmen. Ha-Ha-Ha.)

3. As a tenant overlooking the car park I would love to see gardens there instead. That would cut down the noise and carcinogenic fumes. But where is the Council planning to have cars parked? Along either side of the new park - closer to the residences. Obviously they aren't concerned about people's health. That is what the NHS is for, isn't it?

4. So far as the entertainments area is concerned, where is it exactly planned for? Even if it is in Waterloo Square (near the pier), the sound of head-banging music can be heard a long way off. And not all of us enjoy the same kind of music. Triple glazing?

5. Hopefully the Council with have all this work carried out whilst the birds are NOT nesting. Otherwise it will have a huge impact on the local bird population - to say nothing of other wild life. 

Lastly, I object strongly to Council Tax being used to fund advertising. 

'How do you create your characters?'

Among questions that novelists are asked, one of the most popular is 'How do you create your characters?' Followed, of course, by 'Are they based on people you know?' The answer the latter question is a definite and very loud NO. If you think you recognise characters in a book you read, it is sheer coincidence.

What we do when creating the characters is think of the type of person we need and build around that.

Cleo Marjoribanks almost created herself. I wanted to write books set mainly in one of my favourite English locations - the New Forest in Hampshire. My heroine wanted to be a lovable character and not too young. Someone with experience of life, a sense of humour and a quick tongue. I decided that she was down-to-earth and generous. I am an Essex girl whose parents were East Enders. What better place to look for Cleo? So far as her name and style of dress is concerned, blame her.

How did she end up living in the New Forest? Won the lottery, quit her boring job and found a house in the New Forest - in a fictional village.

To find out how she then became involved in village life and helps to solve crimes you will have to read the Cleo Marjoribanks Murder Mysteries. They are available on Kindle and the first two are also available in Paperback. Depending upon demand, the rest may become paperbacks.

The books are also available on Kobo.

 

How do you pronounce Marjoribanks? I'm sure some of you know, but it is Marchbanks. One of those silly English spellings

The Creation of 'A Young Man's Dreams'

Many years ago when living in Florida I became involved in Historic Preservation. I could tell you lots of tales about that..... but I won't.

Why would an Englishwoman interest herself in American Historic Preservation? I was already engrossed in the history of the town where I was living, having spent hours and hours in the reference library reading every book on the subject which they had. I then went on to learn the history of the Sunshine State. Very mixed, from people who cared about the ecology and welfare of it to the ones who were only in the development for profit. (Were? I can think of at least one person who lives there who still is.)

I decided that I wanted to write a book set in the early years of the 20th century about the development of a fictitious coastal town. And created Joseph Montgomery, a larger-than-life character who helped with the town's development. And, yes, he did line his pockets.

But he needed to be a sympathetic character. And he needed a background. Well, his back story just grew and grew and grew. And I found I had a saga beginning with his childhood in the circus. His family were Spanish acrobats but, ironically, young Jose was unco-ordinated. Fortunately an American school teacher found him and took him under her wing so that he learned to speak, read and write English.

A Young Man's Dream is the opening of this saga which takes us to the outbreak of World War 1 in 1914 which, although the US wasn't officially involved at that stage, it did affect many people living in the States.

If this book sells well I will continue on to Book 2 which takes the story through the WW1 and on into the Twenties. It is up to you, my dear readers.

A Young Man's Dreams is available on Amazon in both Kindle and Paperback. It is also available on KOBO.