A couple of weeks ago, all my waiting, staying on tenterhooks was rewarded. My publisher offered me a new two-book contract. I’m waiting for the paperwork, but it’s all settled, with plenty of relief for me. Anxiety levels down, sleeping better.

The contract is for The Ascent Of Lies, the first book featuring Virginia Cooper and American abolitionist Asa Daniels. Earlier this year I posted the book’s prologue – take a read of it here to get a sense of Virginia- and in all honestly, I feel it’s the best book I’ve written, set in both Leeds and York. It’s 1862, and the Confederates are in Yorkshire. Doesn’t what whet your appetite.

One scene is set in Royal Park, a fairly short-lived pleasure garden near Woodhouse Moor, a successor of sorts to the ill-fated Botanical Gardens. That pub, the Royal Park, and those streets with that name, all came from the gardens. The entrance looked like this:

The book will be published in January 2027 (I know, feels like science fiction, doesn’t it? Or I’m old, something like that). The start of a slightly different series, I hope, and one with a very strong female lead.

I mentioned two books, though…the other one will be a third Cathy Marsden thriller; the second, The Faces Of The Dead, will be published next April. Called Blood Red Music, it’s set in 1947, after the war. Her time in the Special Investigation Branch is a distant memory, and she’s left the police force to start a private enquiry agency with…her brother, Dan. I’m not going to say more about the plot, as I’m in the middle of writing it. Due out in July 2027, I believe.

Speaking of Cathy, the Kindle edition of No Precious Truth is currently £4.99 in the UK ($6.99 US), and available here. Even bigger news – the paperback comes out November 20th, just £9.99 UK, and in time to give to people for Christmas. You can never go wrong with giving a book, especially bought from an indie bookshop. Makes it all more complete.

Something I hadn’t noticed at first, the two series I’m now writing are both female-led, and one of them in middle-aged.

That makes me happy.