I have finally returned to Tallyforth and George Elliott. My new Tallyforth mystery, entitled Lavington's Hole, set in and around Bridgnorth and beginning with the discovery of the body of a young girl, daughter of the Governor of Bridgnorth Castle at the time of the Civil War, and a cache of letters written by a young Parliamentarian soldier to her, is about to see the light of day. I'm planning a private launch on 3rd May and hoping to generate much local publicity.
TRAVEL WRITING
The Staffordshire Cakes and Ale Trail, fourth in the series, was launched in Lichfield in October 2012, courtesy of Trevor James and Lichfield Rotary Club, who are planning to follow the route this spring. The route is from Burton-on-Trent (appropriately home of the National Brewery Centre) via the canal to Dr Johnson's Lichfield, over Cannock Chase to the ancient settlement of Penkridge, through agricultural land to Eccleshall. Then it's northwards past Wedgwood's Barlaston to Stone, and on up to Cheadle in the Staffordshre Moorlands, before returning south past Alton Towers to reach Uttoxeter and past the site of the Faulds Explosion and Turbury Castle back to Burton.
I have also been reconnoitring The Black Country Cakes and Ale Trail, which will definitely be the final book in this series. The route starts in Dudley and travels via Netherton and Brierley Hill (and the Bull & Bladder) to Stourbridge, then via Pensnett, Himley and Sedgley to Wolverhampton. A lovely canal walk leads out of Wolverhampton to Coven and Essington before coming back to the heart of the Black Country in Walsall. From there it's out to the high point of Barr Beacon then through Newton into Sandwell Valley and West Bromwich, before following more canal towpaths and then going across country to reach Leasowes Park in Halesowen. The final stage goes over the Clent Hills before returning through Old Hill to Netherton (think Ma Pardoe's) and then back to Dudley.
FICTION WRITING
Known Unto God, published under the Pierrepoint Press imprint, was successfully launched in Crete in time for the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Crete in May 2011. It tells the story of Meredith Wilson who in 1940 comes to rescue two brothers, Bert and Bill Ennis, in war-ravaged Birmingham and falls in love. In May 1941, Bill Ennis led by a young Cretan boy, Nikos Themistocles, escapes from the German advance after the Battle of Crete to the south coast of the island but dies before he can be rescued. In 2006, twenty years after her husband Bert’s death, the adult Nikos Themistocles takes Meredith Ennis to visit the site of Bill’s death and her son Tom discovers a terrible family secret.
Brown Baby - my tale of a black G.I. sent to Britain prior to D-Day who falls in love with a Herefordshire girl and the result of that love affair - is currently awaiting a decision from an American literary agent I have been in touch with. I think the US audience might be better prepared than the UK one.
I have now finished the first draft of a new novel, with the working title of Ale Mary. The novel is set in autumn of 1535 when Henry VIII's commissioners are investigating the financial and moral condition of all of the country's abbeys and monasteries. My focus is Burton Abbey, whose monks were renowned for the ale they made. It is believed that Burton monks after the dissolution of Burton Abbey became deeply involved in the brewing industry and helped the journey that made Burton-upon-Trent the capital of brewing for many years. Henry's commissioners were sent out with a brief to find fault and, from reading Henry's letters (available online, remarkably), it is possible to see the sort of findings that were reported back to the king and his chief minister, Thomas Cromwell. Imagine the fear that an OFSTED inspection generates and you'll get some sense of what I'm trying to examine among the monks of Burton on the day before and the day of the commissioners' visit.
