Aaaw, look at the cute little kitten. Look at his nice fluffy fur. Look into his pretty blue eyes. Focus and concentrate. Feel yourself getting the urge to buy a collection of slightly spooky stories. That’s it, click on the link – you know you want to…

OK, that’s enough now. Go read your books. Stop looking at the kitten. If you stare into those eyes too long, you’re in danger of buying the entire set of slightly spooky stories.

What do you think his name is?

I’ve had a lovely new review for Acting Like A Killer. If you’d like to see if you agree with Bookworm and live in the UK, you can get either the paperback or ebook for £2.53. That unusual price has been set by Amazon – no doubt they have their reasons. Sorry, I don’t know how long it will stay like that (they did it for a few days last wek, then out the paperback back to the usual £10 before dropping it again) and I don’t know if a similar discount has been applied in other countries.

Today is launch day for the first novel in my Little Mallow cosy mystery series! It’s currently at the introductory price of £1.99 / $2.99 (usual price of my novels is £2.99 / $3.99).

Two murders, a whole party of suspects wearing disguises, hundreds of questions, and a seaside village full of cake. Community spirit is strong in Little Mallow and everyone seems to be involved – either as one of many witnesses and suspects, an extremely unofficial sidekick, or a supplier of far-fetched theories. But there’s only one Student Police Officer Crystal Clere to make sense of it all.

It doesn’t help that Crystal is the only person who thinks the crimes are linked, all the main suspects have alibis and Crystal isn’t excused cake baking duties. She’s being asked questions by everyone from precocious schoolboy Adam to Arnold the enigmatic verger, and nobody is giving her answers. Then there’s Crystal’s crush on the DI, a sergeant‘s crush on her and unfinished business with her former neighbour. Oh, and great Aunt Agnes’s hip and friend Ellie’s romantic problems.

Can Crystal bring love and justice to Little Mallow?

Here are the first two reviews –

“Loved this book. A vey enjoyable cosy mystery. Well written as all Patsy’s novels are. Kept me guessing right until the murderer was revealed. I look forward to the next in the series.”

“Disguised Murder and Community Spirit in Little Mallow introduces an interesting and likeable cast of characters in a quintessential village setting. Student Police Officer and budding detective, Crystal Clere, is keen as mustard to solve two recent murders – and, despite plenty of false clues and the challenage of having to deal with witnesses wearing party disguises, she is determined to prove herself up to the task.

This was an enjoyable and amusing cosy crime, with plenty of twists to keep you guessing. I’m looking forward to reading more in the Little Mallow series.”

Available as a paperback, ebook, or through kindle unlimited here. The paperback can also be ordered through your local bookshop, or requested from the library.

Here’s what the local paper has to say about it.

When I was learning to swim in the sea at the start of last year my coach who calls herself The Sunny* Mermaid kept telling me to ‘just try’. I did my best to follow that advice, and I can now swim. Not brilliantly, but those few lessons were a big help to my ability and confidence.

Being me, I then wrote a story, very loosely, based on the experience. (If you’re thinking of taking lessons with Deb, I promise that she only has my character’s good points, and is most definitely not intimidating.) That story is in the current (1st January) issue of Take A Break’s Fiction Feast.

Coincidentally I saw her walking her dog this morning. I didn’t know then that the story was published, or I’d have told her.

We can’t achieve everything we’d like to do just by trying, but there’s not a lot that’s worth doing which doesn’t require a bit of time or effort, or both. If there’s anything you’d like to do, whether it’s swimming, having a story published in a magazine or something else entirely my advice is to give it a go!

*It may have been sunny on a couple of the lessons, but being April it was also VERY cold!

I read and enjoyed these books in December. I particularly recommend The Twyford Code. Don’t let the way it’s presented put you off – it’s very clever, original, engaging and kind of uplifting.

The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett

Telling Tales by Ann Cleeves

After The Funeral by Agatha Christie

My new book, the first in the Little Mallow cosy mystery series has been written, re-written, edited, formatted, proofread and uploaded to to Amazon and Ingram Spark (who distribute to bookshops and libraries). The official launch date is January 19th (it was my Grandma’s birthday, and she loved reading cosy crime stories) but very soon it should be possible to place orders.

If you’d like to read it before that, for free, you could join my ARC team. For that you need a kindle, or other way to read the ebook file and an Amazon account which allows you to leave reviews – and to commit to reading the (80,000 word) book and leaving an honest review on the launch date (19th January). If you’re interested, please email me at patsy@patsycolins.uk