BOOKWORMS AND VILLAINS

  AVAILABLE NOW ON AMAZON KINDLE AND KINDLEUNLIMITED: VALENTINE'S DAY AT THE SECONDHAND BOOKWORM BOOK 8 IN THE ENGLISH BOOKSHOP SERIES I was happy to receive my manuscript yesterday from my proof-reader and set about doing the amendments. I then uploaded the finished book to Kindle and Kindle Unlimited for anyone to enjoy (hopefully). Here's the burb: It’s Valentine’s Week in Castletown, so Nora and her colleagues at The Secondhand Bookworm are getting into the spirit of things, displaying as many romantic books the bay window shelves can hold, by offering free, carefully chosen (!) Love Heart Sweets from a red bowl on the bookshop counter, and by using charming smiles and fluttering eyelashes (much to Humphrey’s amusement and Harry’s delight) to lure eager browsers, buyers and bookworms into the famous three story shop, with its rickety winding staircase, its numerous creaky rooms and its delightful, narrow corridors crammed to the top and bursting at the seams with books upon

Writing progress in The Secondhand Bookworm Series - Thursday 13th August 2020: NEWS! NEWS! BOOKWORM NEWS! This week I sent the finished manuscript of Book 8 in my series of novels set in an English bookshop to my proof reader Anne! It is called 'Valentine's Day at The Secondhand Bookworm' and takes place a few weeks after 'Book Club at The Secondhand Bookworm', following six days with Nora Jolly in The Secondhand Bookworm's used and antiquarian bookstore during Valentine's Week (a new festival put on in the fictional County of Cole). Once the manuscript is ready for release I shall make it available on Amazon to download on Kindle, to read for free with Kindle Unlimited, and to purchase in paperback - I have to say I love the Amazon paperbacks, they do a great job. I have now started writing the next book which is called 'Lockdown at The Secondhand Bookworm' and follows on from Valentine's Day, covering several months of lock-down with Nora Joll

Book Eight in The Secondhand Bookworm will be available to download and read with Amazon Kindle and Kindle Unlimited or in paperback within the next few weeks - Valentine's Day at The Secondhand Bookworm! I am now reading through the first draft of the manuscript which is great fun. I started the series back in 2008 for my work colleagues and reworked and continued it for my sister and I, for friends and colleagues and, having made it available publicly through Amazon, for those who enjoy reading the eccentric, often funny, ins and outs of a used bookshop in an historic town in England. Valentine's Day takes place over six days during Valentine's Week in Castletown, with The Secondhand Bookworm participating in the County of Cole's newly established festival. Lots of things are happening, with market stalls, street performers, displays, romantic talks, walks and of course, Valentine-themed books - tongue-in-cheek of course with lots of madness. I am now ready to move on

As of July 2020, I'm now having fun writing Book 8 in my series of novels set in an English bookshop and based upon my ten years running a used and antiquarian book shop - Valentine's Day at The Secondhand Bookworm, which sees Nora Jolly, her friends, family, co-workers, regular customers and new faces spending Valentine's Week in Castletown. There are lots of themes in this story, including the many festivities that occur about the historic town during the week. Most especially, a blast from the past returns to Nora's life in the form of Braxton Parker-Hodge who now runs The Otter Shop down Market Street and is still obsessed with Nora. Nora's brother Milton comes to the forefront as he spends the week outside The Secondhand Bookworm in his cupid costume selling tickets to The Jolly Theatre in Little Cove. And, although the Duke of Cole spends most of the week in Myanmar, he's back on Thursday in time to whisk Nora up to the castle for the spectacular Valentine

Book 7 in The Secondhand Bookworm series of novels is NOW available worldwide in paperback, kindle and FREE with Kindle Unlimited from Amazon. Our delightful protagonist Nora Jolly is hosting a Book Club over six weeks in the front room of The Secondhand Bookworm, a winding three story shop filled to the brim with thousands upon thousands of used and antiquarian books. Eleven people have signed up for the club, including five of Nora’s work colleagues - the grim and frowning Roger, the exuberant newly employed Amy, the sarcastic older Betty (who’s on the lookout for romance), the bemused and eager Felix, and Nora’s sister-in-law Cara (who has hurt her back lifting books and is on a strict regime of the most bizarre stretches).  There are also three of The Secondhand Bookworm’s most eccentric customers - Spencer Brown, who avidly collects occult books and resides in a Gothic house with a tower at the top of the hill, Crossword-Lady, with her outrageous culinary skills, her obsession wi

I am delighted to have finished BOOK 7 in The Secondhand Bookworm series of novels which is called 'Book Club at The Secondhand Bookworm' and which is presently with my friend and proof reader, Anne. She has kindly been looking over all of my novels and weeding out the last of any spelling mistakes or errors that have been lurking in the manuscripts. I am pleased to share that all novels in Kindle format are now fully corrected and finalized. I am up to Christmas in paperback (paperback manuscripts are a little more time consuming) and will have the paperback editions all fresh and updated soon. I was given the sad news last year that one of my regulars, Oliver, who we affectionately referred to as Drunk-Boy in the shops and in my novels, died from an accident at Arundel train station. I shall keep writing Oliver in my novels because he was an interesting and often amusing character and I shall remember Oliver fondly. I am dedicating my next book to his memory, which is set dur

This week I have produced several short Book Trailers for my novels in The Secondhand Bookworm series. This first one is for Book 1 - The Secondhand Bookworm. Book Trailers are great for a quick visual encounter with your book. Book Trailer for the first in a series of novels set in a used and antiquarian bookshop in a little Sussex town, based on 10 years of book selling, guaranteed to raise a few chuckles. In this feel-good debut novel (book 1 of 6 available so far - Jan 2020) readers will enjoy entering the world of secondhand book-selling in a quaint eccentric town on the south coast of England.   UK Amazon link Nora works in ‘The Secondhand Bookworm’ – a cosy, winding, labyrinth of a shop with room, upon room, upon room of used and antiquarian books. The week starts normally enough, with a visit from the notorious Ravens (two infamous ladies who leave a deluge of carrier bags behind the counter and argue in whispers), a man who changes his fashion with his litera

BOOK CLUB AT THE SECONDHAND BOOKWORM BOOK 7 IN THE SERIES This week I shall be working on book 7 in my bookshop series of novels - BOOK CLUB AT THE SECONDHAND BOOKWORM - which continues on from Black Friday. Nora and the Duke of Cole are now dating, the book club takes place in the front room of The Secondhand Bookworm in Castletown on Thursday evenings over seven weeks, and of course, mishaps and bookworm chaos ensues. For this novel I have tried a different format which will be a one off, letting the story unfold over seven weeks instead of six days. It's been interesting covering Christmas and the New Year in one novel and focusing on twelve specific characters for the Book Club, where I have been able to develop some particular customers who have featured through the series: CROSSWORD-LADY (who insists that Nora is actually the actress Gina McKee) SPENCER BROWN (whom Nora is convinced turns into a vampire bat) AMY (a new member of staff) MISS RAVEN (the daughter