October 25th 2015

Hello, again.  There you are.  On Friday last I was weighed by sexy Linda at Change4Life, the local NHS outfit.  And I’m all smiles because in the last 4 weeks, I have lost 2½ lbs.  Now it might not sound much, but it’s a heck of lot considering I’ve been either standing still or putting on a pound or two these last three or four months. 

However  the sad news is that I might not be seeing sexy Linda again.   Over the last five years, she has been responsible for me losing over 5 stones in weight by instructing me to follow a healthy life style and thereby avoiding a nasty operation!  It hasn’t only been dieting.  It has been a real eye opener to me to realise the easy alternatives open to us.  The reason why I might not see Linda again is that the NHS is changing everything again!  Everything is up in the air.  Her job may change.  Nothing in our lives is destined to stay as it is.  Old fogeys like me have to work round all the changes in life made by authority.  It’s a good job I have the queen, who always steers me in the right direction. 

Speaking of the queen, she had been rather ill, and had to go to hospital.  She was there for six days and they did all sorts of wonderful things and she came out fighting fit.  They have also found her a different medication regime to assist her digestion which is suiting her very well. 

Anyway, I want to tell you about I’ve been doing.  I have been very busy.  All my books that have been published in hardback can now also be read on line on a Kindle or any similar electronic reader.  Also another of my books, THE MONEYTREE MURDERS has been recorded (for the blind) and is available at shops, on line and libraries throughout the UK. 

A new idea for short story readers or those who don’t want to wade through a whole book is on website www.pennyshorts.com.  There you can see all sorts of short fiction for 50p a read.  I have contributed a short story to it titled THE TOLLINGTON GHOST.  

A new Angel book, THE MURDER LIST, is coming out this weekend and I have another, THE LIPSTICK MURDERS, being published on March 31st next year. 

Oh yes.  Please note, as from Monday October 26th to Friday, 30th, SALAMANDER is available free from Amazon on Kindle.  It will be good for people who aren’t familiar with my stuff to try me out for nothing.  I do hope those who are Kindle readers will take advantage of it. 

Keep well.  Keep happy.  Keep reading.

June 30th 2015.

My latest Angel book is published in hardback today.  It’s the 23rd in the series.  It’s called ANGEL AND THE ACTRESS.  The eBook edition will be out later this month. 

Now, let me see, what I have been doing since I last wrote this diary…?

Of course I have still be going regularly to the gym and I have stayed rigorously on the Change4Life routine which doesn’t seem so exacting when you get used to it.  After all, you can almost eat what you ate before but in reduced quantities, some greatly reduced.  But there is positively no need to feel hungry.  That I wouldn’t be able to tolerate. 

However in the last few months, my weight has not moved either up nor down.  Last month, May, when I was weighed, I was within a spoonful the same as I weighed in June.  And before that I put back on the half pound I had lost in March.  My mentor through all this is sexy Linda.  She is marvellous.  She has an answer for everything.  And she is totally happy with my performance.  She says I should be satisfied that I am holding down my weight.  I’m not.  She says that I am at probably at my natural, healthy level, and that I will not move my weight any further down without cutting down on what I eat or by exercising more.  I don’t think I can do either.  We’ll see.

Since I last wrote this page, IN THE MIDST OF LIFE, my first Angel book, can now be read on line on a Kindle or any similar electronic reader.  And audio editions (for the blind) THE BIG FIDDLE and THE FRUIT GUM MURDERS have also been published and are in the libraries and the bookshops. 

THE MURDER LIST (this will be the 24th in the Angel series) is being published in hardback in October.  And I am working hard on a new Angel book for early in 2016. 

A reader from Australia sent me an email grumbling that he could not get eBook editions of some of the Angel books.  Well, I was able to tell him that in the next few months, all the Angel books up to ANGEL AND THE ACTRESS and my stand alone novels will be available electronically on line. 

I hope you have a great holiday, whether it’s on a luxury cruise liner, or at home in your own backyard, with a library book.  Enjoy yourself.  Take care.

March 2nd 2015

Hello there.  I’m back.  I know it’s been a long time, but I haven’t been wasting my time.  I’ve been writing like the clappers.  Messing about on the internet or Twittering or writing stuff on my Facebook page doesn’t add a single word to the book I am writing!  And I’m still writing about Angel.  I hope you enjoy reading about him. 

I try to write reassuring entertainment in these dark days of racial intolerance in so many countries.  I am particularly disturbed by the shocking acts of hatred of the British, from people whom we have sheltered, defended, educated and kept healthy.  I don’t understand it. 

My weight is still yo-yoing.  What I lost last month I put back on this month, which considering the amount of time I put in at the gym and what I do without at home, I find rather depressing.  At least, I am not putting weight back on and to be fair I’m rarely hungry.  If I am desperate, I have a slice of wholemeal bread with some reduced salt and sugar Heinz beans.  It rarely happens, but there’s my secret.  It is wholly permitted by Sexy Linda.  However she also says that I might never lose my tummy.  Annoyingly, she has a habit of being right, but I am not yet completely satisfied, so this month I am more determined than ever to take off a few pounds.  My next Change4 Life meeting with her is next Friday.  Cross your fingers for me. 

Well, we are now in March, so in theory, winter is over.  However snow is forecast today for us at the foot of the Pennines.  If there is only a light fall, we are locked in to our house.  There is a hill that it is not possible to get up by car.  As it is a private road, it won’t be gritted or cleared.  We have to wait for a thaw.  The postman doesn’t deliver and the bins aren’t emptied.  However Tesco’s will deliver.  Over past winters, the driver has several times parked his van on the top road and trundled a trolley with our order on it through the snow down the hill to us.  Isn’t competition a wonderful thing! 

Since I posted my last blog, I have heard that ANGEL AND THE ACTRESS will be published on June 30th next, and THE MURDER LIST later this year. 

Also, I am working on another Angel book now which I don’t want to talk about yet for publishing in 2016, I hope. 

By the way, I should point out that if you are using an electronic reader like a Kindle, that an eBook title of mine published recently as DEAD AHEAD, was originally in hardback and paperback and called DEADLY DAFFODILS.  Also MISSING, PRESUMED …was originally in hardback as WILD ABOUT HARRY.  They are both very popular titles.  I only mention it so that if you’ve had it in book form, you may not want it again on a screen. 

Well, there we are.  However you read, whether it’s from printing on a page or an image on a screen, I hope you enjoy it. 

Happy reading.