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.

September 23rd 2014

Hello there. 

Well I hope you managed to get away for a holiday or two during the summer, and that you had decent weather.  Lots of holidays are now spent on cruise ships, and they are giving pretty good value, I hear.  My wife and I didn’t go anywhere.  Between us we have health issues, so it isn’t possible to travel much.  We don’t mind.  We live in a beautiful part of the world.  Except for chores at home that we have to do, we consider ourselves on holiday all the time. 

My excuse for not updating the diary is that I have been writing another Angel book.  It is finished now and I have posted it to the publishers.  It is called, THE MURDER LIST.  It’s a bit of a new departure for Angel and tests his ability more than most situations I have put him in before.  If it is accepted, it will be out in 2015.  I’ll keep you posted.  

The book I finished last May was accepted but the title has been changed.  It is now called ANGEL AND THE ACTRESS, which is a far easier to remember and indicates something about the story.  It will be published late this year or early next.  

Since I last wrote, my weight has been yo-yoing a bit, but overall I have managed to lose only a few pounds.  I am the same weight I was when I was about twenty.  Sexy Linda from Change4Life doesn’t think I should be worrying about it, but I do.  I get weighed again on Friday next 26th, I’ll report back the result.  I’ve still not been able to reduce further the size of my ample stomach, but I am keeping on at it.  I will have to eliminate absolutely my pinching of pieces of fruit from the fridge.  It is the over consumption of fruit that I think is hindering me. 

By the way, did you know that a typical glass tumbler full of fresh orange juice (not the stuff sold in wax packets in supermarkets but literally fresh orange juice with nothing added and nothing taken away) contains 5 or 6 teaspoonsful of sugar?  And I thought it was about the healthiest drink you could have!  As sexy Linda pointed out to me, there would probably have to be the juice of two or three oranges to make a tumbler full. 

I understand the rights have been bought to bring out an audio of THE FRUIT GUM MURDERS, so that the blind can enjoy Angel being read to them by well-known actors.  I believe this book will be read by that famous actor Jonathan Keeble who has recorded some of my other books and catches the northern style perfectly. 

By the way, on Thursday next, September 30th, THE MONEYTREE MURDERS in hardback will be in the shops and libraries.  It’s about some trickery and murders in a TV studio.  I hope you will look out for it and enjoy reading it. 

Wherever you are, whatever your age, enjoy your reading.  And remember, you’re only young once so make the best of it.  Take care.

May 3rd 2014

Hello there.  Glad to be back.

I have been very busy writing another new book tentatively called MURDER ON A THREAD.  I have just finished it.  It’s another Angel book - that’s what my publisher wants, and where would we be without publishers?

Don’t answer that.

My dear wife is proof-reading it and I hope to submit it in a few days time, and we’ll see what happens.

Oh dear, I have to report that last time I was weighed, I had put on 1½ lbs, having lost 2 lbs the month before.  I know that ½ lb isn’t much but considering that I go to the gym 5 days a week and do without all sorts of things like pies, sausage rolls, Yorkshire pudding, chocolate and goodness knows what else, I should be losing a stone a month not ½ lb! 

I believe that the intake of fruit - particularly pineapple - is the cause.  I tend to pinch chunks of it while I am in the kitchen and preparing meals.  Sexy Linda from Change4Life doesn’t think it is anything to get into a tiz about, but I’m not pleased. 

I was complaining to a friend about the protuberance and size of my stomach and she said, ‘Well, maybe it’s comfortable where it is?’  I had to laugh.  I’m certain it’s comfortable where it is, but I am still going to try and move it.  I’ll let you know how I go on. 

Since writing last December, a few things events have happened.  In February my book SHRINE TO MURDER WAS PUBLISHED in eBook form so that it can be read on Kindles and similar.  On March 31st my book, THE FRUIT GUM MURDERS was published in hard back, and my book, THE MONEYTREE MURDERS is coming out in September next.  So you see I am not wasting my time. 

Wherever you are, whatever your age, enjoy your reading.  The summer sun is coming soon.  Watch out for it. 

December 9th 2013

Hello there. 

Well, I’ve finished THE CLOCKWORK MOUSE MYSTERY all about the activities of a Scotland Yard Police Inspector in 1912, surrounded by murder and crime of all description.  I am so excited about it, I might put it straight out as an eBook thereby save a lot of time.  I will make some inquiries about that. 

There is one very strange thing about VAT.  Did you know that a printed book is VAT free, but an eBook is subject to VAT?  How strange is that? 

I was weighed last Friday and I’ve lost 1 lb in a month.  Sexy Linda was delighted.  She reasoned that if I maintained all the modifications initiated by Change4Life, I could confidently expect to weigh a stone lighter next December.  Now that would be magic!  I think she’d forgotten that Christmas is coming.  I simply love Christmas pudding and brandy sauce.  Anyway, I get weighed next on January 3rd.  I’ll let you know the result in the new year.

It is too early to report on the eBook sales of THE BIG FIDDLE released on November 29th, but I do know that we can now afford turkey on Christmas day.  We had planned on having sausages. 

I have a new title, THE FRUIT GUM MURDERS, another Angel book coming out in March 2014.  Then there's THE MONEYTREE MURDERS, the 22nd Angel book, which I hope will be out by Christmas 2014.

Well, I’ve finished writing the Christmas cards.  There are a few locals I have to deliver by hand and a few friends from Church that I will take there next Sunday.  Then we have to decorate the house and get out the tree.  I love the twinkle and bright colours of the fairylights which we put across the sitting-room windows, especially during these long, dark nights. 

I hope that you will have a lovely Christmas.  If you are on your own, I hope you will find comfort and hope in the re telling of the nativity.  If you are a crowd, maybe some of you could check up on neighbours who are on their own.  And say a prayer for your loved ones and yourself. 

Anyway, whoever you are, wherever you are, have a great Christmas, and a very happy New Year. 

 Happy reading!

November 11th 2013

Hello playmates.  Well, doesn't time roll by?  Soon be Christmas.

I've just finished a book that I've wanted to write for years.  It's a stand alone novel about an Inspector of police working out of New Scotland Yard in 1912.  He is surrounded by murder and crime and all sorts of strange happenings.  I've called it THE CLOCKWORK MOUSE MYSTERY.  The queen is currently reading the manuscript, then - subject to correcting all the mistakes she'll find - I'll send it down to the publishers.  It would be for delivery in 2014.  I'm ever so excited about it.

Last month I said I 'd tell you how my weight was doing.  You remember that for three months I had stayed the same, and I was quite dispirited.  It was because I was pinching fruit (pieces of fresh pineapple, strawberries and raspberries) as I was cooking, thinking that it wouldn't make any difference.  But fruit contains an enormous amount of sugar, and as we know, even natural sugar in excess is a no no.

Sexy Linda from Change4Life directed me to stop pinching the fruit and, instead, suggested that I had an exra slice of wholemeal brown bread to get rid of any possible pangs of hunger.  Well, friends, I did that and, as a result, I lost 3 lbs in September, 1 1/2 lbs in October, and 1/2 lb only in November.  Which isn't brilliant, but is progress in the right direction.  I now don't need to have a operation, which pleases me no end.

THE BIG FIDDLE is out in Hardback now and will,be available as an eBook from 29th November. Make a good Christmas read.

Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, enjoy yourself.  You're only young once.  And enjoy your reading. 

October 1st 2013

Here we are now into October.  It makes me feel cold even thinking about it.  But I have known some beautiful days in October.

Well, my old friend that I hadn't seen for 62 years turned up on August the 8th for a couple of days and we recalled our school days ... short trousers and caps... and school dinners, and how we used to discard our inedible meat - which was most of it - behind the old upright piano in the dining room and wondered if anybody ever moved the thing and found it.
I showed him the delights of Barnsley, as much as I could.  The one thing that seemed to fascinate most of all was the statue of Dickie Bird!
It was sad when they had to leave.  But all good things come top an end, as some miserable so and so said.

I was weighed on August 2nd and weighed exactly the same again.  I had weighed exactly the same for two months and it was very annoying, after all I have been through.  So I had a long interview with sexy Linda (of Change4Life) and she went through what I ate on a 'regular' day and between us, we discovered that I was simply not keeping to the correct percentage of the different categories.  I was 90% there, but, according to Linda, it really mattered.  I had to be a 100% right, but that there was absolutely no need to feel hungry.  So I came away from that interview being directed not to pinch pieces of pineapple or the odd strawberry or two or three when I am preparing tea for the queen.  Simply have the prescribed five a day in the appropriate sized portions and no more.  Have another slice of brown wholemeal bread to eliminate any suggestion of hunger pangs, and have a cup of milk a day because my intake of dairy products was below the proportion required.
All these changes were made so that I would never be hungry, and that I would be eating the healthiest diet the NHS could devise for a man of my age and size.  Well I wasn't convinced, but I gave it a go.  I did exactly what sexy Linda had said, and behold, when I was weighed on September 6th, I had lost 3 lbs!
Obviously, I am continuing the regime and hope to have lost another few pounds when I am weighed next Friday, October 4th.
Up or down, or the same, I will keep you posted. 

Sales of THE BIG FIDDLE are well up to the mark, I hear the large prints rights have been taken up by Thorpes.  They are the very nice specialist publishers who reprint the book in a much larger font so that readers who have sight problems can read it more easily.  They have reprinted most of my titles ... all the Angel books, I believe.  By the way, if you prefer to read from your ebook, THE BIG FIDDLE is being published in that form in November.

I have a new title, THE FRUIT GUM MURDERS, another Angel book coming out in March 2014.  Then there's THE MONEYTREE MURDERS, the 22nd Angel book, which I hope will be out by Christmas 2014.  I am also working on another book, which is as yet untitled, so you see I haven't been idle this past summer.

Wherever you are, whatever you're reading, enjoy yourself.  Remember, you're only young once.  Enjoy your reading.