That grin answered all the questions I wanted to ask.
Shirley raised her hand and curled her little finger a couple of times towards me in a come-hither gesture.
“Well, Big Boy, are you just going to stand there?” she said. “Come on in. The water’s lovely.”
Read more Crampton of the Chronicle stories free at:
www.colincrampton.com
About Peter Bartram
Peter Bartram brings years of experience as a journalist to his Crampton of the Chronicle crime mystery series. Peter began his career as a reporter on the Worthing Herald newspaper before working as journalist and editor in London and finally becoming freelance. He has done most things in journalism from door-stepping for quotes to writing serious editorials. He’s interviewed thousands of people from cabinet ministers to cabinet makers. He’s pursued stories in locations as diverse as 700 feet down a coal mine and a courtier’s chambers at Buckingham Palace. Peter wrote 21 non-fiction books, including five ghostwritten, in areas such as biography, current affairs and how-to titles, before turning to crime – and penning Headline Murder, the first novel in the Crampton series. There is a free novella, Murder in Capital Letters, on the Crampton of the Chronicle website (address above).
Follow Peter Bartram on Facebook at:
www.facebook.com/peterbartramauthor
A message from Peter Bartram
Thank you for reading Stop Press Murder. I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you have a few moments to add a short review on Amazon, GoodReads or Apple iTunes Store, I would be very grateful. Reviews are very important feedback for authors and I truly appreciate every one. If you would like news of further Crampton of the Chronicle stories, please visit my website – the address is at the top of this page.
Acknowledgements
It’s not just the author, you know. Many people have helped to make the Crampton of the Chronicle series a success.
First, there is the fantastic team at Roundfire Books who’ve helped to bring out this book as well as Headline Murder, the first in the series. Special mention must go to publishing manager Dominic James as well as Catherine Harris, Maria Moloney, Mary Flatt, Nick Welch, Stuart Davies, Krystina Kellingley and Maria Barry.
Barney Skinner is the web genius behind the Colin Crampton website at www.colincrampton.com. The brilliant Caroline Duffy created the caricatures of Colin Crampton and his colleagues, including the redoubtable Shirley Goldsmith, on the website, in the books and on my Facebook page.
Paul and Inge Sweetman from City Books in Brighton & Hove provided invaluable help and advice on running the launch party for the first Crampton mystery. That talented and versatile actor Peter F. Gardiner brought Colin Crampton to life with a lively performed reading. I must include a special thank you for Graham Toole-Mackson who won the launch party’s competition to be a character in Stop Press Murder. I hope he’s enjoyed being a detective sergeant!
Then there are the book bloggers in the United Kingdom and the United States who have featured Crampton on their blogs. (Just Google “Headline Murder Peter Bartram” and your search results will light up with their contributions). Their help in spreading the word is invaluable for a new crime series and I greatly appreciate it.
Finally, and most important of all, as with Headline Murder, my family has been a constant source of love and encouragement during the long hours it takes to write a book.
Headline Murder
A Crampton of the Chronicle mystery
Murder, he reported… Colin Crampton faces dangers they never mentioned at journalism school when he hunts down a secret killer.
It’s August 1962, and Colin Crampton, the Brighton Evening Chronicle’s crime reporter, is desperate for a front-page story. But it’s the silly season for news – and the only tip-off Crampton has is about the disappearance of the seafront’s crazy-golf proprietor, Arnold Trumper. Crampton thinks the story is about as useful as a set of concrete water-wings. But when he learns that Trumper’s vanishing act is linked to an unsolved murder, he scents a front-page scoop.
Powerful people are determined Crampton must not discover the truth. But he is quite prepared to use every newspaper scam in the book to land his exclusive. The trouble is it’s his girlfriend, feisty Australian Shirley, who too often ends up on the wrong end when a scam misfires.
Crampton has to overcome dangers they never mentioned at journalism school before he writes his story. Headline Murder will keep you guessing – and smiling – right to the last page.
Available in paperback and ebook format
At Roundfire we publish great stories. We lean towards the spiritual and thought-provoking. But whether it’s literary or popular, a gentle tale or a pulsating thriller, the connecting theme in all Roundfire fiction titles is that once you pick them up you won’t want to put them down.
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