by steve higgs
That is one reason why I stay up to the early hours to finish a book.
The other reason is the number of readers who tell me they stayed up until two or three or just didn’t get any sleep because they couldn’t stop reading. It is perhaps the greatest praise an author can get. I write stories that I would want to read and take my time to craft endings that take many, many books to arrive at.
I finished writing this book on the same day that book twenty in my Patricia Fisher series was published. In that book, I conclude a story arc that began in book one. The point is that the stories I want to tell cannot play out in a single book.
What do I mean?
Vince is clearly interested in Felicity. She could be interested in Vince, but I have another suitor waiting in the wings. Will either be suitable to win the lady’s heart? In truth, I haven’t decided yet. This series will run for a long while, so no decision is necessary. Not before the royal wedding anyway.
In this book I mention houses with ship’s beams in them. I believe this is not the first time I have brought the subject up in my books. I first came across a house with a curved beam from the hull of a ship as a young teenager. I was visiting the house of a friend not far from where I now live. Chatham dockyard, responsible for the construction of many wooden warships, is just a few miles to the east. As old ships were broken up, the oak beams were sought after as construction material – waste not and all that.
If I had the chance to buy a property with such history steeped into it, I would be sorely tempted.
It occurs to me that there may be people for whom this is the very first book of mine that they read. If that is the case, you have no doubt been asking who the heck Patricia Fisher is. She’s my bestselling sleuth and a character for who I have great affection. Patricia allowed me to cast off the corporate, bleeding eye socket life that I had. She gave me commercial success as an author, and I have never looked back. I have no wish to push you, but if you enjoyed this book enough to still be reading the author’s notes, you will love her adventures.
In this story, John Ramsey is belittled for his desire to wear women’s clothing. I wish to make it clear that I have no opinion on the subject. To accentuate this, I will claim that the clothing label I use – Hers for Him – is one I invented more than a decade ago when I briefly considered setting up an online marketplace for transvestites, transexuals, and crossdressers.
The idea came to me through a chance observation at a boot fair. If the term boot fair does not translate in your country, it is a place where people gather and sell things from the back of their car – in the UK, the bit at the back of your car is the boot.
Anyway, what I found was that there were lots of ladies’ clothes for sale with the labels still in them. Someone had bought an item and either never worn it or was speculating about dropping a dress size to get into it and never did. Whatever the case, I could buy lots of man-sized (if not man shaped) ladies designer outfits for pennies. How much would they sell for to an introverted audience?
I never did find out though I’ll admit I remain curious.
Thankfully, I found books instead. Otherwise, I might be sat here in a taffeta ballgown right now.
One final note is to do with the wonderful differences within the same language. In the UK, a house has a ground floor and an upstairs. Or one might call the upstairs the first floor. Any building with multiple floors starts with a ground floor. When you get to the top of the first flight of stairs, you reach the first floor. Not so in other parts of the world. I have to choose my words and construct my sentences in such a way that I do not confuse half the people who will read the book.
In the first draft of this story, Derek fell from the first floor, but my American proofreaders wanted to know how that was possible since to them the first floor is level with the ground.
The next adventure for Felicity, Buster, Amber, Mindy and more can be found on the next page.
Take care
Steve Higgs
What’s next for Felicity Philips?
Superstar celebrity wedding planner, Felicity Philips has an event to run on a private island this weekend. With a stunning landscape as their backdrop and an architectural masterpiece for their venue, it's the perfect setting ...
... for a murder.
After the nightmare of last weekend … oh, and the one before that, Felicity was hoping for things to run smoothly.
However, an unpredicted storm cuts them off from the mainland before all the guests and staff can arrive. That’s a big enough problem for a person trying to impress a prince. But when a guest is found hanging from the rafters, it becomes clear there is a killer in their midst.
Can Felicity employ Buster the bulldog and Amber the cat to help her again? Aided by her loyal assistant, AKA her ninja niece, Mindy, the team of four have no choice but to solve their way out of this one.
A FREE Rex and Albert Story
There is no catch. There is no cost. You won’t even be asked for an email address. I have a FREE Rex and Albert short story for you to read simply because I think it is fun and you deserve a cherry on top. If you have not yet already indulged, please click the picture below and read the fun short story about Rex and Albert, a ring, and a Hellcat.
When a former police dog knows the cat is guilty, what must he do to prove his case to the human he lives with?
His human is missing a ring. The dog knows the cat is guilty. Is the cat smarter than the pair of them?
A home invader. A thief. A cat. Is that one being or three? The dog knows but can he make his human listen?
More Cozy Mystery by Steve Higgs
Baking. It can get a guy killed.
When a retired detective superintendent chooses to take a culinary tour of the British Isles, he hopes to find tasty treats and delicious bakes …
… what he finds is a clue to a crime in the ingredients for his pork pie.
His dog, Rex Harrison, an ex-police dog fired for having a bad attitude, cannot understand why the humans are struggling to solve the mystery. He can already smell the answer – it’s right before their noses.
He’ll pitch in to help his human and the shop owner’s teenage daughter as the trio set out to save the shop from closure. Is the rival pork pie shop across the street to blame? Or is there something far more sinister going on?
One thing is for sure, what started out as a bit of fun, is getting deadlier by the hour, and they’d better work out what the dog knows soon, or it could be curtains for them all.
Twas the day before Christmas and Michael Michaels is about to upset his wife.
Recent adventures with his son, Tempest, have piqued his need for a little more action in his life …
… but when he finds himself facing off against a giant ghoul a few hours later, he begins to think he should have listened to Mary and stayed at home.
In trouble with the police, in trouble with his wife, and generally just in trouble, Michael Michaels knows he has uncovered a mystery, but just what the heck is going on? A theft from a museum, a missing man, and a scary figure lurking in the shadows … what do they add up to?
Michael has no idea, but he’s going to find out.
With a little help from a certain bookshop owner and his assistants, Tempest’s dad has only a few hours to solve this case. But when the chips are down, does he have what it takes to come up with a cool line at the right time? Or is he just another pensioner trying to do more than his old bones will allow?
The paranormal? It’s all nonsense, but proving it might just get them all killed.
More Books by Steve Higgs
Blue Moon Investigations
Paranormal Nonsense
The Phantom of Barker Mill
Amanda Harper Paranormal Detective
The Klowns of Kent
Dead Pirates of Cawsand
In the Doodoo With Voodoo
The Witches of East Malling
Crop Circles, Cows and Crazy Aliens
> Whispers in the Rigging
Bloodlust Blonde – a short story
Paws of the Yeti
Under a Blue Moon – A Paranormal Detective Origin Story
Night Work
Lord Hale’s Monster
The Herne Bay Howlers
Undead Incorporated
The Ghoul of Christmas Past
Patricia Fisher Cruise Mysteries
The Missing Sapphire of Zangrabar
The Kidnapped Bride
The Director’s Cut
The Couple in Cabin 2124
Doctor Death
Murder on the Dancefloor
Mission for the Maharaja
A Sleuth and her Dachshund in Athens
The Maltese Parrot
No Place Like Home
Patricia Fisher Mystery Adventures
What Sam Knew
Solstice Goat
Recipe for Murder
A Banshee and a Bookshop
Diamonds, Dinner Jackets, and Death
Frozen Vengeance
Mug Shot
The Godmother
Murder is an Artform
Wonderful Weddings and Deadly Divorces
Dangerous Creatures
Albert Smith Culinary Capers
Pork Pie Pandemonium
Bakewell Tart Bludgeoning
Stilton Slaughter
Bedfordshire Clanger Calamity
Death of a Yorkshire Pudding
Cumberland Sausage Shocker
Arbroath Smokie Slaying
Dundee Cake Dispatch
Felicity Philips Investigates
To Love and to Perish
Tying the Noose
Real of False Gods
Untethered magic
Unleashed Magic
Early Shift
Damaged but Powerful
Demon Bound
Familiar Territory
The Armour of God
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