Featured spotlight for the new release from Bookouture's author Lydia Travers and her new release "The Scottish Ladies' Detective Agency"!!
Book Blurb:
When Maud McIntyre sets up her own private detective agency, she never imagines her first case will involve murder… A mystery in the Highlands? The Scottish Ladies’ Detective Agency is on the case!
Edinburgh, 1911: When Maud McIntyre and her lady’s maid, Daisy, form a detective agency, they never dream their first case will take place at a glamorous house in the Scottish Highlands. But when the Duchess of Duddingston, concerned that a notorious jewellery thief will target her lavish weekend party, employs Maud to go undercover as a guest to find the culprit, the agency has its first case to solve…
Undercover with Daisy as her maid, Maud follows a trail of clues across the Duddingston House estate. And as she meets the weekend guests, she hopes one of them will reveal themselves as the jewellery thief. But when one of the house guests is discovered dead, Maud and Daisy realise they’re not only hunting precious gems, but a murderer…
As Maud and Daisy investigate, they realise that a connection in Edinburgh might hold a vital clue that will help them solve the case. Travelling back to the city, Maud hopes that what she and Daisy uncover will help them piece together the mystery.
But when Maud receives a telephone call from the Duchess requesting urgent assistance, she realises that the murderer didn’t have just one victim in mind. Speeding down the drive to Duddingston House, Maud and Daisy hear gunshots ring out across the estate. Will they reach the Duchess in time to save her? And might they catch the murderer in the act?
A warm page-turning historical whodunnit, perfect for fans of the mysteries of Helena Dixon, Verity Bright, T.E. Kinsey and Catherine Coles.
Book Buy Link: https://geni.us/ygj5sN2
Author Bio:
Lydia Travers was born in London. She moved progressively north until settling with her husband in a village on the edge of the Scottish Highlands. She has raised children, bred dogs and kept chickens; and for as long as she can remember has written for pleasure. A former legal academic and practitioner with a PhD in criminology, she now runs self-catering holiday accommodation, sings in a local choir and is walked daily by the family dog.
Lydia also writes as Linda Tyler and her first novel under that name, Revenge of the Spanish Princess, won a 2018 Romance Writers of America competition for the beginning of an historical romance. Her second novel The Laird's Secret was Commended in the 2021 Scottish Association of Writers' Pitlochry Quaich competition for the beginning of a romantic novel. Mischief in Midlothian won the 2022 Scottish Association of Writers' Constable Silver Stag trophy. She has had a number of short stories published in magazines, journals and anthologies in the UK, the USA and Australia.
Author Interview:
What literary pilgrimages have you gone on?
Not precisely a literary pilgrimage but some years ago when on holiday in Cornwall, I paid a visit to Fowey to imagine myself in Daphne du Maurier’s shoes.
Tell us the best writing tip you can think of, something that helps you.
Work on your short story or novel every day, even if it’s just for half an hour. It’s surprising how long it can take to get back into the story with even a few days away from it.
What are common traps for aspiring writers? Advice for young writers starting out.
Thinking it has to be perfect. First get it down. As various writers have said, ‘You can’t edit a blank page.’
Can you give us a quick review of a favourite book by one of your author friends?
The Miss Blaine’s Prefect series by Olga Wojtas. Shona is a proud former pupil of the Marcia Blaine School for Girls, where Miss Jean Brodie once taught. Impeccably educated and an accomplished martial artist, linguist and musician, Shona is delighted when selected by Marcia Blaine herself to travel back in time for a series of missions. Whether in Tzarist Russia, fin de siecle France or Macbeth’s Scotland, matters rarely go her way.
How did publishing your first book change your process of writing?
My first book was a romantic adventure set in the Mediterranean during the Golden Age of Piracy. I sent it out to numerous publishers, only to be told over and again there was no market for that genre or that period. I eventually found a home for The Revenge of the Spanish Princess, but it made me realise that, sadly, it’s best not to write what you want and then look for a publisher, but to look at what is selling and then write what you want within that genre.
What was an early experience where you learned that language had power?
The power to transform a person’s inner life: when I was a teenager and discovered the books of Georgette Heyer. After that I read as many historical novels as I could find in the local library. The power to transform society: that came later, when I read 1984 by George Orwell and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.
What’s the best way to market your books?
That’s something my publisher arranges. I suspect I’d be rubbish if I had to do it myself.
What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book?
I get an idea from wherever (reading, TV, friends), think about it for a while (a few weeks or so), draw up a rough outline and start writing. I research as I go. If it’s something simple, I search the internet or my reference books mid-sentence. If it’s more complicated, I write a note to myself in red in the document to deal with later and continue writing.
What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?
The ‘soggy middle’, when I think I don’t have enough for a full-length novel. It’s essential to be in a writing group and/or have writing buddies for feedback and brainstorming sessions.
Tell us about your novel/novels/or series and why you wrote about this topic?
I also write historical romances under the name Linda Tyler and for a while had been toying with the idea of a book set in the Edwardian period. It didn’t seem the most romantic of eras to me, but I thought it would be perfect for a cosy crime. The name Maud McIntyre came to me almost immediately. I realised that, with such a name, she wouldn’t be the sort of young lady who would work for a man; she would have her own detective agency. She then needed a side-kick, a foil to her steady, cautious self, and along came chirpy Daisy. My son and his family had earlier moved to Edinburgh and I was getting to know the city. Before long I knew where the M. McIntyre agency was situated and the streets where various adventures would take place. Armed with a street map to be absolutely sure, pictures of Edwardian fashion and an idea of the first crime that Maud and Daisy would investigate, I started writing.
Tell us your favourite quote and how the quote tells us something about you.
‘I only write when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes at nine every morning.’ William Faulkner. This doesn’t mean I start writing at that time each day but, like Maud McIntyre, I am ridiculously self-disciplined.
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Thank you, Lydia, for stopping by the blog today and we wish you much success with the new novel!!
Dee Marley
HFC CEO