Death of an Avid Reader, my sixth murder mystery featuring Leeds-based Kate Shackleton, First World War widow turned sleuth, partly set in the historic Leeds Library, is published on 2 October.
I’m not sure of the moment when that setting sparked my story. Perhaps it was when I learned about the library’s ghost, Vincent Thomas Sternberg, a former librarian. What a fine and elegant place Mr Sternberg chose to haunt.
Kate lives in a modest house in Headingley. She drives a snazzy Jowett, manufactured at Four Lane Ends, Bradford. Her sidekick is a former policeman, Jim Sykes, who lives nearby, in Woodhouse.
The first novel, Dying in the Wool, is set in 1922 and Death of an Avid Reader in 1925, so Kate does age. It didn’t occur to me that she might stay forever 31 years old. I grow older, so must she.
My publishers have arranged a blog tour for the book so there will be on-line reviews. I’ll tweet and post these and would greatly appreciate internet savvy BigBookenders’ help in spreading the word.
If you have friends in London who commute by tube, please ask them to look out, on 2 October, for Death of an Avid Reader which will be travelling unaccompanied on the underground without having bought a ticket but wearing a sticker. Books on the Underground is a scheme whereby copies of the selected book are placed in trains for book lovers to read and tweet about, using hashtags #kateshackleton and #deathofanavidreader. Yes, I know this is London-centric. I’ve been told. To make up for this, I’m giving away a free copy here.
To enter the draw for a signed copy, answer this bookish 1920s question:
Which writer won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1925?
Send your answer to me via the ‘Contact’ page on my website. Please entitle your email “Competition”. The closing date is midnight on 2 October. The draw will be scrupulously fair and the result announced here and on my website. I will email the winner to ask for his or her address.
While on the www.frances-brody.com website, you may feel inclined to sign up for my occasional newsletter, like my Facebook author page, or follow me on Twitter @FrancesBrody, any or all of which will be much appreciated.
The competition is now closed.
The winner of the competition is Ian B from Crawley. A signed copy of Death of an Avid Reader is on its way to him.
The launch of Death of an Avid Reader at the Leeds Library is now fully booked but I will be out and about signing in bookshops so please say hello if you are nearby.
Saturday, 11 October, 11.00 am – 1.00 pm, Waterstones, 40-42 James Street, Harrogate, HG1 1RF
Saturday, 18 October 1 pm – 3 pm, Waterstones, 15 Coney Street, York YO1 9QL
Saturday, 25 October, 11.00 am – 1.00 pm, Waterstones, 12-13 Kingsgate Centre, Huddersfield HD1 2QB
Saturday 22 November, 11.00 am – 1.00 pm, Waterstones, 2 Kirkgate, Wakefield, WF1 1SP
Saturday 29 November, 11.00 am – 1.00 pm, Waterstones, 93-97 Albion Street, Leeds LS1 5JS