“My inspiration tends to come from two words. The two most important words to a writer: What if?”
Welcome
I write mystery novels and short fiction, including the Meredith Island Mysteries.
A question people often ask people who write is How did you know you are a writer? For me, it was as soon as I could pick up a pencil. This is the way I naturally interact with the world: through story and images, symbols and themes, and more often than not, irony. Ursula Le Guin said it best: “But when people say, Did you always want to be a writer?, I have to say no! I always was a writer.”
England is my home by birth, Canada is where I was brought up, and Wales is my spiritual home. I am a lover of singing, history, archaeology, and all things Welsh.
If you’d like to keep in touch with the latest news about my novels, short stories, and appearances, please sign up for my Newsletter.
Latest News
NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER
THE SECOND IN THE MEREDITH ISLAND MYSTERIES
Kate Galway is looking forward to a quiet summer working on her latest novel at her home on Meredith Island. For a place hardly anyone has heard of, her sleepy Welsh island is attracting a lot of visitors, including a conman posing as a psychic and group of archaeology students who believe they’ve unearthed evidence of a Roman temple. Part-way through the dig, however, the students make an even more startling discovery: a body ritualistically laid out in their trench. While intrigued by the murder, amateur sleuth Kate decides to leave this investigation to the professionals. However, when she learns that both the island mechanic and her university friend’s son are prime suspects, she and sidekick Siobhan Fitzgerald feel they have no choice but to get involved.
PRE-ORDER A DARK DEATH
If you want to be one of the first to get the second book in the Meredith Island Mysteries, you can now pre-order A Dark Death from Amazon and Indigo. If you prefer to deal directly with my Canadian publisher, Stonehouse has both A Dark Death and Anthony Bidulka’s final Merry Bell mystery, Home Fires Burn, available for pre-order. As an added bonus you will receive some lovely free-trade tea. You can also order both Meredith Island Mysteries or all three Merry Bell Mysteries and received even more treats.
There are teasers about the A Dark Death plot in each of my newsletters. If you’re curious, go to the Newsletter page and sign up. No spoilers, I promise.
ALBERTA LIBRARY JANUARY E-BOOK FAVOURITE
Secrets in the Water is among the top ten ebook library loans for January in Alberta. Nothing beats a summer beach read during a cold prairie winter. Thank you, Alberta readers, for your support.
49TH SHELF’S MOST ANTICIPATED SPRING BOOKS
A Dark Death made 49th Shelf’s Most Anticipated Spring Fiction Preview: “All the fiction you're going to be falling in love with during the first half of 2025.” 49thShelf.com is an online platform for finding and discussing Canadian books, produced by the Association of Canadian Publishers.
SECRETS IN THE WATER AUDIOBOOK
I'm delighted to announce that the Book Publishers Association of Alberta (BPAA) and the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) have selected Secrets in the Water to be recorded as an audiobook. It could take up to a year to be completed, but it will be available through most audiobook sites.s
I’ve just auditioned three narrators for the book and chosen my favourite. Although I would prefer to have a British-accented reader, I’m confident the reader I’ve chosen will do a wonderful job, and I think Kate will approve. Siobhan doesn’t care who it was as long as she brings biscuits!
UPCOMING APPEARANCES
SUNDAY, MAY 4, 12:50 PM (9:50 PT), GLOBAL NEWS BC
I’m looking forward to chatting with the folks at Global News about the Meredith Island Mysteries.
TUESDAY, MAY 6, 7:00 - 8:00 PM, TWUC, ONTARIO REGION OPEN MIC NIGHT
I’m reading from A Dark Death at The Writers’ Union of Canada, Ontario Region Open Mic Night via Zoom. Open to TWUC members only.
FRIDAY, MAY 9, 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM, BONY BLITHE CONFERENCE, HIGH PARK CLUB, 100 Indian road, TORONTO
This is a fabulous one-day conference for readers and writers. The location is totally accessible. There will be writer panels and attending writers will be selling and signing their books. The cost is $85 per person which includes lunch and morning and afternoon snacks (vegan & vegetarian food is available).
I will be participating in a panel entitled Artistic Licence vs Reality Check where we explore if factual accuracy is important in a mystery, or is it sometimes necessary to fudge the facts to make the story work.
To register for the conference, go to bonyblithe.ca.
Saturday, MAY 31, 7:00 PM, A DARK DEATH LAUNCH, CENTRE FOR SOCIAL INNOVATION, 129 SPADINA AVENUE, TORONTO
Stonehouse Publishing is coming all the way from Edmonton to launch A Dark Death, my second Meredith Island Mystery, and Anthony Bidulka’s Home Fires Burn, his third and final Merry Bell Mystery. Join us for food, drinks, readings, authors, fun. Come by and get a signed copy of our books. We love to talk with readers.
Register through https://simpli.events/e/SPTorontoLaunch
friday, JUNE 27, TIME TBA, THE ARTSY RAVEN PODCAST
I’m talking about all things creative and A Dark Death during my interview with JD Garrard on The Artsy Raven podcast.
OTHER NEWS
The Beginning
At the age of thirteen, I wrote my first novel about ballet, my obsession at the time.
But I was always drawn to the Agatha Christie traditional mysteries I’d read growing up. The traditional mystery explores the disturbing idea that seemingly ordinary people in idyllic locations are capable of taking the life of another human being.
Given the right circumstances, the retired schoolteacher you pass every morning walking his dog or the young woman who serves tea and cake in your local cafe has the potential to commit murder.