This fun book event is possible through my collaboration with Rachel’s Random Resources.
Toffee Apple Strudel blog tour includes a guest post for Sarandipity’s and a giveaway. Share, comment, subscribe, and shop.
Book Details
Toffee Apple Strudel
A NEW BEATTIE BRAMSHAW MYSTERY – It’s the summer of 2001, and for WI Secretary and practised busybody Beattie Bramshaw, it’s a time of new beginnings.
Her much-anticipated wedding to vegetable grower extraordinaire Doug Sparrow is now just months away. However, in the throes of setting up their marital home and new market garden business, she receives a surprise request to care for a distant relative.
Likewise, a number of her fellow Elmesbury residents also find their lives on the cusp of change, and not all for the good. Is it pure chance that the arrival of Beattie’s young ward coincides with yet another murder in the village? Or were plans already afoot?
Once again, Beattie picks up the gauntlet, but can she solve the case and uncover the murderer’s identity before it casts a shadow over her wedding to Doug?
Toffee Apple Strudel is a comedy crime caper in the style of Agatha Raisin and sees the conclusion of the ‘Beattie Bramshaw Mysteries series’. Make a brew, grab a chair, and prepare for a fun-filled finale.
Author Guest Post
Quote by Mark Twain: “Write what you know.”
Thank you, Sara, for inviting me to write a Guest Post for your blog.
Having given much thought to what I could or should write about, I did wonder if the infamous quote by Mark Twain (above) would make for an interesting topic. It is a quote that I took quite literally in the early days of my writing career, and one that I actually still adhere by.
I’ve seen some recent thinking that says we shouldn’t limit ourselves to what we know. Instead, we should be open to what we want to know, what our characters know, and the great body of experiences some other writer before us has known.
I believe there’s space for both ways of thinking, particularly if you have the time to swot up on subjects and procedures you have no prior knowledge of. But, for those writers who have jobs and other responsibilities, it is perhaps a little more difficult.
When starting on my Beattie Bramshaw Mysteries trilogy, it made sense to write about things familiar to me. To this end, each of the books in the series includes an element of ‘what I know’.
Marrow Jam – In Book 1, the main character, Beattie Bramshaw, is a regular competitor in the village’s annual fête bakery competition. It was my many years’ experience as a competitor at the Romsey Show in Hampshire that motivated me to pick up a pen in the first instance. Although my submissions were placed in the floristry tent and not in a baking category, the rivalry I witnessed between competitors and their behind the scenes interactions proved to be all the inspiration I needed to create Beattie, and the series’ supporting characters.
Banana Devil Cake – In Book 2, a well-known TV personality (the front man for a prime-time programme providing psychic and clairvoyant readings to celebrities and the public alike) arrives in the village. Some twenty years ago, I undertook a two year course to study the Tarot and qualified as a Tarot Therapist. My greater understanding and knowledge of the cards and their uses ensured their inclusion in the series.
Toffee Apple Strudel – In Book 3, Beattie is asked to take on the care of a teenage relation, named Mercedes. I worked for Children Services in Hampshire for approximately 25 years, mainly in the Fostering sector, and it was important to me that I broach this element of my history. Albeit, I have not touched on the more upsetting aspects of the fostering experience for young people, I trust I have managed to capture the teenage demeanour accurately.
As an aside, it is with some regret that I never qualified as an astronaut for NASA. Can you imagine how fabulous it would be being the first author to write a cosy crime located on the moon!
To sum up, I believe an author should be free to write what flows from their mind, unhindered by custom or protocol.
With best wishes,
Susan A. King
Purchase Link
Susan King is hosting a giveaway on X, take a look here for all the details – https://x.com/SusanKing63/status/1954490392193151027
Author Bio
Susan A. King lives with her husband in the North East’s equivalent to San Tropez, otherwise known as Hartlepool.
The inspiration for her debut novel, Marrow Jam, came from her long experience and observation of competitors at a local country show where she regularly aspires to win Best in Show with her floral arrangements. Unsuccessful to date, she has been tempted to investigate more underhand methods by which to acquire the trophy but has yet to sink to the depths described in her novel. Or so she would have you believe!
Marrow Jam was shortlisted for the Write Here, Right Now novel competition at the Bradford Literature Festival.
The second book in the ‘Beattie Bramshaw Mysteries series’, Banana Devil Cake, is available in e-book and both are published by Eye/Lightning Books.
Toffee Apple Strudel sees the conclusion of the ‘Beattie Bramshaw Mysteries series’.
Social Media Links –
Facebook – www.facebook.com/SusanKing63
Instagram – @susan.king63
X – @SusanKing63
