Today, we dive into the Mystery genre with the latest book circling the blogosphere with Rachel's Random Resources. It features the work of author Helen Golden, and as you consider this who-dun-it for your next read, KEEP READING after the intro as we share a special Guest Post from the author herself on her journey to becoming an author!
Spruced Up for Murder
by
Helen Golden
About the book...
Death at Francis Court Now Confirmed as Murder!
Speculation is rife that the victim, estate manager Alex Sterling (44), was found by Lady Beatrice (35), the Countess of Rossex, niece of King James. Lady Beatrice, who has finally come out of hiding following her son’s departure to boarding school, has been managing the project to refurbish and redesign the Events Suite at Francis Court, alongside Perry Juke.
Heading up the murder investigation is Detective Chief Inspector Richard Fitzwilliam. Rumour has it that he and Lady Beatrice have a fractious history…
Awful man! How dare Fitzwilliam suggest Lady Beatrice’s sister is the number one suspect for Alex’s murder. It could be any one of the staff who were on-site that morning. Well, she’ll show Mr High and Mighty Fitzwilliam! With her attention to detail, her clever dog Daisy, Perry’s imagination, and his partner’s contacts at Fenshire CID, they’ll find the murderer before him.
Unless the murderer finds her first…
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~~~ GUEST POST with Author Helen Golden ~~~
The journey of a debut author...
At the ripe old age of ‘somewhere in my mid-fifties’, I considered myself to be broadly comfortable with who I was. Of course things could be tweaked a bit – I could do with dropping a few pounds, do a bit more exercise, and get more sleep. But generally I was happy and confident in myself. So with my job coming to a natural end, with some severance pay behind me and time on my hands, I made the decision to write a book.
Soon I was asking myself what on earth made me think that just because I could knock up a decent powerpoint presentation, write a bit of promotional copy, and rewrite emails before they went out to all staff, that I would be able to write a book? Sure, I read a lot of books, but I knew nothing about the craft of storytelling — of inciting incidents, or story beats, or character arcs, or genre expectations. After a few months of research, I’d discovered that it was also more complex than I’d imagined and would require more time than I’d anticipated. And that was just acquiring the correct writing tools and understanding the structuring of a plot. It seemed I also needed to do courses to help me understand the nitty gritty of the publishing process and even more courses to learn how to advertise and promote my books. I was almost ready to call it a day.
Except I was also getting excited about this new mysterious world of being an author. If I could master this, I would be able to take that document of story ideas I had on my laptop and turn them into something people would want to read. It took time. Well over a year. I’m now the even riper age of ‘knocking on the door of a big birthday’ and I still have a lot to learn. I can’t write as quickly as other authors do. I fiddle and fiddle with my covers and still I’m never one hundred percent happy with them. I’ve accidently deleted my original Facebook author page. I still get confused by when I should use ‘she’ or ‘her’ and don’t even get me started on Amazon advertising.
On the other hand I’ve met some hugely supportive authors in my genre who have helped me navigate the minefield of self-publishing. I’ve found great advance readers who give me valuable feedback and my editor is amazing at helping me make my books the best possible version of themselves. I’ve written three books, one novelette and I’ve almost finished a prequel for my series. Overall I’m pleased with my progress.
And so, while I can’t pretend I’m the same confident and self-assured person I was before I started this journey — like most authors I’m now wracked with self-doubt. Will anyone bother to read my books? And if they do, will they like them? And who knows how I’ll cope with my first bad review. I’ll probably be sobbing in a corner somewhere.
But what I do know is that two weeks ago, when I held a paperback version of my debut novel, Spruce Up For Murder, in my hands for the very first time, I was overcome with emotion. It was a proper book. Like the ones I buy to read on holiday. Like the ones I’ve seen in the library and in book shops. Like the ones lining my bookshelves at home. I couldn’t help but feel proud that I did this. It was my book, written by me. And I felt like a real author.
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About the author...
Hello. I’m Helen Golden. I write British contemporary cozy whodunnits with a hint of humour. I live in small village in Lincolnshire in the UK with my husband, my step-daughter, her two cats, our two dogs, sometimes my step-son, and our tortoise.
I used to work in senior management, but after my recent job came to a natural end I had the opportunity to follow my dreams and start writing. It's very early in my life as an author, but so far I'm loving it.
It’s crazy busy at our house, so when I’m writing I retreat to our caravan (an impulsive lockdown purchase) which is mostly parked on our drive. When I really need total peace and quiet, I take it to a lovely site about 15 minutes away and hide there until my family runs out of food or clean clothes
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Special thanks to Rachel at Rachel's Random Resources for the chance to bring this tour to you and to the author for the guest post. (THANKS!) For more information on this title, the author, this tour, or those on the horizon, feel free to click through the links provided above. This title is available now, so click on over to your favorite online retailer to snag your copy today! Be sure to check out the rest of the sites participating for more bookish fun...
Until next time, remember...if it looks good, READ IT!
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