I figured out how to fix the major plot issue I had in Two Sparks of Mystery (book 2 in the Abigail Palmer Cozy Mystery series), and revisions start as soon as I'm done with the Secret Santa novella: bring the scaffolding and your hard hat, I have my own sledgehammer... this one is going to be brutal!

I am just over halfway through the first draft of the in-between-the-books novella (which will be free for you, my lovely subscribers!), but I have a question - at the moment, the mystery is very light (Abigail wants to discover who was her Secret Santa at work), and the novella is more about spending time in her head, as well as spending a bit more time with some of the other characters (e.g. Millie and Jeff) - how do you feel about this? Would you prefer a dead body? I have a few candidates for murder!

I've also been keeping my cover designer busy, since, in addition to booking him to do the next two covers in the Abigail Palmer series, I've asked him to tweak the cover for my YA mystery, Your Knowledge Or Your Life?, since the previous one made it look like the story is much darker/ thriller-adjacent than it is (readers have used "YA Cozy Mystery Comedy" and "A fun mystery" to describe it!) - if you're curious, you can download the first 7 chapters here.

One thing that's been on my mind is large print paperbacks, and AI-narrated audiobooks (I can't afford a human narrator for the foreseeable future)... what do you think? Would any of you be interested? It would be quite a lot of work to set it up, so don't want to spend the time if there's no interest.

I'd also like to take a minute to thank all of you who (in no particular order!):

• Bought (and hopefully read, but no judgment if not!) Your Knowledge Or Your Life? ​
• Asked their library to buy A Slice of Mystery.
• Bought (and hopefully read, but no judgment if not!) A Slice of Mystery.
• Rated any of my books.
• Read A Slice of Mystery on KoboPlus.
• Read any of my books on Hoopla (I do get paid for those, around $0.50/checkout, and while it doesn't seem like much, it does add up!)
• Reviewed my books! Those reviews, even just one word, really, really help, so much, you have no idea! And it's not just about Amazon or Goodreads either, drop those reviews wherever, Kobo, Apple, B&N, GooglePlay, Hoopla, Libby, Everand, everywhere!

Some exciting news (completely last minute!) - KoboPlus has just launched in Czechia, Greece, Luxembourg, Philippines, Poland, and Romania! My books are all in KoboPlus, why not take advantage of the trial subscription and check them out?

Cozy mystery readers, click here or here.

Want Fantasy or Sci-Fi (or any combination, with a touch of Romance)? Click here.

More Romance than Fantasy or Sci-Fi? This is your link.

Also, while not free, the ebook for A Slice Of Mystery will be on sale in Canada on all platforms, for the whole of June, and I'd love it if you gave it a read!

We've had some fantastic weather in the UK recently, and for me, that meant reading outside (in the shade)! A YA novel that had been on the TBR pile for a while, Hotel Magnifique by Emily J. Taylor was the one I particularly wanted to mention: apart from a few paragraphs, and a detail that all in all is fairly insignificant, I really enjoyed it, so much so that it actually went on a shelf, rather than joining the donation pile.

Another read was Ace Of Shade by Amanda Foody. I enjoyed the story, and will be reading the sequel, but it bothers me that this was supposed to be a YA novel, with teenage protagonists, but (to me) they acted as adults (mid-twenties).

And the current read as I'm writing this is A Witch's Guide to Fake Dating a Demon by Sarah Hawley. I'm barely a third in, but so far, it's light, cozy, and funny, and I'm enjoying it!

As an aside, the donation pile isn't a bad thing at all: since I was a teenager, I kept every book I bought, regardless of whether I enjoyed them or not, and whether I had plans to ever re-read them or not (the words 'book hoarder' comes to mind). Several years ago, I was seriously running out of shelf space, and had no physical space to add (yet another) bookshelf, so I set myself the task of re-reading books I couldn't remember (the ones I re-read regularly were not in question, obviously). The result was that around 200 books went to the donation pile, not because they were bad, but because I didn't feel the need to ever re-read them (I did rescue one several months later, when I realised the story had stayed with me - that's why I use the same tactic as with my clothes - instead of going straight from closet to charity shop, they go in a bag that serves as a holding pen, just in case).

I swear I was alive this month, but it doesn't feel like there's anything to report... I should probably be concerned, that would signal a lack of work-life balance. No matter, I'm sure it's cyclical.

Oh, one tiny thing, a disappointment one might call it - my apricot tree, which was covered in flowers this spring, appears to have produced... one fruit, same as last year, but it only had two flowers last year. Why? Why???

Not the end of the world, and still pretty amazing when you consider that this tree came from a bunch of stones I spat in a pot of dirt fifteen years ago, but disappointing nonetheless (last year's apricot was incredibly delicious!).

Love, Sophie