The Christmas Gift - Penny Plain 4

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The fourth in the Penny Plain Mysteries series is now out from Accent Press!

The Christmas Gift starts off innocuously enough with the idea of tracing forgotten photos in the local newspaper files but, as ever with Penny and Leo, it doesn't stay that simple.

There are petty thefts, Christmas nativities, and before they know it Leo is cycling through thick snow on a borrowed bike with a shepherd's crook across the handlebars.

Oh, and about that kiss at the end of Local Secrets ..?

Sorry - you need to buy the book.

Happy Christmas!

Cover for Penny Plain #4

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To distract me from a nasty sore throat, I received an email this morning with my cover for the fourth in the Penny Plain Mysteries.

The Christmas Gift will be out in November from Accent Press. I will post more about it then.
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Local Secrets is out!

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No, that's not a grammatical error!




Local Secrets is the third Penny Plain story - and it is out now from Accent Press.

Something is afoot in Salthaven - graffiti down by the harbour, a WW1 soldier missing from the town’s war memorial and a dodgy councillor exuding charm. Penny and Leo are on the trail!

Penny gets her Just Desserts

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Accent Press have now published the second in my series of Penny Plain mystery novellas.

It is called Just Desserts and features Penny (of course), Leo (equally of course), ice cream, a WI show, a missing 1950s test aircraft, odd bits of rivalry, a secret lab, a daughter behaving oddly...

I think it might be best if you just bought it.

Penny Plain comes to Accent Press!

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I am delighted to announce that my Penny Plain Mystery novellas have found a home with Accent Press.

These are the expanded versions of the People's Friend serials, but all in one place on your Kindle, without the need to wait for a week between chapters to see what happens next.

The first of the four stories is out now. It is called The Jigsaw Puzzle and is sparked off by the discovery of a strange jigsaw puzzle in Penny's late mother's cupboard.

The cover of the e-book has been taken from part of the real jigsaw puzzle that I really found when clearing out my own late mother's cupboard.

(The rest of the real story is far more mundane than the story I invented for Penny!)
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Penny Plain - the final episiode

The final part of Penny Plain for Christmas is out this week, featuring a heroic charge through the snow, a nativity with provisos, a real baby birth in a church and a happy-ever-after. Now how could anyone resist that?

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Happy Christmas reading!
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Penny Plain 4 - part three

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Part Three of Penny Plain: The Christmas Present is in the current issue of People's Friend. Items are still going missing, the mystery of the WW2 wedding photo deepens - and Leo's son arrives to spend Christmas in Salthaven.

Only a couple of days until the final episode is out!
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Penny Plain 4 - part 2

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Sorry - blogging late again. You only have a couple of days to buy Part 2 of Penny & Leo's Christmas serial before the new issue comes out on Wednesday.

Go on, you know you want to. It's not often that you find boats, petty theft, Nativities and car boot sales all appearing in the same story.
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Penny Plain for Christmas!

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The fourth Penny Plain serial starts this week in People's Friend and - as the illustration below shows - it is a Christmassy one!

You need to be quick, though, as Part two will be out on Wednesday/Thursday!
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Penny's back!

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The first part of the third Penny Plain serial starts this week in People's Friend magazine. In this mystery, we are introduced to Penny's son Noel, whose girlfriend Caitlin is having trouble with graffiti at her family brewery.

Various characters from previous serials make an appearance, along with a few new ones.

Hope you enjoy!
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(People's Friend issue dated June 22nd 2013)

Penny Plain - final part

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The final part of Penny Plain is now out. All the loose ends get identified and tidied away neatly, just as they should.

I'm going to miss seeing the illustrations each week

A Wonderful Coincidence

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The story behind Part Three of this year's Penny Plain Mysteries is one of those  serendipitous coincidences that we are told never to use in our writing, because no one would believe it. But this one DID happen, so I did use it - albeit in a fictitious manner.

Earlier this year, when I was writing the second series of Penny Plain, I received an email through my website from Betty, now living in Canada, to say that she always had People's Friend sent to her from the UK and had thoroughly enjoyed the first Penny Plain story.

Betty in 'them thar' days

She went on to say that she had particularly liked the unusual jigsaw-code-breaking strand, and mentioned that back in the 1950s she had worked on aircraft crash data, trying to establish the weak points in the new aeroplanes then being developed.

At which point I leapt off my chair shouting "Yes, yes, yes!" and "FABULOUS!" and "I don't believe it!" Because - as I immediately emailed back to her - I was at that very moment writing the new series of Penny Plain which included a mysteriously crashed plane from the 1950s!

We have since kept up a regular email correspondance, and I was so grateful for the easiest research ever, that I wrote Betty - in very fictionalised form - into this week's episode.

Whetted your appetite? Good - go buy it.

Penny Plain - episode two

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The second part of The Penny Plain Mysteries is out today. This episode centres on the rather worrying goings on at Fellside Farm. I love the way the illustrator has captured a typical Lake District farm with the hills in the background.


And the ice cream? What does that have to do with the story? You'll never know unless you buy the issue.

Penny Plain rides again!

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Where is the year going? I delivered the second Penny Plain Mysteries serial back in the spring and thought of the November publication date as months away. Which it was, of course. So I forgot about it and got on with other projects.

So imagine my surprise when I opened up the first page of this week's People's Friend to find this! (Several other people in my aisle of the supermarket were likewise surprised. One lady rushed over thinking I was having a minor heart attack.)

It's the first time I'd seen the illustration and I love the way the artist (Ruth Blair) has got the characters just right.

It's another four part serial involving - oh, let me see - 1950s aircraft, the Women's Institute... and ice cream. And an overarching mystery and a few other bits and pieces as well.

You'll have to buy it to find out. Just like the lady in the supermarket.
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Penny Plain Pt4

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In all the busyness of Christmas, I have quite forgotten to blog about the final episode of my four-part Penny Plain serial.

If you haven't got the 18th&25th December double issue of People's Friend yet, you might want to look for it in the next couple of days before it vanishes off the racks.


I really enjoyed rising to the challenge of writing a serial. Next one in progress already!
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Penny Plain Double Issue

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Well, that was a surprise! Bought this week's People's Friend magazine and discovered that it was a double issue.

So, Part Two of the Penny Plain Mysteries is near the beginning on page 12

and Part Three is near the end on page 70


and Part Four won't be out until the 15th December!
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The Penny Plain Mysteries!

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Hugely excited to get The People's Friend this morning (Nov 27th 2010 edition) and to find the first part of MY SERIAL on the opening two pages.

Doesn't it look fabulous? The idea came way, way back when I was clearing out my mother's house and found a strange jigsaw puzzle rolled up in her games box. I blogged about it here. The answer to my mystery was sadly prosaic, but what a great story it could have been, I thought, and the idea made itself at home in my head. While I wrote a two-part gentle mystery, I fell in love with my characters so started a second adventure. I sent The Jigsaw Puzzle out into the world, it came back, I sent it out again. People's Friend loved it but wanted a longer serial so I finished the next two-part mystery and tied all four together with an over-arching story.

And even though I say so myself, it's jolly good. Go on, go and buy the magazine today.
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