Our local library was lucky enough recently to have a visit by crime fiction author, Kate Ellis. Her Wesley Peterson series is set in Devon, in the fictional town of Tradmouth, based on Dartmouth — a favourite place of mine and a location that Kate has visited many times over the years.
Having read and enjoyed several of her Wesley Peterson novels, I went along to hear her talk. She spoke of how she'd always enjoyed mystery stories as a child and pointed to this as her inspiration for becoming a crime writer.
What I've always particularly enjoyed about Kate's books is the history she weaves into the story, often through her archaeologist character Neil Watson. It's this element of her stories which I think gives them their USP.
I bought two of her books at the event - The Mermaid's Scream and her latest Wesley Peterson novel, The Mechanical Devil, from which she read an extract to whet our appetites.
I'm reading The Mermaid's Scream at the moment (watch this space for a review soon!) and I'm also looking forward to revisiting some of her earlier novels, as I think there are a couple in the series I've missed.
I was interested to hear that for "light relief" after completing the final draft of a novel, Kate likes to write a short story. Some of these have been published in an ebook anthology called, Dark & Merciless Things which I downloaded on to my Kindle.
The stories are all crime-themed and range in time era, from the present day to all the way through to the 16th century, in the period following the dissolution of the monasteries. I don't often read short stories but I really enjoyed these.
I can recommend the anthology if you're looking for some quick reads on those occasions when you haven't time to get stuck into a novel.
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