Book Nook

nook

[nʊk]

NOUN

1. a corner or recess, especially one offering seclusion or security:

   "the nook beside the fire" · "the fish should be able to find nooks and crannies in which they will be safe"

And it rhymes beautfully with Book ( a place of wonderment)

So a great name for a book shop is.... The Book Nook.

Michael Malone and I were invited out to talk nonsense, have a small glass of wine and generally discuss books, the state of publishing and the affairs of the day.

We had a grand time, the place was packed.

Do any authors turn up to these things without at least a brief idea of what they are going to say? Being interviewed is easy. Doing the interviewing is easy. But there's a no man's land in the middle if there's two of you and no script. What if he's a talker? What if i'm a talker.  Are we supposed to ask each other questions? Does he do half an hour then I do half an hour? What happens if he's mad?  What happens if he thinks I'm mad?

 So I formed a vague plan. As Michael  knows me, he knew I'd  form a vague plan and was happy to go with it.  I think he knew it was my plan anyway and there was no getting away.

I spoke about the List murders, not the man or the murders, but the way the bodies were laid out in the mansion, the length of time they had been there for, the funeral music that had been playing on the radio for the month that they had lain there dead. So what would happen if two wee Scottish boys  break into the house and come across that!  

( In Scotland we have house breaking. I think you guys have home invasion. It is burglary in Englandshire?)

And the smell that would hit them?

Both Michael and I have written series. He has now gone totally standalone.

 I'm not that brave.

Sarah, in charge!

And we did quote Dame Agatha- the best time to plan a murder is when you are doing the dishes!

 We  talked a fair bit about the onslaught of celebrity authors we are suffering at the moment. everybody and their dog seems to be writing a crime novel. All the judges on 'strictly come dancing' are now 'writing' crime fiction. As well as loads of tv presenters.

 

It's much easier to launch a book if the writer is already, as we would say 'a well kennt face'

The audience were keen to talk about  covers and who did the art etc.

I said that I had commented that on the front of The Devil Stone, my character does not  have a dancer's chignon but a drug dealers donut for a hair do.

 The art department said that they had tried that and it made her look like she had no neck.

 I had to agree. It made her look like a monkey.

 And that comment gave me an idea for the new book.

 Michael said that for The Quicksand Of Memory - see the pic above - he rewrote a small passage of the book when he saw the cover. He liked the cover very much but it had really nothing to do with the book, but it did by the time he had finished editing it!

The Book Nook is run by Sarah Frame. It's a new venture for the book loving side of her business brain now that she's back in Scotland where she belongs. She's a mega intelligent individual, her background is in accessing computer learning /online courses for university education. or something. I got lost at the first moodle. She runs a company that does this and they really swung into action during lockdown.

I undertood about one word in three, being more of a post it note kind of person.

From the awards it has already garnered, the Book Nook is a great sucess.

Here's DCI Christine Caplan, with her drug dealers doughnut, in front of the house where my version of the List murders occured.

Happy reading

Caro