THE JAWS OF DEATH

Hello from Lancashire

There's something about a shifting, marshy landscape that's just made for crime writers.

The photo above was taken back in May, up at Grune Point, at the very tip of the peninsula that looks west onto the Solway Firth. And those are my footprints, and they're on land, technically, but not always.

Because according to my phone, this is the precise spot on which this particular photo was taken.

In other words, sometimes, the very place I was standing is actually in the sea. The tides can make a big difference to where the land ends and where it begins.

And it's around here that the corpse Zoe's team investigates in Cumbria Crime book 8, The Marsh, will be found. 

Was it washed up from elsewhere? Or was it just dumped here by a killer in a hurry?

You'll have to read the book to find out. But if you're not familiar with this particular bit of Cumbria, I'd recommend a trip. The coast from Skinburness up to Grune Point is little short of spectacular, with views west across the water and north over the Solway to the Scottish hills.

And the sunsets are something else. When I visited last year, this was the view from the window of the amazing little place I stayed at in Skinburness.

And this was the image I snapped of a lone walker making his way along the coast at Silloth-on-Solway - a place also worth visiting for its wide, cobbled streets and old-fashioned, genteel vibe.

All these locations and more feature in The Marsh, the eighth and final novel in the Cumbria Crime series, and the thought of this run of books coming to an end is enough to reduce me to tears.

Or at least it would be, if I didn't know what was coming next. And what's coming next, as you probably know if you've been reading my emails, or Rachel's emails, or bugging either of our houses, is very exciting indeed.

Rachel is pushing on with her amazing Dorset Crime series, which will see a familiar character joining the fantastic cast she's already got assembled down there, and you can read all about that in The Beach Hut Murders, out on 19th March.

And the very same day sees the release of The Boatyard, the first book in the Whaley & Gaskill series. I'm beyond excited to continue working with the stories and characters we've brought you over the last couple of years, and to introduce some fresh new faces. And I'm really looking forward to revealing what's in store for Carl and the gang. 

Meanwhile, in cat news, after ten months on the streets followed by a few weeks recovering from his broken leg in our nice warm house, Oreo has rediscovered the outside world. And his adventures must have been utterly exhausting, if this yawn is anything to go by.

So far the little man hasn't caught any mice, birds or the like, or shown much inclination to hunt for anything other than our feet. But there's still something slightly terrifying about that yawn.

Like staring straight into the jaws of death.

I'll be in touch again soon, with more on both the cat and the books. 

In the meantime, take care, and happy reading,

Joel