Publication Day!

So ‘Oracle’ is loose upon the world, at first with a tentative snuffling, a rootling, then a leaping and bounding – into reader’s hands, hearts and minds, I hope. There isn’t a launch, not even a virtual one, there are better ways to spend one’s energy and time right now, though I would like to give a heartfelt thank you to all those people who have supported me and the book and congratulated me and wished the book well.

It’s now available on bookshop.org and via the Claret Press web-site ( postage & packing of paperbacks is free, while stocks last ) as well as on Mr Besos’ ubiquitous platform ( which still sells more books than anywhere else online ) and Waterstones.  Both paperbacks and ebooks are available costing £9.99 and £3.99 respectively ( though Amazon alters the price it charges unilaterally, I was surprised to see the ebook up for pre-order for £5.99 at one point – proof that there were pre-orders at any rate ). If you happen to live in south London the book can be found at Clapham Books and Herne Hill Books ( and several other local book emporia ).  It can be ordered from all good book shops.

And I’m busy.  I had great fun this afternoon being interviewed for ‘The Doctor Will See You Now’ by Jacky Gramosi Collins, also known as Dr Noir ( Jacky founded Newcastle Noir, was instrumental in the Edinburgh Noir at the Bar and most recently, has been deeply involved with Gwyl Crime Cymru, Wales’ first Crime Fiction Festival ). This will be broadcast on Thursday 6th May – it’s free to air and you can find it here, when I get the link. I’ve also been chatting on StreamYard with Sam Brownley of the UK Crime Book Club. I’ll be doing a talk for the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster Libraries too, on 17th May. It’s free but you need to register ( tickets from Eventbrite ). I’ve enjoyed preparing for that – it’s all about Delphi, ancient and modern and its myths and literature, as well as ‘Oracle’. In the meanwhile there are a number of events for book clubs and subscribed podcasts and some radio interviews coming up too, the Events page of this web-site will be kept up to date.

There will be some fizz drunk this evening, which is probably my only concession to the traditional response to publication.  Releasing two books in two years, only eight months apart, but into a world wracked by COVID has not been what I would have expected or wanted. Nonetheless, readers seemed to enjoy ‘Plague’ and, I hope, will also enjoy ‘Oracle’ although it is a very different type of book, much more the ‘classic’ murder mystery. I am already hard at work on ‘Opera’ the third in the series, which sees Cassie return to London determined to lay some old ghosts to rest after her experience in Delphi.

If any of you reading this are about to read ‘Oracle’ please do write a review when you have done so, on Goodreads and Amazon or Waterstones, wherever you purchased the book. That will help other potential readers and, if you enjoy reading it, TELL EVERYONE ABOUT IT!  

In the meanwhile, I raise a glass to you all.