Nancy Jardine Author

Good morning! It's Tuesday and getting closer to the end of December festivities 

It's been a while since I interviewed anyone so I'm absolutely delighted to have fellow Crooked Cat author, Alice Castle, here today. This is one of those huge-on-the-calendar days for Alice because it's the launch of 'The Girl in the Gallery', the second in her mystery crime series. 

Alice Castle

Welcome to my blog, Alice. Make yourself comfortable. It's still icy outside for the umpteenth day up here in Aberdeenshire but the fire's on so it's lovely and cosy. Let's get to know you a bit better...

Some form of writing has been your career since leaving school. Can you please give us an idea of your ‘writing’ life before becoming a published author?

For many years I was a journalist on national newspapers including The Daily Express, The Daily Telegraph and The Times. I was a feature writer and interviewed P. D. James and Ruth Rendell, amongst others.

Crooked Cat Books is one of your publishers but could you tell us a bit about your other novels, please?
My first novel is a chicklit story split between Brussels and London, about a woman who’s obsessed with chocolate. Much to my surprise, it got picked up by the German publisher Ullstein and was a bestseller in Europe, selling out its first print run in two weeks. It’s available online in German with the title Schokoherz or in English as Hot Chocolate.

That was an excellent start to your published writing! Today’s launch is for The Girl in the Gallery, Book 2 of the London Murder Mystery series published by Crooked Cat Books. What are the 5 most important traits of Beth Haldane, your main character.
I think Beth’s five most important traits are her determination, her sense of justice, her feisty spirit, her reckless edge and her boundless affection for all those she holds dear.

Brilliant traits to have! Are the settings for the series all in and around the London area? Can you give us an idea of anything distinctive about the locations of the stories?
The stories are all set in and around Dulwich, where Beth lives. Dulwich is quite an unusual area of London in that it’s been largely unchanged for 150 years, despite two world wars and the huge growth of traffic and population in the capital city. It has a distinct village feel and people tend to stay for generations, giving it quite an air of a St Mary Mead locked into central London (St Mary Mead is the fictional village where Agatha Christie’s super-sleuth Miss Marple lived). It’s surrounded by less well-heeled districts like Camberwell, Peckham, Catford and Deptford and a lot of the future stories will involve these areas, though always coming back to Beth’s home in Pickwick Road, SE21.

In Book 2, The Girl in the Gallery, would a reader of Book 1 of the series – Death in Dulwich – find that Beth Haldane has become more adept at sleuthing? Or is she using similar skills learned for the first mystery?
Once again, the mystery comes to Beth, piquing her sense of responsibility and getting her involved almost despite herself. I wouldn’t say that Beth has really become more adept as a sleuth but her developing relationship with Detective Inspector Harry York means that she is in on more of the police side of the case this time.

A little about yourself. Please answer in a maximum of 5 words.

Ø      Describe your writing space – I write in my kitchen – after I’ve cleared up the breakfast!

Ø      Your favourite reading material or genre – Whodunits, of course.

Ø      Your most loved leisure pursuit – Crochet, I find it very therapeutic and love making blankets and useful-ish things for the home.

Ø      Your aspirations as an author – I just want to keep on going with Beth and my London Murder Mystery series.

Ø      Your favourite tipple – red wine. Trying to cut down. Always trying…

Ø      Food you hate and avoid eating – any kind of offal.

Great answers, thank you. Red wine? Is there ever too much... ;-) Here's some information about The Girl in the Gallery.


The Girl in the Gallery by Alice Castle

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to Dulwich…

It’s a perfect summer’s morning in the plush south London suburb, and thirty-something Beth Haldane has sneaked off to visit one of her favourite places, the world-famous Picture Gallery.

She’s enjoying a few moments’ respite from juggling her job at prestigious private school Wyatt’s and her role as single mum to little boy Ben, when she stumbles across a shocking new exhibit on display. Before she knows it, she’s in the thick of a fresh, and deeply chilling, investigation.

Who is The Girl in the Gallery? Join Beth in adventure #2 of the London Murder Mystery series as she tries to discover the truth about a secret eating away at the very heart of Dulwich....

Before turning to crime, Alice Castle was a UK newspaper journalist for The Daily Express, The Times and The Daily Telegraph. Her first book, Hot Chocolate, set in Brussels and London, was a European best-seller which sold out in two weeks.

Alice is currently working on the sequel to Death in Dulwich and The Girl in the Gallery, the third book in the London Murder Mystery series. It will be published by Crooked Cat next year and is entitled The Calamity in Camberwell. Once again, it features Beth Haldane and DI Harry York.

Alice is also a top mummy blogger, writing DD’s Diary at www.dulwichdivorcee.com.

She lives in south London and is married with two children, two step-children and two cats.

Author website: https://www.alicecastleauthor.com

Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/alicecastleauthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DDsDiary?lang=en

Links to buy books: MyBook.to/GirlintheGallery  myBook.to/1DeathinDulwich, myBook.to/HotChocolate

Thank you for Alice for subjecting yourself to a Q and A session! I wish you the very best for your launch today of The Girl in the Gallery.

Slainthe!