WHO? WHERE? WHAT? WHY? HOW?
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| Welcome to my Blog! Wander through wonderful worlds real and fictional, meet interesting people, visit exciting places and find a few good books to enjoy along the way! |
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| About the Book |
Murder at Raven’s Edge by Louise Marley
(Cosy Mystery)
When Milla Graham returns to her childhood home of Raven’s Edge after eighteen long years away, she finds the perfect English village looks much the same – all rose-covered cottages and quaint teashops full of scones and gossip.
But her nostalgic visit takes a dark turn when the body of a local woman is discovered in an abandoned manor house on the edge of the forest. The murder scene is chillingly close to that of Milla’s own mother, whose death was never solved. As she begins to investigate the connection, Milla realises this quirky village is guarding some dark secrets.
Handsome, grumpy local police detective Ben Taylor doesn’t believe in coincidences, and he doesn’t think mysterious newcomer Milla Graham is as innocent as she seems. Why is she really here in Raven’s Edge, and how come she keeps turning up at his crime scenes, causing trouble? Can he solve this murder case without losing himself – or his heart – to the rather distracting Miss Graham?
When another body is found, everyone becomes a suspect – from the barmaid at the local pub to Milla Graham herself. It seems that in Raven’s Edge, not everybody is as friendly, or as innocent, as they first seem.
The Story Behind Murder at Raven’s Edge
The idea that sparked Murder at Raven’s Edge was an image of a murdered woman lying on a bed of flowers in a ruined mansion. Who was she and how did she get there? Why was she wearing a priceless designer dress? What was the connection between her and the tragic Graham family who had owned the house before it burnt down?
The Graham family? Who were they? And what was that about a house…?
The best thing about being a writer (when it’s going well!) is having a story unfold in front of you. The more you work on it, the more it begins to write itself.
A few weeks earlier, I’d gone for a walk through the local woods and somehow ended up in front of a ruined Palladian mansion I hadn’t known was there. As I walked around the outside of this house, I could imagine another woman remembering what it had once looked like, recalling parties held on the terrace where trees now grew through broken paving stones. How would she feel after finding her old bedroom destroyed and all the furniture turned to ash? Would she be heartbroken at everything she’d lost?
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| The house that inspired the book |
No, not my character. She’d be furious that this wonderful life and all its potential had been stolen from her.
But what if the woman wasn’t who she thought she was?
Now I had a murder and a mystery, a character and a house, but where was this house? I needed a village to put it in. A typical English village, like the ones in Midsomer Murders.
But what if Tim Burton had directed Midsomer Murders? What would the ‘typical English village’ have looked like then? Not quite so sunny, for a start. Rain, mist, more mist, lots of mist. The kind of mist you get when something spooky is about to happen.
Spooky?
That was the point where I had to remind myself I was writing a cosy mystery, not a ghost story, and had my sub-conscience snap back at me that I was a spoilsport.
OK… So what if the inhabitants of this village are determined to capitalise on this spookiness? What if they deliberately play up their quirky folklore and invent legends of witches and highwaymen and ghosts?
Into this peculiar little village walks a woman called Milla, who is desperate to find her lost family and discover who really murdered her mother. She’s gone from being rich to surviving on her wits. Now she’s landed in this strange village, where the shops and cafés have names like The Witch’s Brew, The Crooked Broomstick and Practically Magic. She’s reunited with her family, who seem to have even more problems than her, but why do they persist in calling her by another woman’s name?
Wouldn’t she feel like Alice must have done, when she fell down that rabbit hole and straight into Wonderland?
And that was the inspiration behind Murder at Raven’s Edge!
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| Read An Excerpt |
Chapter One
The village of Raven’s Edge was surrounded by a dark, tangled forest. The kind of forest that evoked the wrong sort of fairy tale, where you should never stray far from the path. The trees here were ancient, gnarled and twisted, huddled together against the storm. Branches dipped to the ground with every lash of rain and the wind tore at their leaves, sending them spiralling high into the air as though it were November rather than June.
Rain fell thick and fast and hard. It hammered the roof of Ben’s car and bounced off the road in front of him. Not that he could see the road. He could barely see further than the end of the car. There were no street lamps on this road, no houses and no other cars. No one else was stupid enough to be out on a night like this. He swerved around a fallen branch, crunched over another, saw a sign flash past in his headlights. It told him there were another five miles to Raven’s Edge, but ‘another five miles’ felt like forever.
It was 1.00 am and he was desperate to get home. He’d had enough – of the vile weather, the never-ending journey, but most of all his ex-wife. He’d driven all the way to London with only enough of a break for them to fight, before he’d climbed straight back into the car and driven back. Now here he was, five miles from home without the sole reason he’d put himself through the visit in the first place – his six-year-old daughter, Sophie.
Lightning illuminated the sky, revealing a road strewn with debris. He slowed to 20mph, forcing his fingers to relax their death grip on the steering wheel. There would be other chances to see Sophie. In a month, it would be the school holidays and she’d be visiting him for two whole weeks. It would be great. They could go hiking in the forest and visit the castle at Norchester. He was making too much of this. He was lucky. It could be worse.
Really? Just how could it be worse? His ex-wife had cancelled this month’s visit and was now threatening to take him back to court to review their custody arrangement, which would neatly take care of any future holidays. So, right at this very moment, how could his life possibly get any worse?
Another streak of lightning slashed the sky, revealing the miles of unbroken forest reaching down to the river, the almost horizontal rain that was threatening to turn into sleet – and the woman walking in the centre of the road.
It was one of those split-second moments that stretched out forever. He saw her terrified expression as her arms went up to protect herself. He saw her tense, awaiting the impact that would surely kill her. He hit the brakes and then he hit her.
The car went into a skid, sliding elegantly around as though on ice. He prayed the car would miss her; that she would intuitively throw herself out of harm’s way, but she seemed to have frozen in shock. Then the wing caught her hip, knocking her off her feet and into the air before the darkness swallowed her whole. The forest blurred as the car spun through 180 degrees and then smashed back into a tree. The impact slammed him forward; his seatbelt jerked him back again.
Seconds passed. Ben took a deep breath and then another to reassure himself he was alive. The engine had stalled but the wiper blades slashed back and forth at speed. On the radio, Caro Emerald was singing about love and loss. The rain still ricocheted off the car, the road and the sodden lump of rags now huddled there.
Ben picked up his phone to call emergency services but the battery was dead. He’d driven to London and back without bothering to charge it. He’d driven to London and back without stopping at all, and here were the consequences: a dead phone and a dead body.
Buy Links:
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About Louise:
Most of my stories are set in small villages filled with quirky characters. These are partly inspired by the places I’ve lived in over the years, although the characters are straight out of my imagination! I currently live in Wales, close to a famous library and two ruined castles. My husband thinks we moved here by accident.
My first published novel was Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, which was a finalist in Poolbeg’s Write a Bestseller competition. As well as nine novels, I’ve written short stories for women’s magazines such as Take a Break and My Weekly. Before becoming a full-time writer, I worked as an administrative officer for the police.
When I’m not writing, I enjoy visiting big old houses, which I use as inspiration for the houses in my novels, and reading other people’s books when I ought to be writing my own…
Links:
1. What was the first novel you read that made you think: ‘Wow, I want to write like this!’
I think it was reading Jilly Cooper’s early books, the ones with the girl’s names: Emily, Bella, and Imogen, etc. They were such fun and had lovely glamorous characters and settings – the South of France and Wimbledon! I did try to write one myself and ended up with a novel called A Girl’s Best Friend, which was published by Poolbeg. It was about a couple of sisters who ran a jewellery business, but it was more of a romantic suspense than the kind of thing Jilly might have written!
2. What book (fiction or nonfiction) is a treasure that you’d pass on to a grandchild (if you had one)?
I still have the books I read as a child. They are mostly fairy stories – huge anthologies, almost a hundred years old, with beautiful 1930s illustrations. I didn’t realise until quite recently that they must have belonged to my own grandparents. They are too old to have belonged to my parents! I think that makes them family heirlooms!
3. If you found a genie in a magic lamp what would your three wishes be?
(1) I’d like to be able to just sit at my laptop at any given time and write without the usual writers’ angst: “Argh, I’ve forgotten how to write!”
(2) I love my garden and I love the wildlife that frequents it, but maybe a spell so that the wildlife wouldn’t eat the garden? That would be good!
(3) Like the rest of the UK I’m fed up with this constant rain! Could I be magically transported to somewhere sunny for two weeks? That would be great!
4. If you could have a holiday anywhere in the world (for free!) where would you go?
Italy is my favourite destination, but it would be hard to choose between Florence, Venice and Rome! I just love everything about the country. The history, the architecture, the food. Oh my goodness, the food…
5. Your favourite time period – and why
I love history and I’ll read or watch anything historical, but I’m not so keen on the 20th century. I’d love to go back in time, perhaps to the 18th century – those gorgeous gowns! – but only if I could come right back again! I love indoor plumbing, central heating and antibiotics far too much to live without them!
6. Name one thing you regret that you didn’t do
Ten years ago I was offered a free place at a one-day writing conference, which I turned down because the approach was made via Wattpad. I have links to my website, socials and email all over the internet, why contact me through Wattpad? I thought it was a scam and ignored it! It turned out to be genuine and I missed the opportunity to listen to talks by some important people in publishing and then pitch to them! *head desk* etc.
7. Name one thing you’re pleased that you did do
I submitted a cosy mystery novel to Storm Publishing and they offered me a three-book contract to write An English Village Mystery series! They are lovely people and very author-friendly. Although I’ve been published traditionally before, this will be the first time my books have been turned into audio books. I’m very excited about it!
come back on May 16th to read more about
Louise's Murder Mysteries!
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