My website blog has been eerily quiet while all the Walker creative energy was being poured into writing another twisty-turny, rollicking village whodunnit. Now I’ve dunnit, I’m delighted to be back to share the news that The Village Detectives and The Deadly Brew comes out in July this year.

I’m always horribly distracted during the final stage of writing a book. The dog gets ever-shorter walks, the post goes unopened, and the family are reduced to playing Russian roulette with frozen meals that the labels have fallen off. By this point, I’m carrying the entire plot in my head and dread disruptions, often working late at night when everyone has gone to bed, the funky smart LED lightbulbs in my study set to an ambient sunset glow to fool my brain into thinking it’s still early evening. To my consternation, just as I was writing the penultimate chapter of The Deadly Brew, we had a power cut. It stayed off for so long, I finally got around to opening the letter from National Grid informing me that they were trimming trees and the electricity would be off all day. ‘No matter!’ I said through gritted teeth, ‘I’ll just write it tonight!’ But when the power finally came back on, the smart bulbs had switched to ‘disco’ mode, and I couldn’t find the little remote that came with it. So I finished the book over three more successive late nights with a fabulously Donna Summer vibe.

The day I delivered my manuscript, having barely slept in 24 hours, I realised to my horror that I had a school governors’ meeting that evening. I opted to do it by Zoom, cranking up the face filter to max to hide the bags under my eyes, and praying I wouldn’t nod off during the Headmaster’s annual report. Once it was underway, I realised two things: 1) I was the only governor not there in person, meaning my strangely smooth face was being displayed on the meeting room’s 65-inch TV at maximum scale, and 2) the disco lights were still all flashing behind me. I hope I lightened the mood.

Now I’ve finally caught up on some sleep, I’ve excitedly realised that Spring has started bursting forth while I was rounding up my latest suspects, with new lambs out in the field opposite our front gate, and demure hellebores partying with the brash daffs in the garden. I’m so grateful to our British springs for their capacity to cheer, no matter how gloomy the world is.

I’ll post more about The Village Detectives and The Deadly Brew here very soon. Meanwhile, if you want to make sure you get it on the day of publication, it’s already available to pre-order (clicking here should take you there).

Other exciting news coming soon is the release of six of my early books on audio – yes, six! These include French Relations, Lucy Talk and Kiss Chase, which are being recorded by the brilliant Bolinda as I type for release in early summer; Well Groomed, Snap Happy and Between Males will follow shortly after. I think the first three titles can also now be pre-ordered, and I’ll post details and links here in a separate blog as soon as I have them.

All of which means I’ll be back very soon. For now, I’m readying myself to start editing by disco light, because I still haven’t found that remote…