Tuesday, July 23, 2013

True Colours is a bestseller - it's official.


True Colours entered the Sunday Times bestseller list last week - debuting at Number 8!


I was so pleased to see True Colours doing so well - I think it's one of my best books.  I'm looking forward to starting the 11th Spider Shepherd novel.

Friday, July 12, 2013

A Genuine Haunted House

I've written several stories featuring Jack Nightingale, supernatural detective.  And I'm working on a story where he visits a haunted house.

Haunted houses are a staple of supernatural fiction.

But I have visited a genuine haunted house. It's not an old creepy mansion, the type you'll see at the Jack Nightingale website -  www.jacknightingale.com

It was built in 1995.  It's lovely, with superb sea views, with pristine wood floors and an Aga cooker in the kitchen.  But no one has ever lived there. And only one man ever spent a night there - he left the next day swearing that he would never return.


The house was built on the site of an old cottage and some of the original stone was used. It really is a fabulous house.  But very few tradesman would work on the house for more than a few days. They would quit and swear never to come back. Once it was built, every one who visits describes the same thing.  Rooms will suddenly go very very cold and it will feel as if there is someone there. And there is often a strong smell of a woman's perfume.  But worse than that is the intense feeling of dread, that something bad will happen.


The garden is overgrown and the front door is covered with cobwebs.  But inside there is surprisingly little dust, and the windows are clean. It was completed in 1995. And has remained empty since that day.  The owner carried out some research on the original house and discovered that three skeletons were once discovered in a well on the site. That well was covered up but is now thought to be under where the kitchen is now. The skeletons were of a man, his wife and their daughter, and were thought to have been murdered.


There is some furniture inside. But no one has ever lived there. And by all accounts no one ever will. The owner is often approached and asked if he will sell the house. He won't. He knows any sale will end in grief.

I took the above picture through a window. I do wonder about trying to spend the night there myself but I have a nagging fear that if I did, whatever spirits there are might follow me home.

Sounds like a job for Jack Nightingale!

If you prefer fictional supernatural stories, my publisher Hodder and Stoughton have cut the UK eBook price of Nightfall, the first Jack Nightingale novel, to just 99p!  You can buy it here -   http://amzn.to/12HKc3T