As I said in a previous post, Springtime is one of my favourite times. We're at home in the UK right now and having a jolly good old sort out. It's amazing what one accumulates in the house and - don't mention the loft!
A few more trips to the municipal dump and we won't know ourselves for space!
As an author, I've noticed that some writers regularly change their book covers and Spring is an excellent time to have a splurge. I've recently had a new cover made for The Diana Rivers Mysteries Volume 1 (Books 1-3) - I hope you like it as I think it's smashing! Within the next few weeks there will also be a new edition to the Diana Rivers stable - The Diana Rivers Mysteries Volume 2 (Books 4-6). So look out for it!
My latest novel, A Deadly Learning (#6 Diana Rivers Mystery Suspense), has received some fabulous reviews, albeit only a few weeks old. I thought I'd include a very short excerpt here. Enjoy!
A DEADLY LEARNING.
...Diana’s attention was caught by one almighty crash from inside the building as the outer wall came down, and then a silence, which seemed to go on for ages. Dust hung in the air. In fact, everything appeared to hang in time and space until there came a muffled cry, followed by a startled shout.
The onlookers stood frozen for a second, and then they all moved towards the building, intrigued to see what had happened. The first to reach the building stopped, and their jaws dropped. Then another shout rang out, followed by a woman’s scream.
Diana glanced at those standing nearest. A few took an involuntary step back. Clarissa Partridge clamped a hand to her mouth before turning aside. Sarah Headleigh looked round in panic, and the younger woman teacher, Bernadette, turned as white as a sheet. Something caught Diana’s eye, and she moved to see what it was. She peered through the settling dust and watched a figure slip round the corner. She was positive it was one of the male teachers: tall, distinguished-looking, with thinning sandy-coloured hair. He was on his own when Wendy had waved to him earlier.
The students had been shocked into silence and shifted as one cohort nearer to the building. Diana noticed how Louise’s boyfriend, Jake, had a tentative smirk on his face, and he was searching the crowd as if looking for someone.
The gang foreman stepped back from an inner wall; a cavity had appeared, showing where the original material had been. Something long and thin was caught suspended in the muck and dust above his head. Everyone peered into the gloom. Diana’s head whipped round as she heard a collective gasp. She stared. Surely that was a …femur?
There was no mistaking the underwear. Once lacy and white, the knickers and bra clearly indicated a woman. Part of her rib-cage had disappeared, but perhaps most hideous of all was the skull—irreverently placed upside down, but still grinning at the spectators—its mop of dirty-blonde hair caught on a piece of jagged wood.
Diana gaped as much as everyone else. Apart from the gruesomeness of the scene, she wondered why the woman’s underwear had been tampered with. With her legs in the air, her lacy knickers were around her ankles, and her bra had been pushed around her neck....