Category Archives: The Clearwater Mysteries

Hot and busy here in Greece

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Hot and busy here in Greece

My husband took this the other day at sunrise

Yesterday was July 1st. The temperature in the courtyard, in the shade, was 28 degrees at 6.30 in the morning. The day before, it had reached 36 at four in the afternoon, in the shade in the courtyard. For those who don’t know, I live on a Greek island (hence the photos). It relies on tourism to survive, but so far this year, we’ve had no-one visit. That’s starting to change now, and hopefully, local businesses will be able to start picking up the pieces. Meanwhile…

My latest story, ‘Artful Deception‘ was published last month (“I think this is one of the best in the series.” Amazon review), and the next one, ‘Home From Nowhere’ is about to go off to the proofreader, and should be out by the end of this month. Meanwhile, I have started tinkering with a new novel, another in the on-going Clearwater saga set in 1889.

To that end, I now have a shelf of books about the period including books about Jack the Ripper (1888), clothing and costume of the 19th century, real accounts from those living below and above stairs, Mr Beeton’s book of household management, a few more books about being in service, stately homes (including floor plans), and books about the railways with maps. I think I need a new bookshelf. I also have a couple more books on the way, one more about costume, a dictionary of Cockney rhyming slang with notes on whether the slang is new or old, 20th century or earlier. What I need to look at next is arsenic poisoning. Well, you have to, don’t you?

Draft cover

As for ‘Home From Nowhere’, this is a slightly different Clearwater novel. I thought it was about time we saw the characters from someone else’s point of view and found out what affect Archer’s generosity has on other people. There is a mystery. It comes in the shape of Jasper Blackwood, who you would have met briefly in ‘Artful Deception’ at Kingsclere House. Typical of me, the mystery revolves around music and messages from the past, and the ‘crew’ are the ones to solve it. This means we see Archer, Tom, James and Silas at work in their detecting venture while learning about what goes on below stairs with the other servants, mainly Jasper. Another new character is also introduced, Billy Barnett, and as you will see when the new book is out (hopefully later this month), Jasper and Billy will be an on-going feature for another book or so, at least.

Our home – on the right.

Anyway, I don’t want to give too much away, just to say, I am having so much fun writing these tales that I intend to carry on, even if the series runs to ten or more, I’ll keep going until the time feels right to stop. Although I won’t rule out pausing now and then to write something different, as I did earlier this year with ‘The Students of Barrenmoor Ridge’, which, I am pleased to say, continues to do well.

That’s it for now. Stay safe wherever you are, remember to like and follow on Facebook and leave reviews where you can, drop me a line if you’ve got anything you want to say or ask, and look after yourselves. Right! Now I am heading back to September 1889 because I have Clearwater book eight to think about, and it’s time we had a poisoning…

Home From Nowhere

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Home From Nowhere

Hello everyone. I thought it was about time for another blog post, just to check in and let you know what I am up to.

As usual, I have been writing. In this case, I have been working on a new Clearwater mystery, ‘Home From Nowhere’ (book seven). I don’t know how long a series is meant to go on for, but I am enjoying writing this one, so I’m carrying on regardless. However, I felt the murder and mayhem, wild adventures and on-going battles of the Clearwater Crew needed a breather, so book number seven will be different.

This chap reminded me of Thomas Payne, Archer’s best friend and butler.

I thought it was time we saw the crew from someone else’s point of view, and experienced life at Clearwater House from a new character’s perspective. So, ‘Home From Nowhere’ breaks from the two-word titles from the past and starts us on a different kind of mystery; no ‘meet a deadline or be dead’, no nasty villain, just a gentle mystery and the start of a love story that will continue in part eight. The sort of story you can put your feet up and relax with, and come away from with a sense of feel-good, like watching an episode of Downton Abbey.

This doesn’t mean there’s no mystery to solve, and Archer, James and Silas are the ones to take the mystery and work out the clues, but they are doing it on behalf of the new character who, if you have read ‘Artful Deception‘ you would have briefly met at Kingsclere House.

As usual, I have mixed real people, times, events and facts with some fictional ones, and there is a background theme, in this case, it’s music.

‘Home From Nowhere’ is currently in draft one stage, which means I’ve told myself the story on paper and now need to rest it for a few days before I return to it and a) check the mystery ties up, b) check consistency generally, c) see to as many of my typos as I can find, and d) improve, edit and cut.

Clearwater House ground floor (click to enlarge)

Meanwhile, my cover designer is working on a cover image and, to give myself a break from typing, I set about drawing a floorplan of Clearwater House. As you will see, I am no technical drawer or architect, though I based some of the details on a book I have that gives floorplans and elevations of Victorian houses – none of which fitted Clearwater House exactly. I doubt that if a house was built to my plans, it would stay up for very long! Still, I thought I would share my amateur attempt to give you an idea of how I see the house laid out (sorry about it being a bit squiffy and blotted with smudged felt-tip pen). I’ve only done the ground and first floors so far, I still have the basement and top floor to go. The shaded areas are the servant’s department, the backstairs and servery etc.

Clearwater House 1st floor plan (click to enlarge)

As for other news… Over here in Greece, the island on which I live is very quiet. We are starting to see a few tourists arrive, and we have had no cases of you-know-what, so people are worried about visitors coming from more infected countries. My husband, Neil, is working back at the bar he looks after seven afternoons per week until October, but so far, has had only local customers, while I am carrying on as usual, at home, writing. Which is what I will get back to now.

There’s no definite release date for ‘Home From Nowhere’ yet, I’ve only just let ‘Artful Deception’ out of its cage, but I am going to try and be more regular with my blog posting, so there will be updates as we head deeper into the year.

Stay safe, stay well and most of all, stay reading (and putting up helpful reviews on Amazon and social media if you possibly can).

Thank you for reading
Jackson

My Facebook page

Thank you, suzunh, for the 1st review of ‘Artful Deception’

I love this series
Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2020
All of them are good. Sure, they’re a little wild sometimes but they are a heck of a lot of fun. I like that the same characters return for every book and I’m excited they are going into business together. Can’t wait to read the next one.

Clearwater’s London

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Welcome to Clearwater’s London

It has been a while since I posted on my site. That’s because I was away for a while and spending much of my time working on the sixth instalment of The Clearwater Mysteries.

Book six is now going through its second draft, and it’s a bit of a belter. A twisting tale of deception as Archer battles to outwit his arch-enemy and stay one step ahead of the game. Titled, ‘Artful Deception’, this one brings back some of the more popular characters from previous books such as the barrister Creswell and young Jake, half-brother to Silas’ sisters. The action takes us from Kingsclere House in Berkshire to Clearwater House in London and on to the Netherlands where Archer has no option but to release his murderous brother and reinstate him to the title of Viscount Clearwater.

Or does he?

There will be more information about the book’s release in time.

Meanwhile, as I was passing through London earlier this year, I took some photos of locations used in the Clearwater Mysteries and thought I would share them with you. They’re not the best photos, sadly, but I thought it was a fun exercise to see places Archer and his comrades have trod. Things look very different now to 1888 and 1889 when ‘Artful Deception’ is set, but you can still feel the original Victorian grandeur of these places.

So, just for amusement, here are some of the locations I found when I was there.

The Royal Opera House where Silas nearly dies in Unspeakable Acts.

Bow Street police station opposite the Opera House. Fallen Splendour.

The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square. This appears in Artful Deception.

The National Gallery

The Criterion. Now a theatre, Silas and Jake had lunch here (Piccadilly) in Bitter Bloodline.

The Ivy, Seven Dials, which in my books is called ‘The Grapevine’ at Five Dials. Archer and Quill lunched here in Deviant Desire.

The side of the Lyceum Theatre from Bitter Bloodline. Silas found Jake homeless on this street corner.

The side of the Lyceum Theatre from Bitter Bloodline. I imagined Stoker’s office was at the top/back (round window), but I have no idea where it really was in the building.

Charing Cross railway station will appear in Artful Deception

The Garrick Club, Archer’s club in Covent Garden. It is mentioned in several of the books.

This street doesn’t appear in the books, but it is called Archer Street. Perhaps it was named after the viscount? The Windmill revue theatre beside it is famous for its nude revues. Silas would have approved; Thomas would not have done!

Welcome to Larkspur Hall

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Welcome to Larkspur Hall.

Hi. Sorry I’ve not posted much of late, I have been working hard on part five of the Clearwater Mysteries, ‘Bitter Bloodline.’ It’s now done and going off to be proof read this week. meanwhile, my cover designer is working her magic on the cover, and I am writing the fourth book in my ‘Saddling Mysteries’ series, under my name, James Collins.

Larkspur Hall‘Bitter Bloodline’ should be available in November. Meanwhile, here is one of the images Andjela K is working on for the cover. It is the closest stock image I could find to show Larkspur Hall. I imagine it will look a lot different when she is done with it! Meanwhile, can I try out this draft blurb on you? This is what I have for the back of the book and the Amazon pages:

Following an accident, a schoolboy and a tattooed Romanian find themselves unexpected guests at Clearwater’s country house, Larkspur Hall.

But what if their presence is no accident? What if Mr Smith is Protectori, a member of an ancient order of assassins bent on destroying anyone who sullies the name of the Szekely people of Transylvania? And what do a runaway boy and an assassin have to do with Clearwater’s famed Easter dinner party and its guest of honour, the actor, Henry Irving?

Ancestral feuds, a pocket watch and a rare Romanian wine are seemingly random connections until Silas breaks into a London theatre, and James rescues a boy from drowning. Then, it’s a race against time to prevent a hideous murder and Archer’s ruin.

The Clearwater Mysteries are best read in order. Bitter Bloodline is a no-heat mystery that sees Archer’s loyal servants become their own band of Protectori.

Clearwater Mysteries

A Clearwater update

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A Clearwater update

My wonderful designer, Andjela, has come up with some banners and images for me for use on my Facebook page and the blog. I thought I’d share a couple now just to let regular readers know that I am still here and haven’t forgotten about my website. I’ve just released Fallen Splendour, the 4th Clearwater Mystery and am at a bit of a crossroads. I need to get back to my other series, The Saddling, and finish the final part of that. You won’t find The Saddling Mysteries under Jackson Marsh though, they are released under my real name, James Collins.

If you want to view them, head to my James Collins author page. They need to be read in order: The Saddling, The Witchling, The Eastling and… the one I’ve yet to write. They are not MM Romance as such, though the three main characters are men.

One comes to terms with being gay through part one, finds love with the second character in part two and onwards, and the third main character is ambiguous – and may turn out to be gay in part four. But… The series is set in a village (in the 21st century) on the Romney Marshes – Kent, England, that still lives by its own ancient lore and teaching – a non-Christian, non-religious place where nature and the supernatural are the driving forces. I wrote these three before I wrote the Clearwater Mysteries and they are different, though similar (no sex), and to be honest, the Saddling started off as a one-off, but was so popular, people asked for a second and then a third, so the pressure is on to produce the fourth.

They have themes – a lot of family and other history, but also, more subliminally, the number four is important: four seasons, four festivals (two solstice, two equinox), four points of the compass and, in part four, four men banding together to save the day…I think.

I’ll leave it there and go to the writing desk to dream up some ideas. Meanwhile, thanks for your support, please share this blog and whatever you can on Facebook, Insta-what’s-it and elsewhere. If you enjoy the novels, I need your support to help others enjoy them too.

Thank you all!

Fallen Splendour

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Fallen Splendour

Part four of The Clearwater Mysteries, ‘Fallen Splendour’ has just been released on Kindle and KU. There will be a print version available in the next few days.

For me, it feels like I’ve finished a sequence of four books, but there are more to come. The first four in this series take place in London 1888 and introduce us to the main five characters, Archer (Lord Clearwater), Silas (his lover), Thomas (his butler), Fecker (Silas’ bestie) and then, in part two, James (his footman).

Things laid down, mentioned or seen in one part lead to bigger things in the next, as the stories develop, usually taking two of the MCs as the main POV characters in each book. Book one, Archer and Silas, book two, James and Archer, Book three Silas and James, book four James and Archer (and Fecker), and so on.

Without giving too much away, here are the mysteries you can expect.

Deviant Desire: ‘The Ripper’ is killing rent boys as a way to lure Archer to a confrontation.
Twisted Tracks: The team of five must decipher a code to reach the endgame in time
Unspeakable Acts: A murder, on stage during an opera house gala, is threatened.
Fallen Splendour: The clue is in a verse by Alfred Lord Tennyson…

Actually, there are two stories running in Fallen Splendour, two connected theatres that must be dealt with and I’m rather thrilled with what I’ve done with the story. Some of it comes from a poem I fell in love with at school, and the clues in the story are wrapped up in one verse. Basically: Where is this location?

The splendour falls on castle walls
And snowy summits old in story:
The long light shakes across the lakes,
And the wild cataract leaps in glory.
Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying,
Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.
[Alfred Lord Tennyson]

You will have to read the book to find out and, as with most of my other novels, there’s adventure, tears, feel-good, a little sex and a lot of male bonding and strong friendships that are in danger of boiling over into romance. It’s all very romantic in the general sense of the word and my boys do love each other in one way or another.

Here’s the link to the .com and .co.uk pages. I hope you enjoy it, and if you do, please leave a helpful review!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07V522JR3

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07V522JR3

All the best
Jackson

The book blurb for Fallen Splendour:

“We have his sisters. Involve your catamite, and they will die before the shortest day.”

A kidnapping, a threat and a deadly showdown force Lord Clearwater and his coachman, Andrej, on a secret mission to save two innocent girls. But where are they? The clue to the location is wrapped up in a Tennyson poem, and time is fast running out.

Left at Clearwater House to crack the code, James finds himself with another ominous responsibility when Inspector Adelaide makes an arrest. With his master missing, it falls to the footman to crack the code, fight a court case, and save Archer’s reputation.

With only three days to find the answers, all evidence points to a location known only to Tennyson himself, and an enemy thought dead.

But what if James is wrong?

An interconnected double mystery, Fallen Splendour is the fourth in the Clearwater Mysteries series. The books are best read in order.

Unspeakable Acts published

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Unspeakable Acts published

The good news of this week is that part three of The Clearwater Mysteries has now been published. Unspeakable Acts is available from Amazon Kindle, KU and in paperback. Here is the link to the .com listing, but the book is available through co.uk and other Amazon domains. Unspeakable Acts.

The Clearwater Mysteries runs in order, so if you haven’t read parts one and two, you are advised to do that first. Each book builds on the stories that have gone before as the world grows, the character count increases and the villains stack up to oppose Viscount Clearwater and his team of faithful friends/servants/lovers – there is some crossover between roles depending on who is with whom and at what time.

The next part of the series, ‘Fallen Splendour’ is currently in the typewriter, as it were. I am up to 50,000 words on that one, about halfway through, having spent a week on the Greek island of Tilos composing the story and clues, researching and writing. I was able to put down 35,000 words in five days there as I have no distractions. Well, none apart from the sea, but I am not a great swimmer, and the tavernas and village square. Now I am home, I am having to fit in daily life, distractions and paid work (only four hours a day, but still a nuisance) but the book is marching on. I’m aiming for an August/September release for part four, and there will be more about it soon.

Meanwhile, catch up with Archer, Silas, Thomas, James and Fecker by starting with ‘Deviant Desire’ and a hunt for the East End Ripper. Then move on to ‘Twisted Tracks’ for a “Catch me if you can” mystery thriller and a bumpy train ride, before heading to the opera house for ‘Unspeakable Acts.’ I won’t say too much about part four (no spoilers allowed), but so far, we have been to Bow Street police station, become lost in a blizzard and learnt a fair amount about the poetry of Tennyson, the Poet Laureate in 1888. More to come on this developing story before too long.

Jackson Marsh Author profile at Amazon for a list of all my titles

‘Twisted Tracks’ is ready for you!

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‘Twisted Tracks’ is ready for you!

Twisted Tracks, The Clearwater Mysteries book two

Part two of The Clearwater Mysteries, this adventure sees the viscount and his band of faithful servants setting off to the Yorkshire Moors to hunt down a killer. A new footman (hunky), an old crush, devious enemies and some twisted clues lead the way to a thrilling climax.

The interesting development for me is the way the servants are fast becoming friends, not only of each other, but also of the viscount. He’s a man who wants to cross social boundaries, the trouble is, where will it all end?

There’s no end in sight as I now go back to part three ‘Unspeakable Acts’ while plotting out future developments in part four, as yet untitled, and beyond to more action/adventure, friendship and love, mashup thrillers and romance.

As with all my books, Twisted Tracks is available in Kindle and comes free with Kindle Unlimited. The print version will be available soon. Available in all Amazon stores.

Kindle: $2.99
Print $9.99

Deviant Desire – Mickie B. Ashling

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Deviant Desire – Mickie B. Ashling

“I’ve been writing stories about men who love men since I discovered fan fiction in 2002. My first original novel, Horizons, was published by Dreamspinner Press in April 2009. Since then I’ve written over 35 novels in the m/m genre.”

This blog has been running for some time, so there are lots of posts to browse back through with links to hot MM Romance novels, reviews and information. The Mickie B Ashling blog is not listed as having an interview or review of Deviant Desire, but it will be interesting to see what is put there later today.

Deviant Desire, The Clearwater Mysteries book one – available now on Amazon, print, Kindle and KU

The book tour is going well. There was a lot of interest in Deviant Desire from the publication date and has already became one my personal best sellers. That’s not a term I give much notice to. Anyone can write ‘Number one best seller’ across their cover and blurb, and I could probably do the same for DD. It is one of my top sellers, but it’s not a worldwide best seller as we might understand the over-used term. It’s not a Steven King or John Grisham – not yet! Actually, it never will be, it’s not their kind of book. It’s mine and hopefully it will become yours too.

You should find the links and information on Mickie B Ashling today.

Deviant Desire- The Clearwater Mysteries book one
Amazon Kindle, Kindle Unlimited and print.
(Available in your local Amazon store)

Deviant Desire – MM Good Book Reviews

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Deviant Desire – MM Good Book Reviews

May 2nd, and the book tour continues with an appearance on MM Good Gook Reviews.

MM Good Book Reviews lives up to its name; it offers good reviews of good books and the blog will be reviewing Deviant Desire.

Lets’ hope they ‘get’ the story more than one reviewer did. Receiving a one-star review is never fun for an author, and what’s worse is when someone gives away plot point and twists without warning while writing the review. I read a review of DD (nothing to do with MM Good Book reviews, I must highlight that), and it read like something written by a disgruntled author. I gained the impression that this reviewer was pissed off that he/she hadn’t come up with the story, or Jackson had written it better that they could have done. Sour grapes. Everyone is entitled to an option, and I respect that, but what I don’t respect is when a reviewer takes against a story or author so much they feel it necessary to give away twists, thereby ruining the fun for future readers.

But, that aside, and it has nothing to do with today’s book tour appearance, Deviant Desire is selling really well and gaining more (better written and less personal attacks) reviews, that are a lot more positive. I am looking forward to seeing what MM Good Book Reviews has to say, and their blog on May 3rd is due to carry an interview or unique article about Jackson Marsh and Deviant Desire.

Deviant Desire- The Clearwater Mysteries book one
Amazon Kindle, Kindle Unlimited and print.
(Available in your local Amazon store)