Tag Archives: Holywell Street

A Tragic Event and Inspiration

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Holywell Street

‘Holywell Street’ was inspired by a true and tragic event. If you search out a copy of the Illustrated Police News for Saturday, April 1st, 1893, you will find, on page two, a short article titled, ‘Killed by Laughing Gas.’ The man’s name was Thomas Samuel Minett, and his practice was on Sloane Street (number 97). Part of the report reads, About five o’clock a gentleman called, and receiving no answer to her knock, [the secretary] entered the deceased’s room, and found him half sitting in his chair with his mouth covered with the gas machine.

Those are the opening lines of the author’s notes that come at the end of ‘Hollywell Street’, which I have just got back from proofreading. All that’s left now is for me to have my final read and then arrange for the files to be properly set out and formatted for publication – oh, and to get the full cover back from Andjela. So, not long now.

The part of the article above in italics is what really set my mind to thinking about the mystery – in this case, why did the dentist kill himself? The discovery appears in chapter three of the book, and the mystery starts from there. The story, however, opens a little time in the future because it’s one of those that starts with a scene and then goes back a few days to start again, finally reaching the same scene (from a different point of view) some way into the story. There’s a name for that kind of storytelling, at least, there is in film. I think it’s something like double double-narrative flashback, or similar. I like it, but only use it now and then. I used it in ‘Artful Deception’ the sixth book in the Clearwater series. That starts with an incident at the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square and then jumps back in time to a country estate.

Here, in Holywell Street, the story starts in a bookshop on the street:

Chapter One

The proprietor of number eight, Holywell Street knew exactly what to expect the moment a customer approached his bay window. Stockton Wheeler had been in business long enough to recognise a vagabond or ne’er-do-well on the hunt for some kind of trouble or other. The statuesque, white-haired publisher knew well the twitching mouth of the hopeful sharper, the shifty eyes of the would-be petty thief, and the slanted nose of the youthful palmer. Raggedy boys loitering at the window were invariably criminal, but it was not beyond the bounds of possibility that such a till-taker might take the form of a young woman. However, that had happened on only one occasion in his career.

Promos & Newsletter

While all that is going on, and while I am fixing the final files, look out for my monthly newsletter which is due out tomorrow. I have a few promos to share with you, and they will be linked in the newsletter, and will pop up here during the month and also on my Facebook page and Bluesky page.

Here’s one:

Queer Romance is resistance (Over 70 MM Romance titles)

I’ll leave you with the full cover for Holywell Street, which, in real life, doesn’t move. More news about the release coming soon.

Holywell Street Update

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Here’s an update on how Holywell Street is coming along.

I am up to around 65,000 words of the first draft, and it’s going along quite well, thank you. I was a little worried that I was about to peak too early, but I have sorted that. It’s a case of me wanting to write the exciting part asap, but not wanting to write it out of sequence. When that happens, I tend to rush the middle, so I have to either a) force myself to slow down, or b) write the exciting part out of sequence, which is what I wanted to avoid. By ‘exciting’ I mean the revelation, the part where I can let go of all the surprises I have kept in my head, and all those traps I have laid through the early part of the story, which I can now spring.

(Wych Street ran behind Holywell Street, and in yesterday’s writing, Jack and Ronny were parked here waiting for someone…)

Holywell Street doesn’t have so many surprises, and it’s not going to have an action ending as we have in A Case of Make Believe and Acts of Faith; it’s going to have more of the kind of ending we had in Gave Developments. What it does have, though, is a string of seemingly unrelated and random ‘clues’ for Jack and co. to solve, some information based on fact about a certain Victorian pornographer, a nod to the story of Jack Saul, and plenty of factual details about a few other matters you will read about before too long. Hopefully, you will find the book on the shelves and ready for reading before the end of June.

Meanwhile, can I tempt you to a click and a browse of some mysteries and thrillers that are all available on Kindle Unlimited? Have a browse here, and I’ll be back on Saturday with more news.

WIP: Holywell Street Halfway

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This week’s work in progress update is to let you know that I have just reached the halfway point in the first draft of Holywell Street, the eighth Delamere file. What can I tell you? It’s a complicated trail of seemingly unrelated clues left by a man who wanted a favour done for a specific group of people, and Jack Merrit is compelled to carry out the dead man’s last wish. While he and Baxter start on the trail, Will and Ned have some research to do, and the new detective is settling into life at Delamere.

There’s a little more of Ronny and Simeon in this one, so a little vulgar comedy from time to time, there are facts mixed with fiction as usual, and, so far, we have been taken to places such as the Old Bailey, Fulham, and, of course, Holywell Street.

What I can also share with you today is a shot of my research. This is a screenshot of a record from the Central Criminal Court at the Old Bailey from September 1876, and forms part of one of my clues. These records are online and available for anyone to trawl, and they make for fascinating reading. You can find them for free at Old Bailey Online.

Now, I must return to 1893 and chapter 14, where I will start at 48,500 words. I last left the team in the new boardroom, with someone having a revelation, so it will be interesting to see what happens next. By the way, there will be another newsletter soon, and a new set of promos to view and push, so keep an eye out for all that on Saturday.