WIP: Delamere Ten

Posted on 27/08/2025 by Jack Marsh

Snake Hill (Delamere Nine)

The good news is that Snake Hill is doing well, which means people must have enjoyed the previous books in the series. The ongoing news is that the paperback is not quite ready, but I hope to have the full cover in the next day or so.

Snake Hill universal link. Click here.

A Depraved Indifference (Delamere Ten)

This is off to a good start, and I even know what is to happen and when. The idea came to me very quickly, which is often a good sign and a warning sign. I warn myself to slow down and not rush ahead, and then I tell myself I can because I am creating this, so I can always uncreate it and change things, though, this time, I haven’t had to. Yet.

Without giving too much away, so far, Jack and Baxter have been called to a famous London church where something mysterious has been discovered. It could be 300 years old or three months, but the thing should not be there. Doctor Markland gets involved briefly, and Ned comes along with his scientific bits and pieces, and the next thing you know, we’re having lemonade on the back terrace at Delamere, where Will asks Ronny to sing some nursery rhymes. You can imagine the reception that gets. Later this morning, I will finish chapter six, that’s how well the storytelling is going. So far.

The research is happening as well. Here, for example, is the only image I can find of the church of St Clement Danes (Strand, London) before it was bombed in WWII. This is the original organ, which was built in 1690.

I also did some digging around Trafalgar Square and discovered that where we now have South Africa House was once Morley’s Hotel. That was a handy find as I needed there to be a hotel there in 1893, and lo! Here it is.

That’s my Wednesday update. If you haven’t joined my newsletter yet, please do, as there’s a heap of hot books coming your way in several September promotions. And, if you’ve not started sharing my BookBub and other links around your social media, please do! (Top of the right-hand column) Back on Saturday with another update.

Snake Hill on Kindle and KU

Posted on 23/08/2025 by Jack Marsh

Snake Hill is now available on Kindle and in KU. Here’s the universal link.

https://mybook.to/SnakeHill

That should take you to your appropriate Amazon site, and all will be well. The paperback version should be out next week. We’re just organising the full cover, which is something we can’t do until we know the page count, which we now know. So… In case you have missed it, here’s the blurb.

Albert Arbon collapses at Delamere House after a three-day trek. His only son, Robert, has vanished after seeing a strange light in the Suffolk sky, and Arbon is desperate to find him.

Detectives Jack and Baxter, with young Simeon, accompany Arbon back to his remote Suffolk farmhouse, only to find themselves faced with a combination of rural legends seemingly tied to a series of unsettling events. A body lies inexplicably in the middle of an untouched wheat field. Other children have gone missing. There is talk of a ‘fire snake’, and no-one dare share the secrets of what can be seen from Snake Hill.

As the investigation deepens, Jack must navigate more than the mystery. He must also face the burdens of responsibility — not only for uncovering the truth and doing the right thing, but also for guiding Simeon, a boy on the cusp of manhood, who’s willing to risk everything to prove himself.

What Next? Delamere Ten.

You might not be surprised to know I am already working on Delamere 10, and it has the title of ‘A Depraved Indifference.’ I am working with the idea that will combine:

Murders past and future.

A nursery rhyme.

Several London churches.

A Church organ.

So far, it starts on Simeon’s 17th birthday, so it’s set in August 1893.

My original idea for Delamere was to see where Jimmy Wright had come to, following his entry into the Clearwater world back in ‘Twisted Tracks’ in 1888 (although his first appearance is in Deviant Desire, but it’s very brief). I soon discovered that Jack and Will Merrit were to be my leads, and so, the series has become their story, and I, for one, am enjoying exploring their lives. I was going to write one book for each of 12 months of their lives, but that’s kind of gone by the by. Having said that, we’re on book ten (almost) and the series started in June 1892 and we’re only now in August 1893, so I haven’t done too badly. A lot has happened in that time.

I often wonder if it’s too much and how long a series should run for. I think, as long as I am writing a good, entertaining read, and as long as people are still enjoying the stories, i.e. buying them, then I’ll carry on until it feels right to finish. If you have any other ideas, let me know.

Meanwhile… It will soon be September promo time, so get ready for a new list, but in the meantime, there’s a new one just started up a few days ago, and we’re in it, so if you want to boost my kudos, hit the banner. This is a collection so thriller and mystery reads that are available on a variety of platforms.

Audible 1892. Visual Holywell Street.

Posted on 04/06/2025 by Jack Marsh

My update this week concerns two things: The Clearwater Tales Vol 1, ‘1892’, and the Delamere Files book eight, Holywell Street.

1892

This short collection of short stories, as told by five Clearwater characters, is now available as an audiobook. As I have explained before, I had to go with the virtual voice option. Although I have been in touch with a talented VO artist who is willing to profit share my Clearwater series, I can’t take him up on the offer because of where I live. At the moment, you can only upload your own recordings to Amazon if you live in certain countries, and Greece is not yet one of them. So, I have used the best of what Amazon have on offer.

Sadly, I can’t change the accents of characters when they speak, and not all the subtle nuances are there, but it’s the best I can do right now. Here’s the link.

Holywell Street Cover

The exciting news here is that I have the cover for Holywell Street, and you will be the first to see it. The MS is with the proofreader, Andjela has the back cover text and will be making the full cover soon, and all being well, we’re looking at publication around the middle of the month, if not before.

So, to be the first to see the cover, click the title that I’ve put after the blurb. And the blurb is this:

Act for all of us.

Respected dentist Harold Eskell writes a list of cryptic references for Jack Merrit to find and then takes his own life.

Now leading the Delamere Agency, Jack is determined to uncover the truth behind Eskell’s final act. Enlisting the help of Baxter and his loyal team, he embarks on an investigation that uncovers shattered lives, unexplained suicides, illicit photography, underground erotica, and blackmail.

It’s all leading him somewhere, but where?

All things are unrelated yet connected, and the only way to do the right thing is for Jack to risk his liberty and fight crime with crime.

What Next?

Posted on 31/05/2025 by Jack Marsh

I now have the cover for Holywell Street, book eight in the Delamere series, and I am waiting for the proofed copy to come back so I can do a final check and send it off to be formatted. Not long now, which leaves the question, what next? Before I answer that rhetorical question, here’s the cover title:

1893

A while ago, I started on something called ‘1893, The Clearwater Tales Volume Two’ to accompany ‘1892’, which is volume one. I’ve written the first two chapters of what may one day be another anthology connected by a situation, and I have gathered some characters together. I have an observer and his backstory, the setting – a foggy night in a Wiltshire railway station where the Penzance special is delayed. The characters tell stories while they wait out the night. I have the station master, Harry Carnforth, a character who made a brief appearance in ‘Grave Developments’ and was then cut, his name is Martin Dewhurst, and he wants to attend the Larkspur Academy. Also waiting for the train are Silas Hawkins, Sir Easterby Creswell, Chester Cadman, and Benjamin Baxter.

The trouble is, I don’t know what the short stories are that they will tell each other to keep themselves amused as Harry Carnforth caters for them through the night.

That’s one idea.

1892 the Clearwater Tales Volume One

Another Delamere?

For sure, but what’s the hook, the gimmick, the subject…? I was talking about this recently, how a subject comes to me and I explore it from there. So far, we’ve had: being a cabman, the old school network, music halls, family feuds, magicians, a serial killer, and coming soon, Victorian erotica. Included in those eight books so far are also sewers, saints, singers and sinners, and a little sex, though I must admit, I am writing less of that these days.

So, I think my next task will be to return to the Police Illustrated News and other publications of summer 1893 and see what was going on in the world. I had thought of a kind of Oscar Wilde type trial, which is coming up in 1895, and the cover of Hollywell Street gives us someone foppish who could well be a Dorian Gray, but I don’t want to get into all that as it’s been done.

Therefore, I guess the current answer is, ‘I’m not sure’, but I’ll be along with something as soon as inspiration strikes. Meanwhile, I have some more promos coming up, so look out for a newsletter next Saturday, I need to do more publicity somehow, so I can sell a few more copies, and I continue to play with animating the covers, as you will see from this next one pulled at random from my growing collection. Have a good week, I’ll pop back on Wednesday with an update on ‘Holywell Street.’

The Delamere Files

Acts of Faith

Posted on 29/01/2025 by Jack Marsh

At least, Delamare seven has a title, ‘Acts of Faith.’ There are many other books out there with that title or a variation of it, but none of them that I can see are gay historical fiction set in March 1893, so hopefully, I won’t cause confusion when this one is released. When will that be? I can’t yet say. I am up to 51,000 words, so halfway through, and someone’s about to make a link which will start the ball rolling downhill towards the crisis.

I am having a mild crisis of my own as I bought a new laptop last week, and I am still in the process of transferring things over. Setting Outlook for emails was a nightmare but it’s done now, and most of my most-used programs are installed. What I am now finding are the niggly little things that I added and changed over time are suddenly not there. For example, my file explorer used to save the four most recently used folders in the side menu and that was very handy. Now it doesn’t and even though I have set the box to do so, the programme doesn’t. I also have a thing where the autocorrect options I created (and there are many) are no longer there so I have to start that process again and add them one at a time when I see them. Strangely, though, when I do this, the resultant changes use ‘straight’ quotes and not the curly ones I want. Again, I have changed the auto-correct boxes so this shouldn’t happen and yet it still does. It’s not a great issue but I notice that when there’s a – for example – I don’t know, printed in the bokos the ’ comes out the wrong way around.

Anyway… The good news is, I am typing away and creating another complicated mystery throughline set against a growing friendship/love story, and it’s all going rather well. Oh – and I might have the face of a new character whose first name I want to change, but otherwise… Meet PC Charles Inning:

You can also meet a heap of novels and authors on the last promo push of this month, simply by clicking the banner below. I will be involved in more of these next month, and there will be a newsletter soon to give you more details.

New Book Out, New One Started

Posted on 14/09/2024 by Jack Marsh

Hello, and welcome to a catch-up blog post. First today’s news…

A Case of Make Believe is back from the layout guys. I have been through it, and it looks great. Apart from the fantastic cover, there is an image of the new character which I’ve had drawn, and the only thing missing is the title of the next book in the series. That will be added when I have thought of it.

If all goes as it usually does, the book will be ready today or tomorrow, and I will post the link when I have it.

As soon as it’s ready, you will be able to find this dark and mysterious novel on the Delamere Files series page here.

Book Six in the series

This one has got off to a mysterious start and even I don’t know where it is leading. It will have something to do with photography, though. Already, we have an opening that is slightly farcical but makes sense, and it’s one of those stories that starts a little way in and then goes back to the beginning. So, after chapter one, I currently have ‘X days earlier’ and the story starts from there with Jack at his desk, rather bored with doing the CID’s cold cases, and hoping for something more exciting to come along.

It does, and it does so in the shape of a Congregationalist minister who has found a body in Abney Park Cemetery in Stoke Newington.

Yes, I know you’d expect to find a body in a cemetery, but not one in a shallow grave, and not one who died ten years earlier and yet looks like it died only a day ago. So, we’ve started off with a right old mystery which, by chapter four, thickens when the detectives (all four) visit the scene to find the body has deteriorated since that morning…

Don’t worry, I will find a way out of this. It will involve some kind of chemical reaction, like a photograph, and I think Doc Markland will have to be brought in.

Meanwhile, Jack has a new team of horses called Moonlight and Silver, though he still has Shadow, of course, and Mrs Norwood next door has her own stable hand and groom again.

Romance Promos

You might like to take a look at the titles in these two romance promos, if you haven’t already. There may be some new authors and titles for you to read there.

Hundreds of New Titles

Posted on 26/06/2024 by Jack Marsh

‘Where There’s a Will’ is still in the publishing queue at Amazon. This is unusual, but it does happen, and we must be patient. Meanwhile, there are hundreds of other titles and new authors for you to explore at the following promo page links. If you want to know more about these promos (which don’t cost you anything to view but which offer great opportunities for new works at low prices), sign up for my newsletter for updates.

The following expire on Sunday, so click now before it’s too late.

Kindle Unlimited Historical Fiction
All books here are on Kindle Unlimited.

Find Your Next LGBTQIA+ Read
This is a Pride Month promotion with a massive variety of genres, niches, tropes and authors.

Mayhem & Motives
Mystery, thriller and suspense reads.

Academy Series Starters
Mysteries, fantasy, lots of unreal stuff and then, ‘Guardians of the Poor’ — historical, academy setting series starter which rather stands out from the other covers (and has attracted a new readership thanks to this promo).

I have two more to tell you about next week. The above end at the end of this month, though the books will still be available of course, just not the easy-reference promo page. Next month I am in two promos (so far), and there will be a newsletter about this, plus blog posts. Meanwhile, my guests leave on Friday, so on Saturday, I shall be returning to ‘Bobby’ which I hope to have published during July – as long as the queue has died down and ‘Where There’s a Will’ has been released. That book is available in paperback, but not yet on Kindle. Click for more info:

Books, Promos & Mysteries

Posted on 08/06/2024 by Jack Marsh

It’s time for a roundup of what’s going on in my Jackson Marsh world right now, and life’s a varied bag of pick-n-mix, to say the least. Here’s the roundup.

Where There’s a Will

The draft is with the proofreader, and Andjela and I are working on the cover. The first thing to get right is the face of Will Merrit, and here’s one of the mock-ups she’s managed to produce from the original photo.

There are things to tweak on that draft version, but we’ll get there.

Delamere Files Book Five

I have started researching the history and details of the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly, and in particular, the world of Maskelyne and Cooke’s mysterious entertainments. The magic shows as we might call them these days. I did some work in this area when I wrote ‘Seeing through Shadows’ in the Larkspur Series, because it’s where Chester Cadman met the man who duped him, and ‘Shadows’ is about Chester cracking the case of the Larkspur Ghost. I am currently thinking about writing an investigation that takes place in the world of onstage magicians.

The first thing I need is a title because I want to add that to the end of book four.

Bobby

This is my late godfather’s life story, which is a lot about growing up and being gay during the 20th century. I am now working on the section which is my reminiscences of the man, while the rest of the text is being read and checked by Neil and others. I will have to ask Andjela to do me another cover, and the layout may have to wait until July when I will next be able to afford to pay for the work, but the book should come along in the next couple of months. Meanwhile, here’s a photo of me and Bobby, taken, I reckon in 1971 when my parents had not long bought the house behind us.

Here’s a strange numbers thing. I have a godson who is currently 16 while I am 61, and pointed out to him today that the phenomenon of our ages being reversible will not happen again. He was born when I was 44. My godfather was also 44 when I was born, so when I was 16 he was 61, and that phenomenon never happened again.

Promotions

There are several excellent promotions running at the moment, and I am in them. They are a mix of Academy Series Starters (all genres but in an academic setting), Mayhem and Motives, a collection of great titles in the mystery, action & adventure field, and Pride Month, which is all to do with general LGBT fiction including Sci-fi and Fantasy, and in my case, historical mystery.

All of these promos cost you nothing to view and there are loads of new titles and authors for you to check out, so plenty of ideas for summer reading. Many of the books, or all of them in some promo cases, are available on KU, so if you’re signed up for that, you now have a new and exciting library of gay lit to see you through.

The Strange Case of the Missing Man

We are living through a local mystery right now here on Symi, because a TV presenter and journalist has mysteriously vanished. Last Wednesday, Michael Mosley set off to walk back from a beach via a well-used and open route and hasn’t been since. We’ve been doing what we can to help, and that’s mainly been deflecting journalists and pointing them towards the authorities, and guiding some of the family around the village to show them the lie of the land as the search continues.

And Onwards

So, for me, it’s now back to the typo-writer, and onto the final chapter of Bobby, while thinking up a title for book five, doing a jigsaw to free up my mind, trying to stay cool (nearly 40 degrees again yesterday), drinking lots of water (at least five litres yesterday), and looking forward to a family visit that starts next weekend. As usual, it’s all go.

Thanks for reading, and thanks to everyone who’s been clicking on the promos and getting me a good referral reputation, and to everyone who is currently reading and buying the books. It generates a small income, but as it’s the only one I have, it’s very well received!

Find all Jackson Marsh titles here:

June Promos

Posted on 01/06/2024 by Jack Marsh

History and romance mix month June

Hello everyone! Apologies if you just received a newsletter and it was exactly the same as this post, more or less, but it’s the start of a new promo month. Therefore, I have news of promos running in June, the month in which I will release the 4th Delamere Files novel, ‘Where There’s a Will.’

I am very pleased to say that the new series has been doing really well, and that’s mainly thanks to you, my readers and supporters, and to the Book Funnel promotions. This is where a group of authors get together and promote each other’s books, simply by sharing the link to the promo page. Our readers and supporters go to the page to browse, and, hopefully, pick up some copies of a new author’s book. The promotions are themed, and naturally, I go for the historical novels ones, and/or the adventure, romance, action, mystery… whatever is suitable to the book.

So, here is news of what promos you can go and check out this month. Apart from one, they are all running until the end of the month. It doesn’t cost you anything to click, but the more clicks I get direct from this newsletter, the better it makes me look – wink, wink.

LGBT Reading Party

(Only available until 8th June)

This is a celebratory sales promo for authors of works with characters who would identify anywhere within the LGBTQIA+ spectrum.

Click this link: LGBT Reading Party

Mayhem and Motives

MAYHEM & MOTIVES: Mystery, Thriller, & Suspense Reads is a genre-themed sales promotion brought to you by BookMojo.

There are just over 100 books in the list, all mystery or thrillers.

Click this link: Mayhem and Motives

Pride Month

Find your next queer read.

Anyone can join the promo, as long as the main character of the book is part of the LGBTQIA+ community. Well, for me, that’s ripe for all three of my series starters, and they are in there along with over 200 other titles. Plenty of new LGBT authors, stories and series to check out there, and from all genres.

Click this link: Pride Month

All that and a new novel too? Yup, that’s what coming this month. So, here’s wishing you a great June ahead!

Will it Work?

Posted on 02/05/2024 by Jack Marsh

This week’s update: I am now at 55,000 words of ‘Where There’s a Will’ and the story is progressing. For the last three days I have been rereading what I have written so far, and today, I’ll be moving forward again, having checked up on myself. This is one of those mysteries with lots of detail, some of which isn’t relevant (to the mystery) but which act as red herrings, and I need to be sure that a) there aren’t too many, and b) those that are genuine clues are pointed enough to remain in the memory without overpowering it.

What I mean: When laying down a clue for the detective to pick up on later, like when laying down the foundations of what will become the smoking gun, it’s important to ensure the evidence has been presented in a plausible but not over-obvious way.

There is an old thriller writing saying which goes something like: Don’t mention a revolver unless you intend to use it. In other words, if you introduce something big, make sure there’s a reason for it. So, in ‘Where There’s a Will’, I have several incidents from the characters’ pasts which either have to be relevant to the plot generally or important to the mystery specifically. Some of these ideas pop into my head as I am writing, and thus, get added into the story. Later, I might discover that they didn’t run, or they led nowhere, and interesting as they are, and relevant though they seemed at the time, they are now just clutter and have to go.

Which is what I have been doing these past few days. Now, I am about to leap back into chapter 18, which is a little over halfway, when the mystery has just kicked up a gear. I need to devise my next cryptic clue, put in some more backstory to deepen suspicion and have my cast prepare for a storm, both meteorological and metaphoric.

Red Herring. According to Study.com, The term ”red herring” comes from an article written by a journalist in 1807. He described a likely fictional story in which he used a red herring (a smoked herring) to distract a dog from a hare. The term caught on from there.

The smoking gun. The phrase originally came from the idea that finding a very recently fired (hence smoking) gun on the person of a suspect wanted for shooting someone would in that situation be nearly unshakable proof of having committed the crime. (Wiki.)

Or, as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle put it in ‘The Adventure of the Gloria Scott’: We rushed on into the captain’s cabin, but as we pushed open the door there was an explosion from within, and there he lay wit’ his brains smeared over the chart of the Atlantic which was pinned upon the table, while the chaplain stood with a smoking pistol in his hand at his elbow.

Jackson Marsh Author

Gay Historial Mystery

Tag Archives: Mystery