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.