Delamere Nine Update

Hi folks. I didn’t post a Saturday blog as I was up to my eyes in other work, and today, I have only a quick update on Delamere nine and life in general.

First of all, I am at 82,000 words of the first draft and nearing the climax. When I work on a first draft, it’s not simply a case of blasting through and reaching the end. If I did that, I’d have a first draft finished in roughly a month, whereas it takes me about two. The main reason is that I am constantly going back and reading earlier chapters, and as I read them, I alter them. Some days I will sit here and write 4,000 words and say, ‘That’s chapter ten done,’ or whatever. Other days, I will say, ‘The head isn’t in the right place today,’ and then I will go back and edit, improve and change earlier chapters. It’s a question of mood. Today, for example, I have to do some other work first, then I have some non-writing jobs to se to, so any time I have, I will probably use it to make notes, or go back and do come checking. If the creative head isn’t in the right place (or the write place, you might say), then there’s no point in pushing it.

I thought this chap reminded me of a young Ronny.

It’s also very warm here right now, with temperatures up to 40° in the daytime and around 30° at night. There are still the household chores to see to, though Neil is usually the poor old thing who sees to them while I am working. He’s out this morning, so I have to water the plants, make sure the water barrel fills, do some washing while doing other things, because it’s a day when the water comes in. We only have one barrel, and once the water stops coming in, whatever is in the barrel must last us until the next fill up two, sometimes three or four, days later.

And talking of water, I must research a place on the River Orwell in Suffolk, which is where I left Jack and Baxter yesterday, in a pub, surrounded by a gang of evil smugglers. Must get on!

Here’s a MM Romance collection you might like to browse:

WIP Update: Delamere Nine

Hi folks, just a quick update on Delamere Nine (untitled).

I am now up to 60,000 words of the first draft, and the story is chugging along. I am at that point of thinking, ‘Is this going in the right direction?’, but I never let that worry me for long. If it’s going in some direction, at least it hasn’t run out of fuel, so let’s see where we end up. It is, after all, only a first draft. I have a climax to head to, and I have no idea how I’m going to get my heroes into that tricky situation without it reading as contrived, but I will manage something. The joy then comes in the editing and rewriting in draft two onwards. All the hard work will have been done (the blasting out of the words), and I can then play around with the details and descriptions.

If you like, the first draft is like building a house on your own by hand. Once you’ve done the hard graft of putting it together, though, you can then decorate and furnish it, and finally, when yore happy with it, live in it.

So, right now I have got foundations and a ground floor, but have two more floors to build. So, I’ll get on and leave you with another promo idea. Click the banner for more details of these historical mystery and romance novels.

Mysterious Variety

Hello! The world is full of mystery and always has been, and that’s what makes the mystery genre so exciting. It offers so many possibilities to escape from the real world and dive into all manner of thrilling situations. And some that are calmer. Cosy mysteries such as ‘Home from Nowhere’, for example, where there’s no race to the finish line, or a slow-build mystery of self-discovery as found in ‘Guardians of the Poor.’ That book is currently in a collection called July Kindle Unlimited Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, & Crime Reads. It’s a bit of a title, but it leads you to 95 titles all available on KU.

The Witchling

I am two people in that collection, Jackson and James, and you’ll find my ‘The Witchling’ is in there. This is the second book in the Saddling trilogy, and part of the blurb reads: Six months after the life-changing events of The Saddling, Tom Carey must solve the witchling mystery and risk his life to save his lover.

I guess it was while writing this one, and the one that came after, that I started to realise it wasn’t exactly what I wanted to write. Maybe that’s why I never finished the quartet. Each of the Saddling books takes place in a season at the time of an equinox or festival and has an elemental theme. So, the Witchling, for example, is set in summer, the climax is at the solstice, and the element is fire. The Saddling (book one) is winter solstice and water, and the third, the Eastling, is autumn equinox and wind. The Needling was to be number four, set at the spring equinox with earth as the element, and was to lead to rebirth for the troubled village.

While writing what I did write of The Needling, I realised that what I wanted to do was write stories with central gay characters, and hence, Jackson Marsh was born.

A quick stop to admire the view from my office window this morning…

Honestly, it’s Free!

Before then, though, came ‘Remotely’, a straight/gay body-swap comedy, with a mysterious, timeless kind of enchantress as the protagonist, known only as Miss P. People liked Miss P and wanted more of her, so I started on another story called ‘Unforgivable,’ which was about Miss P saving the West End musical, but soon put that away in favour of a short novella, called ‘Honestly.’ There are now eight chapters of this here on my sit,e and the final four should be up within the week. You can read it all for free here, or splash out $0.99 and buy the eBook, or read it on KU. It won’t take long. Basically, it’s about what happens when people are made to be honest with each other, and it takes the form of a kind of Tom Sharpe style farce… almost.

Honestly – it’s free!

Meanwhile…

… back in mystery-land, I am doing well with Delamere Nine, which, for some ungodly reason, I have mainly set in a Suffolk village. Jack, Bax and Simeon have gone to the aid of a farmer whose son went missing not long after seeing strange lights in the sky. The first half sets us up nicely for a dangerous second half (I hope, I’ve not written it yet), the villains are the protagonists as well as the antagonists, but apart from that complication, it’s all coming along nicely in first draft form.

Newsletter

If you are on the mailing list, you should receive a newsletter later today listing all the promos and other news. You can, as always, help us all along by having a click and browse of these promos, and here, as a reminder, is the link to the July Kindle Unlimited Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, & Crime Reads. Have a good weekend, stay safe, and I’ll be back on Wednesday.

More Honestly, Delamere and Promos

Good morning! Nearly the end of June already, it’s hard to believe, but there it is. I have three things for you today. Firstly…

Honestly

The serialisation continues, and there are now four short chapters up on the list. Check the page from the menu, and you will see a drop-down list of the chapter links. (You may need to refresh the page to see all four.) Each chapter has a link to the next, and there are another seven chapters still to be posted, which I will do in time.

Delamere Nine

So, what’s happening in the Jack Merrit world? Well, without giving too much away, Jack, Baxter and Simeon are currently in Suffolk investigating a case in the countryside. We’re getting rural for this one, which is a challenge for me, who has read mostly about Victorian city life. I’m doing my research, though, and delving into the world of the dairy farmer and village pub. Luckily, where I was brought up was still pretty 19th century in terms of farming, remoteness, villages and pubs, so I can draw on some of that.

I am up to 32,000 words already, the mystery is growing but now the investigation has started. Simeon is coming of age, kind of, there’s a these of father’s and sons which is giving Jack some pause for thought, and Baxter is, of course, being inappropriate as often as possible.

Promos

I will soon have another collection of promos to share with you. These are free-to-view collections of books on specific topics and from indie authors selling on Amazon and elsewhere. As from next month, though, I will add them not only to the newsletter, but also to their own page on the site here, so you never lose out.

Newsletter

You can subscribe to the newsletter from the top of this page, or from the newsletter page itself, where the privacy policy is also set out. I’ll be back on Wednesday with a proper update about Delamere Nine (still untitled), and any other news I have for you. Have a great weekend!

Two Works in Progress

Two? Surely not… Well, yes and no…

Delamere Nine

This book is underway and, so far, is running smoothly. It’s one of those that I am making up as I go along (don’t we always do that when writing a novel?), but I know where it is going. I know what the climax should be like, I know who is involved, and what the emotional through line is to be, what the ‘theme’ is, and how the mystery starts. What I don’t yet know is what the mystery is (I have a vague idea) or how it will be solved. That’s the joy, you see, the joy of the job. I discover as Jack and Baxter discover, and from what they discover, comes the next chapter, and so on. If I reach a point where I start to lose the thread, I go back, unstitch, and start again. Or I make repairs as I go. This way, I avoid plot holes.

I am aiming for half a chapter a day, and I am already up to the end of Act One, at 25,000 words. There has been a tragedy, there is a mystery, and someone in the cast is trying hard to grow up, while two others have to share a bed…

More on this story as it develops.

Honestly – a Novella

The other project on the go is updating and uploading ‘Honestly’, a novella I wrote following on from the success of ‘Remotely.’ That was a gay/straight body-swap coming-of-age comedy. ‘Honestly’ is also coming of age and is set in a small fishing village ‘up north’ where a young lad and his mother have moved from ‘down south.’ All is not well, however, and Miss P has been sent on a mission to put things right because the problem in the village has been caused by that dreaded thing, writer’s block.

Well, you can download the whole novella here for $0.99, or you can start to read it online, chapter by chapter. Today, I have chapter two available, and am working on preparing chapter three so you don’t have to wait too long to continue the story.

https://jacksonmarsh.com/honestly-chapter-two

If you’re interested in the straight/gay body-swap, you can find ‘Remotely’ at this link. That’s Amazon.com, but it’s available in all my usual Amazon stores. Here’s the blurb:

Britain’s newest and most pointless TV talent competition is coming to Middlestone-On-Sea. ‘So You Think We’re Remotely Interested?’ has taken Friday night viewers by storm as it streams live variety shows from remote, provincial theatres across Britain. The theatre with the most audience votes wins regeneration and revival, and lord knows, Middlestone-on-Sea needs both.

The dying seaside backwater rests its hopes on the performance of two ex-best friends, gay Gary and straight Stag.

The visiting celebrity judge, the mysterious and timeless Miss P, knows that for all to be well, they must mend their broken friendship. But there is no success without trial. She magically swaps Gary and Stag into each other’s bodies. Secrets are learned, comedy ensues, and yet the community remains divided.

Rifts must be healed, differences accepted, and bodies swapped back before the season grand finale in four days’ time otherwise Middlestone will lose everything.

Number Nine

Yes. I know, I just can’t stop… So, instead of stopping, I have started on the Delamere Files book nine, so far untitled. I am 20,000 words into the first draft, I have an opening inciting incident, I have had a tragedy, and now, I have an assignment for Jack, Baxter and Simeon. We haven’t had much from Simeon since he appeared in ‘A Case of Make Believe.’ We got to know his younger brother, Ronny, a bit more in ‘Holywell Street,’ so I thought we might drag Sim into this story and find out more about him. Exactly what his role will be as he sets off into the wilds of Suffolk with Jack and Bax remains to be seen. We know he’s been on the streets (in more ways than one) and he said he didn’t mind, but I wonder… Will he meet someone in the countryside? Will he grow up a little (he’s now nearly 17), or will he become part of the mystery…?

I have an idea for the climax of this story, but no idea how I am going to reach it. So far, we have a missing lad and a body in a wheat field with no tracks to or from it, strange lights in the sky at night, and… Well, who knows what chapter seven will bring.

This one is currently set to be a real adventure, for me, I mean. No doubt Jack and Co. will have some adventures along the way, and perhaps Baxter will fall for a farmer’s lad and have a fumble in a barn. Time will tell.

Meanwhile, today’s promo for you to click on and explore is this one:

MM Murder/Mystery/Detective/Crime Promo General Fiction / LGBT and Romance / LGBT

This one is right up my street. A mix of male romance and mystery. I have Deviant Desire in this one and Guardians of the Poor.

Book Release and a New Badge

First of all, folks, ‘Holywell Street’ is finally published.

I say ‘finally,’ but I notice that Acts of Faith only came out in March! Holywell Street was one of those that ‘wrote itself’, although, of course, it didn’t. It represents about 400 hours of work over three months, but it’s there, and it’s here:

Holywell Street – Kindle, Paperback and KU

As usual, that’s the Amazon.com link, but you can change the .com to your country if buying the paperback. A New Badge, what’s that all about?

30 Best MM Romance Book Blogs and Websites in 2025

This is one of those things that I never know whether I should take with a pinch of scepticism. Is it good publicity for me, or the start of a barrage of spam? Well, I did one of these before with my Symi Dream blog, and it went well, so I am going for it now. It’s not costing me anything but a little time, and who knows, it may gather me some more readers.

This FeedSpot listing promises to give you “The best MM Romance Book blogs from thousands of blogs on the web and ranked by relevancy, authority, social media followers & freshness.” MM Romance Book Blogs has given me my own page, but if I want to add to my profile, I have to sign up and pay, so I shan’t be doing that. I’ll just share with you this badge, leave you the link, and move on, but feel free to share this post and news around if you feel so inclined.

MM Murder/Mystery/Detective/Crime Promo

And today’s promo push is for MM Murder/Mystery/Detective/Crime Promo. Click over to check out a full set of titles from new and established authors, with all books being on the theme of MM pairings involved in crime and mystery. Guardians of the Poor is in there.

Delamere Book Nine

Yes, I have started on an idea for book nine… I won’t tell you what that is yet, because bit is very much early days, but it will, no doubt, be another twisted tale of strange clues, missing people, and mystery with some emotional elements thrown in. I am thinking something along the lines of fathers and sons, but I am not yet too sure. Meanwhile, let me direct you back to the start of the series, just in case you’ve not caught up with the tale of two Merrits, one Baxter and London in the 1890s.

The Delamere Files

A Tragic Event and Inspiration

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.

Act For All of Us.

Delamere Book Eight

As the song says, ‘I’ve gone about as fur as I can go,’ with this one. For now, at least. So, I sent the MS off to be proofread, and Andjela is working on a cover. I have an illustration, and all will be revealed in due course. I also have a draft blurb which I will post for you, and I have my usual collection of author’s notes at the end.

For this book, those notes cover such things as Holywell Street itself, a man called William Lazenby who may or may not have penned the book, The Sins of the City of the Plain, the Cleveland Street Scandal, and there’s a brief mention of Fanny and Stella, cross-dressers arrested 23 years earlier.

The couple are only mentioned in passing, but you might be interested to know more about their story, and there’s a great article titled Fanny and Stella: Piecing together LGBTQ+ histories and telling the stories. [Click Here]

Oh, and I have also started a thing called Baxter’s Glossary, which I will put in either at the front or back of the book. There’s a fair amount of slang in use in this one, and I can’t always explain it in the text.

Anyway, here’s the blurb for Delamere Eight:

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.

Here’s Where I’m At

I am currently at 82,000 Holywell Street… Well, 82k words written for ‘Holywell Street’, the Delamere book number eight. Funnily enough, the plot revolves around number eight Holywell Street, mainly so I can say here’s book number eight Holywell Street as though it’s an address as well as part of the sequence. Also, according to the 1891 census, that address was vacant, as were others around it, so I can be more creative with its description. I suspect the buildings were left empty for a good reason, like they were falling down, because the street was demolished in 1901. It was quite picturesque by all accounts and some buildings there were from pre-1700 or very early 1700s.

Anyway, I am having fun and working through the climax, which isn’t really a climax in the usual sense. There’s no death-defying leaps of faith, zip lines onto music hall stages, or people falling off burning towers. What there is, though, is a bit of fun (I hope) as part of the ‘towards the end’ section is seen from Ronny’s point of view, and we know what a little oik he can be. As that’s going on, I am waiting for the first draft of a new reel to come back from the guy who is working one up for me, and I am about to send off for a new pencil sketch to go in the front of the next book. I am also considering the cover, though the final draft won’t be ready for some weeks yet. Meanwhile, I believe Holywell Street will be my 48th book, including my ‘living on a Greek island’ books and those written under my real name. I know it sounds like a lot, but it’s what I do! This is one of my shelves and contains all the Jackson Marsh titles, except for ‘Bobby’ which is on the shelf above.