What goes into making a book
And an update on Betrayal at Blackthorn Park
There is nothing more exciting or nerve-wracking to an author than the run-up to a book release.
Normally, the life cycle of a book looks something like this:
Obsess about the pitch
Obsess about the book while writing the first draft
Think about the book while you’re editor is reading it for the first time and wonder what they’ll think
Get an edit letter back from your editor with all sorts of suggestions about how to improve the story
Obsess over developmental edits
Start to think that maybe you might write something else one day while your editor reads your book again
Find all of your mistakes while doing copy edits
Start working on something new
Read the book AGAIN for proofreading
Send the book off for one last time
By the time it comes around to promote a book, I’m usually well into another project, but I always love the chance to revisit the story I was so obsessed with not that long ago.
My upcoming historical mystery Betrayal at Blackthorn Park is no different! This book, which comes out October 1, is the follow up to A Traitor in Whitehall, which was my first Evelyne Redfern book and it’s been such a joy getting to return to Evelyne’s burgeoning crime-solving career.
I’m really looking forward to sharing more about Betrayal at Blackthorn Park as we come closer to release day. I have some things planned including a bonus short story as well as some teasers and bits of behind-the-scenes information.
Today, I’m kicking things off with a little look at what you can expect from Evelyne Redfern’s next case.
Freshly graduated from a rigorous training program in all things spy craft, Evelyne is eager to start working as a field agent helping Britain win the war. However, when she learns her first task is performing a simple security test at Blackthorn Park, a requisitioned manor house in the sleepy Sussex countryside, she can’t help her initial disappointment. Making matters worse, her handler is to be David Poole, a fellow agent who manages to be both straight-laced and dashing. However, Evelyne soon realizes that Blackthorn Park is more than meets the eye, and an upcoming visit from Winston Churchill means that security at the secret weapons research and development facility is of the utmost importance.
When Evelyne discovers Blackthorn Park’s chief engineer dead in his office, her simple assignment becomes more complicated. Evelyne must use all of her—and David’s—detection skills to root out who is responsible and uncover layers of deception that could change the course of the war.
If that sounds like your cup of tea (brand of murder mystery?), may I kindly ask you to consider preordering Betrayal at Blackthorn Park? Preorders are super important for authors like me because:
they count towards first week sales, which helps books hit important lists like the New York Times bestsellers
they let our publishers know how much interest there is in our books and how much budget to put towards really important things like marketing and publicity
they mean that readers like you can have the book on day one! That means you get the story faster!
Don’t forget to put your preorder in for the print or ebook editions!