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| Alice Castle |
The first in her London Mystery series is Death in Dulwich:
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| Click on the cover to go to Amazon |
Here is my review:
There's murder involved but Death in Dulwich is a great read for a rainy day in front of the fire. Beth, the main character, is a gentle, intelligent and lovely single-mother to a typical nine-year old boy (who tells her that his school projects are due that day at six in the morning), and she's determined to find the killer of the Archivist at the school she's just started working for. Red herrings are dotted tantaslisingly about, leading the reader to one possible conclusion after another. Beth makes an excellent sleuth - she's determined too. Rather more so than Harry York, the detective who (to my mind) is sexy as hell. As this is subtitled "The London Murder Mysteries 1" - I have every hope that York emerges again in the next book, and Beth too. Together I hope...let's see. Alice Castle has a tendency to tease. Loved the story (and Beth's fringe).
I loved the book so much, I sidled up to Alice to ask her a few questions:
Sue:
For those of us who have never been to (or even heard of) Dulwich, tell us
something about the place and why you decided to set your books there.
Alice:
Dulwich is a little oasis in south London, a very beautiful and green area
which is quite distinct from the districts around it. I was lucky enough to
live in Dulwich for four years after returning to the UK from nearly ten years
in Brussels and I think the time I spent abroad made me see the place in quite
a detached way. I was fascinated by the village feel to a place that is only
eight minutes by train from London Bridge. It struck me that it’s about as
close as you can get to Agatha Christie’s fictional St Mary Mead (home of Miss
Marple), yet still be living in one of the major capitals of the world. I also
love the idea that people think they know everybody and everything in a place
like this – but there are always secrets swirling around, and they can be
deadly.
Sue:
Dulwich will be on my itinerary when I next visit London!
Alice’s
second book in the London Mystery series is:
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| Click on the cover to go to Amazon |
The Girl in the
Gallery by Alice Castle
Just when you thought it was safe to go
back to Dulwich…
It’s a perfect
summer’s morning in the plush south London suburb, and thirty-something Beth
Haldane has sneaked off to visit one of her favourite places, the world-famous
Picture Gallery.
She’s enjoying a
few moments’ respite from juggling her job at prestigious private school
Wyatt’s and her role as single mum to little boy Ben, when she stumbles across
a shocking new exhibit on display. Before she knows it, she’s in the thick of a
fresh, and deeply chilling, investigation.
Who is The Girl
in the Gallery? Join Beth in adventure #2 of the London Murder Mystery series
as she tries to discover the truth about a secret eating away at the very heart
of Dulwich.
Here’s
my review (I loved it!)
Inspector Harry York is back! And so is the lovely
Beth, archivist at Wyatt's. This is the second in Alice Castle's London Murder
series, both of which have been set in well-to-do Dulwich where murders and
such just do not happen. But they do - and our Beth (I can say that as I
already consider her a friend) unwittingly discovers them. Wandering through
Dulwich Art Gallery, Beth comes across a girl's body lying on a sarcophagus.
Cue Inspector Harry York. Then another unconscious body is found - a girl from
the same class as the other one. Beth finds the coincidence too great and
begins her own speculations and investigations (much to York's chagrin).
Ms Castle deftly juggles serious social concerns (teenage angst, bullying) with her light-hearted observations of the Dulwich well-to-do community. Her prose flows beautifully and kept me reading The Girl in the Gallery in almost one go. By the way, what the author doesn't know about the art world, just isn't worth knowing. On top of the mystery, red-herrings, social issues, and wit, The Girl in the Gallery is also an education.
Ms Castle deftly juggles serious social concerns (teenage angst, bullying) with her light-hearted observations of the Dulwich well-to-do community. Her prose flows beautifully and kept me reading The Girl in the Gallery in almost one go. By the way, what the author doesn't know about the art world, just isn't worth knowing. On top of the mystery, red-herrings, social issues, and wit, The Girl in the Gallery is also an education.
Sue:
“The Girl in the Gallery” is a much-awaited second book in the crime/thriller
series. Can you tell us about it?
Alice:
Thank you so much for saying it’s much-awaited, that’s lovely! I’m really
thrilled to have had this book published in 2017, as it’s the 200th
anniversary of the Dulwich Picture Gallery opening to the public. My book is
set in the Gallery, which is one of my favourite places. The building was
designed by Sir John Soane, and it’s a very unusual piece of architecture, not
least because it has a rather grisly secret built right into its heart. I won’t
say much more, except that you’ll be looking around you a bit more carefully
next time you go to an art gallery!
Sue: What a great way to celebrate the Gallery's anniversary. Is it difficult to write crime/mystery/thriller books? (I’m asking this as an
author who hasn’t tried yet, but would love to!)
Alice:
I absolutely love writing crime fiction and have spent a lifetime reading
mystery novels and watching thrillers on TV and in film, which I’m now
considering an apprenticeship instead of a shocking waste of time. Writing any
book is hard, as we know, but if you love your subject then that makes it worth
the effort. There’s definitely something cathartic about killing people! You do
have to have an eagle eye for detail, though. I sometimes wake up in the middle
of the night thinking, that bag couldn’t have been in X’s hand, it should have
been on the bicycle,’ or whatever. Readers quite rightly get exasperated by any
detail which hasn’t been pinned down (I know I do) so checking the plot is
watertight is absolutely mandatory. Thinking of new ways to evade detection in
an increasingly technological society is tricky, too – CCTV is not the
crime writer’s friend. But don’t let me put you off, I hope you give it a go.
I’d love to read your crime novel.
Sue: Well, there may be a bit of crime in my next novel 😀 . Do you have any plans for future books? Can you tell us about them or is it a
big secret? Go on…tell us…
Alice:
Oh yes, lots of plans, Beth Haldane has only just got started… her next outing
will be in Peril in Peckham, once again with DI York helping, restraining or
impeding her, depending on who’s point of view you take. And after that? Well,
London is a big place…
Hooray!
DI York’s coming back. And we’re off to Peckham next…
All about Alice:
Before
turning to crime, Alice Castle was a UK newspaper journalist for The Daily
Express, The Times and The Daily Telegraph. Her first book, Hot Chocolate, set in Brussels and
London, was a European best-seller which sold out in two weeks.
Alice is
currently working on the sequel to Death
in Dulwich and The Girl in the
Gallery, the third book in the
London Murder Mystery series. It will be published by Crooked Cat next year and
is entitled The Calamity in Camberwell. Once
again, it features Beth Haldane and DI Harry York.
Alice is
also a top mummy blogger, writing DD’s Diary at www.dulwichdivorcee.com.
She lives
in south London and is married with two children, two step-children and two
cats.
Author
website: https://www.alicecastleauthor.com
Facebook
page https://www.facebook.com/alicecastleauthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DDsDiary?lang=en
Links to
buy books: MyBook.to/GirlintheGallery myBook.to/1DeathinDulwich, myBook.to/HotChocolate
