Isabella May Author

Alice Castle talks about her gripping Novel Number Two in the London Murder Mystery Series…

Thanks for coming back again so soon onto my blog to share a whole bunch of new insights with us into your next book, Alice. I absolutely LOVED “Death in Dulwich” (hint: go out and but it NOW if you haven’t already!) and am champing at the bit to find out what life has in store for Beth Haldane in “Girl in the Gallery”…

First there’s a murder in a Dulwich school… now there are mysterious happenings going down in a Dulwich gallery. How on earth does Beth keep getting herself entangled in these scrapes?
Beth just can’t help herself – she loves a mystery. In Death in Dulwich, she didn’t have any choice but to get involved, as she had to clear her own name. In The Girl in the Gallery, she feels a great sense of responsibility towards the victim, for reasons that become clear. She’s public-spirited – but also extremely nosy!

Will we meet with the same crew in The Girl in The Gallery, or will Beth introduce us to a whole new bunch of characters?
Quite a few of the characters in Death in Dulwich reappear, but there are lots of new and interesting people to meet as well, some of whom may, or may not, have murder in mind. Keep your eyes peeled for clues.

Will Beth and Harry finally ‘get it on’ in this book? The chemistry is definitely palpable!
Detective Inspector Harry York comes back to take charge of the investigation (he thinks!) in The Girl in the Gallery and lots more sparks fly… I can’t reveal any more than that. 

Where is your favourite art gallery in the world, and did it inspire the scene setting for this book?
You’re quite right, the Dulwich Picture Gallery is my favourite art gallery in the world… all those old masters, and a fabulous cafe as well! More to the point, it has a strange architectural quirk at its centre that I’ve always thought makes it an ideal setting for a crime novel. Again, you’ll have to read it to find out more. 

The Cosy Crime genre, which you write in, is definitely growing in popularity in 2017. Do you think we could be seeing a brand new trend taking over the popularity of the psychological thriller?
There’s definitely something in the zeitgeist that’s drawing people to cosier crime stories at the moment. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve read more than my fair share of psychological thrillers, including the gory ones, but I have found myself turning away from that end of the genre recently. I don’t like to read, or write, about really gruesome suffering. You get a lovely sense of closure from a cozy crime, without having to bear witness to anything too nasty. 

How does a typical writing day play out for you… or is there no such thing?
I like to have a bit of a routine when writing. As you know, it’s a long haul to get from one end of a novel to the other, and I need a daily word count spurring me on. Achieving, or beating, that daily total keeps me going. So I write in the mornings and then do all my day jobs (freelance work, family etc.) in the afternoons.

Can you spill any more beans and give us a hint as to what to expect with your third book in the London Murder Mystery series?
My third book in the London Murder Mystery series, Calamity in Camberwell, will be out in 2018. It’s dealing with some difficult themes and again it’s Beth contra mundum – one of her close friends goes missing and, as no-one else will take her disappearance seriously, Beth decides to look into it herself, with disastrous consequences…

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.

Author Bio:
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

Universal Amazon links to buy books: MyBook.to/GirlintheGallery  myBook.to/1DeathinDulwich, myBook.to/HotChocolate