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#HistFicThursdays - Inspirational Series - The Box of Delights

Kay Harker and Cole Hawlings Picture accessed via BBC  There are few things more Christmassy than the opening few bars of the theme tune to The Box of Delights . In fact, the tune is based on Victor Hely-Hutchinson's Carol Symphony and had been used in radio adaptations of the same novel years earlier than the 1984 television series. Clearly, everyone already knew that you just couldn't improve on that sound to evoke the magic of Christmas which - for me and for many - is so wonderfully explored in John Masefield's story. As a viewer, one of the things I enjoy most about the television series of The Box of Delights is the acting. Child actors are precarious things: too sweet and they're almost unbearable to watch, not sweet enough and they're unbelievable. They must walk that fine line between the two, and it is a perilous one! Most young actors fall into the first category, where their on-screen presence is almost dangerously saccharine.  Not so the child actors ...
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#HistFicThursdays - A Mistake of Murder - Helen Hollick


 This week for #HistFicThursdays, I'm delighted to be teaming up with The Coffee Pot Book Club to introduce you to Helen Hollick's fabulous book, A Mistake of Murder!

So, let's meet the book...

The third Jan Christopher Cosy Mystery

Was murder deliberate - or a tragic mistake?

January 1972. The Christmas and New Year holiday is over and it is time to go back to work. Newly engaged to Detective Sergeant Laurence Walker, library assistant Jan Christopher is eager to show everyone her diamond ring, and goes off on her scheduled round to deliver library books to the housebound – some of whom she likes; some, she doesn’t.

She encounters a cat in a cupboard, drinks several cups of tea... and loses her ring.

When two murders are committed, can Jan help her policeman uncle, DCI Toby Christopher and her fiancé, Laurie, discover whether murder was a deliberate deed – or a tragic mistake?


You can buy A Mistake of Murder via this Universal Link!


 Now, let's meet the author:

First accepted for traditional publication in 1993, Helen became a USA Today Bestseller with her historical novel, The Forever Queen (titled A Hollow Crown in the UK) with the sequel, Harold the King (US: I Am The Chosen King) being novels that explore the events that led to the Battle of Hastings in 1066. 

Her Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy is a fifth-century version of the Arthurian legend, and she writes a nautical adventure/fantasy series, The Sea Witch Voyages. She has also branched out into the quick read novella, 'Cosy Mystery' genre with her Jan Christopher Murder Mysteries, set in the 1970s, with the first in the series, A Mirror Murder incorporating her, often hilarious, memories of working as a library assistant.

Her non-fiction books are Pirates: Truth and Tales and Life of A Smuggler. She lives with her family in an eighteenth-century farmhouse in North Devon, England, and occasionally gets time to write…

You can find Helen on these links:

To follow the rest of A Mistake of Murder tour, click on the banner below:


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  1. Cathie Dunn2 March 2023 at 10:32

    Thanks so much for hosting Helen Hollick today. xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Helen Hollick2 March 2023 at 11:08

    Thank you so much for inviting me and Jan Christopher onto your blog today!

    ReplyDelete

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