For this week's #HistFicThursdays blog, I'm thrilled to be welcoming R. N. Morris to the blog with a guest post about his latest book Death of a Princess , as part of his Coffee Pot Book Club tour. In Roger's guest post, he explains why he loves writing historical crime novels and the influences he has drawn from. But first, let's meet the book... Blurb Summer 1880. Lipetsk, a spa town in Russia. The elderly and cantankerous Princess Belskaya suffers a violent reaction while taking a mud bath at the famous Lipetsk Sanatorium. Soon after, she dies. Dr Roldugin, the medical director of the sanatorium, is at a loss to explain the sudden and shocking death. He points the finger at Anna Zhdanova, a medical assistant who was supervising the princess’s treatment. Suspicion also falls on the princess’s nephew Belsky, who appears far from grief-stricken at his aunt’s death. Meanwhile, investigating magistrate Pavel Pavlovich Virginsky arrives in Lipetsk from ...
Christmas is coming, it's only four days away! For someone who loves Christmas so much, the festival and celebration of Christmas does not feature in as many of my books as I would have expected. All the same, I've drawn together a couple of snippets concerning Christmas from various stories I've written, and I present them to you now as my #HistFicThursdays offering (you can also find a couple from Beneath Black Clouds and White here , as well as last year's offerings here ). Philip was almost grateful of the laborious journey, as it numbed his body to the pains which lay ahead. Instead, he concentrated all his thoughts on the imminent arrival of Advent. It had always been his favourite season of the church’s year. The coming of peace. And he was ready for peace. ~ from The Year We Lived The presents were distributed by Hamish and Roger and all those present had a gift matched perfectly to their recipient. The day continued with games and carols, for which Catherine ac...