I hope you had an enjoyable and restful festive season and new year. For the second year in a row, we spent Christmas in Spain, returning to Derby in time to welcome in 2025.

Since then the temperatures in the UK have plummeted. We’ve had lots of frosty days and even a sprinkling of snow - but thankfully, the sun has continued to shine brightly despite the cold weather.

I have a January birthday, and this year we decided to celebrate by spending a night at the fabulous Oakhill Hotel in Cromford (15 miles north of Derby). Cromford is an historic Derbyshire mill village, and part of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site. It has some lovely cafes and shops, including the wonderful and much-loved Scarthin Books.

We had a good mooch around the bookshop in the late afternoon, before returning to the hotel for a delicious evening meal, followed by a nightcap in front of a roaring log fire. What a way to spend my birthday. Bliss!

Other book news

I’m thrilled to report that a German language edition of Murder in Merrywell (Mord in Merrywell) is now available to download from Amazon. It has been published in eBook format by dp Verlag - and Murder at the Book Festival (Die Tote auf dem Dorffest) will follow on 27 February.

And there are more books still to come in the Violet Brewster series. Today I’m sitting by the fire and working on book #5 (it has a Christmas theme and will be published on 9 October 2025).