Some nine moons wasted [Book Blurb Friday #60]

Married too young, to a man too importunate, Eliza McCleary was certain she’d made a mistake.

Four months into the marriage she ran away, leaving no note, partly to ensure she was not followed, partly to allow him to change his mind.

But freedom was not all it was cracked up to be – freedom from routine meant directionless, freedom from sharing meant she owned nothing worth having and freedom from his caring and  unquestioning love meant … a sort of living hell.   And eventually she realised that more than missing the material comforts he’d provided she loved him too.

But the journey back was a bitter one – she had her pride to overcome, her fear of his rejection, and would have to tell him of all the other mistakes she’d made along the way.   Would he still want her now, when he knew, when he saw the baggage she’d acquired?

Week #60’s response to Lisa Ricard Claro’s Book Blurb Friday challenge and a beautiful photograph provided by Christina Claro
Each week Lisa posts a photograph which represents a book cover.   Participants are challenged to “Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book”

N.B. - 'some nine moons wasted' is from Shakespeare's 'Othello' - when faced with  a blank photo and mind I refer to my Dictionary of Quotations for inspiration.

Friday the thirteenth [Book blurb Friday #59]

Originally commissioned by Melanie Middleton, enterprising manageress of Blackwood Orphanage, as a fund-raising venture, these tales were written and illustrated by the children who live there, for the entertainment of their peers.
A strong believer in allowing children editorial freedom, Melanie Middleton insisted that the only adult input be to ensure that the sense of each story was clear; spelling and grammar has been retained as the original, and in some cases the stories have been printed using the original handwriting.
As a social record of the lives of children deprived of their natural parents it cannot be bettered, but it is as a record of what children really think it gives an honest – and truly terrifying – glimpse into the future – no-one who anticipates staying alive for the next twenty years should fail to read it.

Week #59’s response to Lisa Ricard Claro’s Book Blurb Friday challenge and an intriguing  photograph provided by Sioux Roslawski.
Each week Lisa posts a photograph which represents a book cover.   Participants are challenged to “Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book”  http://www.writinginthebuff.net/p/book-blurb-friday.html

The eleven labours of Clancy Thorpe [Book Blurb Friday #58]

Clancy Thorpe should have been born a boy.

But her mother died in childbirth and her father could find no-one to match the one love of his life so failed to produce a son and heir.

On the eve of Clancy’s fifteenth birthday her father persuaded the Regional Vampire Council to accept primogeniture, which they did reluctantly, but on condition that she fulfil eleven tasks during the next twelve months to establish her Vampire credentials.

Within ten days a rival appeared – likely spurious but possessing all the necessary qualities of leadership, except that he is five days younger.   With the backing of the majority of the council he sets out to sabotage Clancy’s succession.

Clancy has support  – and weapons of her own  – but will they be good enough to vanquish Vlad Stoker?

Week #58’s response to Lisa Ricard Claro’s Book Blurb Friday challenge and a photograph provided by Kathy Mattews (with apologies for snipping off the end of her name – more haste less speed!) 
Each week Lisa posts a photograph which represents a book cover.   Participants are challenged to “Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book”  http://www.writinginthebuff.net/p/book-blurb-friday.html

Stranger danger [Book blurb #57]

All the lonely people … you had feel sorry for them … or exploit them.

Jed was an exploiter par excellence.   He needed to be.   To start he’d told himself it was for the money, but once he had enough of that he found he still needed the power.   To use it, to feel it … and to challenge himself to go just that little bit further each time.

Had it not been such a quiet night he’d have ignored the outwardly demure and vulnerable Vivienne – no sweat, no pleasure.

Had it not been such a quiet night he might not have found that there were limits to his power, to his ability to withstand pain.   That sweat did not always equate with pleasure.   And that there were no limits to which she would not go.

Not a nice story – how could it be?  But one which cannot be ignored.

Week #57’s response to Lisa Ricard Claro’s Book Blurb Friday challenge and a photograph of a collagraph print which I based on a sketch done while sitting in Perth’s CBD district at a place called ‘Durty Nellies’ where I’m happy to say the food, drink and ambience were all excellent .
Each week Lisa posts a photograph which represents a book cover.   Participants are challenged to “Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book”  http://www.writinginthebuff.net/p/book-blurb-friday.html

Fearful symmetry [Book Blurb #56]

Everyone recognised Antonia Blake – how could they not? – but no-one could remember her from school.

No-one remembered Meggie Tyger – whyever should they? – and her absence from St. Hilda’s twenty-first reunion went unremarked, as it ever had been.

Antonia was ‘Fearful Symmetry’ – gossip columnist, socialite and style icon –  and of course they wanted to be listed as a friend, under her wonderful tiger icon!

At the twenty-second reunion talk inevitably turned to the four whose deaths had occurred in the interim, seemingly accidental, unexplained and increasingly bizarre.

Questions were asked, connections made.   Eventually Meggie Tyger’s name was whispered, ginger hair, glasses, head-to-toe freckles and a brace on her teeth recalled, consciences pricked.  

But was Antonia once Meggie?   Had Antonia, absent this year,  taken revenge for the bullying?  

Or could it have been the unforgettable PE teacher William Anvil, who left after only one term, career in ruins, having impregnated five girls?

Week #56’s response to Lisa Ricard Claro’s Book Blurb Friday challenge and Scott Liddell's photograph.

Each week Lisa posts a photograph which represents a book cover.   Participants are challenged to “Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book”  http://www.writinginthebuff.net/p/book-blurb-friday.html

Death: fresh daily [Book Blurb Friday #55]

The first body appeared on his first morning, bloody and tied to the first of the rusty piles, the second the next day.   After five days, and five bodies, all presumed to be connected, the local police claimed to be at their wits’ end.
Which was when the almost invisible elderly man, offered his theory.
Assistant Chief Constable Colin Thrush had been coming here for years, incognito and always alone – the only place he truly found relaxation.   This would be the last time.
Widowed, retirement three years away but death less than three months, he yearned for just one more  active investigation, having found paperwork more tiring than hands-on had ever been.
He got his wish:  uncovered age-old pacts and compromising conspiracies which threatened reputations, created controversy among those who controlled, and knew he had nothing to lose by ignoring threats and pursuing all leads to their multi-damaging ends.

Week #55’s response to Lisa Ricard Claro’s Book Blurb Friday challenge and, with apologies, to Kathy Matthews’ undeserving light-hearted photograph. 
Each week Lisa posts a photograph which represents a book cover.   Participants are challenged to “Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book”  http://www.writinginthebuff.net/p/book-blurb-friday.html

Elspeth and the siege of St. Remy [Book Blurb Friday #54]

Elspeth believed in the indissolubility of marriage.
          Jake merely paid lip service.
Elspeth tried to put an end to his cheating.
          Jake was too blinkeredly arrogant to notice.
So when a last-ditch but genteel Provençal attempt at romantic revival failed, Elspeth ditched both belief and gentility and took up a chain-saw instead, intent on some cure-or-kill pruning.
          With results which surprised her as much as Jake.
          With results which also surprised Chantal the cook, Marie the waitress, Soulange the hotel-owner’s teenage daughter ... and Soulange’s utterly delicious brothers, Jean-Pierre and Michel.  
          And then, more satisfactorily still, Soulange’s devastatingly capable, widowed father, Charles.
But WAS it kill?   Or cure?   Or merely a seasonal trimming, which would require repeating in a twelvemonth?   
          Jake, for one, could never be entirely sure, nor ever as complacent again.

Week #54’s response to Lisa Ricard Claro’s Book Blurb Friday challenge and one of my photos (which does make things harder not easier, I find) 
Each week Lisa posts a photograph which represents a book cover.   Participants are challenged to “Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book”  http://www.writinginthebuff.net/p/book-blurb-friday.html

Death of the Puppetmaster [Book Blurb Friday #52]

Anton Worrall was dead – captured live on national television in the presence of upwards of fifty journalists, one of whom appeared to have fired the fatal bullet – there was no doubt of that. 
And precious little mourning.
But when the autopsy reveals not one but three potential causes of death, and at least two perfectly legal wills are found, one naming hitherto unknown-of children, the strings of his tightly-controlled life began to tangle more than could be thought possible.

Was it the bullet which killed him?   Or the accumulation of arsenic, discovered to have been administered by his mistress?   Or the cyanide pill found under his tongue, possibly crushed at the moment the bullet entered his body?
DI Luke Darbyshere is reliant on more than pathologist’s evidence to unravel this murder, especially when he discovers that his current girlfriend is a beneficiary of a large proportion of Worrall’s estate.

Week #52’s response to Lisa Ricard Claro’s Book Blurb Friday challenge and Lyn Obermoeller’s challenging photograph. Each week Lisa posts a photograph which represents a book cover.   Participants are challenged to “Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book”  http://www.writinginthebuff.net/p/book-blurb-friday.html

Just Bobby and McGee [Book blurb Friday #51]

It wasn’t the Secret Seven, nor the Famous Five.   Not the gang from Swallows and Amazons, and not even three friends or two.   Just him, Bobby, and his dog.
And five weeks of the summer before him, while his parents alternately lay in the sun, backs to each other pretending to read or stood face to red and angry face, shouting rude and horrible things at each other, only stopping when he sidled in.
‘Go and play, love.’ they both said – about the only thing they agreed on.
So he did.
It took three weeks and police forces from three counties to find him.
And what an adventure he had had.


Week #51’s response to Lisa Ricard Claro’s Book Blurb Friday challenge. Each week Lisa posts a photograph which represents a book cover.   Participants are challenged to “Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book”  http://www.writinginthebuff.net/p/book-blurb-friday.html

Belief misplaced ([Book Blurb Friday #50]

Lovingly reared on fairy tales, all with happy endings, and then when just thirteen discovering the sumptuous language of Angela Carter, Eloise was confident she knew what to expect when she agreed, three years later, to become the concubine of Philip Charterhouse.

But books cannot, as everyone eventually discovers, compensate for lack of experience.   And Eloise had never read the books that might have even partly prepared her for what Philip expected.

Within a summer she knew she had to escape, and would need help to do so, but was Philip’s younger brother Joseph the man to trust, or should she rely on the practical assistance which Ben the stable lad had hinted might be on offer?

Alternatively, was Philip’s now-pregnant wife the one to truly show her the way to freedom?  

Week #50’s response to Lisa Ricard Claro’s Book Blurb Friday challenge and Ashley Ortiz’ fairytale photograph. Each week Lisa posts a photograph which represents a book cover.   Participants are challenged to “Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book”  http://www.writinginthebuff.net/p/book-blurb-friday.html

BAZ ROSE AND ROSE MADIGAN

FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT TWO OF MY FAVOURITE CHARACTERS

CHARACTER SKETCHES FOR BOTH ARE BELOW

Baz Rose - Sunday morning confrontation of newly-ex.

Baz’s appearance, when he eventually answered the door ... unshaven, barefoot and wearing old jeans and a misshapen university sweatshirt, had further pointed up the differences between them.  

His stubble-shadowed unkemptness also exacerbated his undeniable ugliness ...   He was ugly, his features large and over-mobile, surrounded by folds and crevices of flesh which added to the expressiveness of his words but removed all likelihood of him ever being referred to as ‘chisel-featured’.   His near-black curls were abundant and unruly, always over-long, although presumably he did go to the barbers reasonably regularly, and his sideburns hinted at some gypsy past.   (The lack of red-spotted neckerchief created a small desire, at least in some female observers, to place, initially their fingertips in the hollow of his throat.)   His nose had been broken in his youth, ‘more than once’ and his mouth, also over-large, was asymmetric.  

His eyes were his best feature, dark, and shiny as well-oiled olives, habitual merriness indicated by the sunburst of pale lines at the outer corner of each eye, and his every remark was emphasised by surprisingly well-shaped black eyebrows. 

At first sight he could be taken for a taller-than-average gondolier with pugilistic proclivities.  At second sight, but again solely to female observers, he might still suggest gondolier, but the overwhelming impression was of a devastating sexiness, in a bad, guilt-inducing sort of way.  

Susannah Elphinstone lived there [Book Blurb Friday #49]

“Susannah Elphinstone lived there”
He nodded at the house across the valley.   It took less than fifteen seconds for the name to register then Rose Madigan’s grey eyes momentarily flashed with the green light of interest.
Thank God, her brother thought, ever since she had arrived, self-invited (but nevertheless welcome) he had seen she was in desperate need of something to relight the spark of curiosity which had been notably absent and which was undoubtedly linked to the current and unexplained absence of Baz Rose, the most recent and, he’d thought, most important man in her life.
“The notorious Susannah” she said, then her eyes took on another expression, which he could not read, but which made him wish he’d kept his mouth shut.
“That was one of Luke Darbyshere’s rare and inexplicable failures, wasn’t it?”

THIS SIXTH ROSE MADIGAN MYSTERY BRINGS HER CLOSER TO DANGER THAN EVER BEFORE

Week #49’s response to Lisa Ricard Claro’s Book Blurb Friday challenge and Kathy Matthew’s instantly inspirational photograph. Each week Lisa posts a photograph which represents a book cover.   Participants are challenged to “Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book”  http://www.writinginthebuff.net/p/book-blurb-friday.html

Over and out - [Book Blurb Friday #47]

Morgan York, after fifteen years as a private investigator in the city of Bath had promised to retire at the end of the year.

It was a promise he had every intention of keeping until, on the 21st of December, he was visited by Annis James, a twenty-two-year-old PhD student.   Annis told him she was the latest in a long line of students whose research was being appropriated by head of department Professor Rabelais.   Inadvisedly challenging him at a department dinner, she had been overhead by the Dean and, infuriated, Rabelais  vowed to not only ruin her reputation but also threatened her life.  

Twelve years ago Rabelais had seduced and then abandoned Morgan York’s daughter.   York had long wanted to discredit him and was not going to turn the opportunity down now, regardless of the fact that Rabelais had, just the night before, phoned to reiterate his original death threat.

Week #47’s response to Lisa Ricard Claro’s Book Blurb Friday challenge and Sioux Roslwski’s  photograph. Each week Lisa posts a photograph which represents a book cover.   Participants are challenged to “Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book”  http://www.writinginthebuff.net/p/book-blurb-friday.html

Solstice sacrifice [Book blurb #46]

Two days into what turned out to be the Madigan family’s final family holiday sixteen-year-old Rose is told by a malicious shop-keeper that the daughter of the family who rented their holiday cottage a year ago disappeared under mysterious circumstances.  

Against a background of shortly-to-be-divorced parents and soon-to-leave-home brothers, the weather too bad for climbing, Rose takes refuge in investigation and uncovers not only the possibility of sacrifice by a local, deeply secretive pseudo-religious cult centred on the nearby Neolithic stone circle, but a playboy yachtsman whose appetite for illicit drugs and nubile crew members has already brought him to the attention of HM Customs and Excise.

And when Magnus, son of the owner of the local pub, who has been helping her, tries to call a halt, Rose becomes even more determined to solve the mystery, refusing to believe that she might become a victim herself.

Week #46’s response to Lisa Ricard Claro’s Book Blurb Friday challenge and Joseph Claro’s innocent photograph. Each week Lisa posts a photograph which represents a book cover.   Participants are challenged to “Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book”  http://www.writinginthebuff.net/p/book-blurb-friday.html

Persuading Alicia [Book Blurb Friday #45]

Tobias, prematurely inheriting the title of Duke of Tettleburgh and thereby becoming responsible for maintaining the livelihood of sixty full-time estate staff, urgently needed a wife.  
Discussing the problem with Clumberpatch, his estate manager, a plan was hatched and rules drawn up for a  Winter Selection Ball to which a dozen well-bred girls from the best families would be invited and at which they would undergo a series of tests and competitions to identify the most suitable.
Unbeknown to Tobias, however, was the fact that Clumberpatch had a daughter who was both pretty and practical and who would make a most admirable wife.   Mr and Mrs Clumberpatch laid plans to ensure that Alicia attended and that she would either beat every other candidate on merit or they would fail miserably by some trickery or other.
But they forgot to ask Alicia what she wanted.

Week #45’s response to Lisa Ricard Claro’s Book Blurb Friday challenge and Tammy Goodsell’s  beautiful photograph. Each week Lisa posts a photograph which represents a book cover.   Participants are challenged to “Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book”  http://www.writinginthebuff.net/p/book-blurb-friday.html

Double dare - Book blurb Friday #42

Henrietta Haverthwaite, expelled from her expensive boarding school, wangles her way into  Archie Demijohn’s  heart and his father’s good books by seemingly galvanising him into doing some work, for a change.  

But no sooner does he earn his first £1million than she gets restless and dares him to chuck it all in and move to the States to earn a living following his dream of becoming a photographer.  

Appalled, Archie’s father – who fancies Henrietta more than a little himself – challenges her to earn $1million, and promises to double it if she manages it within six months.

Henrietta has several ideas of how to ensure that she doubles her money, some more above board than others, but which will be the most successful, and will Archie approve of her methods, not to mention his father?

Week #42’s response to Lisa Ricard Claro’s Book Blurb Friday challenge and Christina Claro's challenging photograph. Each week Lisa posts a photograph which represents a book cover.   Participants are challenged to “Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book”  http://www.writinginthebuff.net/p/book-blurb-friday.html

Flight and pursuit - BBF#41

 

Rebecca was politically ambitious, verging on ruthless
Paul only wanted a family
In the first flush of love she acceded
But when bright opportunity competed with the dirty insistence of motherhood
a nanny was too hastily employed, credentials insufficiently verified.
When nanny and child disappeared, it was Paul who gave up his job to give chase.
Until a ransom note insisted that the child, now in Italy, only be handed to Rebecca
in the week of the general election.
Husband and grandparents argued for family
Party and constituency threatened to howl for her blood should she go
While the police pondered motive, veracity, suspecting a set-up.
Rebecca was torn

Week #41’s response to Lisa Ricard Claro’s Book Blurb Friday challenge and Ashley Ortiz inspirational photograph. Each week Lisa posts a photograph which represents a book cover.   Participants are challenged to “Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book”  http://www.writinginthebuff.net/p/book-blurb-friday.html

Strangled up in blue - BBF#40

Stockholm’s Triangle Bar, on the eve of the Baltic Triangle, a yacht race to Helsinki via Riga run in never-ending daylight.

Surveying the crowd Georgia Simmond knew this year’s event contained more than the usual number of triangles, but not that it would end in tragedy.   Her affair with Erlend Olofson had begun in the dark depths of winter, after learning of her errant spouse’s affair with her one-time best friend Ingrid Borgsdottir.   Ingrid’s motives had been ulterior, her intention being to distract and thus sabotage Toby’s chances, but her husband’s affair with the wife of Finnish champion Per Alstrand divided her loyalties.

When, at Riga, midway through the race, the nubile body of Anita, Per’s teenage daughter was discovered, strangled, in an alley, at the same time as members from the British, the American and the Danish crews disappeared, questions were asked about more than basic navigation. 

[189 words]

Week #40’s response to Lisa Ricard Claro’s Book Blurb Friday challenge which, having provided the photograph and having finished NaNo (though not the book) I could not resist.  But for evidence that I could not have started this year’s NaNo without BBF see my blogpost from last Wednesady.

Each week Lisa posts a photograph which represents a book cover.   Participants are challenged to “Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book”