My goodness it has been far too long since I posted anything to this blog and I can offer no excuses--I just havent bothered for which I sincerely apologise. It's a good job that mostly what I post here is history and background information about myself--things which dont change! I have just updated my Facebook Kids Mysteries page which promped me to visit here as well. If you are visiting this blog for the first time  then welcome, thanks for coming and I hope you enjoy reading some of the posts I have made about my books and my childhood.

 Recently found this old photo of me in my first car--aged about 4!

Viva-tonal Columbia Grafonola.

More readers.

Many more children are discovering books because of E-readers like Kindle. Many books can be downloaded for free sometimes when authors make them available as a special offer. Even when not on offer e-books are always much cheaper to buy than the ordinary print book version. I confess that so far I have resisted buying myself a Kindle because I so enjoy owning and holding 'real' print books! However, I can see the day coming when I give in and buy one- - especially when staff and children at the school where I work tell me how they enjoy reading on them. In fact the last child to tell me how much they had just enjoyed one of my books had read it on their Kindle.

Summer adventure with Luke.

More good news! My book 'The Riddle of Old Deesing' will be featured in Marcy Blesy's brilliant children's book blog on Monday July 8th.

Here is the link      : http://marcyblesy.com/

An ancestor.

Half term holiday during  the summer term - -cannot believe how quickly it has come around again. Soon be the long 6 week break. Should be able to really get my teeth into writing story number 5.
Have just finished putting together the text and illustrations for the latest book to be published. 'The Riddle of Old Deesing'. You may notice on the front cover there is an old brown photograph of a little girl.

 There is a little story connected with this picture.
About three years ago I suddenly received a mysterious package from an aunt. Inside the packet were dozens of old photos --  most of them looked like they were from the Victorian age. My aunt said in her letter that many of the images were relatives. Unfortunately she didn't know who this one was - -which is a shame. I call her Alice because she reminds me of Alice in Wonderland. I wonder what she would say if she could tell us about herself?

Hairy story!

Another year - -2013

It has been a while since I last managed to post anything here but I have been busy

working on my third book - -which is very exciting. You can find it on Amazon now

and it is called 'Riddle at Castle Cliff'.

I decided to post this old picture of myself and my best mate, ( when I was 11years old),

Graham getting ready to test drive our latest go-kart. We were always building new ones,

always trying to get them to go faster!!

Autumn break

The Autumn term week's holiday is here and I have time to add a new blog at last. During the last few weeks I have been working on the illustrations for my third book and I think I may just have hit on an idea for my fifth! Today I thought I would share with you a memorable moment from my time as a child living in Singapore. As you can see it involves monkeys!!! These are not in a zoo - -they lived wild in the trees and surroundings of a very special place called 'Tiger Balm Gardens.' The gardens were full of huge colourfully painted statues and small temples - -some of them quite scary. I will post a picture of one or two next time so you can see for yourself. I remember feeding this particular monkey because a few moments before he had jumped down from a tree and stolen my whole packet of peanuts from out of my hand. The Australian soldier who is behind me in the picture kindly gave me his peanuts to carry on feeding when he saw what happened! I was very lucky to live for three years in a country full of amazing creatures. Another time I will tell you about the snakes and the giant red ants!