Reviews, offers and birds

Was delighted to see another five-star review of Maloney's Law on Amazon which you can find here, or alternatively below:

"Paul Maloney is a private investigator with an ex-lover Dominic Allen who is CEO of his own international company. He is the one Paul can never forget and as a result he has little hesitation in taking on a job for Dominic. Very quickly Paul realises he is out of his depth in more ways than one. His world will never be the same and he must face his own demons as well as those of his family before he can come out the other side with the hope of a fresh start. As ever the characters are carefully drawn and believable. It is clear both Dominic and Paul are the products of their upbringing and experience. The conclusion is satisfying and shows Paul a sadder and wiser human being. This is not a comfortable book to read and it reveals a ruthless and amoral side to big business which we would all prefer to ignore. It also shows relationships between parents and children as problematic and full of misunderstandings and capable of being resolved if both sides are prepared to make the effort. Well worth reading if you want something different from the norm."

Thanks, Jill - much appreciated indeed! Especially after the week I've had, of course. I've also had some good news from Leslie at Bristlecone Pine Press who is very keen to take Pink Champagne and Apple Juice as one of her range of eBooks. As you may remember, she already has Thorn in the Flesh, so it will be interesting to have both books out as eBooks. Many thanks indeed, Leslie.

Today, Lord H and I have spent a wonderful, wild and windswept (not to mention rainy) time at Amberley Wild Brooks and Pulborough Brooks. It was fantastic. We managed to see a flock of goldfinches - who look just like big bees flitting around with that striped wing marking and the flash of yellow - stonechats, a tree creeper, widgeon, teal and no less that five jays - who are obviously utterly desperate to be spotted today. Either that or it was one very speedy publicity-seeking jay. Hard to say really. We also spent a happy quarter of an hour or so in one of the Pulborough hides with lots of other people looking excitedly at what we thought was a dunlin (little) and a pectoral sandpiper (larger), conveniently standing close together for ease of identification. However, once we all got our telescopes and perspectives sorted out, we realised the pairing was actually a little stint (very small) and a dunlin (larger). Which wasn't quite as exciting, bearing in mind the relative rarity of pectoral sandpipers. Ah well. But at least the dunlin's honour was satisfied not to be the little guy this time ... It was also lovely to have a snack lunch at Pulborough who know how to cook good quality stuff within reasonable time frames - only five minutes from order to delivery rather than the 50 or so minutes of the place we were at last week, sigh.

Anyway, tonight, I'm preparing my scoring sheet (yes, I know - I'm hugely sad, sorry, sorry ...) for the joys of Strictly Come Dancing, and I'm looking forward to the Chinese/Indian takeaway we've just brought from Waitrose to go with it. Though, sad to say, there'll be slightly less on my plate than expected as Lord H unfortunately dropped my choice on the kitchen floor whilst unpacking and some of it escaped. I was all for scraping it up and putting it back in the fridge with its friends (well, I am from Essex and I did wash the floor yesterday ...) but Lord H's tolerance boundaries do not allow such things. Such a well brought-up family, you know.

Today's nice things:

1. The Maloney review
2. The Pink Champagne eBook
3. Birds
4. Strictly Come Dancing.

Anne Brooke
Anne's website