Blog

The Boy Next Door characters Claudia Kelly Our heroine, is steadfastly single and loves her life working on Irish Woman magazine. She’s given up on men and relationships, and happy with her female friends, mother and sister. Foxy asks her to edit Irish Man and her new...

Briony, one of the main characters in ‘A French Inheritance’ decides to open a Brocante in a farm building close to her cottage, so I thought I’d tell you a little about French markets under their various names. I don’t know about you but I love a bargain and French...

True Story By CL Swatman   As a magazine journalist I spent many years writing true life stories – some romantic and happy, but many, many more on the darker side of life, where people had been hurt or even killed by the people who were meant to love them.  ...

A Dublin Walking Tour Claudia Kelly, editor, Irish Man    It’s not often that one gets to be a tourist in your own city but when a friend returned home to Dublin and suggested a saunter, how could I say no? Johnny has been off gallivanting around the world for...

Here in Somerset, I am very lucky to be surrounded by inspiration when it comes to local produce and farm shops. You only have to go a couple of miles down the road to be in the internationally famous small town of Cheddar, which is not only famous for its namesake,...

Lemon and Ginger Battenberg Recipe Ingredients 150g self-raising flour 150g soft butter 150g caster sugar 3 large eggs 25g ground almonds Zest of two lemons 1 tsp ground ginger 100g lemon curd or ginger jam (personal preference) 500g marzipan Equipment Large mixing...

Mother Knows Best Inspiration I regularly get asked where the ideas come from for my books. I usually scratch my head and mutter something about people watching and dreams, or snippets of conversation overheard on public transport and in shops, but with Mother Knows...

Keeping wildlife as pets has become a growing trend in the UK. This is partly due to social media. When influencers pose with exotic animals online it can plant the seed that it’s OK to take on a more unusual pet. But sadly for the animals many aren’t looked after...

Death at the Village Christmas Fair is now available in ebook, paperback, hardback and audiobook. The third in the Cotswold Curiosity Shop cosy mystery series, it may also be read as a standalone novel. When, as a child, I used to play with my grandma’s button box, I...