Miss Clara Vale and I are delighted to be on the @instabooktours for The Picture House Murders! Thanks to all the Instabloggers and reviewers for taking part. Turn up the volume for this one, it will have your toes tapping! Music is ‘I’d Rather Be Blue’ by Alfredo & His Band (1929). Enjoy!
Lights, camera, action! It’s publication day for The Picture House Murders, the first in the Miss Clara Vale Mysteries. Is it too early for champagne? While I ponder that, you can get your copy now! Ebook, print or audiobook via Amazon, or order a copy through your local bookshop. Embla Books, Bonnier Books UK
The audiobook of The Picture House Murders, narrated by the very talented Hannah Geniuses , is available now! The Picture House Murders, published by Embla Books, is the first in the new Miss Clara Vale Mysteries. It is set in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1929, and Hannah does a smashing job with the Geordie accent. The clip below is from the opening scene of the book (no Geordies involved yet!). You can order the audiobook for yourself here: The Picture House Murders audiobook.
The Picture House Murders has received its first review appearing in the August edition of the new Writers’ Narrative Magazine. Reviewer, Wendy H. Jones says:
“I am a long-time fan of Veitch Smith’s work, particularly her Poppy Denby Mysteries. Therefore, it was with great excitement, and a little trepidation, I sat down to savour the first in her new Miss Clara Vale Mysteries. The trepidation was born of a fear that this series would not measure up to her previous series. Let me put you out of your misery and say, this one met all my expectations and then some.”
You can read the full review here. (see page 31 – 32). And you can subscribe to Writers’ Narrative yourself. It’s a free monthly online magazine – information on the back page.
It was announced in the Bookseller on 9 February 2023 that Emba Books UK had signed Fiona for a three-book deal for the first three titles in the new Miss Clara Vale Mysteries series. You can read the announcement in the Bookseller here.
The Picture House Murders, the first in the brand new Miss Clara Vale Mysteries, is available to pre-order now! Coming out in ebook, audiobook and print on demand on 29 August 2023. Published by Embla Books, an imprint of Bonnier Books UK.
Order your copy now: The Picture House Murders.
Murder is no occupation for a lady… or is it?
1929: Miss Clara Vale is a woman ahead of her time. Rather than attending Oxford to bag an eligible aristocrat (as her mother, Lady Vale, so desperately hoped), she threw herself into a degree in chemistry, with aspirations to become a scientist in her own right.
But the world isn’t ready for Clara. Unable to land a job in science because she’s a woman, she is stuck behind the desk at a dingy London library. Until her estranged uncle dies suddenly, leaving her his private detective agency in Newcastle upon Tyne, and a laboratory, in his will.
Clara couldn’t become a detective, could she?
The decision is made for her when one of her uncle’s old clients comes to her for help with a case surrounding the local picture house and invites Clara to see the latest show, before they discuss the details. But during the film, a fire suddenly engulfs the picture house, with tragic consequences. It seems at first an accident, but Clara soon begins to question if it was in fact a carefully orchestrated murder. She’s suddenly in the middle of a deadly mystery and will discover her scientific skills make her a sleuth to be reckoned with… Can she catch the killer before they strike again?
Set in the colourful world of early cinema, just as silent films are being replaced by talkies.
From Fiona Veitch Smith, the author of the Poppy Denby Investigates books.