Finally some progress!

After a long delay, I'm back to working on DARN CROOK. The manuscript currently stands at a little over 50,000 words. Might it be finished by Christmas? Who knows!

Image by D A Morrow

NEW NOVEL - DARN CROOK

 I'm now over 20,000 words into my new novel!

Set in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1957, DARN CROOK follows on from PINK LANE and DOG LEAP STAIRS. This time DI Metcalf and DS Al Hughes are investigating the death of an unidentified man found in Darn Crook.

Darn Crook is the former name of a street in Newcastle city centre - now known as St Andrew's Street. I prefer the old name, myself. It conjures up more interesting images.

Darn Crook in earlier times.

OUT NOW!

https://books2read.com/u/m0G7dM  

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DT4DLMTR

Newcastle upon Tyne 1956

Cross-dressers are being murdered in the seedy Pink Lane area. 

DI Michael Metcalf and his sidekick, DS Al Hughes, are stumped while rookie WPC Betty Morgan has ideas of her own. Her boss is a sexist slob, her mother’s a drunk, and Morgan is the lowest of the low. 

When she faces the ultimate challenge, can Morgan prove she’s not just a ‘chit of a girl’?

Featuring some of the same characters as, Dog Leap Stairs, Pink Lane is a police procedural set in fifties Newcastle.

 COMING SOON!

PINK LANE

by

Barbara Scott Emmett

Available in online bookshops shortly.

Newcastle upon Tyne 1956

Cross-dressers are being murdered in the seedy Pink Lane area. 

DI Michael Metcalf and his sidekick, DS Al Hughes, are stumped while rookie WPC Betty Morgan has ideas of her own. 

Her boss is a sexist slob, her mother’s a drunk, and Morgan is the lowest of the low. 

When she faces the ultimate challenge, can Morgan prove she’s not just a ‘chit of a girl’?

 

BEST REJECTION EVER!

Yesterday I got this lovely rejection letter from Burning Chair Publishing. 

I submitted DOG LEAP STAIRS to them last May and had assumed I'd already had a rejection from them. Apparently not - and here it is. Such kind people. I can't reply to the email to thank them - so I'm thanking them here. 

 Thanks Pete & Si at Burning Chair - I'm sure you would have been wonderful to work with.

Query Reply from Burning Chair Publishing DOG LEAP STAIRS (This E-Mail address is not monitored. Please do not reply to this E-Mail. You message will not be read.) Dear Barbara We're writing in response to the book you submitted to us last year: DOG LEAP STAIRS. As you may have guessed, we’ve been inundated over the past months with not only an unexpectedly large number of submissions but also a rather punishing publishing schedule – hence the reason why it’s taken so long to get back to you. We can only apologise – we totally appreciate how frustrating it is to wait on agents and publishers for their responses (if they ever arrive!) and while we have always challenged ourselves to respond to submissions in a sensible timescale, we do appreciate that we’ve fallen short on this occasion. We have now had a chance to consider, and we’re sorry to advise that we’re not in a position to take on your book at this time. This was not an easy decision for us, which is credit to you and your submission – the fact that it’s taken so long to respond, rather than a straight and quick “no thank you”, shows that yours is one of the ones we’ve agonised over, for all the right reasons. However, having discussed this at length, and taking into consideration our overflowing workloads, we have regretfully had to make some tough decisions as to what we do and do not take on for the time being. The fact is that we’ve essentially filled up our release schedules for the next 2 years+, and we’ve had to (reluctantly) face up to the fact that taking on new authors at this time would mean stretching ourselves so thin that we wouldn’t be able to do our existing authors justice, and certainly wouldn’t be able to dedicate sufficient time and attention to the new ones. As for how long it will be until we open up to new submissions from new authors, frankly at the moment we’re not sure, so we feel it’s only fair to give you a definitive answer rather than keep you hanging on indefinitely. Again, we are sorry to have taken so long to get back to you on this, and doubly sorry that the answer is a “no”. We would like to wish you every success with your book and your writing career, and hopefully at some point we will be able to work together. If not, and you find success with another publisher, we will be cheering you from the metaphorical sidelines! All the best and warm regards Pete & Si Burning Chair

Jaffareadstoo....: 📖 Author in the Spotlight ~ Barbara Scott Emmett

Jaffareadstoo....: 📖 Author in the Spotlight ~ Barbara Scott Emmett:   I am delighted to welcome author, Barbara Scott Emmett to our spotlight today Welcome to Jaffareadstoo, Barbara. Tell us a little about yo...

Dog Leap Stairs - Crime / Psychological Realism

Newcastle 1955

Monica haunts the quayside picking up men of a certain age. Then one of them is found dead. Since nobody knows what she does at night, she can't be in the frame for the murder.

Can she?

At her lowest point, she meets Bobby Wilson, an ordinary lad, handsome in his way.

But is this the right time to fall in love?

As the oily Tyne flows past the wharfs and under the iconic bridge, middle-aged men are being targeted by a vicious killer. Monica Brown, damaged, abused, just happens to be in the area - just happens to be excited by the murders.

Dog Leap Stairs is a blend of psychological realism and crime; dark, claustrophobic and atmospheric, it is both a portrait of Tyneside in the 1950s and an account of one woman's struggle against her true nature.

Paperback £7.99 /$9.99 and eBook 99p/99c (until Monday 2nd May 2022) available from Amazon here:

mybook.to/DogLeapStairs

LINDISFARNE PRIZE - RUNNER UP

I am delighted to have received a special runner up award for the Lindisfarne Prize for Crime Fiction. My WIP Dog Leap Stairs was shortlisted in March and the winner (Robert Scragg) was announced at the beginning of May.

I was one of five shortlisted candidates and am honoured and amazed to have bene among them.

Thanks to LJ Ross for setting up this prize and to all the judges.