I’ve loved writing fiction ever since I was a child.
I’m now writing series of lighthearted cosy mystery novels.
The first four Sophie Sayers Village Mysteries are available in paperback and ebook. Each can be read as a standalone novel, but if you’d like to start at the beginning, read Best Murder in Show.
The first in my Staffroom at St Bride’s Mysteries, Flat Chance, will be published in 2019
I’m also writing The Teashop Twins, a series of short chapter books for children.
I have published three collections of themed short stories, Marry in Haste, Quick Change, and Stocking Fillers, plus various stand-alone short story singles.
Some of my stories have also been included in anthologies such as Change the Ending, curated by Dawn Reeves; Eating My Words, the 2014 National Flash Fiction Day book; A Box of Stars Under the Bed, commissioned for the 2016 National Flash Fiction Day collection; and in the first Stroud Short Stories event anthology.
I’ve also performed my stories on radio and television and at live literary events such as the Cheltenham Literature Festival 2016, the Evesham Festival of Words, and the Hawkesbury Upton Lit Fest.
All invitations welcome!
SMALL FORMAT BOOKS – EBOOK SINGLES & TINY PAPERBACKS
INSTEAD OF A CHRISTMAS CARD (two seasonal short stories wrapped up in a slim new paperback)
In print for the first time are two winter-themed short stories that I’d previously published only as stand-alone ebook singles: Lighting Up Time, set on the winter solstice, and The Owl and the Turkey, set on Christmas Eve.
The front page includes a festive greeting and a space to add your own name to mine, so that you can send this to friends and family as a Christmas card with a bit of a difference – or just treat it as mine to you! This year, I’m making it available to order exclusively from Amazon for just £2.75, with a view to turning it into a cute product complete with envelope to sell through bookshops next year. Scroll down the page to find out more about each of the two stories featured.
BUYING LINKS: Available on all major ebook platforms around the world,
e.g. Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Kobo and iBooks.
The War of the Peek Freans Light Wounded is a reissue of the first of my stories ever to be published, so long ago in Annabel, the women’s magazine (now defunct), that I remember typing the manuscript on a manual typewriter! Fortunately it’s a historical fiction story, set in 1939, so it hasn’t really dated. I think it’s a little more sentimental than the stories I write these days, but there are still glimpses of the darker undercurrents that characterise my later work, as well as my habitual happy endings.
“Wonderful storytelling.” Shay Tressa DeSimone
BUYING LINKS: Available on all major ebook platforms around the world, e.g. Amazon USA, Amazon UK and Kobo.
LIGHTING UP TIME: A Short Story for the Winter Solstice
Lighting Up Time is a single short story about the winter solstice (21st December in the northern hemisphere). It’s about fear of the dark, death and bereavement and about finding light and hope in the midst of darkness.
“Lovely story and a great, feel-good ending .” – Christina Courtenay
“Debbie Young packs so much into her short and poignant stories. I cannot give anything away as that will spoil your enjoyment. Be prepared though to get on the edge of your seat whilst also having your mind slightly expanded. ” – Tom Evans
“Lovely story that perfectly captures that big sister/little sister thing, and Aunt Sophie is a lovely gentle presence throughout – I especially like the way you use scent (perfume, flowers) to evoke her.” – Lucienne Boyce
BUYING LINKS: Available on all major ebook platforms around the world, e.g. Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Kobo and iBooks.
THE OWL AND THE TURKEY or The Real Reason We Eat Turkey at Christmas
The Owl and the Turkey is a light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek short story that purports to provide the real reason that we eat turkey for Christmas. Actually I made it all up, but it’s a bit of fun to make you smile at Christmas. I was delighted when it was chosen to feature behind a door of the Mumsnet Advent Calendar online.
“Crisp, clever and fast-paced, this short story received my highest recommendation.”
Ginger Dawn Harman
“If you’re looking for a fun new holiday story, it’s well worth the 99c to check this one out.”
Shay Tressa De Simone
“I really enjoyed it… It had all the elements; first, a question; second, a quest; third conflict; fourth characterisation and finally the answer – well, an answer! A real hoot!”
Shaun Ivory, novelist
“Cute, deliciously random, funny to boot. Made me come away smiling.” David Ellis, blogger
“Definitely my favourite of your stories so far!” Helena Mallett, author of “Flash Fraction: 75 x 75″
BUYING LINKS: Available on all major ebook platforms around the world,
e.g. Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Kobo and iBooks.