Hello from Western Australia!

First of all, a big thank you to everyone who responded to my dilemma in the last newsletter: whether to change "granny band" to "oma-band" in the German translation of The Dough Must Go On (Book 9 of the Oxford Tearoom Mysteries) - and also whether to keep the band name "The Pussy Puffs" or change it to something else, since I wasn't sure if German readers would get the joke in that scene. 

Well, I had nearly 50 responses from German-speaking fans (a very decent sample size!) and I was really touched by how much time and effort you'd all put into your feedback. (Thank you! 💗)

Everyone unanimously agreed that it would be best to keep the original English terms. Apparently, "granny band" sounds much cooler than "oma-band", which everyone felt sounded too boring and serious - plus apparently, most Germans are familiar with the slang meaning of the word "pussy", so would certainly get the joke! 😉 In fact, several readers informed me that the joke was even funnier in German since "puffs" also has the slang meaning of "brothel" - making that name even more inappropriate as a choice for a granny band! 

What was really surprising, though - based on several messages I received - was that a lot of English-speaking readers didn't actually "get" the scene, even in the English version! Several readers asked me to change the original scene in English, because "pussy is a bad word and shouldn't be used"... but that is sort of the point. 😉 The joke is that the Old Biddies don't appreciate that in modern usage, "pussy" no longer means "cat" and therefore, they don't realise how inappropriate their choice of band name is. Anyway, to try and make the joke a bit more obvious, I've tweaked that scene slightly in the English version too, so that hopefully all future readers can understand why Gemma is so appalled.  

So all round, it's been a really useful, enlightening exercise - thank you all for being such lovely fans and for always being so supportive and helpful!

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New Blog Post: Culinary Crimes & Baking Bungles

I had such lovely comments on my last blog post, Slaughter in the Cotswolds - I'm so pleased you enjoyed coming with me on the book research trip to those iconic Cotswolds villages. They provided a lot of the inspiration, background and settings for my mysteries..

... but now for something a little bit different! 😉 Based on the recent poll, many of you said that in addition to "travel", you'd also like to read about "baking" on the blog. Well, "attempts at baking" would be more accurate in my case - haha - as you'll see in my latest blog post!

Culinary Crimes & Baking Bungles

I know many of you are experienced bakers, so if you do have any tips to share, to help me avoid future disasters, please do leave a comment and let me know! (Or if you have any baking blunders of your own to share, I'd love to hear those too - just to make me feel better - haha!)

Oh, and I've included links to all the recipes I tried in the post, so if you try any of them too, do leave a comment and let me know how you got on!

Giveaway:

And you know what? I've had so many fans say they love the blog giveaways... so why don't we do another one? 😉 Simply leave a "real" comment on the latest blog post and you'll go in the draw to win a signed copy of any one of my books. The winner will be announced in my next newsletter - good luck!

(p.s. if you'd like to see past posts on my blog, you can check them out HERE - it's part of my website so you can just read normally. No need for special devices or anything.)

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Upcoming books:

I'm currently working on the next book in the Bewitched by Chocolate series (no title yet - still pondering that!) - and I'm hoping it'll be completed and ready for release in the autumn. 

Of course, writing a series featuring a mysterious chocolate shop means that one has to do a lot of "hands-on" research... sigh! 😉 

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Audiobook Q&A video... it's coming soon, I promise!

I'm sorry - I've been so busy with writing and translation projects that I just haven't had time to edit the video of the Q&A that I did with my audiobook narrator, Pearl Hewitt. But it's on my To Do list and I hope to get around to it in the next week. So it is coming soon... I promise!  Here's a little sneak preview screenshot of our chat... yes, as you can see, Muesli popped in to say hello too! 

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Lots of new stuff for my French- & German-speaking fans!

New French translation!

The 7th book in my Oxford Tearoom Mysteries - known as Péchés pâtissiers (Les Thés meurtriers d’Oxford) in French - is now available from Amazon:

Amazon FR | Amazon CA
 

** Like the first 6 volumes in the series, the book will also be available in all good bookstores across France but not until September, later this year. 

New German audiobook!

The latest German release: Im Strudel des Todes (Ein Oxford-Tearoom-Krimi #8) - is now also available in audio format:

Audible | Apple

Amazon DE – Kindle | Taschenbuch

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And in case you missed it...

I recently released the 12th book in my Oxford Tearoom Mysteries - "A High Whisk Situation", in which Gemma, Muesli and the Old Biddies find themselves tackling a country-house murder - or rather, a country-castle murder - in the Scottish Highlands! Available in ebook, paperback and audiobook format:

Amazon | Amazon UK | Amazon DE 

Audible US  | Audible UK | Audible DE | Audible FR

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Until next time, I'll leave you with a picture of the real Muesli cuddling up to her "boyfriend" - a fluffy ginger tom who could almost be the spitting image of Oren from my English Cottage Garden Mysteries... except that he isn't as talkative. 😉 Muesli obviously prefers the strong, silent type!

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