Hello detectives! I can’t believe it’s already June.

June is, of course, Pride month (hooray!) – here’s an article I wrote in 2018 about Daisy’s coming out scene in Death in the Spotlight, which is still one of my favourite moments from the whole series.

June is also National Crime Reading Month, and I’m delighted to be one of the CWA’s reading ambassadors this year – here’s a new article I’ve written for their blog about the importance of reading crime fiction.

I’m sorry that I haven’t been able to be here as much as I used to be – I’m working really hard on The Ministry of Unladylike Activity, and I’m delighted to say that I’ve just handed in my comments on the copyedited version. This means that I will only see the manuscript TWICE MORE before it becomes a published book, to iron out the final tiny tweaks to the story. It’s really almost done!

The book will be out in hardback in the UK and Ireland on the 29th of September, in Australia and New Zealand on the 5th of October (and in all other territories where the Puffin edition is sold, including India and South Africa, around that time – check your local bookstore for details!). You can pre-order it NOW both online and in stores! It’ll also be coming out in paperback in the UK and Ireland in spring 2023, and in the German language at some point in 2023. Other languages are being added, and I’ll let you know as soon as I can about more editions!

I’m also working hard on the US edition of A Spoonful of Murder, which will be out in the US and Canada this fall, with more of the series following next year. And this summer we have another treat for US readers – a box set of the first five books in the series! I’m so pleased to see more of my books coming to America! No word yet on an American deal for Ministry, but keep on buying the Murder Most series, and who knows what might happen!

I’m only doing one event this summer, before the launch of Ministry, and it’s at Barnes Festival in London on the 25th of June. You can buy tickets now – please note that it’s the day of the national rail strike, so you’ll need to think about alternative routes to get there! Also note that this event won’t be streamed online – but I am going to ensure that as many of my Ministry events as possible are livestreamed this autumn. I know a lot of you are still unable to come back to in-person events, and I completely understand that – plus, I know a lot of you are not in the UK or Ireland, and you still want to hear me talk!

Finally, I know that comments are still not enabled. I’m still working on ways to get them up again, but while I do that, please do feel free to email me or write to me at the addresses on my contact me page if there’s something you’d like to tell me!