Today is the day... nothing more to be done... Once release day comes, there is nothing more an author can do except hope that her creation, over which she has agonised for (in my case) 12 long months, is received with kindness. It is bitter sweet because this is the final book in the Harriet Gordon Mysteries... the series arc has concluded. I am not saying it will be farewell to ever to our favourite characters but an adieu for now. Rather than have a release party, I have prepared a video in which I answer reader questions about the Harriet Gordon Mysteries and read a chapter from AGONY IN AMETHYST. Just click the button below to watch the video. ABOUT AGONY IN AMETHYST Curran has been absent in London mopping up the mess from the events of Book 4 and Harriet has found a new position for herself. Now they are back together but Curran has to come to terms with a professional disappointment and the imminent arrival of an important dignitary with whom he has crossed paths in the past. When a school girl dies at a ball, a Pandora's box of dark secrets will be unleashed that threaten to destroy Curran's career ... and possibly the fragile new relationship! AGONY IN AMETHYST is available in print and ebook world wide. Audio is coming (hopefully before Christmas). Early reviews are already up on Goodreads… with thanks to my ARC team. All the current buy links are on the button below, with the exception of my own store from which you can purchase print books with a personalised dedication… Click HERE One final thing… if you find yourself in need of a character list for any of the Harriet books, you will find them (along with a glossary) on my website. Click HERE. It’s one of those things… you get some readers who love them and others who hate them so the website is my compromise! All the best Alison xxx
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JUST A FEW MORE DAYS TO GO!
I can say with my hand on my heart that it takes me exactly a year to write a book! This time last year I was on a writer’s retreat in Tasmania and I first put fingers to keyboard to start writing Book 5 in the Harriet Gordon Mysteries. With the best will in the world I am and always will be, an organic writer… meaning I struggle with plotting my books which is probably why they take so long to write. Anyway I hope the wait has been worth it. What have our favourite characters been up to since the end of TERROR IN TOPAZ? Well - Curran got sent to London to mop up the mess we left in Kuala Lumpur in the last book so Harriet has been on her own, but I am pleased to say she has finally found steady employment. Esme Prynne, who we met in TERROR IN TOPAZ, has taken on the role of the headmistress of the Singapore Ladies Academy and is employing Harriet as her administrative assistant and part time teacher. Needless to say this is an arrangement that pleases Julian very much. The Empire has been enjoying the spectacle of the coronation of King George V and an important visiting dignitary is about to arrive in Singapore… So, we are back in Singapore for this book… anything more than that I’m not going to disclose - you will need to read the book! It is available in print and ebook world wide. Audio is coming (Before Christmas). All the buy links are on the button below, with the exception of my own store from which you can purchase print books with a personalised dedication… Click HERE BUY LINKS Yes... the adventures of Harriet and Curran are continuing and this story will see them back in Singapore after their sojourn in Kuala Lumpur. BUT there are forces at work that will continue to make their lives difficult (probably me... the author!). I am absolutely thrilled with the cover for Book 5, AGONY IN AMETHYST (the work of the talented Fiona Jayda Media). The building featured is what is now known in Singapore as the Istana - the Presidential Palace - but in Harriet's time was Government House. You will have to read the book to discover the significance! The book will be released in ebook and print editions on 28 October. Audio will come later. For now you can preorder the ebook from some distributors and the print book direct from Alison's Bookstore (if you would like it personalised). AGONY IN AMETHYSTAn important visitor casts a shadow of darkness and death over Singapore. Harriet Gordon, newly settled in her new role as a teacher at a girls' school in Singapore, faces uncertainty in her budding relationship with Robert Curran, who has just returned from months in Kuala Lumpur. Curran's expected promotion turns sour when the position is given to an old adversary from his Scotland Yard days. The arrival of the Colonial foreign secretary, Sir Henry Cunningham, revives memories of one of Curran's unresolved cases. The death of a schoolgirl at a lavish ball, hosted by the Governor in honour of the visitor, brings Curran into direct conflict with his new superior officer. When he confides his suspicions to Harriet, she inadvertently betrays his trust, threatening his already shaky career. With their relationship on the brink of irreparable damage, a second death changes the course of the investigation. Can Harriet and Curran bring justice to a grieving family and emerge from this ordeal with their connection intact? Delve into the captivating world of the Harriet Gordon mysteries. Grab your copy today for a tale of intrigue and suspense set in the tropical heat of colonial Singapore. The murder of William Steward by his lover, Ethel Proudlock, on the steps of the headmasters bungalow at the Victoria Institution in April 1911, rocked the colonial world of Malaya. It became a cause celebre and was still talked about many years later when a young writer called William Somerset Maugham shared a beer with the lawyer who represented Mrs Proudlock at her trial, EA Wagner. Like all good writers, Somerset Maugham saw a story within the story and penned THE LETTER, based on the Proudlock murder. THE LETTER became a stage play, a film and even an opera... but how many people know the real story of Ethel Proudlock? Ethel Charter was 19 when she married the school teacher, William Proudlock in 1907. The Charters were a well-established Kuala Lumpur family but interestingly while Robert Charter is named as her father on her birth certificate, her mother's name is left blank. It is entirely possible she was the offspring of a liaison between her father and a local woman. However, she was brought up as a daughter of the Charter household but it is likely Robert's wife viewed her as the cuckoo in the nest and treated her accordingly. Like all her family Ethel was a good shot and a keen member of the rifle club. She also dabbled in amateur dramatics. She is generally described as being fair haired and pretty. Her wedding to Proudlock was a strange affair... a very small number of guests on a weekday afternoon. Her father didn't attend and the bride wore electric blue. The Proudlocks left that night for England returning with a baby girl (Dorothy) early in 1908. It is more than likely Ethel was a pregnant bride. On her return to KL, Even as a married woman her 'outsider' status within the European community continued, and coupled with ill health, may have contributed to a sense of rejection, isolation, and deep resentment. In 1910 Proudlock was appointed as acting headmaster of the school in the absence of the principal who had returned to England. The couple and their daughter moved into the headmaster's house on the grounds of the Victoria Institution. William Steward was a single man, the manager of a tin mine at Salak South (although at the time of his death, the mine had closed and he was freelancing as a troubleshooter to other mines). By all accounts he was a rather shy, reserved man who liked a game of rugby. The one image I have seen of him reveals a muscular man in his forties, balding with a high domed forehead and a strong face. It's not clear when the affair between Ethel and William Steward began but it appears to have been a fairly open secret within the community. The story of the two spending the evening entwined in the back of Steward's motor vehicle during a dinner party was well known (although denied by Ethel) and came up at the trial. A few months before his death, Steward took up with a local woman who moved into his house at Salak South. This may have been the catalyst that started the chain of events leading to his death. On Sunday 23 April 1911, the Proudlocks spent the afternoon on the shooting range. Ethel had purchased a Webley revolver for her husband's birthday (for self-defence) and was teaching him to use it. They returned home and attended Evensong at St Mary's. Back at the bungalow, William went on to dinner at a colleague's home. Ethel pleaded a headache and remained at home. Meanwhile, William Steward dined with friends at the Empire Club before leaving hurriedly about 9 pm claiming he had an appointment. Steward arrived at the headmaster's bungalow by ricksha and told the ricksha wallah to wait as he would not be long. The dinner party at Goodman Ambler's (yes, that was his name) was interrupted at about 9.30 by the Proudlock's cook in a hysterical state demanding Proudlock return home. On arrival at the headmaster's bungalow, Proudlock found his hysterical wife shrieking "Blood, blood! I killed a man"... and the body of William Steward lying in the driveway. Ethel Proudlock had emptied all 6 rounds of the Webley revolver into the man. Ethel, found clad in an evening dress that she had not been wearing when Proudlock left home (and, as subsequently discovered... no underwear), claimed to have no memory of the actual shooting after the first shot. She claimed self-defence. She had been writing letters on the verandah when Steward arrived, he then proceeded to make a pass at her, and in a panic she seized up the (fully loaded!) revolver she had been using that afternoon and shot him. As he staggered away down the steps of the verandah, she fired again, continuing to shoot as he lay dying at her feet in the driveway - witnessed by the ricksha wallah who had brought Steward to the bungalow. In the following weeks, rumours abounded and bizarre stories began to be circulated of Ethel's second lover swimming the Klang River to shoot Steward and then slipping away into the night. Ethel maintained her defence but at her subsequent trial she was found guilty and sentenced to hang. Throughout her trial, William Proudlock remained staunchly loyal to his wife. She was eventually reprieved by the Sultan of Selangor. The Proudlocks left Malaya and the marriage disintegrated. Ethel and her daughter died in Florida and Proudlock in Argentina. No one could deny that she had indeed shot Steward - being caught with a proverbial smoking gun saying "I did it" is a bit of a giveaway... but why? While I have fictionalised the Proudlocks' story, I kept to the facts of the case so what you read in TERROR IN TOPAZ is a reasonably accurate account of the events of the night of 11 April, based on the contemporary newspaper reports. Harriet Gordon has her own theory as to what transpired that night and you will need to read TERROR IN TOPAZ to explore the facts of this case and what Harriet (and I) think happened. You can find images associated with the Proudlock case on my Pinterest Board: Click HERE TERROR IN TOPAZ: Harriet Gordon Mysteries Book 4The final episode in the riveting HARRIET GORDON MYSTERIES. The chance to pursue a new opportunity takes Harriet and her brother Julian, to Kuala Lumpur, but death is waiting… Singapore 1910: Harriet Gordon has been dismissed from the job she loved and finds herself cast adrift. When her brother receives an invitation to visit a prestigious school in Kuala Lumpur, she and Julian decide to leave Singapore behind for a few days, but their pleasant visit takes a dark turn when a visitor to the school is shot dead on the front steps of the headmaster’s bungalow. After being suspended from the Straits Settlements Police, Inspector Robert Curran has disappeared on a personal quest to find a missing girl but his suspension is not all it appears and he receives secretive orders to investigate the mysterious Topaz Club, which seems to be at the centre of high-level corruption within the colonial government of Malaya. The uninvestigated death of a woman with links to the Topaz Club, brings Harriet and Curran together in a determination to shut down the notorious establishment for good. But a devious criminal stands in the way and it is going to take Harriet and Curran all their resources to bring justice for the victims of the Topaz Club and in doing so, find what it is they have been looking for in each other. (If you are interested in reading more about the case, I highly recommend MURDER ON THE VERANDAH by Eric Lawlor)
Today's the day for the final book in this series of THE HARRIET GORDON MYSTERIES.... Did you see what I did there? I said "THIS SERIES"! I'm not sure I am quite ready to let Harriet, Curran and their friends go completely and certainly my readers aren't... so there will be something coming (maybe later next year). However as far as this series arc is concerned, TERROR IN TOPAZ brings it to the end and today is RELEASE DAY! Yay... pop the champagne. What to expect with TERROR IN TOPAZ... Firstly a change of scene as Harriet and Julian take a trip north to Kuala Lumpur (KL) at the behest of the headmaster of the Prince Alfred School. Is Julian ready for a change of job? The idea for this plot thread came again from my poking around the archives of the Singapore State Library and found the account of an actual murder that took place in KL in April 1911. The wife of the acting headmaster of the Victoria Institution shot dead her lover on the steps of the headmaster's bungalow. This scenario fitted so beautifully into Harriet's world, I had to use it. I will be writing about what is known as the 'Proudlock Murder' in another blog post. Secondly, I am guilty of leaving the last book, EVIL IN EMERALD, on a bit of a cliff hanger as Curran goes off on a quest of his own (no spoilers) - probably to KL. So the two plot threads may come together... That is where TERROR IN TOPAZ starts... do I manage to pull all the loose threads together for an ending that satisfies the readers? I hope so! Alison Stuart reads from TERROR IN TOPAZ...If you would like to meet me in person (so as to speak), I have prepared a short release day video. I will talk about the book and read the first chapter :-) Just click the button below The final episode in the riveting HARRIET GORDON MYSTERIES. The chance to pursue a new opportunity takes Harriet and her brother Julian, to Kuala Lumpur, but death is waiting… Singapore 1910: Harriet Gordon has been dismissed from the job she loved and finds herself cast adrift. When her brother receives an invitation to visit a prestigious school in Kuala Lumpur, she and Julian decide to leave Singapore behind for a few days, but their pleasant visit takes a dark turn when a visitor to the school is shot dead on the front steps of the headmaster’s bungalow. After being suspended from the Straits Settlements Police, Inspector Robert Curran has disappeared on a personal quest to find a missing girl but his suspension is not all it appears and he receives secretive orders to investigate the mysterious Topaz Club, which seems to be at the centre of high-level corruption within the colonial government of Malaya. The uninvestigated death of a woman with links to the Topaz Club, brings Harriet and Curran together in a determination to shut down the notorious establishment for good. But a devious criminal stands in the way and it is going to take Harriet and Curran all their resources to bring justice for the victims of the Topaz Club and in doing so, find what it is they have been looking for in each other. NOTE ON AVAILABILITY: TERROR IN TOPAZ (Book 4) is available in print and digital editions. There will be an audio version but it is a little way off yet. Sadly the print edition will not be available in stores but is easily ordered from the usual online stores and if you ask your library (or your local bookshop) nicely they should be able to get it in for you. AND FINALLY: If you want more news and updates on the 'where to next' for Harriet Gordon please sign up to Alison Stuart's newsletter!
With only two weeks until the release of TERROR IN TOPAZ... here's a short extract for you to read and enjoy... :-) An extract from
TERROR IN TOPAZ By A.M. STUART Chapter One SINGAPORE Monday 28 November 1910 From her comfortable chair on the verandah, Harriet Gordon watched the curtain of water fall from the glowering sky. The evening’s torrential downpour reflected her mood. Her ward, Will Lawson, sat on a stool nearby engaged in what was now his nightly duty—oiling the absent Inspector Robert Curran’s cricket bat. The sickly-sweet smell of linseed oil hung in the heavy air, adding nausea to her threatening headache. “Will, enough! Go and put that stinking stuff away and get on with your homework,” Harriet snapped and then conscious of her harsh tone, added, “Please. I’m sure it doesn’t need to be oiled every single night.” “But I promised the inspector,” Will mumbled. “I know you did, but what little I know about cricket bats, I do know they don’t need to be oiled quite so regularly.” Will glared at her. “I will hate it if he comes back and thinks I didn’t look after it properly.” Harriet summoned a smile. “I am certain he won’t think that, Will.” She pointed at the door. “Homework.” Will picked up cloth, oil and cricket bat and stomped inside. Oiling a cricket bat was infinitely preferable to schoolwork. The side gate that led from St Thomas House to the school squeaked, and Harriet’s brother, Julian, headmaster of St Thomas Church of England Preparatory School for English Boys, ran toward the house, the large umbrella he held doing very little to keep the rain at bay. Reaching the verandah, he stopped, panting from his exertion, water streaming from his sodden hair down his face. He closed the useless umbrella and leaned it against the verandah rail. Harriet rose to her feet, but he forestalled the question on her lips by holding up his hand. “Let me get dry and changed and then we’ll talk,” he said. “Pour us both a whisky. I think we need it.” It seemed like an age before Julian reappeared, his still-damp hair sticking up where he had roughly toweled it. He patted it down, adjusted his glasses and accepted the glass Harriet held out for him. “That bad?” she asked, her voice high with tension. “I haven’t lost my job,” Julian said. Harriet let out a breath. That had been her greatest fear. (To continue reading click READ MORE) In advance of the October 18 release of the 4th Harriet Gordon Mystery, TERROR IN TOPAZ, I am delighted to advise that the Harriet Gordon prequel, THE UMBRELLA is now available on your favourite ebook distributor. Previously this book has only been available to newsletter subscribers so I am very excited that it is now 'wide'. It has been substantially revised and has a fabulous new cover in keeping with the whole series. So if you are curious about how Harriet Gordon came to be in Singapore and are interested in a more detailed look into her brush with the suffragettes and the horrors of Holloway, download THE UMBRELLA now. It is only a short novella but you do get to meet some of the other important people in Harriet's life... and one important person in Curran's! The cause may be righteous, but the price she had paid had been too high The short heart-wrenching prequel to SINGAPORE SAPPHIRE - the first in the Harriet Gordon Mysteries. London 1909: Returning to London after her years in India ended in the tragic death of her husband and son, Harriet Gordon struggles to find her place in her parent's comfortable middle-class world. The suffragette movement answers the need for belonging until she is falsely accused of assaulting a police constable and finds herself in Holloway ... Why did Harriet Gordon become a Suffragette...?"…Joining the WSPU had been an impulse.
Not long after her return from India, Harriet had been walking through Hyde Park when she had come across Emmeline Pankhurst speaking to a large crowd of women. Some, like her, looked as if they had just stumbled upon the gathering. Others wore sashes of purple, green and white and carried Votes for Women placards. Listening to the speakers, every injustice Harriet had felt meted out against her came to the fore … her father’s refusal to even consider her attending university to study law, her mother’s insistence that education was wasted on a woman whose sole purpose in life was to marry well and produce grandchildren. Even her late husband, James’s absent-minded neglect over the years. The single, simple right to vote and have a say in the government of the country, the future of women across the land, formed in her throat. “Votes for Women,” she joined the chorus…" TA DA! I am delighted to reveal the cover for the fourth (and final) book in the Harriet Gordon Mystery series. I know many loyal readers will be sad to say farewell to Harriet and Curran but all good series have their own arc and this has reached an end! But never say never and perhaps they may be back for more adventures in the future? The ebook is now up for pre order (with print and audio books to follow). Click the button below to go to the buy links. If you want to keep up to date with the latest news don’t forget you can subscribe to Alison’s newsletter… Click HERE (And get the Harriet prequel for free!) ABOUT TERROR IN TOPAZ
The final episode in the riveting HARRIET GORDON MYSTERIES. The chance to pursue a new opportunity takes Harriet and her brother Julian, to Kuala Lumpur, but death is waiting… Singapore 1910: Harriet Gordon has been dismissed from the job she loved and finds herself cast adrift. When her brother receives an invitation to visit a prestigious school in Kuala Lumpur, she and Julian decide to leave Singapore behind for a few days, but their pleasant visit takes a dark turn when a visitor to the school is shot dead on the front steps of the headmaster’s bungalow. After being suspended from the Straits Settlements Police, Inspector Robert Curran has disappeared on a personal quest to find a missing girl but his suspension is not all it appears and he receives secretive orders to investigate the mysterious Topaz Club, which seems to be at the centre of high-level corruption within the colonial government of Malaya. The uninvestigated death of a woman with links to the Topaz Club, brings Harriet and Curran together in a determination to shut down the notorious establishment for good. But a devious criminal stands in the way and it is going to take Harriet and Curran all their resources to bring justice for the victims of the Topaz Club and in doing so, find what it is they have been looking for in each other. Readers have been asking me when the next Harriet Gordon Mystery can be expected... The short answer is probably around August next year. The long answer is Terror in Topaz hit a stumbling block and for reasons I won't go into, there has been a considerable delay on the administrative end. This flowed into a delay on the creative end ie... I still have to finish writing the book and I'm not a very fast writer. So my profuse apologies to those anxious readers who are chomping at the bit to see how the series ends (yes, Book 4 will be the last). Having said that I am not saying goodbye to the characters forever... there may be other stand-alone stories in the wind! In the meantime, you are very welcome to peruse my backlist of Alison Stuart titles... there are mysteries mixed into the historical (Lord Somerton's Heir, Gather the Bones and The Goldminer's Sister and coming in January, The Homecoming) and if you have not already signed up to my email list, that is the best place to get updates on Harriet and her friends AND you get a free download of Harriet's prequel - THE UMBRELLA. Now I better get my head down and finish that book! Alison x It felt like this day would never come! EVIL IN EMERALD was written during the height of the Melbourne lockdowns which one would think would be an ideal time to be writing but I have to admit, I struggled. While it seemed like the world I knew was slipping away from my grasp, there were days when I stared at an empty screen. At one point I pretty much scrapped what I had written and started again. But it all came together in the end and I am delighted to see EVIL IN EMERALD finally get the wings to fly. The inspiration for this story comes from my own brush with amateur theatre in my early twenties when I joined the local Gilbert and Sullivan Society. It must have had a profound influence on me because G&S themes have run in other books. GATHER THE BONES, for example, has several oblique references to RUDDIGORE (which I think was the show I had the most fun in!) - indeed the title itself is a riff on a song from Ruddigore. PIRATES OF PENZANCE marked the height of my theatrical ambition - I actually scored a role (not just third chorus girl from the left). I was cast as Isabel - one of Major General Stanley's daughters. I had a whole two lines to say and no singing but it still gave me proper billing and a place in the 'principal's dressing room'. Oh to be that young (and that thin!) again. Just as in the last Harriet Gordon Mystery, Harriet and Curran cross with another part of my past (the military), in this book Harriet gets to reprise my experience of an amateur dramatic society. Not that we had any murders... So Pour, oh, pour, the pirate sherry; Fill, oh, fill the pirate glass... and drink to EVIL IN EMERALD - Available now in print, digital and audio! |
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