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    • SINGAPORE SAPPHIRE (Book 1)
    • REVENGE IN RUBIES (Book 2)
    • EVIL IN EMERALD (Book 3)
    • TERROR IN TOPAZ (Book 4)
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RELEASE DAY FOR EVIL IN EMERALD

3/29/2022

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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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A much younger (and thinner) Alison as Isabel in Pirates of Penzance.
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Introducing Harriet Gordon...

3/5/2019

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Welcome to Notes from Harriet's Typewriter... the news and updates for the Harriet Gordon Mystery series. 

In this post, I get to introduce you to the main protagonist of the new series... Harriet Gordon.

I first met Harriet in the microfiche room of the Singapore National Library.  Of course, she wasn’t known as Harriet Gordon, her name was Mrs Howell and in March 1905 she placed an advertisement in the Straits Times, offering her services as a Stenographer and Typist. She guaranteed “RAPID & CAREFUL work together with ABSOLUTE SECRECY” (the capitals are hers). The now long forgotten Mrs. Howell’s advertisement jumped off the microfiche at me. I loved her commitment to ABSOLUTE SECRECY, and slowly the character of Harriet Gordon, widow, typist, stenographer and failed suffragette began to form. 
(On the left is the original advert I found in the 1905 Straits and on the right is the advert Harriet placed in the Straits Times... and the start of her adventures!)
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Over the next few years, I started to build her world… her friends, her family and most importantly (for Harriet) her partner in crime, the enigmatic Inspector Robert Curran, head of the Detective Branch of the Straits Settlements Police Force. Over future posts I will introduce you to other characters in Harriet's world including colonial Singapore itself… 

SINGAPORE SAPPHIRE is the first of, what I hope, will be an ongoing historical mystery series with Harriet Gordon and Inspector Curran at its heart. There are so many stories brewing in the tropical heat of the Malay Peninsula where truth and corpses tend to decompose quickly!

Although SINGAPORE SAPPHIRE is not due for release until 6 August, it is already available for preoorder... in print or digital (all the links are in the button below). 

I have been waiting a long time to share Harriet with you. I hope you love her as much as I do!


A.M. Stuart ​
PREORDER NOW
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PREORDER NOW
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