Author: Dawn Brookes

This author has written 47 articles

Travel Journal from 1982

Forty years ago today, I embarked on the trip of a lifetime. A friend and I set off for Asia and visited eight countries over three months. This is extract from the journal I kept is from day one. I'm keeping it pretty much as I wrote it, so not making too many corrections. Day 1: June 16th 1982 Weather Forecast for the day Source: https://weatherspark.com/h/m/147876/1982/6/Historical-Weather-in-June-1982-at-London-Heathrow-Airport-United-Kingdom#Figures-Temperature The weather forecast was correct; a dull and drizzly day when we left. Well, today's the big day. Woke up at 9:30am following a wonderful sleep. Who knows whether we'll sleep tonight, perhaps not! We have slight hassles at the moment, our reliable travel agent, alias Mr Messy hasn't quite sorted out our insurance correctly, we haven't got the premium in other words – so it's 12 midday and we're off to Regent St to collect it. It's all part of what's going to be a totally disorganised holiday for two in Asia. Perhaps we should have gone for two weeks to Bognor Regis! Poor old J is having ladies problems at the moment! Went to travel agent and sorted out insurance (sigh!). Also gained his father's address in Delhi. One more for the road. We contacted the agent's father when in Delhi a few months later and were invited for dinner. I'll cover this in a future post. Arrived at Heathrow at 1:30pm and checked in. Having a quiet time preparing ourselves for the flight. 3:30pm passed through customs. J was searched on her way through by a lady who was rather sour faced and she became even more unhappy when I laughed at the prospect of J being towed away before we even set off! We're now sitting in the boarding lounge waiting to board a rather ferocious looking aeroplane which has its…

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Read more about the article Dawn Brookes Fiction Reading Order

Dawn Brookes Fiction Reading Order

Chronological Reading Order This is the order in which you should read if you want to follow characters through each series by chronology, rather than each series individually. All of the books are written so they can read as standalones without major spoilers. Some people prefer to read in series order and others might want to follow how the characters develop chronologically. The Rachel Prince Mysteries features Rachel Prince as the main character and is set on a fictional cruise ship. Rachel enjoys meeting up with her best friend who is a nurse on board the Coral Queen. Lady Marjorie joins her on alternate cruises. It wasn't planned like that... it just happened! The Carlos Jacobi series features Rachel's love interest; a PI intent on changing the world with the help of his ex police dog and a quirky detective sergeant, Fiona Cook. The Lady Marjorie Snellthorpe series follows an octogenarian quartet who get together for holidays and end up solving murders. This series is published by Storm Publishing. A Cruise to Murder (Rachel Prince #1) Deadly Cruise (Rachel Prince #2) Body in the Woods (Carlos Jacobi #1) Killer Cruise (Rachel Prince #3) The Bradgate Park Murders (Carlos Jacobi #2) Dying to Cruise (Rachel Prince #4) The Museum Murders (Carlos Jacobi #3) A Christmas Cruise Murder (Rachel Prince #5) Murderous Cruise Habit (Rachel Prince #6) Death of a Blogger (Lady Marjorie Snellthorpe Prequel Novella) Murder at the Opera House (Lady Marjorie Snellthorpe #1) Honeymoon Cruise Murder (Rachel Prince #7) Murder in the Highlands (Lady Marjorie Snellthorpe #2) Murder at the Christmas Market (Lady Marjorie Snellthorpe #3) A Murder Mystery Cruise (Rachel Prince #8) Hazardous Cruise (Rachel Prince #9) Murder at a Wimbledon Mansion (Lady Marjorie Snellthorpe #4) Captain's Dinner Cruise Murder (Rachel Prince #10) Corporate Cruise Murder (Rachel Prince #11) Murder…

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Monday 7th March 2022

I finalised events for the literature festival I chair and managed to get them all up on the website. The day pass tickets are now up for sale, so if you live near to Derby, feel free to take a look here. I'm continuing edits on my two-thirds finished draft of Murder in the Highlands and made steady progress with it today. It's starting to come together and I'm getting a handle on the characters and suspects, developing them at the same time. I've spent a few months exploring the social media platform Tiktok and will be creating more videos for my author presence there. If you would like to follow me you can find me here.

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Read more about the article Sunday 6th March

Sunday 6th March

Work in Progress I'm going through the editing process of Murder in the Highlands before taking the work forward. This helps me to refocus my attention and sets the stage for the final third. I'm almost two-thirds of the way through so it makes sense to do this now, making sure that what I've written so far is making sense. At this stage in almost every book I've written, I hit a brick wall and get a little bit bogged down by my internal critic. Once I come out of editing mode, I'll be able to silence the critic and switch back into creative mode! Looking forward to that. To be honest, I've been distracted by world events of late... who wouldn't be? Other Stuff As it was Sunday, I tried to take some rest and get other more mundane things done around the house. I went to virtual church as I have been doing since the pandemic started. Funnily enough, I've been able to go to a church in London which I went to when I lived in the capital forty years ago. All Souls Church in Langham Place has been putting on virtual services throughout lockdown and is continuing to do so. I've enjoyed returning to somewhere that seems familiar in spite of the number of years that have elapsed since I last went there physically. Literature Festival In 2018, I founded a literature festival which I now chair. I spent the morning creating and adding the final few graphics for events to the website and put the day pass tickets on sale. Tomorrow, I'll need to read through some guest blog posts for the site. I love doing the festival but while it was cancelled for two years during the pandemic, I'd forgotten just how time consuming it…

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Read more about the article Morality in Crime Writing

Morality in Crime Writing

Introduction As a writer of murder mysteries I have had to make some decisions in relation to the ethical dilemmas of writing about crime and murder. Some authors go down the road of graphic violence and explicit detail while others steer clear, focusing on the mystery element rather than the crime itself. Sometimes there appears to be an appetite in society for sensationalist gratuitous violence or sex, and scenes that shock within suspense fiction. This is often coupled with frequent use of strong language whether or not it fits the story. It's almost expected. But do we always need a sledgehammer to break an egg? Sensationalist Fiction Sensationalist fiction is not new and emerged as a genre in the Victorian era. Murder was just one of the many scandalous topics addressed in books of the late 1800s (Rubery, 2011). The difference between then and now is that such literature produced an outcry when it was first introduced, whereas now there is a general hunger for more of the same. Why might this be? Chandler (1950) argued that the classic genre of crime novels was too detached from reality due to the murders occurring off-screen. He was scathing of classic crime writers such as Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan-Doyle, arguing that their characters lacked depth. His opinion was that hard-boiled (at the time, American) crime portrayed the real world and crime writers should incorporate this. His point being that fiction is intended to be realistic. I agree with Ainsworth (2014) who argues in her dissertation that Chandler missed the point that, although the murders are more subtle in classic crime, writers such as Sayers addressed real psychological issues. Shell shock being one of these (Sayers husband had been a sufferer post WWI). Arthur Conan-Doyle also included the topic of nerves and trauma suffering in his…

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Read more about the article Cozy Mystery Writing Conventions

Cozy Mystery Writing Conventions

Genre Fiction I’m a mystery writer with my fiction falling into the cozy/cosy crime niche. I've now published seven books in one series with an eighth on the way. Cosy mysteries and the majority of detective novels fall into the category of writing known as genre fiction and on the whole, follow a defined set of conventions. Agatha Christie Monument These conventions/rules developed out of the Golden Age of Crime novels. Authors such as Arthur Conan Doyle, Margery Allingham, Dorothy L Sayers and Agatha Christie created the widely recognised genre. The cosy mystery has evolved over the past few decades as new writers attempt to stretch boundaries, although many still adhere to the Decalogue or ten commandments described by Knox in 1929.  Escapist Literature I admit to being challenged by proponents of literary fiction and literary debate such as Albert Camus, but I prefer to write books to enable people to escape from the reality of life. This is one of the reasons I write books where the criminal is always found and justice is served. The popularity of genre fiction could highlight the need for people to feel safe while - at least in terms of crime fiction - being given the opportunity to experience vicarious excitement. The excitement comes through readers exercising their brains to solve the puzzle, working alongside the sleuth.  As a former nurse, I studied Maslow's Hierarchy of Human Needs in great detail. He described the need to feel safe in the hierarchy. He postulated human beings needed to satisfy certain needs in order to grow, mentally and physically. Maslow’s definition of safety was more about protection from external elements. Such safety requires a person to have shelter and security of body and mind; order in the world outside; laws that reinforced safety; stability in work and…

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