Magical Realism

I started off calling these books paranormal mysteries, but gradually realised that this was confusing people. There are no vampires, werewolves, or evil hauntings, for instance. Nor do they fit into the general run of urban fantasy – no wizards or magically enhanced ladies running around slaying strange things which leak into our reality. Magical Realism finally came out as the best overall description for these books, because they are set primarily in the here and now, and in the shires around where I live. However, me being me, I do love a dash of the unexpected, and so my various lead characters run into portals into the past, mythical beings, and most particularly, old houses which have retained connections to their pasts.

Also, I also wanted stories which I could write that would fit naturally with female leads (in that sense they do fit closer to urban fantasy). When it comes to history, I’m enough of a proper historian to be acutely aware that in the past, women often didn’t play key roles in society simply because of the lack of birth control in those days. As a writer you either have to find good and believable reason why they don’t ever have sex (not convincing for most people!), or accept that they would at some point have children unless they were physically incapable for some reason. With a modern day heroine, though, all of that recedes and there are many more scrapes you can fit a lass into! However, the ladies don’t have sole control of this section – I have a detective by the name of Bill Scathlock who has his own mini series going on here too.

I would also hesitate to call these romances, because although romance does come into them, it’s far from being at the core of the stories and it doesn’t drive the plots. What you will find are feisty ladies who have overcome their own challenges and are determined to right wrongs and find out what has happened to others. I hope you enjoy these, you don’t need to read them in any particular order, and each one is a complete story rather than being part of a series – although as you go through them you will, I hope, get a sense of a common feel to them all.