Kate Parker, author of Deadly Manor, a Deadly mystery, is visiting Ascroft, eh? today to tell us a bit about her most recent novel. I read Deadly Manor last week and really enjoyed it so I’m delighted Kate is here today.
Welcome, Kate. I’ll turn the floor over to you –
Hi, Everyone. I’m Kate Parker, USA Today© bestselling author of the Deadly Series, now on its tenth book. While I’m a peaceable person and enjoy a quiet life, that would make for boring stories. And the best person to aggravate, harass, and torture is my main character, Livvy Redmond.
Livvy and her husband, Adam, are happy newlyweds who would do anything for each other. With WWII going on, and Adam being a British army officer, the best way to make Livvy struggle is to hurt Adam.
Deadly Manor takes place in the autumn of 1940, during the worst days of the Blitz. Just a few months before, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France have all fallen to Nazi invasions. Adam works for army intelligence, which would mean he would be aiding Britain’s allies when they came under attack.
Once these allies had fallen, Adam and his specialist colleagues would have carried out rearguard actions helping the allies secure their treasuries, their top government leaders, and scientists with particular talents and fields of research. They would have remained in France after Dunkirk to escape at the last minute from ports to the west such as Cherbourg. They would have had assignments that wouldn’t need to be carried out unless France fell.
When we first see Adam in October, 1940, it is four months since he escaped from France. He has kept both his legs despite bullet wounds from a Nazi sniper, and he’s finally been released from the hospital. Now, beside bombing raids that send both Livvy and Adam to the shelter night after night, he has to work to strengthen the muscles that have been severely damaged.
It seems like a lifeline when Rosalie Billingsthorpe, a friend of Livvy’s from her time at Bletchley Park, invites Livvy and Adam to her country estate far from the bombing. Clean country air outside of smoky London, good fresh food, and sleeping in comfortable beds all night without air raid sirens blasting them awake seems like a dream come true. There’s plenty of garden paths for Adam to attempt to walk along to build up his muscles.
Unfortunately, Livvy runs into difficulties. The train trip is slow and tires Adam out. They arrive at Briarcliffe Hall to discover a neighbor’s shooting party is staying at Briarcliffe Hall while shooting on the neighbor’s land. And the shooting party has been arranged by Viscount Norrington, the heir of the Earl of Silverthorn.
The viscount is an odious bully. His wife refuses to be in the same county with him, let alone the same house. No one can get a word in when the viscount is holding forth on any subject, and particularly when the subject is how many birds he has shot. In the viscount’s favor, these are game birds and the meat is given to the poor in the area. Most of the population in this rural area is the very young and the very old because the war has sent the young and able-bodied into the military or the factories.
The viscount is insensitive and unaware of how his words and actions may upset others. Rosalie and Thorpe, being neighbors of the Earl of Silverthorn and a friend of his, don’t want to be rude to the viscount and hold their tongues when he offers them their brandy in their home as if he were the host. Livvy and Adam have trouble not saying what they think.
Then the other guests start dropping like flies, and Livvy’s choices become more difficult. If they leave, it will set back Adam’s recovery. If they stay, Rosalie wants Livvy to help find the killer, which will put them in danger.
Either way, Livvy is in a more difficult position than she was before.
Thank you for sharing this with us, Kate, and good luck with Deadly Manor, the latest book in the Deadly mystery series.
Readers can learn more about Kate Parker by visiting the author’s website and. her Facebook, Bookbub and Goodreads pages.
The book is available online at the following retailers:
About Kate Parker: With her love of travel, Kate Parker sets her novels overseas. Once home from her research trips and armed with hot tea and chocolate, she can be found clicking away on her keyboard, hiking the hills of central North Carolina, and spoiling her 90 pound muse puppy. She’d tell you what she did before she retired, but then she’d have to use certain skills to eliminate you. She pens stories to entertain readers who enjoy action and murder in tales about plucky heroines, quirky characters, and difficult situations in a bygone era. Her stories are sweet, as in no graphic sex, violence, or language. Her heroines remain ladylike while chasing murderers and escaping danger. Well, as ladylike as scratching, punching, and kicking can be.
dianneascroft.com 