News

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t over the moon about getting not one, not two, but three starred reviews for the third of the DCI Monika Paniatowski series, Echoes of the Dead.

The fourth in the Monika series Backlash will be published in the UK in May, and the USA in September. After that, and probably before Christmas, the ninth Sam Blackstone, Blackstone and The Great War will be available.

I’m delighted that four of my books – the first two of the Paniatowski and the last two Blackstones – are now available as e-books. I don’t think this will make me a millionaire – I’m fact, I’m pretty sure it won’t – but it’s good to know I’ll be reaching new readers. I’m also very happy that the first three in Paniatowski series are now available as audio downloads and CDs, and in my – admittedly biased – opinion, are so well done.

Blackstone and the Great War

Why write a book about the Great War?

I’ve been wanting to set WWI at the centre stage of one of my books for quite some time. I first got interested in it while teaching at a secondary school in Lancashire, when I saw the effect that the poetry of Wilfred Owen could have on a group of lively, intelligent fourteen year olds.

Some years later, I thought I’d talk about WWI with my grandfather, who’d fought in that war himself. He didn’t want to know! He admitted that, caught up in patriotic fervour as many young men were at the time, he had lied about his age and enlisted. He was prepared to concede that he served through most of the war, and that virtually all the pals he joined up with were killed. But he refused to go any further than that – and this was over half a century after the war had ended! This was such a contrast to the experience I’d had speaking to men who fought in the Second World War - and who, given half a chance, would talk about it for ever - and led me to the conclusion that while all wars are terrible, WWI must have been in a class of its own. And so, I now believe, it was.

This is not the first time I’ve written about World War I. It features quite heavily in my saga Those Golden Days. I originally planned to call the book That Last Golden Summer, since most of it is set in the gloriously warm summer before the most horrendous war that the world had known changed life for ever, but, as chance would have it, my publisher was already planning to bring out a book called The Golden Summer at the same time. (Incidentally, it’s very hard to find titles no one has ever used before – after choosing Sins of the Fathers, which was a logical title for one of the Woodend books, I discovered that there were over a dozen books already available with the same name). WWI is also the backdrop to The Silent Land, which is set in Russia, and is possibly my favourite of all my books.

So I’ve written about the war before - but I’ve never written a book in which the war was so prominent. In fact, in this book, given the extent to which the war changes all those involved in it, it could almost be said to be the central character. I’ve tried, as I always do, to make this book intriguing, mysterious and entertaining, but I hope I’ve also painted a picture of both the desperation and the courage.

Though it would have been painful for him, my granddad would have read this book – if I’d written it, he would have read the telephone directory – and I like to think he would have approved.

Reviews of Echoes Of The Dead

Shifting seamlessly between past and present versions of the case, Spencer produces a tour de force that readers won’t quickly forget.
Kirkus Reviews starred review

Echoes of the Dead reflects the author’s empathy and understanding of human nature as her characters express a gamut of emotions and behaviours. The result is a near-perfect mix of procedural and top-notch mystery.
Library Journal starred review

Spencer’s spin-off featuring Paniatowski is just as compelling, entertaining and cleverly plotted as the original.
Booklist starred review

Reviews of Blackstone and The Wolf of Wall Street

Spencer gets everything right in this excellent eighth historical featuring Inspector Sam Blackstone.
Publishers Weekly starred review

The case of the banker in the bunker provides enough wit, puzzlement and class warfare to delight the most devoted Blackstone fan.
Kirkus Reviews

Book reviews, synopsis, ISBN and online ordering can be found by category:

• The Mysteries
• The Inspector Blackstone Mysteries
• The Inspector Ruiz Mysteries
• The Historical Sagas
• The Novels

or in the book catalogue.

We welcome any comments, suggestions or criticisms on anything you have read of ours, or on our web site. We can be contacted at:

alan@alanrustage.com
sally@sallyspencer.com