Murder in the Library
Date Added: 15/11/2021
The Central Beds Crime Festival - part 2
Rowan Coleman writing as Bella Ellis
Bella Ellis is the Brontë inspired pseudonym of bestselling author Rowan Coleman, who lives with her husband, and five children in a very full house in Hertfordshire. She first visited the former home of the Brontë sisters when she was ten years old. From the moment she stepped over the threshold she was hooked, and she embarked on a lifelong love affair with Charlotte, Emily, and Anne, their life, their literature, and their remarkable legacy. This fascination has now inspired the Brontë sisters mysteries, in which, before they became legendary writers, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, and Anne Brontë were detectors.
Join us chatting to Bella Ellis at Stotfold Library on Wed 24 Nov at 7pm (please note this event has been rescheduled from Thurs 11 Nov) Book your ticket here.
The Brontë Sisters Mysteries
Bella Ellis has written three novels in the Brontë sisters mysteries series. In The Vanished Bride, dark rumours are spreading across the moors. Everything indicates that Mrs Elizabeth Chester of Chester Grange has been brutally murdered in her home, but nobody can find her body. As the dark murmurs reach Emily, Anne and Charlotte Brontë, the sisters are horrified, yet intrigued. Before they know it, the siblings become embroiled in the quest to find the vanished bride, sparking their imaginations but placing their lives at great peril.
In The Diabolical Bones, it's Christmas 1845 and Haworth is in the grip of a freezing winter. Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë are rather losing interest in detecting until they hear of a shocking discovery. The bones of a child have been found interred within the walls of a local house, Top Withens Hall, home to the scandalous and brutish Bradshaw family. When the sisters set off to find out more, they are confronted with an increasingly complex and sinister case, which leads them into the dark world of orphanages, and onto the trail of other lost, and likely murdered children. After another local boy goes missing, Charlotte, Emily and Anne vow to find him before it's too late. But in order to do so, they must face their most despicable and wicked adversary yet, one that would not hesitate to cause them the gravest of harm.
The Brontë sisters take on the underworld of London in The Red Monarch, the third in the series and coming out soon.
You can reserve the Brontë sisters mysteries by Bella Ellis on our library catalogue, Arena, at no charge, to collect from your local library. Her books including the brand new The Red Monarch will also be on sale at the event via Central Bedfordshire's newest independent bookshop Book:Leighton Buzzard. There will be lots of opportunity to ask her questions and hear about, her books, writing and inspiration.
Murder in the Library - author programme
As the result of some publication delays and change of plans we are have had to reschedule some of our crime author events. However we pleased that this now means we be offering the opportunity to meet the following exciting crime authors in our libraries:
Cara Hunter: Tues 30 Nov 1.30pm at Ampthill Library
Get your questions ready and spend the afternoon chatting murder with Cara before picking up the children from school! Cara Hunter lives in Oxford, in a street not unlike those featured in her books. She has written 5 books (with number 6 coming soon) featuring DI Adam Fawley and his Oxford- based police team. The series has featured twice as Richard and Judy Book club picks and DI Adam Fawley may soon be coming to life on screen as the TV rights have been sold.
Peter Laws: Thurs 2 Dec 7pm at Houghton Regis Library
Join Peter as he explores why we are drawn to morbid and macabre? Peter is an ordained Reverend with a fascination for the macabre. He is the author the Matt Hunter novel series. Matt is an atheist ex-vicar turned university professor, who helps the police solve cult related and religiously motivated crimes. The novels are intense, quirky and laced with hints of the supernatural and black humour.
Adam LeBor: Sat 4 Dec 5pm at Flitwick Library
Join us at Flitwick Library for an early evening session chatting with Adam about his life, his work and where he gets inspiration from. Adam LeBor is a British author, journalist, writing coach and editorial trainer, who worked as a foreign correspondent from 1991 for many years but is now based in London. He is currently writing a noir crime series set in present-day Budapest featuring Balthazar Kovacs, a Gypsy detective in the Budapest murder squad. The books are not classic police procedurals, but a hybrid of crime and conspiracy thrillers.
Tickets for all our author events are available online or at the host library and cost £5 for a single event or £3 if you book for mulitple events. All tickets include entry to a prize draw to win a book signed by the author.