Dickens spent most of his adult life in the area where I grew up and now live and is synonymous with the local towns. Rochester High Street is littered with pubs bearing plaques on the wall proclaiming that Charles Dickens used to frequent their ale house. Chances are the claim in each is true. The museum is in Rochester High Street much as I describe it, though the curator probably isn’t selling first editions on the black market. Chances are, he’s a decent chap.
The theme park is a real thing too though it is called Dickens World. I went there some years ago though I do not remember who with or what we did there. It closed several years ago and I must confess I do not know why. My assumption is that it simply could not draw enough visitors, which is a shame. It sits on the river just as I describe but to either side one will not find derelict buildings and abandoned factories, but a vibrant leisure and retail park with restaurants, shops, bars, and a cinema.
Using the development of prime real estate as a motive for murder occurs in this book and it is not the first time it has cropped up. In the Phantom of Barker Mill, there is a plan to demolish the mill and turn it into luxury riverside apartments not far from the fringes of the capital. In the course of my life, I have seen many riverside areas, which were once industrial hubs, suddenly razed to the ground for the land to become expensive properties. Some are on the river in Maidstone, my local city, where I describe Big Ben’s penthouse apartment, but they are everywhere, and I could probably find a dozen locations being developed within a few miles of me today.
The Mystery Men bookshop is fictional, but the location of the bookshop is not. It is not there any longer, but as a child there was a shop called Stargate One which specialised in fantasy and sci-fi books. It sat above another shop with a door leading to stairs which in turn led up to the shop itself. I don’t remember much about it other than in the late seventies, when Star Wars was all the rage, I bought a book in there called A Splinter of the Mind’s Eye. It was a Star Wars spin-off novel.
I’m going to leave it at that and let you get on with whatever else you have planned. I need to go back over the whole manuscript and fix all the holes I will have left in the story. You won’t know what I am talking about because you get to read the version after I fixed them.
Take care
Steve Higgs
More Books by Steve Higgs
There are secrets buried in the Earth’s past. Anastasia might be one of them.
The world knows nothing of the supernaturals among them …
… but that’s all about to change.
When Anastasia Aaronson stumbles across two hellish creatures, her body reacts by channelling magic to defend itself and unleashes power the Earth has forgotten.
But as she flexes her new-found magical muscle, it draws the attention of a demon who has a very particular use for her. Now she must learn to control the power she can wield as a world of magical beings take an interest.
She may be damaged, but caught in a struggle she knew nothing about, she will rise, and the demons may learn they are not the real monsters.
The demons know she is special, but if they knew the truth, they would run.
Lord Hale’s Monster
Every second generation of the Hale line dies at the hands of an unnameable monster on his 80th birthday. The current Lord Hale turns 80 this Saturday.
To protect himself, Lord Hale has invited paranormal investigation experts Tempest Michaels and Amanda Harper plus their friends and a whole host of other guests from different fields of supernatural exploration for a birthday dinner at his mansion.
As they sit down for dinner, the lights start to dim and a moaning noise disturbs the polite conversation. Has Lord Hale placed his faith in the right people, or just led them to share his doom?
Finding themselves trapped, Tempest and Amanda, with friends Big Ben and Patience must join forces with a wizard, some scientists, and occult experts, ghost chasers, witches, and other assorted idiots as they fight to make it through the night in one piece.
Could this be their final adventure? Will Tempest finally be proven wrong about the paranormal?
Early Shift
Don’t Challenge the Werewolf
Don’t pick a fight with him. You won’t lose. You’ll die
Zachary has a secret he tries to keep under wraps …
… if only people would let him.
When he drifts into a remote farming community looking for work, the trouble starts before he orders breakfast. Normally he would just avoid the trouble and move on, but there’s a girl. Not a woman. A little girl, and the men that want to dominate the village threaten her livelihood.
And that just won’t do.
There’s something very rotten in this community but digging into it brings him face to face with something more powerful even than him. Something ancient and unstoppable.
He has no choice other than to fight, but who will walk away?
As the
