Novel set in CORNWALL
GIVEAWAY: 3 copies of The Picture House Murders – Newcastle Upon Tyne
24th September 2023
We are delighted to offer 3 copies of The Picture House Murders by Fiona Veitch Smith, set in 1920s Newcastle Upon Tyne
UK ONLY
Murder is no occupation for a lady… or is it?
1929: Miss Clara Vale is a woman ahead of her time. Rather than attending Oxford to bag an eligible Duke (as her mother, Lady Vale, so desperately hoped), she threw herself into a degree in chemistry, with aspirations to become a scientist in her own right.
But the world isn’t ready for Clara. Unable to land a job in science because she’s a woman, she is stuck behind the desk at a dingy London library.
Until her estranged Uncle dies suddenly, leaving her his private detective agency, and laboratory, in his will.
Clara couldn’t become a detective, could she?
The decision is made for her when one of her uncle’s old clients comes to her for help with a case surrounding the local picture house and invites Clara to see the latest show, before they discuss the details.
But during the film, a fire suddenly engulfs the picture house, with tragic consequences.
It seems at first an accident, but Clara soon begins to question if it was in fact a carefully orchestrated murder.
She’s suddenly in the middle of a deadly mystery and will discover her scientific skills make her a sleuth to be reckoned with… Can she catch the killer before they strike again?
The first in a brand-new, glittering Golden Age cozy mystery series. Fans of Verity Bright, Helena Dixon and TE Kinsey will be hooked from the very first page to the final breathtaking finale.
3 copies of The Picture House Murders to be given away.
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- Tell us in the COMMENTS BELOW: This novel is set in the era of flappers and the Charleston – What do you think of when you imagine the 1920s/1930s? Do this by Saturday, 7th October 2023. The first three names chosen at random will be sent a copy each of the book. UK ONLY.
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Winners:
piyumi
Cristina McDonell
dana manning
Years of Great Depression and hardship but also great entertainment, partying and dance crazes.
I think of bobbed hair and cloche hats, and the Charleston with beaded dresses.
I think of flappers, Feathers, sequins and fabulous fun
Amazing dancing, fashion and the Great Gatsby!
I always think of The Great Gatsby
The 1930s sounds like a miserable period, with unemployment rising to 20% and the great depression setting in.
The start of the 2nd World War was probably the biggest thing to happen in the 30s.
I think it was the height of the jazz era.
The Prohibition Era
I think of the hard times that followed the end of World War I. Returning soldiers, many so badly affected by both physical and mental scars. Women having to step back from their employment. The depression causing economic misery for millions. The wild times of the flappers and all those with money a stark and disturbing contrast.
Shorter dresses, suffragette movement, joy
Prohibition
Beautiful clothes, fabulous dances, amazing parties
The long straight dresses with frills and the hair styles, men in slick suits
The lovely dresses, and short hairstyles
I think of the dancing
Flapper dresses
I think of the incredible fashion and the Prohibition period.
jazz music
I imagine Tommy and Tuppence from Agatha Christie or a sanitised Great Gatsby world xx
flapper dresses
30s Gangsters
art deco furniture and pottery
I think of the changes in fashion the ladies dresses, hats and shoes, not forgetting the long cigarette holders.
I always think of the fashions of that time, the womens dresses hats and shoes. Such changes in the fashions.
Short Flapper dresses, short bobbed hair – very daring for the time and lots to drink x
I think of the gulf between the classes. There was extreme wealth and overwhelming poverty
They were very difficult decades, although on the surface there was a lot of frivolity, especially among the upper classes. But I also think of the extreme poverty in a lot of areas between the wars, the attitudes towards women and the emotional repression. There was a lot of PTSD (they called it shell shock) after WW1 but it was viewed as a weakness that “real” men didn’t suffer from, so it was never talked about.
Frivolous parties
I imagine wild parties and ladies finally getting some kind of freedom to be themselves in their clothing
Long beads and the Charleston, Cigarette holders and champagne.
And if that really was the 20’s
Bring it back again!
The Great Gatsby
prohibition and moonshiners
Peaky Blinders
I always imagine the amazing fashions that the women wore in the 1920s.
Downton Abbey springs to mind.
Downton Abbey springs to mind
Atime of contrasts both the jazz age and the great depression.
Agatha Christie
The 20′ where all fun, but then in the 40’s was the War. But everyone pulled together so a time of unity.
The Great Gatsby book but also a time to attempt to forget the years of the Great War by living every day in a whirl of indulgence and glamour.
I think of speakeasy’s, art deco, gangsters, Boardwalk Empire & great movies.
Can’t help but think of flapper girls in shimmering beaded dresses, the Great Gatsby, Downton Abbey, and Miss Phryne Fisher (the flapper detective).
fun and dancing
Dancing the Charleston.
The 1920s/1930s would have been of extremes – a lot of fun yet a lot of misery for some. No NHS, no modern appliances to help with housework so a woman would be working all day. No TV!!
1920s
I imagine all the elegance of Downton Abbey and also the Art Deco look.
Jazz, flapper dresses, long strands of beads or pearls.
I think of The Great Gatsby
Having heard stories from my parents, I imagine life was quite hard for a lot of people
the excellent style jazz and dancing !
The golden age of detective fiction
I think of flapper dresses, beads and dancing.
My grandparents were courting during the 1920s so I picture them going to dances and the picture houses on dates. They married in 1930 and I have seen their beautiful wedding photographs. She made her dress and cloche cap herself and looked simply beautiful
I think of The Great Gatsby!
Art Deco and partying
A period of partying for the rich and poverty for the poor.
Always reminds me of the Great Gatsby set during that exciting jazz age
speakeasy
I think of the beautiful, sleek lines of architecture, art, craft and homeware.
I think of the clubs and dancing
l imagine the struggles of the suffragettes
When I think of the 1920s, I think of flapper dresses, long pearl necklaces and bob hairstyles.
the hardship people had due to the great depression of the 1920s with children without shoes, no work and struggling to put food on the table, coming from a shipbuilding area we must have been really badly hit
The influence of America, the depression, a time for post WWI reflection.
Women having more freedom to dress and behave differently. Although, for the less affluent, poverty.
Ladies dancing with short tasseled dresses and
swinging long bead necklaces
Prohibition and secret gin joints
The most gorgeous dresses with tassles and sequins, along with the sleek hairstyles.
Fringed dresses and hairbands on short hair
I always picture fun loving people dancing the Charleston and enjoying life.
Tasselled dresses and feather headbands.
James Cagney type gangsters
James Cagney type gangsters
A free era for women, dazzling fashion, fringes and fun
Art deco. Still so modern and stylish after 100 years.
I imagine glamorous ladies with bobbed hair dancing the Charleston!
the jazz age!
I think of a whole new type of fashion, especially for women. Short bobbed or finger-waved hair, loose clothing considered to be short, and an escape from the tight, constrictive clothing of the previous Edwardian and Victorian era.
Art Deco, Bobbed Hair, Fringed Dresses and David Suchet playing the inimitable Hercule Poirot.
The glamour of the music and fashion.
Sleek bobbed hair, red lipstick and stylish beaded dresses! That and Brideshead Revisited!
I think of the ugly contrast between the glittering lifestyle of the wealthy and glamorous against the abject poverty that much of the country faced, with children starving and going to school without shoes
My parents in their youth, the Charleston dance, etc.
With my favourite crime/mystery hat on, as soon as you mention that particular ‘Golden age’ era, the first name that pops into my head is Hercule Poirot, my favourite detective!
The general strike, the depression & the rise of fascism.
Charleston dancing and amazing dress style
Love the flamboyant look
I think of my parents as small children!
My nan was a flapper, such a glamorous time