Dartmoor and the Dangerous Game
Balmoral Kill – Get A Free Copy This Week
Yes, if you have a Kindle, or a Kindle App on your tablet or smartphone, you can get a FREE copy of my novel Balmoral Kill from Wednesday until Saturday. I’ve never done a giveaway on this title before, so grab your copy while it’s FREE.
And the Dartmoor set sequel Dangerous Game is available if you want to continue following the adventures of my renegade hero Sean Miller.
As a hillwalker who also writes novels, I always like to root my plots and characters in a real landscape whenever that is possible. I might alter it, fictionalise it, or just change the odd feature – but I like to start with a reality. And at some point in my fiction I like to use an actual place I know, walk around it and imagine my characters playing out their adventures upon it.
I always knew, right from the beginning, that my Victorian thriller The Shadow of William Quest would come to a dramatic conclusion on Holkham Beach in Norfolk. And I knew that the final duel between my hero and villain in Balmoral Kill would have to be in some remote spot in the Cairngorms, though within easy reach of the royal residence of Balmoral Castle.
But I wasn’t sure where.
In all my Scottish stravaiging I had never been to Loch Muick (pronounced sort of without the u), though I had read about it in my numerous Scottish books and looked at it on the map. It seemed an ideal location for the conclusion of a thriller.
So the summer when I was writing the book, when we were staying in Ballater, we walked up to take a look, circling the loch and examining the wild mountains and tumbling rivers round about. Plotting a gunfight (even a fictional one) takes some care. I wanted it to be as probable and realistic as possible. This is, after all, a book about experienced assassins. I wanted the line of sight of every rifle to be exact.
We also had to check out the hills around. Both my hero and villain are great walkers and “walk-in” to places where they expect to see some action
And a beautiful wild place Loch Muick is. It was a favourite picnicking place of Queen Victoria, who used to linger for days on end at the lonely house of Glas-Allt-Shiel, in mourning for her beloved Prince Albert. Today’s royal family picnic there even now. The house is as I describe it in the book, as is the surrounding scenery. Believe me, I checked out those sightlines. Every shot described in the book could be taken in reality. Even now when I think of that loch and the Corrie Chash above it, I think of my characters being there. Sometimes they are all very real to me.
We also revisited Balmoral Castle (actually they only let you into the ballroom!), strolled through its grounds and examined the countryside round about. I was able to work out the exact routes taken by all of the characters who found themselves on the shores of Loch Muick on a late summer day in 1937.
Other areas of Scotland feature in the book too. I partly fictionalised the places I used in the Scottish Borders, though those scenes are based on the many walks I’ve done around Peebles, the Broughton Heights and Manorwater. In one flashback scene in the Highlands I have a character journey from Taynuilt and out on to the mighty twin peaks of Ben Cruachan, and then into the glens beyond, to kill a man in Glen Noe. Some years ago I did a lot of walking in that area and had considerable pleasure in reliving my journeys as I penned those scenes.
The book begins in London and journeys into the East End. I’ve walked the streets and alleys of Whitechapel, Stepney and Limehouse by day and night over the years. Balmoral Kill is set in 1937, so there has been a great deal of change in nearly eighty years. The East End was very badly bombed in the War and thoughtless planners have destroyed a lot more. But enough remains to give you the picture. Once more, I could take you in the steps of my characters through every inch of the places mentioned.
Very often going to these locations inspires changes to the writing. Balmoral Kill was half-written by the time we explored Loch Muick. The real-life topography of the place inspired me to make several changes to the novel’s conclusion.
Since writing Balmoral Kill I’ve written a sequel – Dangerous Game, set almost entirely on Dartmoor.
As a walker as well as a writer I find going on research trips is the best way to conjure up locations with the written word.
Click on the link to take a look at Balmoral Kill. FREE on Kindle Wednesday until Saturday…https://www.amazon.co.uk/Balmoral-Kill-Sean-Miller-Adventure-ebook/dp/B00Q8I7LGO/ref=pd_sbs_1/257-5255041-5649508?pd_rd_w=K6Pwy&pf_rd_p=e0d2ff13-9dd4-4da7-83fa-1b78154f9d73&pf_rd_r=R6TGYSMM0G96BK3RB0GP&pd_rd_r=b40bc0cf-daaa-4ab1-85c6-cf2a6ae956d6&pd_rd_wg=8DHPq&pd_rd_i=B00Q8I7LGO&psc=1
Robin Hood is Free! — John Bainbridge Writer
Loxley, the first book in my The Chronicles of Robin Hood series, is FREE on Kindle for just the next few days – if you don’t have a Kindle you can download a free Kindle App for your tablet or smartphone. Also available in paperback, Loxley – complete in itself – is the first volume […]
Robin Hood is Free! — John Bainbridge Writer
Robin Hood is Free!
Loxley, the first book in my The Chronicles of Robin Hood series, is FREE on Kindle for just the next few days – if you don’t have a Kindle you can download a free Kindle App for your tablet or smartphone.
Also available in paperback, Loxley – complete in itself – is the first volume in a series which continues with Wolfshead, Villain and Legend. Just click on the link below to get your FREE copy!
It will be FREE in the USA a few hours from now!
1198 A.D A hooded man brings rebellion to the forest…
Lionheart’s England, with the King fighting in Normandy… For the oppressed villagers of Sherwood there is no escape from persecution and despair. They exist under the sufferance of their brutal overlords.
When a mysterious stranger saves a miller’s son from cruel punishment, the Sheriff of Nottingham sends the ruthless Sir Guy of Gisborne to hunt him down.
His past life destroyed, Robin of Loxley must face his greatest challenge yet. Deadly with a longbow and a sword, he will fight tyranny and injustice, encounter allies and enemies old and new.
The vast Sherwood Forest with its hidden glades and ancient pathways is the last refuge of wolfsheads. Here their bloody battles will be fought, friendships forged and loyalties tested.
Loxley will become Robin Hood. Notorious leader of outlaws.
Their daring deeds will become legend.
This is the first in a four-part series The Chronicles of Robin Hood, and includes an historical note on the origins of the famous outlaw. Read the sequels Wolfshead, Villain and Legend now.
Here’s the link to your FREE copy…
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Loxley-Chronicles-Robin-John-Bainbridge-ebook/dp/B00WMJXRUC/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=Loxley&qid=1634565817&s=digital-text&sr=1-2
An Interview With John Bainbridge — Walk the Old Ways
This morning I had the great privilege of talking to outdoors author and novelist John D. Burns on his wonderful podcast Outside In. We talked about the outdoors, campaigning for access and the countryside, and the Dartmoor bylaws, so do tune in. And if you haven’t read John’s grand books about Scotland, please do – […]
An Interview With John Bainbridge — Walk the Old Ways
Speak For The Dead
Fellow crime author, the lovely T.G Campbell has interviewed my wife Anne, about her new Victorian mystery, over at the Bow Street Society website at bowstreetsociety.com
T.G Campbell writes intriguing crime fiction set in a vividly-realised Victorian London of the 1890s. Her Bow Street Society are a group of amateur consulting-detectives. They come together from all walks of life, using their every day expertise, to solve crimes where the police are baffled. A really original take on Victorian sleuths, they’re full of memorable characters and mysterious murder.
If you like Sherlock Holmes and Ripper Street, do check them out. Here’s the new title:
Dartmoor – Dangerous Game
“Sean Miller – a rogue of the first water; a former Army sniper, he seems unable to stay out of a fight.”
Sean Miller’s on his way back to fight in Spain when he’s diverted to Devon. To undertake a mission for renegade members of the German Secret Service, trying to stop the Nazis plunging the world into war. A secret agent lies dead in a moorland river and the one man who can keep the peace is an assassin’s target. As the hunter becomes the hunted in an epic chase, Miller encounters his greatest enemy in a dangerous game of death across the lonely hills of Dartmoor.
A fast-paced action thriller by the author of Balmoral Kill and the William Quest adventures
John Bainbridge is the author of over thirty books, including novels, thrillers and historical fiction, as well as non-fiction and topographical books about Britain. He has also written widely for newspapers and magazines and broadcast on radio and television. John read literature and history at the University of East Anglia. He campaigned for nine years as chief executive of the Dartmoor Preservation Association – one of Britain’s oldest environmental campaigning groups. He spends his spare time walking in the countryside.
Writing About Dartmoor, John Bainbridge says…
Dangerous Game is my personal tribute to Dartmoor – one of the few massive areas of wild country in southern England. It’s a place I know particularly well. I first walked there when I was seven years old. I have spent decades exploring Dartmoor and have long campaigned to keep it wild and free.
For nine years, very active years, I was chief executive of the Dartmoor Preservation Association – a voluntary group founded in 1883 to protect Dartmoor from many threats. During that time we had our share of victories and defeats. But Dartmoor is as you see it today because of the often militant stance taken by previous DPA campaigners.
I wanted to write a Dartmoor novel which was topographically accurate. Nearly all the places mentioned in this novel are real and you can seek them out on foot. The Dart Gorge is as magnificent as I’ve suggested, Wistman’s Wood as mysterious, the great heights of the northern moorland as wild. You can walk to Oke Tor, the setting of the book’s climax. Only a few houses are invented, as are all the characters.
The Duchy Hotel (now the Old Duchy Hotel) in Princetown, which features in the book, has been transformed into an information centre for the Dartmoor National Park Authority. Upstairs is the office of the Dartmoor Preservation Association, where I worked for those nine campaigning years.
Dartmoor Prison is still in use, though the footpath which used to pass near the French and American War Cemeteries – and which features in the book – no longer exists. It was closed in the 1970s. I objected to its loss, but lost the battle. A pity I always think. A pity too that there is very limited public access for anyone wishing to visit the war cemeteries.
I remain, like several of the characters in my book, a very committed Dartmoor Preservationist. The Moor needs more active campaigners!
Publisher’s Details:
Dangerous Game is available in paperback (ISBN 9781699543771) at £8.99 and as a Kindle e-Book for £2.99.
John Bainbridge has two blogs:
www.johnbainbridgewriter.wordpress.com and
www.walktheoldways.wordpress.com
Follow John on Twitter @stravaigerjohn
Here’s the link if you want to order a copy:
Speak for the Dead – Kindle Sale
My wife Annie’s latest Inspector Abbs mystery “Speak for the Dead” is on sale for this week only on Kindle for just 99 pence/cents.
This is the first time we’ve offered the book at a lower price.
The novel is also available as a paperback.
Secrets and murder in the fog of Victorian London.
When a grieving architect is stabbed by an intruder, the case seems simple enough. Only Inspector Josiah Abbs begs to differ. A stranger at Scotland Yard, Abbs must untangle a web of secrets and deceit, to find a murderer and make his mark.
In 1874, the Metropolis is changing, as streets are torn down and new buildings put up by the month. Meanwhile, in public halls and darkened parlours, the spiritualist movement is at its height… Finding his way about the fog-shrouded city, Abbs will risk everything to get justice for the dead.
Read the first two books in the series – “A Seaside Mourning” and “A Christmas Malice”.
“Speak for the Dead” includes an historical note on the Kennington area of London, where it’s set, as well as a look at spiritualism in the mid-Victorian period.
Loxley – on sale this week for 99 on Kindle
They came fast.
Three horsemen, two swinging swords at their side, the third low in the saddle and bearing a lance.
Fast and deadly.
Fast and deadly from three different directions.
It had been an hour since Loxley had left the monk’s cell to continue his journey to Nottingham. He had left the horse in Tuck’s care. He was afoot and vulnerable, for there were no trees in this part of Sherwood in which a man could seek shelter from charging horsemen. He was halfway across a vast open stretch of heathland when he saw them approach. They had ridden together on the road out of Nottingham. But even as he watched they separated. Riding away from Loxley.
And for a moment he thought they might have no business with him. Then they had turned the heads of their mounts to face him. One in front and the others on either side. There was a pause as though they were simply enjoying the fresh morning air.
And then they had charged, yelling to spur on their horses. Loxley fancied he could feel the vibration of the hooves across the soft ground. They were so close he could see every detail of their faces and clothing. And the look of triumph in their eyes.
He swung the longbow off his shoulder and thanked God that he had not unbent it as he often did when making a long journey. He pulled three arrows from the quiver, jamming two into the soft earth in front of him. He put the third into the bow, raised the weapon very slightly and sent the arrow into flight towards the soldier in front.
He didn’t pause to see it thud into the man’s chest, though he was aware, out of the corner of his eye, of the lance flying through the air. But even as he noted the success of that first shot he had loaded and fired a second arrow at the soldier to his left.
The shot was too speedily done. He saw the arrow tear into the man’s right shoulder and heard the soldier give a great cry. A noise which brought the charging horse to a sudden halt.
Even as he turned Loxley knew there would be no time to swing round and fire a third arrow. Instinct made him throw himself to the ground, just as the man’s swinging sword, powered by the speed of the horse as well as the practised turn of the sword-arm, cut through the air where his throat had been a second before.
As the horse brushed against his side, Loxley rolled once on the ground and regained his feet. Before the horseman could bring his mount about he had fired the third arrow, square into the soldier’s back. The horse came to a halt, its rider dangling down on one side.
Loxley dropped the bow and drew out his sword, for the wounded man was still mounted, head bent forward, walking the horse very slowly towards him. At a glance he could see the other two soldiers dead on the ground.
The stricken soldier came to within a few yards before he dropped his sword and slid down the side of the horse. He tried to stand and made a couple of staggering steps towards Loxley. And then he fell back to the ground, head raised and grasping the arrow in his shoulder. There was a look of desperation on his face as Loxley approached, his eyes never wavering from the sword in the outlaw’s hand.
Thoughts From Chaucer and Shakespeare — charles french words reading and writing
Today I will offer a few quotations from writers from earlier eras about creativity, learning, and teaching. (illustration from Cassell’s History Of England – Century Edition – published circa 1902) “And gladly wolde he lerne, and gladly teche” “And gladly would he learn, and gladly teach.” These are the Middle English and the Modern English […]
Thoughts From Chaucer and Shakespeare — charles french words reading and writing
John Bainbridge Writer 