Well, there had to be something good about October half term, and here it is. Black Roses is reduced to a bargain price in the Kindle Half Term sale..

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Roses-ebook/dp/B008J45RBG/ref=sr_1_1_bnp_1_kin?ie=UTF8&qid=1382343684&sr=8-1&keywords=black+roses

It was compulsory florals at the Isle of Wight literature festival, where I discussed spies in fiction and non-fiction with Clare Mulley, author of The Spy Who Loved, and Roger Hermiston, author of a thrilling biography of George Blake. I argued that the great thing about having a spy as a protagonist is that it serves as a fantastic metaphor for what writing is, or should be – ie, careful observation, heightened perception and close attention to detail.

If someone had told me this time last year that Black Roses would be book of the week in Waitrose, well I wouldn’t have believed them, but here it is!

Black Roses is to be Waitrose’s Book of the Week during October! I’m so pleased and will be haunting the aisles accordingly.

My new paperback cover has arrived. It’ll be in the shops from September. I think the girl looks suitably trepidacious…

I was so pleased that Black Roses was chosen as part of the Highlights of 2013 in The Times’ Pick of the Summer fiction. It was described as ‘the perfect fusion of history, suspense and high romance….the pace is relentless, the background brilliantly evoked and the sex gorgeously spiced with danger.’  Relaxing, then!

I thought it would be interesting to see some pictures of the sites which appear in Black Roses. To start, here’s a shot of the Ufa studios at Babelsberg, which remains very much as it was, and in now back in business, making blockbuster pictures, such as Tom Cruise’s Valkyrie.