Cleethorpes or Bust
The next Sanford 3rd Age Club Mystery has been a while coming, but yesterday, April 17, the script went off to my editor, the estimable Maureen Vincent-Northam so that she could exercise her red pen. It should be back to me before the end of the week, at which stage I will make the necessary corrections, send it back to Maureen for her approval, and from there it goes to darkstroke.
It’s far too early to put a release date on it, but I’ll let you know in due course.
There’s a fair bit of me in Joe Murray. He’s quite an astute man, but in other areas he’s a complete idiot. Like me, he suffers from COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). In plain English, his lungs are shot. So how does he deal with it? He has his inhaler (I never go anywhere without mine) and when his chest gets tight, he takes one or two puffs. It works. But he’s stupid. He stopped smoking a few years ago, and then started again… Just as I did.
As I get older, the COPD is making life not just difficult but almost intolerable, so once again, I’m on the road to quitting. Am I going to put Joe through the same agony? That remains to be seen.
In Confusion in Cleethorpes, we find the Sanford 3rd-agers going to Cleethorpes, would you believe? They’re looking forward to a carefree weekend with a swing band, the Shoreline Swingsters, providing entertainment at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel just off the seafront of what is one of North Lincolnshire’s prettiest little resorts.
But then someone is poisoned. And then Mort Norris disappears. And Joe’s chest is getting worse. It all adds up to stress, stress, stress for Joe and his faithful friends, Sheila and Brenda, and a lot of falling out between the various factions.
As always, there’s a good deal of light-hearted banter, particularly with regard to Cleethorpes. Situated on the south side of the Humber Estuary, the place is renowned for the vast spread of sand between the promenade and the actual sea. I remember going there as a child, and I never saw the tide come in. My wife and I went back quite recently, and I still didn’t see the tide come in.
Will this bother Joe and his friends? Probably not. But the hassles of the weekend will have their effect on our heroes. Do they triumph? I’m not going to tell you (evil laugh). You’ll have to read the book to find out.
Confusion in Cleethorpes, Sanford 3rd Age Club Mystery #22 is scheduled for release on July 19, which coincidentally, would have been my late brother’s 70th birthday, but it’s available for pre-order right now at: