Blog

Pirates vs Smugglers Pirates versus smugglers? Well not in any battle I know of, but it could well have been, as the two groups of varmints were of a different ilk. I often hear people say ‘Julie writes about pirates’. I’ve been asked to do talks about pirates, but it’s smugglers I know about. What’s… Read More

  When I’m not reading or writing I’m often found with a pair of knitting needles in my hands. I can be working on something for myself or, very often, items for my grandchildren either something to wear or maybe a toy. I was sitting in the garden a few Sundays ago, working on a summer jacket… Read More

Debtors, felons and a gentleman who cared A little while ago I posted a quote from an 18th-century report by John Howard, who was the first prison reformer. I was reminded of it today as the government announced reforms to the present prison system. John Howard toured the country inspecting prisons and produced a report,… Read More

I’ve just completed the third book in my Smugglers’ Town Mysteries series. It isn’t finished though and over the next months the manuscript will be edited, commented upon and proof read in readiness for publication in the summer. This is a time when I step back from the story, remove myself from the world I’ve… Read More

The Thirteenth Box and The Face of Sam are set in late 18th-century Hampshire, in and around the ‘smugglers’ town’ of Christchurch. Christchurch, with its then secluded beaches, a double tide, large harbour with a narrow entrance and two rivers feeding the harbour was an ideal place to bring in sought-after contraband.  Smuggling was undertaken… Read More

In The Face of Sam smugglers from Kent travel to Christchurch in search of Francis Woolsey, a dragoon captain from Faversham. The gang seek revenge for the capture by Woolsey and his men of one of their number and retrieval of a cypher they accuse Woolsey of stealing from them. In fact, the cypher, along… Read More