Stuff a Stocking

How's your Christmas prepping going? Me? I've got a few bits of food in the store cupboard but as for presents...not even started.

To be honest, I'm a wild procrastinator and I always leave things to the last minute.

But you...you don't have to because I'm here to remind you that you can now buy HIGH SPIRITS across loads of different platforms for your Kindle or other ebook devices. Find out how Alec, Jean and Pol are faring in the afterlife, trapped inside Partridge Hall

Fancy reading a heartwarming tale of rediscovering old friendships and putting the past to rest? The grab yourself a copy of SINCE YOU'VE BEEN GONE and find out how Hal finally let's go of his old flame Abigail and looks to the future and not the past.

Or maybe you like your stories in bite-size chunks, then why not check out TALES FOR THE FIRESIDE, five stories of love and friendship. Perfect for snuggling up on the sofa with.

You can link through to all the sellers by visiting my website LisaDyerAuthor.com

Meet my main character - Alec Edwards - HIGH SPIRITS

Here’s your chance to get to know the main characters in HIGH SPIRITS

So, what’s HIGH SPIRITS all about?

1944 – ALEC EDWARDS world was opened up when he fell in love with JEAN FRANCIS. From the quiet confines of his orderly museum where everything was catalogued, labelled and recorded, he had been propelled into the chaotic realms of romantic attachment. This was during the Second World War, a time of air raids, bombings and rationing. Then the ‘worst’ happened. Alec and Jean were in the museum after hours when the air raid sirens went. Alec, ever the vigilant curator, was loathed to leave his precious collections out of its case and vulnerable and insisted on finishing the job. Jean is less than impressed and a dispute ensued and just as she is in the middle of delivering a right royal ear bashing when a bomb lands…..

It’s 70 something years since the bomb fell and the museum is staging an anniversary exhibition. Part of the original bomb, which caused extensive damage to a wing of the museum is going on display, alongside objects relating to the life and work of Alec. BETHAN ANDREWS is at her wit's end. As the curator of the museum she is leading on the exhibition but there is one small problem – Alec’s life was dedicated to the curation and collection of objects and little is known in the museum about him personally. The museum’s board of trustees has insisted on the anniversary being recognized so in desperation she puts out a public plea for help via the local paper. PATRICK HARMAN, Alec’s great-great nephew, responds.

In the meantime, the local rag has pricked up its ears. Alerted by Bethan’s call for help, a reporter has unearthed a long forgotten tale of ghostly lights and apparitions in the museum; of dead curators seeking their lost treasure. This led to the wealthy but totally batty BASTIAN HEDGES, the producer of the global phenomenon The Ghost Doctor ©, to bribe the Trustees with a big fat cheque, in return for filming his Midsummer Special in the museum.

Patrick arrives with his grandfather, POP, a cantankerous old man, at the museum with memorabilia. Much to Bethan’s horror, she realizes that she and Patrick have crossed paths before as students, in particular at the Student Summer Ball, when Bethan threw her principles to the wind and had a drunken night of passion with Patrick. She is relieved when he appears not to recall her at all. However, she shouldn’t relax. He is just being a gentleman and not letting on! For him, rather than being a blur of alcohol and regret, he rather liked her but then the cold light of day dawn and Bethan was in denial. Now they are thrown back together.

What none of them could realise is…the ghost stories are true; the curator does haunt the museum. The day the bomb dropped, it did more than just damage the wing, it killed Alec and Jean and they’ve spent the past 70 years watching the world go by aided and abetted by a much older ghost, that of POL, an eleven-year-old girl from the Iron Age.

The stage is now set for some ghostly intervention and for love to conquer all.

In this post, we’re going to meet ALEC EDWARDS, former assistant curator of Partridge Hall.

What is the name of your character?

Meet Alec Edwards. Born, lived and died in Plimpton Market, a town set in the rolling South Downs.

When and where is the story set?

The story begins during the war with the prologue to set the scene as how Alec and Jean met and fell in love before their untimely demise. It then moves onto the present day and picks up on the characters that work in the museum – Bethan, Patrick, Sal, Billy, and Seth. Unbeknown to them, their every move is being observed by three very mischievous ghosts.

What should we know about him?

Alec is fastidious to the extreme when it comes to his museum – his pride and joy. He developed his enthusiasm for the past as a boy and was fortunate enough to be taken on by the kindly curator, as a school-boy assistant. From there it was only a matter of time before he was employed full-time and spending all his waking hours in his beloved stores.

Alec’s devotion to his museum is such that he never made time for love. That all changes the day he happened to look out of his office window, tucked up in the attics of Partridge Hall, and across to the nearest building. Here, he sees the vision of loveliness that is Jean Francis. From then on, they see each other every day – she would smile and he would nod until fate finally takes a hand and they cross paths outside the local newsagents.

Of course, falling in love doesn’t alter Alec’s fundamental nature. He’s still fussy and prone to being a bit short with Jean. They bicker a lot but ultimately, he loves her with all his heart.

It’s just a shame that his parents and hers were so dead set against them marrying.

What is the main conflict?

He’s dead and having to live in his cherished museum with all the new-fangled ideas that have come along since his departure from the mortal world.

Alec is stuck in 1944 and aged 30, from a time when objects were recorded in dusty old accession registers and noted down on cards. It was an age when business was conducted over a hearty evening meal in the local coaching house and gifts of money were received from local benefactors who required deferential treatment and a bit of toadying.

Now, it’s all stakeholders and funding managers and people passing through who want to jazz it all up a bit. To top it all off, they keep re-arranging his stores and dammit, he’s just going to have to put it all back again!

What are his personal relationships like and how do they shape his character?

Alec had a very strained relationship with his own parents. We don’t learn much about his father but it seems his mother was a huge snob and this had filtered down to his sister, Rose, mother of Pop.

They seemed to have some idea that having a curator in the family gave them social standing – they had servants for heaven’s sake!

Alec got out of it all by burying himself in his work, not that it was a hardship –he was never happier than when he was in his museum. He even slept there, in a little camp bed in his office.

Jean opens him up, just a bit. She likes dancing and movies and drags him along to both. He feigns reluctance but he’s besotted with her. She has the biggest influence on him and, if they’d lived, she may well have reformed and softened his character. As it is, Alec is stuck with the mannerisms and idioms from life which makes him sound somewhat stuffy.

How do I get a copy?

HIGH SPIRITS is now available to download from across the Amazon market to your Kindle or Kindle apps for £3.99 or in paperback for £9.99

Meet my main characters - Jean Francis - HIGH SPIRITS

Here’s your chance to get to know the main characters in HIGH SPIRITS

So, what’s HIGH SPIRITS all about?

1944 – ALEC EDWARDS’ world was opened up when he fell in love with JEAN FRANCIS. From the quiet confines of his orderly museum where everything was catalogued, labelled and recorded, he had been propelled into the chaotic realms of romantic attachment. This was during the Second World War, a time of air raids, bombings and rationing. Then the ‘worst’ happened. Alec and Jean were in the museum after hours when the air raid sirens went. Alec, ever the vigilant curator, was loathed to leave his precious collections out of its case and vulnerable and insisted on finishing the job. Jean is less than impressed and a dispute ensued and just as she is in the middle of delivering a right royal ear bashing when the bomb lands…..

It’s 70 something years since the bomb fell and the museum is staging an anniversary exhibition. Part of the original bomb, which caused extensive damage to a wing of the museum is going on display, alongside objects relating to the life and work of Alec. BETHAN ANDREWS is at her wit's end. As the curator of the museum she is leading on the exhibition but there is one small problem – Alec’s life was dedicated to the curation and collection of objects and little is known in the museum about him personally. The museum’s board of trustees has insisted on the anniversary being recognized so in desperation she puts out a public plea for help via the local paper. PATRICK HARMAN, Alec’s great-great nephew, responds.

In the meantime, the local rag has pricked up its ears. Alerted by Bethan’s call for help, a reporter has unearthed a long forgotten tale of ghostly lights and apparitions in the museum; of dead curators seeking their lost treasure. This led to the wealthy but totally batty BASTIAN HEDGES, the producer of the global phenomenon The Ghost Doctor ©, to bribe the Trustees with a big fat cheque, in return for filming his Midsummer Special in the museum.

Patrick arrives with his grandfather, POP, a cantankerous old man, at the museum with memorabilia. Much to Bethan’s horror, she realizes that she and Patrick have crossed paths before as students, in particular at the Student Summer Ball, when Bethan threw her principles to the wind and had a drunken night of passion with Patrick. She is relieved when he appears not to recall her at all. However, she shouldn’t relax. He is just being a gentleman and not letting on! For him, rather than being a blur of alcohol and regret, he rather liked her but then the cold light of day dawn and Bethan was in denial. Now they are thrown back together.

What none of them could realise is…the ghost stories are true; the curator does haunt the museum. The day the bomb dropped, it did more than just damage the wing, it killed Alec and Jean and they’ve spent the past 70 years watching the world go by aided and abetted by a much older ghost, that of POL, an eleven-year-old girl from the Iron Age.

The stage is now set for some ghostly intervention and for love to conquer all.

In this post, we’re going to meet JEAN FRANCIS

What is the name of your character?

Meet Jean Francis Born, lived and died in Plimpton Market, a town set in the rolling South Downs.

When and where is the story set?

The story begins during the war with the prologue to set the scene as to how Alec and Jean met and fell in love before their untimely demise. It then moves onto the present day and picks up on the characters that work in the museum – Bethan, Patrick, Sal, Billy, and Seth. Unbeknown to them, their every move is being observed by three very mischievous ghosts.

What should we know about her?

Jean loves life. She’s only 21 and had a job as a secretary in the law firm of Clipper, Clipper and Boughton. She likes to go to the Roxy on a Saturday night and dance, although it’s not what it was before the war! She enjoys putting on a special dress and doing her hair for a night out. She’s from one of the prominent families in Plimpton Market, although they have been somewhat snubbed due to a scandal decades before.

She doesn’t take to dying very easily (well, who does?) and feels lost and out of place in the museum – which by her own admission, she’d never stepped foot in prior to her courtship with Alec.

What is the main conflict?

It’s taken Jean some time to adjust to eternity especially as Alec revels in being in his beloved museum 24/7. Her transition has been helped by the presence of Pol and gradually she began to view the museum as her home into which she welcomed visitors –even if those visitors couldn’t see her.

She often wonders about her relationship with Alec and whether she would have managed his proclivities if they’d lived. Sometimes, she wishes she could move on.

What are her personal relationships like and how do they shape her character?

Jean had been brought up in the knowledge that her family, although with a stain on their reputation due to the affair of an ancestor, were something in the town. Her parents were of independent means, although her father expected both her and her sister, Violet, to earn a living. She’d been given the job of secretary on the back of her father being a member of the local Freemasons lodge so she’d never really experienced hardship

Her relationship with Alec came as a surprise to her friends and was frowned upon by her family who hoped that one of the daughters would marry into one of the still socially respectable families and thus restore their own reputation by association.

Alec really wasn’t the type that one would image Jean being attached to but there you go – love is blind!

Seventy-something years have not dulled her love of Alec but revealing herself to Bethan opens her world up far more than if she had lived and given her something to hold onto.

How do I get a copy?

HIGH SPIRITS is now available to download from across the Amazon market to your Kindle or Kindle apps for £3.99 or in paperback for £9.99

Flash Sale - starts tomorrow!

To celebrate the release of HIGH SPIRITS on January 6th I'm discounting Since You've Been Gone and Tales for the Fireside (ebooks) to 99p for 48 hours over the weekend 15-16 December.

Find out more by visiting my Facebook page or visit my webpage

Haunted Mansion - part two

In this post I'm taking a look at 50 Berkeley Square. Now, I don't know if this was the influence behind the name of 'The Ghosts of Berkeley Square' but if it's not then that's a bit coincidental, don't you think?

Berkeley Square sits in Mayfair, Central London, in a highly exclusive area. In the middle is a large green space around which is ranged the houses. Within walking distance is Hyde Park, The Mall, St James's Palace and Buckingham Palace.

It feels like a wildly unlikely place to find a haunting, amidst the bustle of life in the capital.

Charles Harper in Haunted Houses, published in 1907 stated that

“… It seems that a Something or Other, very terrible indeed, haunts or did haunt a particular room. This unnamed Raw Head and Bloody Bones, or whatever it is, has been sufficiently awful to have caused the death, in convulsions, of at least two foolhardy persons who have dared to sleep in that chamber…”

The challenge of sleeping in the haunting room was taken up by an unnamed man. A little after midnight, the bell the man had agreed to ring, to summon assistance was heard. Rushing to his aid, his friends found him rigid with terror, unable to tell them what he had seen. He died shortly afterwards.

The house remained empty for a number of years but not necessarily uninhabited. Passers-by told of flickering lights, disembodied screams, and the sound of a body being dragged down the stairs.

The source of the haunting was speculated to be the brother of a former owner, Mr Du Pre. This poor unfortunate was locked in a room for his own safety and was reputedly fed through a hole in the door.

Another contender was a gentleman by the name of Myers who was jilted at the altar and took to be a recluse. The sound of footsteps could be his as he wanders the house by candlelight.

In more recent times, people in the building have experienced the sense of something standing behind them, only finding nothing there.

An employee working in the accounts department of a firm that had the haunted room, reported seeing a column of brown mist that moved quickly across the room.

In my forthcoming novel HIGH SPIRITS, stories abound of lights seen flickering from room to room and local legend tell of a ghostly curator who prowls the Hall at night searching for his lost treasure.

Excerpt

Tommy Pearson was having a good few days off work. He had been in the pub since lunchtime and was now strolling through the park, taking a shortcut to his digs at the lower end of town.

He felt particularly mellow on this warm evening. He’d played the fruit machines and won, got a girl’s phone number, and was looking forward to a lie in tomorrow. Life was sweet.

As he passed by the mansion, he glanced up and saw a light moving from window to window, and his beer-addled brain suddenly recalled something he’d recently read. His first instinct was to run and, always being one to follow his gut; he did just that.

High Spirits - where it all began

Growing up in England during the seventies meant three television channels – BBC1, BBC2 and Southern (in the days when independent TV was very regionalised).

Saturdays meant two of those three precious channels were taken up with sports. BBC1 hosted Grandstand whilst on Southern it was World of Sport. Both comprised of several hours of wrestling, horse racing, football, motor racing etc. I guess it wasn't all so corporate big money back in those days!

All this meant that BBC, for me, not being a sports fan, was the go-to place and usually Saturday afternoon meant a film.

It was here that I discovered my love of the Ealing comedies, of Laurel and Hardy, of Gene Kelly musicals, of Powell and Pressburger.

My favourite films though, were the ones that had a bit of the supernatural about them. I just loved ghosts. Not scary ones but romantic, comedy, spine-tingling ghosts.

To celebrate the upcoming publication of my next novel HIGH SPIRITS, I'm going to take you on a tour of my favourite ghostly films from those lazy Saturday afternoons.

Today, it's The Ghosts of Berkeley Square

For me, this is the one that most inspired the ideas behind High Spirit.

Starring Robert Morely as General 'Jumbo' Burlap and Felix Aylmer as Colonel 'Bulldog' Kelsoe, in this 1947 whimsical comedy about two 18th century officers who end up killing themselves after an elaborate plan to capture the Duke of Marlborough (and stop a war) goes terribly wrong.

Incurring the wrath of Queen Anne, the two hapless ghosts are condemned to haunt the house in Berkeley Square until a monarch crosses the threshold.

Both, naturally, blame each other for the whole thing and for many years refused to speak to each other. Realising that the only way to break the curse is to get another monarch to visit, they resolve their quarrel and set about hatching a plan.

Over the decades the house changes use and occupants including a French bordello, home to a harem, a theatre, a hospital and an officers' club.

Finally, when the house is bombed during an air raid, Queen Mary visits the damaged property and the two ghosts are released to take their place in the afterlife.

I think what I loved about this film was the affection that the two characters had for each other. Despite spending 66 years not speaking, it was clear that they couldn't be without each other even if they do communicate by writing notes!

The Madam who runs the bordello is aware of her guests and is not afraid of them and they have a ball with the girls and playing cards.

With each new tenant the unfortunate pair believe that a royal visit will happen and each time it is the ghosts themselves that cause the problem. The pair bicker and fall out, try and scare off newcomers and, every now and then they materialise to mingle with the tenants – such as the men in the Officer's Club (until they get rumbled). This ghostly Odd Couple play for laughs as they watch the times change in their old home whilst manipulating the lives of the tenants to get a Royal Visit.

The Ghosts of Berkeley Square is a film of its time so, rather sadly there is casual racism and a lot of jingoism.

Excerpts from High Spirits:

Page 27-28

'Through the quiet of the evening, Billy did his rounds, checked that all the doors and windows were secure, that nothing was inside that shouldn’t be, and read his paper. The occasional noise reached his ears – a tap, a knock, a thump, and he shook his head and smiled to himself. Some nights the noises were louder and more frequent, and he thought that maybe there was another spat going on.'

Page 107-108

Seventy-odd years had elapsed since that momentous night when Alec and Jean had lost their lives, and for them, the time had passed slowly. A minute was still sixty seconds and sixty minutes still formed an hour. They witnessed the sun rise and set and the summer pass to autumn and onto winter and into spring - the eternal rhythms of the world. For them, however, it was like the slow ticking of a clock in an empty room, and sometimes it felt as loud. They could ‘see’ the world as it came to them, although the tones were muted, like an old photograph. They could ‘hear’ the excited chatter of schoolchildren who visited on an almost daily basis with their harassed helpers and dog-eared workbooks. They could even ‘smell’ the accumulation of time and arrested decay in the stores or the ‘perfume’ of old books as the paper, ink and glue broke down. Nevertheless, they were completely alone.

Page 58-59

“Well, well, well, old boy. This is going to be interesting.”

“I hope he has a good word to say about me. He was a right little so and so when he was a boy.”

“I wouldn’t know. I never met him!”

“You didn’t miss much!”

“Come on, let’s go and enjoy the character assignation.”

“If we must.”

“Do I have too?”

“Yes, you can come and hear what Alec was really like!”

“I’ve always been charming, Pol, don’t you listen to her!”

Haunted Mansion - part one

Who doesn't love a haunted mansion? Well, I guess it depends on your disposition but come on, it's got to get your interest, right?

HIGH SPIRITS is set in Partridge Hall, formerly the home of the family that gave it its name. The last resident, Sir Wolseley Partridge died childlessly and rather than finding an heir amongst his numerous relations, he chose to bequeath his mansion to the town of Plimpton Market.

The mansion became the home of the town museum, acquiring artefacts from the town's lengthy history to fill its rooms.

But Partridge Hall also holds a secret. Hiding within it are three lively spirits – Alec, former assistant curator, who still considers Partridge Hall to his domain and intensely dislikes any changes the present incumbent makes. Jean, his young lady, who had never been in the Hall until she started stepping out with Alec and is most displeased to find that she is spending her eternity there. Finally, there's young Pol, a child from the Iron Age who has seen it all – the land before any settlement, the building of the medieval manor and its replacement with the far grander Hall, and finally its last incarnation as a museum. These three love, laugh and squabble. Are each other's boon companions as the years roll on but occasionally, they get a little fed up with the same old routine.

To celebrate the release of HIGH SPIRTS on January 6 2018, let's take a tour of famously haunted mansions starting with WOODCHESTER MANSION.

Ghosts abound at this unfinished property built over the original house, Spring Park. William Leigh, ran out of money before he could complete the project and the building remained in the family until 1938 when it was sold.

Sight of a headless horseman and a floating coffin have convinced locals that the estate is haunted.

Inside the property it is as if time has stood still and that all the workmen have downed tools and left for the day. Here, a ‘tall man’ is seen walking along the corridor which leads to the chapel, whilst another man is seen in the doorway of the same chapel looking up at the stained-glass windows.

From the scullery, singing can be heard. Of course, Woodchester was never a home, being unfinished so these spirits must be from the former building, Spring Park. Plans show that the scullery and kitchen for both buildings are in the exact same spot. A young girl has been seen on the staircase but, again, this has to be the stairs from the former home.

On the landing is a sentient ghost, that is, he is aware that he has been seen whilst another is that of a man with a hat.

As well as sensing the presence of 'people' in military uniform- the house was used by US and Canadian soldiers just prior to D-Day, music from the 1940's has been heard. And, some visitors have reported the smell of bacon frying!

In HIGH SPIRITS – Alec has the misfortune to end up in the old scullery of Partridge Hall after he'd accidentally fully manifested corporeal after getting his trousers in a twist over a display label.

Unfortunately, for him, he is captured on a multitude of phones and his image is quickly going viral on the internet.

Bethan Andrews, curator, is summoned to the museum by an anxious colleague and arrives to find the street jam-packed with members of the public, eager to get inside to find the ghost for themselves.

Inside, Bethan finds both Jean and Pol out of their wits with worry as to where Alec has disappeared off to after his 'incident'. They finally locate him in the scullery, a dirty old room that now houses the boiler and a multitude of spiders.

Excerpt:

The scullery was situated in the basement and housed the boilers. It was a bit dank with only a half moon window and plenty of cobwebs. The only person who ventured in there was the gas man when he came to read the meter, and that was with extreme reluctance.

Bethan made her way down the narrow back stairs into the basement and opened the first door on the left. It was swollen with damp, and gingerly she felt inside the door for the light, hoping, as she did that she didn’t hit any spiders of which there were many.

In its day, this had been the provenance of the scullery maid, the lowest ranking maid in the servant hierarchy who did the menial jobs such as washing up and other dirty chores deemed beneath the kitchen maids.

As Bethan’s eyes became adjusted to the dim light, she could just make out the old wooden draining board and the deep ceramic sink.

She ventured cautiously down the small flight of creaking stairs and turned around, nearly wetting herself as she did.

In the darkest corner, sitting on an old wooden stool was Alec.

“Alec!” cried Jean and flew over to him.

Pol got there first and threw her spindly arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. He patted her arm in a good-natured way, and she let him go.

Alec pulled out his hankie and mopped his brow.

“What happened?” asked Bethan.

“I…I... don’t rightly know,” stuttered Alec who were he alive, may correctly be described as having gone ashen. “All of a sudden, there they all were, the people I mean, looking at me and then, it was like a wrench, and I was here.”

“But why couldn’t I feel you?” Jean was as distraught at finding him as she was of losing him. She crouched down beside him and took his hand in hers.

Alec looked at her fondly. “I don’t know my dear, but I couldn’t feel you either.”

Jean laid her head in his lap and kissed his hand. “Oh, my darling. I thought I’d lost you!”

Alec lifted her face to his and kissed her: “It will take more than this to separate us, my love.”

Next time – 50 Berkeley Square!