Sanctuary!

How’s the weather with you? Here we’ve had cool, cool and wet or cool, wet and windy. I’ve just come back (Tuesday morning, heading for lunch) from a longer than usual walk because it’s been a frustrating morning at the hospital with my daughter because a misread x-ray meant she spent an extra month in a cast. And it was during the heat wave. And that delays her rehab by a month.

One of my heroines would have been proud of me. I did not scream and shout, although I wanted to. I asked if there was any way we could find out what had happened without a formal complaint. There was, so she has apologies, but you know how it is when you’re fighting not to lose your temper. You need either a good walk or a lot of chocolate, and the dark clouds didn’t matter. So now I’m windblown and relieved that it wasn’t broken so she isn’t that fragile.

And there was the wind in my face and the smell of the sea and the little boats on the harbour and Corfe Castle in the distance and honestly, the NHS ought to prescribe it. It doesn’t, but here’s the view before I list the special offers. See you on Sunday when the weather is meant to be warmer again, and hoping for peace for both of us…

SPECIAL OFFERS

Ghost of Christmas Past

Craft-loving middle-aged Amy Hammond and not as retired as he'd like to be spy Peter Cunningham are both determined not to find any more rouble while Peter's cousin Drew has joined them for Christmas. 

Only Amy’s niece Ellie needs their help after a man fell from the roof of the stately home where her new fiancé's family have lived for centuries. Her fiancé is suspected of murder, and there are dark undercurrents and a link to a scandal involving the British Royal Family. The two young spies that Peter is mentoring are just as far out of their depths as she is, so this is one Christmas that Amy won't be able to forget for all the wrong reasons.

Can Amy's belief that people matter more than great causes save the day?

And what will happen if her beloved but bossy big sister, almost as bossy niece and her niece's mother-in-law ever bond enough to decide to organise her for her own good?

Sometimes, murder and mystery can be the least of her problems!

The Past is Always With us

Avid crafter Amy Hammond always wanted to have an adventure but  she was too busy with everyday life until her new next door neighbour, the nothing like as retired as he claims that he wants to be spy Brigadier Peter Cunningham draws her into his stray world.  She's much happier working at the craft centre at the beautiful Swansmere Estate, which is in the heart of the equally beautiful Dorset countryside.

She's getting ready to teach her first ever course on quilting. but she isn't sure that she wants to do it or can do it, so the last thing she needs is her niece finding an old photograph and a letter in a chest of drawers that she’s restoring.Her attempts to reunite them with their owners lead Amy and Peter to an old mystery, and some very modern threats,

Can they see justice done after so many years?

How is Liam, the talented woodworker who also works at Swansmere involved?

Can Amy teach a course? Does she want to?'

And are the couple ever going to move in together rather than living happily in a pair of semi-detached cottages?

Sweet Revenge

Crafter Amy Hammond and her neighbour and partner the nothing like as retired as he wants to be spy Brigadier Peter Cunningham are finding trouble again when an important local businessman collapses and dies at a Fun Day that’s being held at the Dorset stately home where Amy runs the craft complex.

Could it have been poisoned fudge from their newest shop? It's got to be possible because the businessman used dodgy tactics to try to force them out of their old shop but they're such nice people, and lots of people loathed the businessman

What’s going on with their new local MP and why is Peter's old boss so interested in him?

And are Peter and Amy ever going to move in together rather than living happily  in a pair of semi-detached houses? 

Warriors Way

Ros Madoc needs a hero to help her to rescue her sister from a sinister cult. Former SAS officer Gray Lennox needs a new life because he can’t face the Army any more.

Neither of them expected to be caught up in the ultra secret world of British Intelligence’s MI27 when they discover that the cult leader is developing a computer programme that’d allow him to take over any computer in the world without anyone knowing that he's been there.

Can they rescue Ros’s sister and show her that there’s a better world away from the cult, save the world, rebuild their tattered self-confidence and find a future together? And that’s assuming that there is a future and that the world isn’t actually in the End Times that The Earth Family are prophesying.

All in all, that's quite a big ask...

Cynics Way

Cybercop and good-guy hacker Luke Hallam hates everything that the establishment stands for so much that he’s the last man that any sane spymistress would send to infiltrate a doomsday cult. A senior government minister wants him brought under control so the head of the ultra-secretive M27, who exist to resolve the problems that would give the rest of us nightmares if we knew about them, has decided to kill two birds with one stone without bothering with the formality of recruiting him.

Shadow agent Alix Somerville has already infiltrated the cult and is working to delay the program that’d allow them to take over any computer with no one any the wiser. She’s struggling, and struggles even more when the man she once loved turns up because she knows about his dual identity but didn’t tell her bosses.

Can an unlikely hero save the world and come to terms with his past?

Can he find the courage to love after a massive betrayal?

Can Alix overcome her fear of involvement?

Most importantly of all, can they literally save the world?

It takes a village

Nanny Freya comes back to Windy Bay to live with her grandmother when she gets her dream job up at Druett Manor but all her plans come crushing down when she finds her grandmother dead. They had so many dreams about what they'd do together, so he decides to honour them by doing them with the help of her grandmother's friends. As she makes friends across the generations she's more certain than ever that this is where she belongs but will a flood and a visit from her parents derail all her plans?

And what's going on with handsome Oliver, the accountant who's given up his dreams to train as a carpenter?

What was her grandmother planning?

Luckily, this is Windy Bay, where time goes more slowly and people are kind and things happen that couldn't anywhere else.

A Village Spring

Doctor's receptionist Lottie Jackson is fighting a polite war with locum Doctor Chris Cameron, who thinks she's too young, too blonde, and pretty much too much of everything he doesn't want. Everyone else thinks he's great, but to she thinks of him as Doctor Grumpy or Doctor Dark Cloud.

Her world is turned upside down when she realises that she's not only who she thought she was but she has a younger sister who needs a bone marrow donation. As she navigates the process she has to handle parents she never knew she had, a so-called mother who's lied to her all her life and a painful procedure that may not work.

Luckily, this is Windy Bay, where time goes more slowly, people are kind, and there's a welcome for anyone who needs it, so even Doctor Grumpy may not be quite what he seems. In fact, he may even be Doctor Exactly Who She Needs.

Weddings in the Village

Freya, Jess and Lottie all want to be married to the men they love but none of them want the fuss of a big wedding so their octogenarian friend and mentor Cyndy suggests the idea of an old-fashioned joint wedding . At first, they want to keep it secret as long as possible, but they rapidly realise that that won't be an option in the beautiful seaside village of Windy Bay and instead support each other both as they work for the simple wedding they want and deal with old memories while they make new ones.

Can Freya cope with her ever-so-slightly domineering mother?

Can Jess get past her grief because her mother can't be there and her complicated family?

Can Lottie work out a way to juggle the family she's recently discovered adopted her, her original family and her feelings of never being good enough?

They're all tough asks, but luckily this is Windy Bay where time goes more slowly, people are kind, things happen that can't anywhere else and happy endings sometime aren't what you're expecting them to be.