Book BlurbIntroducing Twenty-one-year-old Amy Rowlings, a vivacious, quick-witted collector of imported American music, a movie buff and an avid reader of crime fiction. January 1939 and the residents of the snow-covered streets of a small Kentish town awake to horrific news.When young Amy Rowlings meets Detective Sergeant Bodkin at the scene of a robbery on the way to work at The Mill, one snowy, January morning, she is blissfully unaware of how much her life is about to change.She is drawn into the murky world of murder when the body of Edward Handsley is found lying on the floor of the clothing factory. Edward, a libertine, philanderer, the son of George, the factory owner, a young man with many enemies, many of them female.Bodkin is new to the area and accepts Amy’s offer to provide local knowledge but she soon becomes an invaluable source of information. When Adam Smethwick is arrested for the murder, Amy, a family friend, is convinced of his innocence and sets out to prove that the detective has arrested the wrong man.Amy befriends Justine, the young, French fiancé of the elderly George, and soon discovers that it was not all sweetness and light in the Handsley family home. Meanwhile, back at the factory, Amy is sure that the foreman, Mr Pilling, has something to hide.As the investigation proceeds, Amy finds that her burgeoning relationship with Bodkin is pushed to the limits as the detective becomes even more convinced that he has arrested the right man and while Bodkin relies heavily on the facts as they are presented, Amy has a more nuanced approach to solving the crime, born out of her beloved Agatha Christie books Murder at the Mill is the first book in a gorgeous 1930's cosy crime series .AMY RETURNS ! - Death at Lychgate: the second Amy Rowlings book is out Christmas 2023
Extract
‘Bodkin!’
Both Amy and the detective turned towards the sound of the angry voice. Walking towards them was a fifty-year-old, thickset man, wearing a light-grey trilby and a heavy, double breasted, overcoat. He stamped his booted feet on the cold concrete of the loading bay floor and scowled at Bodkin.
‘This had better be bloody good, Bodkin. I’m supposed to be driving my wife to her mother’s in Tunbridge Wells this morning and, if Mrs Laws isn’t happy, then you can guarantee, Inspector Laws won’t be happy, either.’ A look of pain came over his face. ‘It’s a long drive to Tunbridge.’
Bodkin straightened and pushed his feet together. Amy thought he was going to salute, but instead he snapped out a quick report.
‘There’s a body inside, Sir. The deceased is the factory owner’s son, one Edward Handsley. He appears to have been attacked in the repair shop, which is to the left of the loading bay doors. The body is in the spare-parts section, which is connected to the main repair room. We don’t know how long it has been there as the night shift maintenance team had no reason to go into that area during their stint, so Mr Handsley could have been lying there since the shifts changed over, yesterday evening.’
Bodkin stopped his report, waiting for a response from his superior, but when nothing came, he continued.
‘The deceased is lying on his front; he has suffered a traumatic head wound on the right-hand side of his head. There is a large, adjustable pipe wrench, lying on the floor at his feet.’
Bodkin stopped again.
‘That’s about it so far, Sir.’
Laws looked past Bodkin to the interior of the loading bay.
‘Who reported it?’ he asked without looking at the sergeant.
‘One of the maintenance crew, Sir. He discovered it at five-thirty this morning when he turned up for work. The two teams meet in the repair shop for a shift report before they begin their daily checks. The night crew let the new team know of any incidents they encountered with the machinery during—’
‘I think I can guess what sort of things they report, Sergeant,’ snapped Laws. He turned his attention to Amy. ‘Who is this? Don’t tell me the bloody press have got hold of it already.’
‘No, Sir. This is Miss Rowlings. She works here.’
‘Here! Outside in the freezing cold?’
Bodkin did his best not to bite. He allowed Inspector Laws to get under his skin, far too easily.
‘Miss Rowlings is a machinist, Sir.’
Laws pushed his head towards Amy. ‘Then, why aren’t you at your machine, doing what they pay you to do?’ he barked.
‘I’m just going,’ replied Amy, quietly. ‘I was…’ her voice tailed off, not wanting to add to Bodkin’s problems.
Bodkin, spotting Amy’s nervousness under the inspector’s scrutiny, came to her assistance. ‘I was just asking Miss Rowlings when she last saw Mr Handsley alive, Sir.’
Laws shrugged. ‘And…’
Amy responded quickly. ‘Five-thirty yesterday evening, Mr Laws. He was standing by those doors as the staff were clocking out.’
‘Inspector Laws,’ the detective corrected her.
‘Inspector,’ repeated Amy.
‘Right, get to your machine. There will be a team of officers deployed to take statements from all members of staff later this morning so, if you remember anything else, that’s the time to bring it up.’ The inspector narrowed his eyes and issued a dire warning. ‘If you breathe a word of what you have just heard out here, to anyone, and I mean, anyone, I will have you up for accessory to murder. Do I make myself clear?’
Laws dismissed Amy with a flick of his head and turned back to Bodkin.
‘Let’s have a look at the scene of the crime, Sergeant.’ Laws pushed his way past the stragglers, still being directed to their places of work by the foreman, and stepped into the loading bay looking at his wristwatch. ‘Today, of all days,’ he muttered.
Bodkin beckoned PC Davies towards him.
‘I want you outside the door of the maintenance room, Davies. No one goes in or out without my express permission, do you understand?’
Davies nodded and took a quick look at the figure of Laws as he entered the factory.
‘Someone got out of bed the wrong side this morning.’
‘Constable, if you had met Mrs Laws, you’d know that whichever side of the bed you got out of, it would be the wrong one.’
Bodkin turned to follow his superior officer into the building. At the entrance to the repair shop he stopped and looked back at Davies. ‘Once those few are in, shut those doors. Parkins and Wallis can keep watch over the yard, and cheer up, man, you’re inside in the warm this time.’
Author Bio
T A Belshaw is from Derbyshire in the United Kingdom where he shares a house with his chatty rescue cat, Mia. He writes for both children and adults. A former miner and computer technician, Trevor studied Advanced Creative Writing at the Open University. He is the author of Tracy's Hot Mail, Tracy's Celebrity Hot Mail and the noir, suspense novella, Out of Control. Following the sudden death of his wife in 2015 Trevor took a five-year break from writing, returning during lockdown in 2020, when an injury forced him to take time off work. The result of this new creative burst was the Dual Timeline, Family Saga, Unspoken and the Historical Cosy Crime Whodunnit, Murder at the Mill.
Trevor signed his first contract with Spellbound Books Ltd in April 2021. He signed a further mullti-book contract with them in the spring of 2022.
His short stories have been published in various anthologies including 100 Stories for Haiti, 50 Stories for Pakistan, Another Haircut, Shambelurkling and Other Stories, Deck the Halls, 100 Stories for Queensland and The Cafe Lit anthology 2011, 2012 and 2013. He also has two pieces in Shambelurklers Return. 2014
Trevor is also the author of 15 children's adventure books written under the name of Trevor Forest.
His children's poem, Clicking Gran, was long listed for the Plough prize (children's section) in 2009 and his short poem, My Mistake, was rated Highly Commended and published in an anthology of the best entries in the Farringdon Poetry Competition.
Trevor's articles have been published in magazines as diverse as Ireland's Own, The Best of British and First Edition.
He is currently working on the sequel to Murder at the Mill, another cosy crime murder mystery set in 1939, Death at the Lychgate.
Follow him at:
Twitter : https://twitter.com/tabelshaw
Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/trevorbelshaw
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/T.A.BelshawAuthor
Website : https://trevorbelshaw.com/
Buy Links
Amazon - https://geni.us/snALMHY
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