Dottie update. 6 months old. Still the world’s best ears.

For years, I have been thrilling my children with tales of the advent calendars we had when I was a lad. No chocolates, no Lego, no bloody plastic dinosaurs. Not even any glitter! Just lovely pictures: a candle, three wise men, a bauble perhaps, like the ones we dreamt of seeing on the tree that we weren’t allowed to put up until Christmas Eve, when the Matchmakers and orange and lemon slices also came out.

Well, imagine my delight when I stumbled across this glorious relic from the golden past at the National Trust place up the road. No plastic tat that will end up being swallowed by a fish and take a hundred years to decompose. Nothing that will rot your teeth. Just a scene depicting a typical English yuletide and, I can confidently predict, twenty-four pictures that would defrost the chilliest heart.

The whole family are going to take it in turns to open the doors. The children have already declared it the ‘best Christmas ever’ and we haven’t even opened door one yet. My only wish, indeed all I want for Christmas, is a picture of the Baby Jesus behind door 24.

The paperback of The Psychopath Next Door has landed! Doesn’t it look pretty?

Published worldwide on January 28th, The Psychopath Next Door is a standalone but is also part of the Magpies universe, with appearances by at least one character from that series. 

What’s it about? A woman who decides the little girl next door is probably a psychopath like her…and sets out to teach her how to be evil.

Here’s the full blurb:

Ethan Dove’s family has moved to a new home in a safe community, and it’s exactly the fresh start they need. Not only is his marriage to Emma hanging by a thread, but his son, Dylan, and twelve-year-old daughter, Rose, deserve to have a happy childhood.

After Rose is bullied by the boys across the road, Ethan is relieved when the woman who lives next door steps in. Fiona Smith has come into their lives at just the right moment, and when she offers to look after Rose during the school holidays, Ethan and Emma can’t believe their luck.

Which is exactly what Fiona wants. Because, far from being the perfect neighbour, Fiona is the last person you should trust with your child. With a vicious plot for revenge, Fiona is happy to train Rose to be her accomplice, especially when she begins to suspect that Rose might not be as innocent as she appears…

Available to pre-order now - see the link in my bio or search Amazon for ‘edwards psychopath next door’ - as an ebook, paperback or audiobook.

Still the world’s best ears… 5 months old now. And yeah, Sherlock’s pretty cute too.

I’m just off to float my boat near the storm drains…

Happy Halloween!