I have had the most incredibly exciting few days. School visits, signings, workshops and prize shortlists – it all feels like the most amazing dream. Would someone mind pinching me?
On Tuesday I went on a mini tour. In the morning, I visited the brilliantly supportive Waterstones Hampstead, and once again they put on a fab school event. I spoke to kids from Rosary and Christ Church primaries about why we all love mystery novels so much, and why I wrote Arsenic for Tea and Murder Most Unladylike. They asked some excellent questions, and were generally incredibly enthusiastic – I’d like to thank them for listening, their teachers for being so positive about fictional murder, and booksellers Yael and Debbie for being great hosts.
I then jumped on the train to St Mary Cray, to visit Waterstones Orpington and Leesons Primary. I’d encourage you all to visit Waterstones Orpington if you are anywhere near it – it has a gigantic children’s department (it takes up almost half of the store space) and some very creative and passionate booksellers. They’ve made some amazing displays for Arsenic for Tea, and bookseller Laura even drew Daisy & Hazel fanart. (I’m not sure she believed me when I told her how much I loved it – I hope she’ll believe me now!)
Leesons Primary was also brilliant. It’s full of inspirational and very clever educational displays, and it’s clearly a wonderful learning environment. The kids were so engaged, and I hope they enjoyed my talk – I really enjoyed speaking to them!
After I had finished my events, I realised that I had enough time to stop in to some central London Waterstones branches – Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square and Gower Street. I signed copies of my books and met booksellers, and I was so amazed and impressed by how committed they all were to selling my books. I know how special it is to have this kind of support, and I am so grateful for the work Waterstones booksellers, in London and the rest of the country, are doing for the Wells & Wong Mysteries.
And I had yet another reason to be grateful to Waterstones staff on Thursday, when it was announced that Murder Most Unladylike is one of the shortlisted books for this year’s Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. I’ve said it before, but I am so, so honoured to be a part of the list – it’s quite literally a dream come true.
On Saturday I travelled to Oxford (the place, by the way, where I wrote the first draft of Murder Most Unladylike, when I was a bookseller at Blackwell’s Broad Street). In the morning I signed books at Waterstones Oxford. It was lovely to meet everyone, but I think my very favourite signing was to two-year-old Amelia, whose parents selflessly bought the books to give her in six years (they will read them themselves in the meantime). Zoe Greaves and the rest of the Waterstones Staff were such great hosts – I hope I’ll be able to arrange another event with them soon!
In the afternoon I went to the Story Museum, a fantastic celebration of children’s fiction. They have a wonderful exhibition space (the 26 Characters exhibition is in its final week, but I’ve heard their plans for the future and they sound just as fun), a delicious cafe (with lots of cake!) and a brilliant programme of events for both aspiring writers and illustrators (they are great at understanding that there are plenty of ways to be an author). I gave a session on How to Be a Daring Detective, working with twenty brilliant young writers to help them create their very own mystery stories.
I gave each group a random setting, crime, victim and clue and asked them to create suspects and a murderer, and I was genuinely impressed by the depth and brilliance of the stories that emerged. We had villainous bus drivers, old ladies with stuffed penguin collections, thieving sheep herders, jealousy, mistaken identity, buttons dropped from stolen coats and even beautifully drawn suspect line-ups from one group. I had a wonderful time, and I hope everyone who came along did too!
All in all, it’s been a dream week – thank you again to everyone who helped to make it so great, and here’s to many more!
