Hi everyone, and welcome to all my new readers who signed up for this newsletter on my website.
I hope everyone is keeping well and staying safe. I can't believe it's been a year since I retired and traded my full-time job at UBC for my new life as a full-time writer.
I'm beginning to research my next Jason Davey novel. which will be called Ticket to Ride and which I hope will be released at the end of August 2021. In Lost Time, Jason is rehearsing to go on tour with his mum's reunited band, Figgis Green. In Ticket to Ride, we'll follow Jason as he embarks on that tour - and solves another intriguing mystery.
I'm sending this newsletter out a little early because I want to acknowledge the 80th anniversary of a tragic event that happened in London during the Blitz.
As you may know, much of the storyline of one of my time travel novels, In Loving Memory, concerns the October 14, 1940 bombing of Balham Underground Station, one of the many deep level tube stations where people sheltered during World War 2.
On the night of October 14, 1940, at 8.02 pm, a 1400 kg semi-armour piercing fragmentation bomb fell onto the road just above the northern end of the platform tunnels. It created a large crater, severing water and sewer lines, and the ceiling of the northbound tunnel below the road collapsed, creating an avalanche of water, earth and gravel that quickly buried and killed nearly 70 of the 600 people sheltering there, including several London Transport staff. A further 70 were injured.
It was one of the worst disasters to happen in the UK during the Second World War.
To commemorate the event, Riverside Radio in South London will be broadcasting a new documentary about the bombing on Wednesday October 14, 2020.
The program starts at 8.00pm (British time) and will run for one hour, featuring memories from families, relatives and others. The show also features Simon Cook, the current London Underground Station Manager at Balham, and Nick Cooper, who is an expert on the London Underground and has made a special study of how the Second World War impacted upon its operation, the role the Underground played in the lives of Londoners, and what survives from that era.
You can tune in to the broadcast on DAB Digital radio, online at www.RiversideRadio.com or by asking a smart speaker to ‘Play Riverside Radio’.
There’s also a Facebook page here:
https://www.facebook.com/ThisisRiversideRadio
And there’s more information about the radio broadcast here:
https://www.wandsworthguardian.co.uk/news/18777216.riverside-radio-marks-80th-anniversary-balham-bombing/
If you would like to find out more about Balham on the night of October 14, 1940 (including links and photos), please visit my website here:
http://www.winonakent.com/balham-80.html
I’m very grateful to both Simon Cook and Nick Cooper for the assistance they gave me as I was researching In Loving Memory, and I will be listening to the broadcast and respectfully remembering the many souls that were lost on October 14.
In Mystery news, I'm really excited and honoured to have my new short story Salty Dog Blues included in the Sisters in Crime - Canada West Anthology Crime Wave. The anthology launches on Thursday October 29, 2020. Salty Dog Blues features my current hero Jason Davey when he was still working as an entertainer on board the cruise ship Star Sapphire. I'll have more info about the anthology in my next newsletter and on my website.
I'm also really thrilled and honoured to be taking part in the Surrey International Writers Conference (SiWC) 2020 at home Author Showcase virtual event. This will take place on Friday, October 23, 2020 from 4.30pm to 5.30pm Pacific time. The event can be accessed by conference attendees from the SiWC conference website. I'll have a brief opportunity to chat about my writing and introduce everyone to the Jason Davey Mysteries. For more info about the SiWC please click HERE.
As you know from my last newsletter, Lost Time was released on August 31, and it's available as a paperback and an ebook from Amazon worldwide. It's the second novel in my Jason Davey mystery series.
In 1974, top UK band Figgis Green was riding high in the charts with their blend of traditional Celtic ballads mixed with catchy, folky pop. One of their biggest fans was sixteen-year old Pippa Gladstone, who mysteriously vanished while she was on holiday with her parents in Spain in March that same year.
Now it's 2018, and founding member Mandy Green has reunited the Figs for their last-ever Lost Time Tour. Her partner, Tony Figgis, passed away in 1995, so his place has been taken by their son, professional jazz guitarist (and amateur sleuth) Jason Davey.
As the band meets in a small village on the south coast of England for pre-tour rehearsals, Jason's approached by Duncan Stopher, a diehard Figs fan, who brings him a photo of the band performing at the Wiltshire Folk Festival. Standing in the foreground is Pippa Gladstone. The only problem is the Wiltshire Folk Festival was held in August 1974, five months after Pippa disappeared. Duncan offers Jason a substantial sum of money to try and find out what really happened to the young woman, whose mother had her declared officially dead in 1981.
When Duncan is murdered, it becomes increasingly clear to Jason that his investigation into Pippa's disappearance is not welcome, especially after he follows a series of clues which lead him straight back to the girl's immediate family.
But nothing can prepare Jason for the truth about Pippa, which he discovers just as Figgis Green is about to take to the stage on opening night—with or without him.
You can read the first two chapters of Lost Time on my website here:
http://www.winonakent.com/losttime-chapters.html
And there are links to Amazon Canada, US and UK. (Thanks to everyone who's bought the book - you are very much appreciated!)
I should also give a shout out to Blue Devil Books, which is the virtual publishing company behind my Jason Davey Mysteries. The BDB website is packed full of information about me, including past newsletters and reviews. Please do drop by have a look.
http://www.bluedevilbooks.com/index.php/winona-kent
Many thanks to everyone for continuing to support me and to stay in touch!
As always, if you want to write to me personally, please do! I'm at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Stay well and safe.
Cheers
Nona
www.winonakent.com
