Murder on the Sheringham/Holt Steam train

Being great fans of the traditional 'Who-dunnit', Jeff & I , along with our friends Annette & Ashley, decided we should join the murder mystery train last night at Sheringham, and investigate 'The curse of the mummy's tomb' - whilst in the best British Style eating a delicious four course dinner, with plenty of wine to aid our little grey cells.

The scene was set in 1923, with both actors and travellers dressed in an approximation of 1920's outfits. As is usual in these Agatha Christie type settings, many of the characters were of the nobility, with the addition of a vicar, an archaelogist and some glamourous ladies.

Needless to say a good time was had by all (see the photographs). The actors mingled amongst us, whilst we interogated them in depth. There were 2 murders - mild compared with midsummer I know - one on Holt platform, and another at Sheringham.

We thought we had done quite well - discovering lots of information about the characters involved - but come the end were still not sure of the murderer, there still being loose ends we could not tie up. However when Jeff filled in our form, he did indeed put down the correct murderer - the greedy Lady Molly - but we were not 'the winners' as we omitted to discover one essential clue - that she alone was the only person to have access to the dagger - the murder weapon. Back to the drawing board for us. We will have to polish up our investigative skills before we attempt it again.

Leaving Peakirk for Good

Yesterday Jeff went and collected the last van load from Peakirk. It consisted of shelving that was in a friends garage and lots of boxes of uncatalogued books that were in another friends stables. Its a strange feeling after almost a year to at last have moved lock stock & book! Yes, we have been in Norfolk for almost a year - and what a year. Van load after van load of books, shelves etc not to mention our personal goods. This followed by getting the outbuilding at this end ready to put the books on shelves - it has been a tiring, but satisfying time. Also over the year we sadly nursed then lost our gorgeous dog Golly - who at least made it here, and enjoyed our much larger garden for a little while. Then of course we were lucky enough to gain our lovely 'new to us' gordon setter Henny, via Gordon Setter resue, who despite having many problems of her own, has settled in well and is making progress all the time.

Quite a year. Despite the work, not helped by getting virtually cut off due to the snowy winter, we have never once regretted the move here. Norfolk is a lovely county - the beaches and countryside are gorgeous, and we hope in our next year here, to be able to really enjoy it. I have added some pictures of Jeffs last visit (well until we go back to see friends).

Agatha Christie's 120th birthday anniversary

The 15th of September saw the 120th anniversary of Agatha Christie's birthday. Google even provided a google-doodle to mark the occasion - an elaborate scene adapted from one of the crime author's many detective novels. Each of the logo's letters has been replaced with a character taken from her novels.

This author, who also wrote under the pen name Mary Westmacott, was born in Torquay, Devon on September 15, 1890. She wrote more than 90 books, mostly detective novels, which have sold an estimated four billion copies worldwide. Her books have also been popularised by the many film versions and television adaptions of a variety of titles - still going strong. Her best known detectives are Hercule Poirot - her little belgian detective with his 'little grey cells' and Miss Marple, the little old Lady who just manages to solve the many mysteries that the police find so difficult. Needless to say we have many of these books for sale, from paperbacks to 1st editions, on our website at www.peakirkbooks.com

York Book fair 2010

York National Book fair is the largest in the UK with 189 dealers exhibiting. It is important that we go there, both to look for books for our customers, and to have a stand ourselves.

We arrived in York early afternoon on the Thursday to put up our stand ready for the fair the next 2 days. On our arrival the place was buzzing as usual, and I had to restrain myself (or Jeff did) from going round to every stand buying up goodies, but I did mange to get a few! A very nice young man - off to university next year, acted as a porter and helped us get all our books up to the mezzanine level where our stand was. We were in exactly the same position as last year - which unfortunately is about the hottest place in the building. We decided to go for the same spot to make it easier for customers to find us, but by those lights we really did start to melt - also commented on by several customers. Anyhow - it took us the afternnon to get set up - along with chatting to other exhibitors, then we were ready for the opening next day at 12 oclock. The fair opens Friday 12.00 - 7.00, then Saturday 10.00 - 17.00.

Friday was extremely busy, and we met lots of customers, sold lots of books - I'm pleased to say, and also learnt some interesting bits & pieces of book information too. It was a lovely, if tiring, day - and we collapsed back to our lodgings for a nights sleep before we did it all over again on Saturday. Saturday, as usual, was not as busy as Friday, but there was still a healthy buzz and lots of chat. However by the time 5 oclock came, we had to call upon our energy reserves to get the stall packed up, books back in the car, and start the 3+ hour journey home. When I started the business Jeff did wonder why I picked books (heavy items) as opposed to selling pot pourri, china or other such lady like pursuits. However I never was a lady, and books were the things that interested me - so book selling it was! Our journey home was quite straightforward for once - we stopped only once, 10 minutes from home, to pick up Fish & Chips for tea.

The fair was good for us - and I hope good for the visiors who came to look & browse.

Books - and Book fairs

We had a good fair in Bristol at the Girls school story conference - meeting up with customers old and new. We stayed in Bradford upon Avon, and travelled into bristol on the day for the conference. We had allowed ourself the day off on the Sunday after the conference, and at first - feeling guilty at having a day to do nothing, almost got in the car to come home - but then told ourselves that we were being daft, and settled into having a lovely walk in the sunshine down by the canal, and meandering back through the town. On Monday we set off back to Norfolk - at 11.00 am, and thanks to the dreadful traffic made it back at 6.00pm.
Tomorrow we are off to York National book Fair. Our friends are arriving first thing to house & dog sit, and we should be in York early afternoon ready to set up our stand. We have some lovely new and quite scarce stock to take with us, that we hope will be of interest - we bought in some rare Biggles titles about a month ago, and this will be the first time they have been out and about!
It is a 2 day fair, so we will not be back until Saturday night. As usual I will miss the dogs - but no doubt will enjoy the trip. Last year it was hot, but I think the weather will be quite different this year.