P.J. Murphy's Writer Site

It’s holiday season, and you find me in Saint Malo, doing research for my future novel, Beach of Spies. This ‘research’ involves building sandcastles, going for a dip in the sea, eating a lot of ice cream, and generally trying to cope with two over-excited children.

Not a lot of that will go in the book, but it’s good context.

Saint Malo is a town in Brittany, western France. Its main attraction is a HUGE beach, but it also has an interesting walled town (most of which was bombed during the second world war, but which was rebuilt as crepieries and ice cream parlours). It’s far enough north that we don’t have to worry about the wildfires that have harried southern France in recent years, but the weather can be patchy. So far, we’ve been fairly lucky.

Here are some photos:

Anyway, this is a writing blog, not a travel blog, so I had better give you a few updates. Well, I have several projects on the go at the moment. In priority order:

1. Troubleshot International – I’m a way into the first draft. It’s turning out to be a more snarky read than the first, if you can believe that. Not sure if that’s a good thing, but there you go!
2. Yesterday’s Shadow – My unpublished second novel. I’m seriously considering brushing it off and self-publishing it. It needs a bit of work but I’m looking to get some second opinions about whether it’s worth the effort. It’s a problematic novel, in a number of ways.
3. Dead Letters audiobook – Ever wish you could hear my dulcit tones for hours on end? Soon, you will be able to…
4. Beach of Spies – Bond meets Groundhog Day. Who could ask for more?

This does mean that the fabled ‘road trip with parrot’ novel is on the back burner for now, but don’t worry, it hasn’t been forgotten!

In terms of timing for all this, of course, working on several projects at once does slow things down – but it does keep it interesting for me. What’s more, we’ll be moving house later this year, so that’s likely to take up a lot of my time. So we’re looking at 2024 before a lot of this sees light, but it will be worth the wait, I promise!

I’ll keep you updated. Until next time, enjoy the sunshine!

P.J.