Guest post by Helena Fairfax

I’m delighted to have this guest post from Helena Fairfax (and not just because she loves Edinburgh!).

Scottish mystery in A Year of Light and Shadows, by Helena Fairfax

Thanks for hosting me on your blog, Kate!

Your home city of Edinburgh is one of my favourite cities in the world. I love the mix of the old and the new, the dark buildings and alleyways, the views of the sea and the arches of the Forth Bridge stretching away. I don’t think there’s another city quite like it. I remember the first time I ever visited, stepping out of Waverley train station and onto bustling Princes Street. A man in a kilt was playing the bagpipes in front of one of the dark stone Victorian buildings, and at the top of the street, perched on a volcanic crag and dominating the skyline, was Edinburgh Castle. It was a magnificent and unforgettable sight.

One thing that struck me about Edinburgh (and still does whenever I visit) was its bloody and dramatic history. What sights the Castle must have seen!

In my novella The Scottish Diamond – the second book in my anthology A Year of Light and Shadows –my heroine describes visiting the Castle:

For hundreds of years its dark battlements have dominated the Edinburgh skyline, a symbol of royal power. This is no fairy tale castle, but one of military might. Whenever I pass through the imposing stonework of Portcullis Gate, I think of all the footsteps that have trodden this path before me down the ages – of the bloody battles, the royal ceremonies, of King James VI’s birth here, the deaths of queens, of Oliver Cromwell’s army, and of the doomed Jacobite uprising. The walls enclosing the castle bear witness to great turning-points in history. It’s a place to inspire awe.

Edinburgh is the perfect setting for a story of mystery, romance, and intrigue. 

Here is the blurb to the anthology:

A Year of Light and Shadows contains three romantic mysteries in one volume.

Palace of Deception

From the heat of the Mediterranean ...

When the Princess of Montverrier goes missing, Lizzie Smith takes on the acting job of her life. Alone and surrounded by intrigue in the Royal Palace, she relies on her quiet bodyguard, Léon. But who is he really protecting? Lizzie ... or the Princess?

The Scottish Diamond

To the heart of Scotland ...

Home in Scotland, Lizzie begins rehearsals for Macbeth, and finds danger stalking her through the streets of Edinburgh. She turns to her former bodyguard, Léon, for help – and discovers a secret he'd do anything not to reveal ...

A Question by Torchlight

A story of mystery and romance ...

The approach of Hogmanay in Edinburgh means a new year and new resolutions. Lizzie and Léon have put their year of danger behind them. But something is still troubling Léon, and Lizzie fears the worst ...

  

BUY LINKS: A Year of Light and Shadows is available on pre-order on Amazon: http://mybook.to/lightandshadows

and on Kobo https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/a-year-of-light-and-shadows

and other major e-tailers. The print version is coming soon!

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Author Biography
Helena Fairfax writes engaging contemporary romances with sympathetic heroines and heroes she's secretly in love with. Her novels have been shortlisted for several awards, including the Exeter Novel Prize, the Global Ebook Awards, the I Heart Indie Awards, and the UK's Romantic Novelists' Association New Writers' Scheme Award.
Helena is a British author who was born in Uganda and came to England as a child. She's grown used to the cold now, and these days she lives in an old Victorian mill town in the north of England, right next door to the windswept Yorkshire moors. She walks this romantic landscape every day with her rescue dog, finding it the perfect place to dream up her heroes and her happy endings.

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Thanks very much for having me today, Kate. I always love to revisit Edinburgh!

My pleasure, Helena.