The Shooting in Sorrento

At last, my second novel, The Shooting in Sorrento, has been published on Amazon.

I feel a big sense of achievement now I have produced another Butler and Bartorelli mystery, the sequel to Death in the High City, which was set in Bergamo in Lombardy.

The book features journalist Kate Butler and her partner, Steve Bartorelli, a retired Detective Chief Inspector. They are in Sorrento for the wedding of the daughter of one of Steve’s Italian cousins.

When tragedy strikes an English family staying at their hotel, Kate feels she has to help them, having already become friends with the mother, Janice, who is a woman of about her own age.

Steve is distracted by meeting up with Italian relatives he has not seen since he was a child and is also wary of becoming too involved with the family because two of his cousins are senior officers in the Polizia di Stato.

Sorrento, where the action takes place in the 
second Butler and Bartorelli novel

Kate is determined to get justice for her new English friends and joins forces with another visitor to Sorrento to investigate, after it becomes clear the Italian police aren’t looking much further than the English family.

The book will delight readers who know and love Sorrento as much of the action in the novel takes place in the ancient streets in the centre of the resort and at locations out along the Sorrentine peninsula.

Kate’s enquiries cause her to wander the narrow streets that run parallel to the Corso Italia and take her down to the beach at Marina di Puolo, but she ends up putting herself in danger when her sleuthing gets her too close to the truth.

I have been able to indulge in my fascination for Italian culture by writing about Sorrento’s colourful history and describing the local wine and food specialities for which the resort has become famous.

The Shooting in Sorrento is believed to be the first British crime novel set in Sorrento.

It is available to buy in paperback or as a Kindle edition from Amazon.

For more information about Sorrento visit www.bestofsorrento.com.

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Death in the High City first anniversary

Death in the High City, pictured against the
 backdrop of the Colleoni Chapel in Bergamo

Successful year for Bergamo’s first English crime novel

Death in the High City, the first British detective novel to be set in Bergamo, has had an exciting first year.

The novel, which was published in Kindle format on Amazon 12 months ago today, has sold copies in the UK, Italy, America, Australia and Canada. A paperback version of Death in the High City was published in July 2014.

I have had some heart-warming emails and messages about the book from readers both in the UK and abroad and I have been delighted with the level of interest in my first novel.

In October 2014 I was a guest at the fifth anniversary celebrations of Bergamo Su e Giu, a group of independent tour guides in the city. I was invited to present Death in the High City to an audience in San Pellegrino Terme and sign copies of the book and also made an appearance on Bergamo TV to talk about the novel with presenter Teo Mangione.

In November the book was purchased by Leicestershire Libraries and is now in stock at Loughborough, Shepshed, Ashby de la Zouch, Coalville, Castle Donington and Kegworth Libraries and is going out on loan regularly.

Signing copies of Death in the High City for
Italian teachers of English in Bergamo in April

In April this year I was invited to Bergamo again to present the novel to a group of 80 Italian teachers of English and to sign copies. I made a second appearance on Bergamo TV and also formally presented a copy of Death in the High City to the Biblioteca Civica (Civic Library) in Piazza Vecchia, a location that is featured in the novel itself.

Death in the High City centres on the investigation into the death of an English woman who was staying in the Città Alta while writing a biography of the composer Gaetano Donizetti.

The novel is the first of a series to feature the characters of Kate Butler, a freelance journalist, and Steve Bartorelli, a Detective Chief Inspector, who is of partly Italian descent and has just retired from the English police.

The victim had been living in an apartment in Bergamo’s Città Alta and much of the action takes place within the walls of the upper town.

The local police do not believe there is enough evidence to open a murder enquiry and so Kate Butler, who is the victim’s cousin, arrives in Bergamo to try to get some answers about her death.

Kate visits many of the places in the city with Donizetti connections and her enquiries take her to nearby Lago d’Iseo and into the countryside around San Pellegrino Terme. But after her own life is threatened and there has been another death in the Città Alta, her lover, Steve Bartorelli, joins her to help unravel the mystery and trap the killer. The reader is able to go along for the ride and enjoy Bergamo’s wonderful architecture and scenery while savouring the many descriptions in the novel of local food and wine.

The novel will be of interest to anyone who enjoys the ‘cosy’ crime fiction genre or likes detective novels with an Italian setting.

Death in the High City by Val Culley from Amazon as a paperback or Kindle e-book.

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Death in the High City is now available in Leicestershire libraries

Exciting new local author!

It was a proud moment seeing my novel, Death in the High City, on display in a public library for the first time.

The book, looking slightly unreal in its plastic jacket, was on display on the counter of Shepshed Library in Leicestershire.

It is also in stock at Loughborough, Coalville and Ashby-de-la-Zouch, libraries close to where I live in Leicestershire.

When I left the library, I felt like an anxious mother leaving her child at school for the first time and wondering how it will get on during the day.

Would anyone want to borrow it? What might people say to staff at the library about it when they return it?

Becoming available in the Leicestershire library catalogue is yet another development in the life of Death in the High City since it first became available in Kindle format in May 2014. It came out in paperback two months later and since then I have had some very encouraging feedback sent to me personally by email and also in the form of reviews on Amazon.

In October the book was launched officially in Bergamo in northern Italy, the city where most of the action in the novel takes place. The event was attended by about 60 people who showed a lot of interest and were keen to get hold of a signed copy as it was the first time anyone had set a British crime novel in Bergamo.

But what will Leicestershire library borrowers think about Death in the High City? So far it is uncharted territory and therefore I am eagerly awaiting the reactions of readers.

Death in the High City is a ‘cosy’ crime novel that will please people who like books set in Italy.

It features a freelance journalist, Kate Butler and her partner, a retired Detective Chief Inspector, Steve Bartorelli.

They both speak good Italian and are used to asking questions and finding information. Having recently been made redundant they both have plenty of time available for sleuthing and have already turned their attention to an unfortunate event that has taken place in another beautiful part of Italy…

For more information about Bergamo visit www.bestofbergamo.com

Death in the High City is available from Amazon as a paperback or Kindle e-book.

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Death in the High City

It is with a big sense of achievement, but also with some trepidation, that I have just published my first novel on Amazon.

Death in the High City is a crime novel that takes place in Bergamo in northern Italy. It is the first book in a series featuring detective duo Kate Butler, a freelance journalist, and Steve Bartorelli, a retired Detective Chief Inspector who is of partly Italian descent.

The novel has enabled me to write about Italian culture, food and wine and also indulge in my fascination for detective fiction.

Death in the High City is believed to be the first British crime novel to put the spotlight on Bergamo. It centres on the investigation into the murder of an English woman who was writing a biography of the composer Gaetano Donizetti.

The victim had been living in an apartment in Bergamo’s Città Alta and much of the action takes place within the walls of the high city. The local police do not believe there is enough evidence to open a murder enquiry and so Kate Butler, who is the victim’s cousin, arrives on the scene to try to get some answers about her cousin’s death.

Kate visits many of the places in Bergamo with Donizetti connections and her enquiries even take her to nearby Lago d’Iseo. But after her own life is threatened and there is another death in the Città Alta, her lover, Steve Bartorelli, joins her to help her unravel the mystery and trap the killer.

For more information about Bergamo visit www.bestofbergamo.com

Death in the High City is available from Amazon as a paperback or Kindle e-book.

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What inspires people to write about their travels?

When you visit somewhere new, even the everyday things seem fascinating and you will find yourself telling friends and family about them when you get back.

Just as people like to show you their holiday snaps when they return, or send postcards or text pictures to you while they are away, enthusiasm about what they have seen makes them want to tell others about it.

A compulsion to share what they experienced abroad was what inspired the earliest travel writers.

Among Lord Byron's homes in Venice was the Palazzo
Mocenigo detto 'il Nero' on the Grand Canal

Centuries ago people kept journals about their travels or wrote long letters home giving detailed accounts of what they saw.

Thank goodness they felt the need to share their experiences, because what they wrote has given us a marvellous insight into what places were like in the past.

It is fascinating visiting Venice and seeing it through Lord Byron’s eyes, trying to imagine him in the narrow calle near his various residences, which have changed little since his time there.

He wrote detailed letters about his experiences in Venice to his friends and so we know that he actually preferred to travel by gondola or swim along the Grand Canal to avoid being recognised walking about the city by the tourists of his day.

Marguerite, Lady Blessington wrote
about her travels in Italy

One of Byron’s acquaintances in Italy at that time was Marguerite, Lady Blessington. She travelled further south after Byron set sail for Greece and spent more than two years in Naples staying in rented palazzi. Her journals give us a fascinating insight into what Naples was like at that time.

It was on 17 July, 1823 that  Lady Blessington began her Neapolitan Journals with an account of her first glimpse of the city. She wrote:

“Naples burst upon us from the steep hill above the Campo Santo, and never did aught so bright and dazzling meet my gaze. Innumerable towers, domes and steeples, rose above palaces, intermingled with terraces and verdant foliage. The bay (pictured below), with its placid waters, lay stretched before us, bounded on the left by a chain of mountains, with Vesuvius, sending up its blue incense to the cloudless sky.”

Lady Blessington was to fall in love with Naples and embrace the culture, attending local events, making what at the time were adventurous excursions and entertaining Neapolitan aristocrats and intellectuals.

Those who know Naples will recognise in her vivid descriptions places that have remained unchanged for the last 200 years. She also provides a valuable insight into what life was like at the time for ordinary people as well as the rich and privileged.

People who already love Naples will find her journals witty and endearing and those who have never visited the city will be inspired to go there as soon as possible.

For more information about Lady Blessington’s Neapolitan Journals visit http://www.bestofsorrento.com/2012/07/see-naples-and-die.html 

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What price a room with a view?

Looking out on a beautiful scene from your hotel window in Italy can be an important part of the holiday for many people.

A view of the Venetian lagoon is worth paying a
little extra even in misty November

If you are in Venice it is wonderful to be able to see a canal or the lagoon. If you are in a resort on a lake or by the sea it is lovely to have a view of the water. And if you are in an historic city it is exciting to look out at a famous building or piazza.

Wonderful views have drawn me back to the same hotel in Sorrento each year for the last 20 years. When I stayed there for the first time I arrived late at night with my husband and two young children. When we woke up the following morning to see the fabulous views of the bay of Naples our love affair with the hotel began and we have returned to stay there nearly every summer since.

The hotel, which is at Capo di Sorrento, has a large terrace overlooking the sea with panoramic views that I never tire of looking at.

My favourite view is from the terrace outside my room from where you can see the point of land known as Capo di Massa, which has the remains of a Saracen stone tower on the end where the land meets the sea.

From the dining room, or the terrace outside our room, we enjoy seeing cruise ships going past at night, lit up so they look like glittering diamond necklaces strung out over the sea.

In the mornings we enjoy watching the ferries and hydrofoils crossing from Sorrento to Capri and Ischia, or sailing past Capo di Massa to round Punta Campanella and reach the resorts along the Amalfi coast.

A view of which I never tire... from the Hotel
Dania at Capo di Sorrento

But sometimes when you are planning a holiday it is worth considering what you are going to be doing when you get there and whether it would be more practical to book a hotel in a handy location even if the views are not all that spectacular.

For example, if you are planning to travel about to other places sightseeing it might be better to book a hotel close to the railway station or bus station rather than in the heart of the centro storico.

Then when you return tired after a long day out you won’t have far to go to get to your hotel in order to shower and change for dinner.

If you are travelling with a car it might be worth considering an out of town hotel with free parking close to the autostrada so that you can get on your way quickly each morning.

Hotels in these types of locations are often modern and specially equipped for business travellers, meaning you will have the benefit of the extra facilities. Also, prices tend to be lower than those charged by hotels in the centre of town that have views of the historic sights.

There are many beautiful things to see in Italy while you are out and about during the day and you don’t necessarily have to be able to see them from your bedroom window.

But whether to be romantic or practical is entirely a matter of personal choice and deciding between a great view and a convenient location can be part of the fun of planning your holiday.

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Lady Mary’s writing put Lovere on the map

An 18th century portrait of
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who is considered to be the first female English travel writer, was born 323 years ago today (15 May, 1689).

Lady Mary travelled extensively at the beginning of the 18th century with her husband, who was appointed British ambassador to Turkey and during this time she wrote the poetry and letters that established her literary reputation.

She also became an advocate of inoculation against smallpox, having witnessed the practice on her travels.

But in 1739 she left her husband and went to live in Italy alone. After spending time in Brescia in Lombardia she moved to live in Lovere on Lago d’Iseo (pictured above) on the advice of her doctor who thought the climate of the lakeside resort would be good for her health.

Lady Mary was to spend nearly ten years in Lovere, preferring it to the resorts of nearby Lago di Garda which were more well known and popular with English tourists.

She constantly praised Lovere as a holiday resort and is reputed to have once declined an invitation to the Venice carnival saying: “There are plenty of things to do in this village, which, by the way, is one of the most beautiful that exists.”

Lady Wortley Montagu was captivated by the lakeside
town of Lovere, where she bought an old palace

She bought an old palace where she spent happy years designing the garden and reading the books her daughter sent out to her from England .

She enjoyed entertaining local nobility and making the occasional trip to Genova and Padova, inspired to write poetry by the beauty of Lago d’Iseo and the “impassable mountains” surrounding it.

While living in Lovere she wrote in a letter to her daughter: “I am now in a place the most beautifully romantic I ever saw in my life.”

She returned to live in England in 1761 and died the following year. Her last words were reputed to be: “It has all been most interesting.”

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