The Rushford Times - A weekly newsletter from Jodi Taylor
Sent on Wednesdays to paid subscribers and Fridays to free subscribers
This week we have:
Jodi Taylor on What Am I Writing Now?
Jodi Taylor’s Karen Baugh Menhuin book reviews and author interview
The St Mary’s Incident Report Competition read the first entries
March audio clip competition - guess the book and characters speaking for your chance to win a signed copy of Out of Time
News of a new short story - The Coo of Warning
Short Story of the Month: Ships Stings and Wedding Rings - a chance to discover some of the St Mary’s short stories
There’s plenty to read this week and you can see everything on the blog too. CLICK HERE for the blog.
What am I writing now?
Well – this, obviously.
I call it productivity and everyone else would refer to it as procrastination. Procrastination occurs when I reach a point where I don’t know what to do next or what the characters are thinking or where the storyline is going and why did I take up writing when, at my age, I could – indeed should – be lying on the sofa with something expensive from Hotel Chocolat and a good book.
Actually, I do that anyway but for heaven’s sake don’t tell Hazel.
OK – let’s rephrase, shall we?
What should I be writing now?
That’s an easy one to answer. I’m always completely on top of what I should be doing. Actually doing it is usually another matter.
In order of deadlines, then:
A St Mary’s short story for Substack – The Coo of Warning. Keep your eyes peeled on 1st April.
An outline of TP7 for my poor long-suffering editor. Who frequently has to cope with telephone calls during which I hurl word-salad at her for fifteen minutes, ending with, ‘So what do you think? Hello? Hello? Are you still there?’ The outline is due at the end of next month.
The Christmas story – tentatively entitled Twelfth Night. Yes, I know it’s only February but such are the demands of the publishing profession. At least it’s not August. It’s very hard to write snow and cold and holly and turkey when anointing your sunburn and trying to work out how to switch on the aircon. Twelfth Night is due quite soon and I really ought to be getting on with it. And I will … I promise.
I’m continuing with the next full-length St Mary’s story – Well, That Could Have Gone Better. There’s a lot of discussion over whether to include the Well or not. I tell everyone I’m just a simple author and do as I’m told. SM15 is due at my publishers in September – which, I’ve just realised, isn’t that far away, so don’t just sit there, Taylor. Pick up a pen.
That’s all the official stuff. I’ve also started an unofficial Regency Romance although I had to put that away back in the summer and concentrate on the day job. That one’s called Snowbound and one day I’ll get to finish it.
Then there are the weekly snippets for Substack which are great fun and serve a useful purpose in helping me retain my sanity. Although there will be an occasional gap in my weekly output which usually means I’ve been engulfed by words and can’t find my way out. If that happens just send chocolate. Or Matt Damon. Or a working version of Windows Eleven. What the hell are you playing at, Microsoft? Or Matt Damon.
Anyway, that’s my next six months sorted. And with a trip to France to appear at the Imaginales Festival in May (28th-31st) and another to Stevenage Library in April (27th). Hazel has the dates. People do tell me things – or they tell me they tell me things – but most of it just goes in one ear and out the other. A skill I perfected in infant school.
And now … on with the Christmas story.
Two books this week, both from the pen of Karen Baugh Menhuin.
The Caxton Manor Murders by Karen Baugh Menhuin and Matilda Swift
The Belmont Affair by Karen Baugh Menhuin and Nicki Mason.
I first encountered Karen Baugh Menhuin when I discovered her excellent Major Heathcliff Lennox series. Of which I think there are sixteen or seventeen books, so plenty to get your teeth into.
This new series is very similar, being set in the same period – just after World War I – and against the classic backdrop of well-staffed country houses. The unconventional hero – Alexander Wolfe – is an ex-spy who served in the war and is now retained by the Home Office in the form of Lord Hector Sommerton who certainly doesn’t believe in sending his people into the field fully briefed. Or sometimes, even briefed at all.
In both books Wolfe is called in to investigate murders that, in addition to being mysteriously suspicious, have complicated diplomatic situations to be untangled as well, providing Wolfe and his team – the enigmatic but likeable James Fox, the endearingly enthusiastic valet Dicks, and a mischievous terrier Wilf – with seemingly unsolvable problems.
These stories are less light-hearted than the Major Lennox tales but none the less enjoyable.
The third in the Alexander Wolfe series – The Player in the Game – is available for pre-order and will be published on 14th July this year.
Author interview with Karen Baugh Menhuin
Let’s start with the traditional opening while I struggle to get my brain in gear. Why and how did you begin writing?
I came to writing late. I was sixty when I started. At the time, I was helping my husband finish his autobiography. I was working with him on structure, setting out chapters, tightening passages, sorting phototgraphs, and somewhere in the middle I realised I’d always wanted to write a book myself. Not vaguely. Properly. So I did. There was no master plan. I simply sat down and wrote the sort of mystery I enjoy reading – traditional, complex, character-led stories, set in the 1920s. I didn’t think too hard about it. I just kept going until the book was finished. What surprised me was how much fun it was. The discipline didn’t frighten me. The research delighted me. The characters rather took over. One book led to another, and before long I had a series on the go. It turns out it was the right decision. Starting at sixty meant I didn’t waste time wondering whether I should or not, I simply got on with it. And I’ve been getting on with it ever since.
The St Mary’s Incident Report Competition - to read entries so far CLICK HERE
CLICK HERE to enter. Closing date is 24th March 2026. Judging will be by a reader poll from 25th March with the winner announced on 31st March
Hi Jodi, absolutely love the COSM series, they’re both hilarious and amazing. No misses I dont think! I wanted to ask whereabouts the Time Police/Ballad novels fall in your recommended reading order? I’m planning on reading all three series this year (again), and wondered about the best way to amalgamate them. Thank you for all the laugh out loud moments so far! Can’t wait for the next one!
Thanks for your question. I think I'd recommend all the St Mary's first, ending with The Good, the Bad and the History, because that's when Matthew decides to join the Time Police. You can then move smoothly into Doing Time when he's actually just completing his training and becoming a member of Team 236. Smallhope and Pennyroyal dance in and out of both series but I think I'd read that one after the Time Police. Not least because the second S&P book is out this year. A Family Affair. So you'll be nicely caught up.
MARCH - GUESS THE BOOK COMPETITION
Guess the book and characters speaking for your chance to win a signed copy of Out of Time
Put your knowledge of Jodi’s books to the test with our audio clip competition. Listen carefully to a short extract and see if you can identify the book and the characters speaking for a chance to win a signed copy of Out of Time.
Audiobooks are hugely popular among Jodi Taylor fans, bringing her stories to life through distinctive voices, character-driven performances, and immersive narration. For many readers, audiobooks offer the perfect way to enjoy a favourite series while commuting, walking, or relaxing. They make stories more accessible, flexible, and engaging than ever.
Tune in, trust your ears, and see if you can name the book and the characters behind the voices.
Ships Stings and Wedding Rings - available in Kindle and Audiobook formats - also included in The Long and Short of It anthology
Buy now from Bookshop.uk - UK USA
A loaded gun has been left behind in ancient Egypt and it’s up to Max, Peterson and Markham to get it back as quickly and as quietly as possible. Before it goes off and kills someone. Leaving them with the more than tricky task of trailing their colleagues but always remaining unobserved. The slightest misstep and they’ll be up to their necks in paradoxes.
There are the usual perils and problems – the heat, the dust, the insects… and then Max inadvertently poisons Mr Markham.
Jodi Taylor says…
‘This is what happened when I was bored and there wasn’t anything on TV and I was reduced to reading the small print on a can of WD40.’
No wonder you someties sound muddled, Jodi! All those stories being juggled in your poor head! But we shall reap the benefit when each project is finished. Thank you so very much!
Have you considered naming a St Mary's book "Let's Start with What Went Well"? It is, after all, the classic why to start a total disaster debrief.