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 - What’s in the pipeline
Jodi Taylor answers - How do you approach researching historical periods before writing them into your stories?
Jodi Taylor’s Book recommendation: A Degree of Murder by Maz Evans
MAY - GUESS THE BOOK COMPETITION
Short Story of the Month: My Name Is Markham
There’s plenty to read this week and you can see everything on the blog too. CLICK HERE for the blog.
I’m sorry I don’t have much for you this week. I’ve run out of lettuces to slaughter, and I’ve been so busy at my desk that I’ve hardly had time to lift my head, let alone venture outside.
There are plans to publish another anthology of short stories, and because I feel strongly that there should be at least one new story included – and preferably two, if I can manage it – I’ve had to sit down and write them. The working titles are Home in Time for Tea, a St Mary’s story, and Clean- up Crew 29 – the Time Police. The anthology, Short on Time, will be published in paperback, ebook and audio on 20th May 2027, and I’ll be signing copies at Jodiworld 2027.
These are in addition to the Halloween short story – Who’s There? I’ve just seen the cover design for that one and it’s pretty cool – and the Christmas story – Twelfth Night. And I’ve nearly finished the first draft of Well, That Could Have Gone Better. Please note that the word well has made a reappearance. But given the vagaries of publishing it could well disappear again. Give it time.
(That’s a good title for a book.)
Plus, I’m off to France soon to attend Les Imaginales – the Festival of Imaginary Worlds. That’s come around quickly and now I’m starting to get very nervous. Travel. Foreign travel. What could possibly go wrong? It is more than possible that my next bulletin will be postmarked Iceland. Or New Zealand. Or possibly even Hawaii. Yes, my sense of direction is that bad.
Please note that there won’t be the usual email next week, as we will be sending updates from our travels and the festival.
I have to get back to work now- first drafts to complete.
Best wishes to all.
Jodi x
Jodi Taylor answers - How do you approach researching historical periods before writing them into your stories?
In this video, Jodi answers the question: How do you approach researching historical periods before writing them into your stories? She shares insights into her creative process, how she balances historical accuracy with storytelling, and the challenges of bringing real historical settings vividly to life in The Chronicles of St Mary’s and beyond.
Filmed live at Stevenage Library, this conversation offers a behind-the-scenes look at the research, inspiration, and imagination that shape Jodi’s much-loved time-travelling adventures.
A Degree of Murder by Maz Evans💙📚
This is a wonderfully clever black comedy of tangled relationships, sinister events, deception, downright lying, copious amounts of alcohol and inappropriate sex. Together with an impeccably timed series of shocks peppered throughout the whole book, I tore through the whole thing much, much too quickly. In fact, I loved it so much that I went straight back to the beginning to read it again, because I’m pretty sure some of the finer points passed me by.
There’s quite a large cast of well-drawn characters, and the victims, murderers and witnesses include:
Silly Tillie – the good time girl
Rob – the writer
Marty – the conspiracy theorist
JD – the wide boy
Lilah and Diana – the talented twins
Mags – the mature student
Ed – the boy with everything
Lawrence – the musician
Ryan – the tech giant
Bill – the tutor
The story is set in Bathory College and ranges over a twenty-five-year period from Graduation Day in 2000 to the Class Reunion of 2025 and is told by all the characters as they experience various important events in their lives, together with entertaining updates from the editor of the Bathory Bulletins – Tillie Johnson – a woman who, hilariously, genuinely has no idea what’s going on around her. Talk about getting the wrong end of the stick. Every time …
Not everyone survives – not by a long shot – and there’s twist upon twist at the end.
The best bit for me was that, for a large part of the book, the reader has no idea who the victim is, let alone the murderer. The court scenes are very cleverly handled and manage to contribute greatly to the story without giving anything away and the whole thing gallops along at a terrific pace.
Maz Evans has written two other books – That’ll Teach Her and Over My Dead Body which I think I’ll check out.
PS. And I don’t know if it’s a coincidence or otherwise, but is it possible that the university is named after Elizabeth Bathory, a Hungarian noblewoman and serial killer, also known as The Blood Countess? I do hope so.
MAY - GUESS THE AUDIO 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.
My Name is Markham - available in Kindle and Audiobook formats - also included in The Long and Short of It anthology
Christmas is coming to St Mary’s; as always, chaos is not far behind. With preparations underway for the first-ever Children’s Christmas Party, Mr Markham—security officer, reluctant participant, and long-suffering observer of historians—is pulled into the madness. Between questionable reindeer routines and unexpected “poo-dropping” incidents, the festivities are shaping up to be anything but ordinary.
But when Markham, Peterson, and Maxwell are dispatched on a mission to Anglo-Saxon England in 878 AD, things go from chaotic to catastrophic. Their objective? To observe King Alfred the Great burning the cakes and uncover the truth behind one of history’s most enduring legends. However, this is St Mary’s, where no mission is ever simple, and disaster lurks around every corner.
Told entirely from Markham’s perspective, this short story provides a refreshingly wry and sarcastic insight into life at St Mary’s, where security officers remain highly suspicious of historians, time travel is never predictable, and History refuses to behave.
Jodi Taylor says…
‘This is the one told by Markham himself. I wanted to give a tiny but tantalising glimpse of his background.’
Buy now from Bookshop.org - UK USA
If you get lost, I’d recommend Hawaii. Nice this time of year. Or anytime, really.
Enjoy your travels! I'm looking forward to all the new stories, of course. Is the Halloween story a St. Mary's story?