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I’d always had difficulty writing a novel beyond 40,000 words because that was how long it typically took to get the idea out of my head and onto paper. Knowing that I had to write a story of 70,000 words to enter the Hachette Richell Prize competition, I decided I needed to combine a few stories to make the word count. This created a wonderful challenge.

Writing Alone with the Tasman Tiger allowed me to combine three story ideas that were each compelling in their own right. First was my fascination with the Alone TV series showing on SBS in Australia, where competitors are dropped in the bush and have to build a shelter, find food and manage the inevitable loneliness that will come. I had been particularly enthralled by the Australian edition of Alone set in Tasmania and by one of the winners, Gina Chick who had a strong affinity with the bush. There’s also the possibility of spotting the Thylacine, more commonly known as the Tasmanian Tiger. It’s an animal that has captured the imagination of many who fervently believe that it still exists. The challenge is that the last verified photo was taken in 1936.

The second interest, driving Alone, was that of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. A map is provided below.

It’s a grueling offshore race that can take from 35 to 100 hours and where a crew who’ve had limited sleep, has to work closely together as they battle high winds and strong waves. I was interested in knowing what that experience was like and read a number of sailing books and spoke with yachting friends, prior to writing Alone.

And my third interest came from my love of thrillers like Stranded by Sarah Goodwin, Outback by Patricia Wolf and Furious: Sailing into Terror by Jeffrey Higgins. I’ve also enjoyed reading the James Bond stories by Ian Fleming although I think the leading character James Bond, is tired, misogynist and well past his use-by date. I’ve reinvented the concept with two feisty female sleuths; Galina Ivanov and Charlotte Harmon.

I’ve also been intrigued by all the chatter about microwave technologies used as a weapon and the resulting Havana Syndrome, an illness affecting diplomats, intelligence officers and military personnel around the world. So there’s a nod to this devastating technology and a need for our sleuths to outsmart the Russian spies.

I relish reading books that draw you in quickly, continue with the fast pace and have twists and reveals up until the last chapter. And it’s great to have characters that the reader is rooting for. I’d love to know if I have achieved this in Alone. You can email me on janeellyson (at) gmail.com to let me know.

Alone with a Tasman Tiger is currently available for pre-order on Amazon. Great time to take a bite?

End of year holidays are quickly approaching with many thinking about books on their TBR list. I’ve read a couple of good books lately. There’s romance in both, but that’s not the book’s main genre. There are elements of heartache, family, friendship and mystery.

I know I’m late to the party, but I’ve only just finished It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover. Admission here. I resisted buying it because domestic violence was a story element. However when I saw that it was listed in the top 100 best-selling novels in the US, I thought, gotta read this. And I’m pleased I did. The characters are beautifully described and I loved the device of Lily revealing her back story through her unsent letters to Ellen DeGeneres. Such an unusual story and then you get to the end and read the author’s notes to learn that a great deal of the storyline was influenced by her own life experience. I hope one day to write this well. Highly recommended.

Fantastic premise for a story starting with Alice, our protagonist, staring at the body of her dead husband – except it isn’t him.

Excellent first two acts exploring a relationship from two perspectives. There were so many warning signs that Alice kept ignoring.

I couldn’t put The Man She Married down, and kept rushing through all my daily life so that I could return to the world of Alice and Dominic.

However, I think that Act Three let the reader down as it whimpered to an ending. A few too many non-relevant scenes, reducing the fast pace, and I felt like the accident remained unresolved by the end. Still, I recommend the book.

Many thanks to those readers who purchased Over Byron Bay while it featured in a Book Bub Deal. Since I last wrote I’ve released An Extraordinary Wedding.

‘It’ll be a very simple wedding Mum. Nothing extraordinary.’

If only…

I’m trying hard to stay focussed and write a few books and then to release one each month, but I get so excited once the story’s told and the cover’s made. It’s just too hard to not press the publish button.

So please help holde me acountable for the next three action-adventure-romantic-suspense novels that I have on the go. The first one is tentatively titled Alone and is set in Tasmania, Australia.

The romance is between two contestants on a reality TV show where the person who lasts the longest in the wilderness, wins $250,000.  Sound familiar? But in my story, one of them disappears. I openly admit that my inspiration came from watching the TV series, Alone, and that I may need to change the title to Away. We’ll see.

And the book after that is also a TV series inspired creation, along the lines of Farmer wants a Wife. I’m loving the plotting. Probably the best bit of the writing process.

The Côte D’Azur, more commonly known by English speaking folk as The French Riviera, is a favourite holiday location for many. It’s easy to see why. There’s a magnificent rocky coastline with many dramatic vantage points, and secret swimming holes. A plethora of historic towns and villages in gorgeous shades of pink, orange and yellow. You can stroll along the promenade des Anglais in Nice or trek in the majestic Mercantour.

I wrote Substitute Child while I lived in Mandelieu la Napoule. This town in nestled between their famous neighbour of Cannes and the rugged Estérel mountains. I made sure that my heroine visited many of my favourite places and I’ve documented two walking tours, so that you can follow her journey. These tours are through Antibes and Cannes.

Walking tour of Antibes

Walking tour of Antibes

1. Start at the Ferris wheel beside the port of Antibes on Avenue De Verdun.

2. Walk alongside the ramparts (old walls) of Antibes down to the far end of the port. There will be hundreds of leisure craft gently bobbing in the water.

3. Walk back towards the wall and under the archway taking the left turn up Av. de la Salis. You will enjoy the same wonderful views back to the port and across La Gravette Beach that Jacques showed Charlotte.

4. Continue along this road for another twenty metres and enjoy looking over to the Cap d’Antibes.

5. After fifty metres stop at the Picasso museum and then wind your way through the narrow streets back to Cours Masséna

6. I recommend you stop at the Antibes Provencal Markets to take in the smell of flowers and spices.

7. Then follow Rue Sade down the hill until you emerge into a large town square. I recommend you, pick up a gelato and then enter Rue Thuret.

8. Follow Rue Thuret until the end where it joins Boulevard d’Aguillon. Turn right and you will be a few steps away from the Hop Store, where Charlotte, Mason and Scott enjoyed their first drink together. (Let me know if the sign, No kissing in the bar unless with staff, is still there).

Walking tour of Cannes

1. Start at the Palais des Festival et des Congres at the end of the Croisette. Look at the hundreds of handprints of movie stars who’ve left their mark while visiting the city.

2. Walk along the Croisette taking in the sparkling Mediterranean on your right and the stunning hotels on your left. You could walk a long way here taking in the wonderful seaside ambiance. I propose you cross the road and take Rue Mace up to Rue D’An[1]tibes. The shops may tempt you, but I suggest continuing up Rue Chabaud until you come to the pedestrianised street of Rue Hoche. You will see a number of lovely cafes on this street.

3. Continue along Rue Hoche until you reach Rue de 24 Août and turn left and walk back down to Rue d’Antibes.

4. Turn right and walk a few hundred meters down this shopping street then turn right at Rue Louis Blanc. Walk three blocks and you will see the Marche Forville on your left.

5. Walk through to the end of the market and turn left at Rue du Docteur Pierre Gazagnaire, walking down to Rue Felix Faure which joins Rue Georges Clemenceau. Turn right here. Take Rue du Barri to walk up to the castle to view the city of Cannes and Îles de Lérins.

6. When you walk back down the hill the same way, walk across Rue Georges Clemenceau and down to Quai Saint-Pierre. You can walk along the waterfront, to the large carpark where you can take a boat out to Îles de Lérins. I would suggest you visit Ile Sainte Marguerite if you are pressed for time. You’ll not only be able to visit the forest where Scott and Charlotte were held captive, but also the cell which was home to the ‘Man in the Iron Mask’.

And if you want to pack action filled reading with a touch of romance for your holiday on the French Riviera, pick up a copy of Substitute Child.

With lockdowns everywhere, many are feeling trapped and depressed. I think that we could all do with an activity that takes us somewhere beautiful, where we vicariously participate in a heart-pumping adventure, perhaps across shark infested waters and deep into critter-ridden bushland.

If you’d like to come with me on this journey, I suggest picking up a copy of Nonsense in the North.

This is the last book in the Northern Rivers series and I had such fun writing it. Charlotte and Scott have quite a few hurdles to overcome.

‘So what kinda trouble did Charlotte get into this time?’ you ask. Well, Ms Wyatt is 100% doing the rescuing in this instalment and needs to draw on all the knowledge, contacts and tenacity she’s developed since she left Australian shores to collect that bottle with a message inside.

The story starts in Port Vila, Vanuatu and quickly moves to beautiful Queensland, Australia.

A too-good-to-be-true sailing trip results in Scott’s disappearance from waters near Hamilton Island. Now considered by police to be an integral part of an international drug smuggling operation, Charlotte relies on a sympathetic police officer and an aboriginal tracker named ‘Nonsense’ to travel deep into Cape Conway, to disrupt a drug exchange and to find her Scott, improving their chances of a happily-ever-after. All the while helping plan her best friend Miranda’s wedding to Mason.

Pick up your serve of escapism here. It’s a feel good story, with a distinctive Crocodile Dundee flavour.

July 4 is celebrated as Independence Day in North America. Because of the significance of the break from a controlling power, I chose this day to release the fourth book in the Northern River series, Missing in Myanmar. The book was live written as the Generals took over on 1 February 2021. I observed what was happening from Australia with alarm. I drew on wonderful memories of a cycling tour in southern Myanmar in early 2020 to craft the story. Here’s an overview.

Charlotte Wyatt wasn’t sure what she was letting herself in for when she agreed to be available for occasional information gathering activities for the Australian Securities Intelligence Organisation. Her first assignment comes at the end of a holiday in Thailand. Having just said goodbye to her boyfriend, who has taken a job sailing from Port Vila in Vanuatu to Bundaberg in Australia, Charlotte Wyatt is intrigued by the opportunity to go to Myanmar to gather information about a missing person.

With the help of a mysterious librarian, she finds the information she was sent to retrieve, and then, just as she’s making plans to return, the lights go out in Myanmar and the military takes over. With a reluctant passenger, Charlotte runs checkpoints and dodges bullets, in a race to the border.

It’s a fast-paced read. Perfect reading for the independence day long weekend.

Your copy here.

COVID19 killed my Sicilian scouting trip.  I’d been so looking forward to sailing from Naples to Sicily as a part of the research process for writing and investigating vineyards and cafes which would feature in my book, Roman Roulette.

Small details make stories richer and Over Byron Bay and Substitute Child benefited from my detailed local knowledge of the locations where all the action happened 

If you’ve read Substitute Child, you’d know that it concluded with Charlotte Wyatt stuck in Rome, and like her, I was stuck in Australia. Unable to fulfil the next stage of my plans, I turned to Google,as one does, to identify the places where my lead characters would argue, plot, fight, dance and escape from.

In Substitute Child, we watched Charlotte struggle with her identity and what she wanted for her life. When a curious opportunity puts her on a world stage and in grave danger, she acted boldly. You’ll need to read the book to see what she did and what happened as a result.

In Roman Roulette, she needs this new found courage and higher order planning skills as she looks for a friend who’s gone missing. Inadvertently caught up in the international slavery trade and forced to choose between several unbearable options, Charlotte embarks on a bold plan to save the women captured by The Monk, and in doing so, to save herself.  I particularly loved writing the scenes at the old theatre in Taormina and look forward to going there, once we are out of lock-down, and gazing at Mt Etna and out across the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Roman Roulette goes-live on Amazon on June 15 2021.  You can pick up your copy here