The Lost Empress cover image and description

What's it all about, Stevie?

The cover image and description for The Lost Empress went up on Amazon today, and I'm very pleased to be able to share them with you. Once again, it's been great to have had such a high level of involvement with the cover, from the initial design concept, through each composition to the final image. I feel very much a part of it and think it works very well with the existing books. I hope you like it.

I've been staggered by the level of pre-orders on Amazon for The Lost Empress, even before anyone had seen the jacket or knew what the book was about. At one point I saw it at around number 800 in the UK, and it continues to do well, so thanks to everyone who has pre-ordered their copy. Now you can find out what Jefferson Tayte's latest assignment is all about. It takes him back to 1914 this time - to the tragic sinking of the RMS Empress of Ireland, which happened 100 years ago last month on 29 May 1914. I'll be putting some more information about it on my website when the book is released, but in the meantime I strongly urge you learn more about this terrible maritime disaster, which I feel deserves an equal place in our hearts and memories alongside the Titanic and the Lusitania. To that end, please also share what you discover with your friends and families. 

I don't have the back cover image yet, but here's the description from the product page on Amazon, which begins with the very kind line: From acclaimed author Steve Robinson comes a bold new Jefferson Tayte mystery...

On a foggy night in 1914, the ocean liner Empress of Ireland sank en route to England and now lies at the bottom of Canada’s St Lawrence River. The disaster saw a loss of life comparable to the Titanic and the Lusitania, and yet her tragedy has been forgotten.

When genealogist Jefferson Tayte is shown a locket belonging to one of the Empress’s victims, a British admiral’s daughter named Alice Stilwell, he must travel to England to understand the course of events that led to her death.

Tayte is expert in tracking killers across centuries. In The Lost Empress, his unique talents draw him to one of the greatest tragedies in maritime history as he unravels the truth behind Alice’s death amidst a backdrop of pre-WWI espionage.

This is the fourth book in the Jefferson Tayte mystery series but can be enjoyed as a stand-alone story.

My holiday in the Lake District with photos

Bottom of Derwentwater looking towards Keswick, with Skiddaw in the distance

I've just been on holiday with Mrs R, walking in the Lake District, and thought I'd share some of my holiday snaps, which I took on my Canon 5D mkIII. Click on an image to open up the larger views. The weather was mostly cloudy, but dry, so it wasn't always great for photos, but it was ideal for walking. I did manage to capture some great-looking skies though. We stayed in a cottage in the village of Threlkeld, which is about four miles from the town of Keswick on Derwentwater. Here's a link if you'd like to look it up on on Google Maps

I hardly used the car all week which was great. We walked into Keswick for further walks around Derwentwater via an old disused railway line which has been turned into a recreational walk. The walk crosses several rivers and streams over old iron railway bridges where one day we saw our first red squirrel. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me that day, which is typical. Here's a photo of a tunnel we passed through, looking at one of the bridges.

One particularly long walk took us through Keswick and across the water by boat to a peak called Catbells, which is quite a steep ascent, but also quite short. This photo was taken about halfway up with my 14mm lens.

And here's Mrs R at the top of Catbells in her new walking boots. Quite a view!

From there we continued down the other side via a steeper descent, heading for lunch at the Ladore Falls hotel. We met a very friendly (and photogenic) cow along the way, who came to the water for a drink as I was setting up for the shot taken at the top of this blog. 

After lunch we walked up from the hotel to the waterfall that the hotel takes its name from. The longest lens I had with me was my 35mm, so I had to scramble across the rocks with my tripod to get close enough.

We had planned to take the last boat back to Keswick, but as there's plenty of daylight this time of year, we decided to walk back instead, and I'm glad we did or I wouldn't have been able to take the photo below. I think we walked about sixteen miles that day, and we slept very well as a result. :o) 

 Thanks for looking!