Resolute Books

04/07/2025

Two Resolute authors have been shortlisted for the ACW Book of the Year Awards - fortunately in different categories!

Ruth Leigh Writes for the fourth installment of her fabulous Isabella M Smugge series, published by Instant Apostle.

And Sarah Nicholson for her memoir In Search of Lost Glitter published by Resolute Books

We are delighted and have the champagne on ice 🍾

03/07/2025

A new website for very talented S.L. Russell. Designed by Marketing for Authors.

Do take a look 👀

Explore S.L. Russell's contemporary fiction novels filled with emotional depth, truth, and hope, including her latest release, The Art of Life. Perfect for avid readers of heartfelt stories.

23/06/2025

For National Crime Reading Month, why not check out the cold war thriller Banshee by our author Lindsay Rumbold? Here's an extract:

'‘Why can’t people die neatly?’ Burden murmured, half under his breath.

‘I suppose as far as the killer was concerned, this was neat,’ Alex said. ‘No trace of anything above ground.’

‘True.’ Burden paused. ‘So, no idea when we’ll have any answers?’

‘Woods is doing his best. We’re waiting to hear from the conservators. It’ll be a few days at least.’

‘That’s not fast enough.’

Alex swallowed, trying to loosen the tension in his jaw. What could he do, change the laws of physics? Involuntarily, his hands clenched the steering wheel. ‘A lot of the papers have suffered from being underground alongside the body. We can’t read what we can’t see. I’ll speak with Woods and see what we can do to speed things up.’

‘Whatever assistance you need, call me.’ Burden coughed. ‘We need answers.’'

23/06/2025

It's National Crime Reading Month, and here at Resolute we have a few criminally good reads. Check out this extract from Paul Trembling - Writing's Can of Worms:

"One of the things she liked best about a SOCO’s job was the way fingerprints could appear, as if by magic, on apparently clean surfaces, when you applied the powder. To see a beautiful, clear fingerprint develop was always a thrill for her, making up for all the smudgy marks and negative results. Vince Maddox’s prints on her car window were as sharp and fresh as any she’d seen: thumbprint on the outside, full set of fingers inside. Pointing down, showing clearly how he’d gripped the glass.

Marcie took out a roll of lifting tape – like Sellotape, but much clearer, stickier, and more expensive. She cut off a length and, holding her breath, carefully smoothed it over the thumbprint. Then repeated the procedure on the inside.

The last stage could be the trickiest. Every SOCO could tell tragic tales of how perfect fingerprints had been lost because the tape tore. Or a sudden gust of wind wrapped it round their fingers.

Very carefully, she peeled the tape away from the glass, laid it down on a sheet of clear acetate, sliced off the excess with a scalpel blade.

Did it again on the inside.

Held the results up to examine.

The skin ridge detail was brilliantly sharp. Textbook stuff. She could see cores, she could see deltas, she could see ridge-endings and bifurcations in abundance. More than enough for a fingerprint expert to work on.

‘Got you, Vince,’ she said softly. ‘Got you, you bastard.’"

19/06/2025

Today's Resolute Childhood Favourites comes from our author Ruth Leigh Writes:

"From the age of four, books were my favourite thing in the world. I read voraciously and every birthday and Christmas brought new ones. I must have been around nine when I was given Anne of Green Gables. I’ve still got it, with my name and, bafflingly, the name of my village, written in felt tip pen inside. I loved it at once. The descriptions of the countryside on Prince Edward Island drew me in and the second I met the skinny, freckled, red-headed orphan waiting hopefully at the station, I was lost. That first time round, I gasped at the confrontation between Anne and Mrs Rachel Lynde, was horrified as Minnie May appeared to be on her deathbed and was agog at the school room drama. (Ruby Gillis and her sisters! Plain Jane Andrews! Gilbert the obvious love interest! Horrible Mr Phillips with his creepy interest in the older girls!) Then we had the Green Hair Dye incident, the near-fatal recreation of Camelot, falling off the roof and of course the shock of the bank failing at the end. I simply loved it and I still have all the other books, all with my name written in them.

What drew me in then and still does now? I think the quality of the writing, the descriptive language and the characterisation is so good. You really care about Anne and wish her well, and LM Montgomery is so skilled at raising up new struggles and difficulties (and even the odd enemy) in each new volume. I still read them now and I don’t suppose I’ll ever stop."

You can get Ruth's latest book A Great Deal of Ingenuity here: https://amzn.to/40tyCA5

17/06/2025

Did you know it’s National Crime Reading Month? At Resolute, we have some criminally good reads to offer.

Here’s what readers have to say …

Can of Worms by Paul Trembling:
“I'm a big fan of crime books by the likes of Tess Gerritsen and PJ Tracy, and Paul's is certainly as gripping and as tense as any of theirs!” https://amzn.to/3G5n7H1

Local Killer by Paul Trembling:
“Written by a former CSI officer and seasoned crime writer you are in for a roller coaster of a ride. Well researched, full blooded characters and cracking case to solve I was sad to finish it …” https://amzn.to/47ywvMK

Banshee by Lindsay Rumbold:
“Two parallel stories - a 1964 military espionage and a murder investigation set in 2022 lead the reader on a twisty trail to one dramatic conclusion … If you enjoy John Le Carre and Alastair McLean this a must read for you.” https://amzn.to/41N1ELW

Tempted? Follow the links for paperback and ebook on Amazon now!

14/06/2025

Ruth Leigh Writes and Sarah Nicholson are the ladies in red today - you can't miss the at the Framlingham Author event.
The Resolute Books stall will also catch your eye with Sarah's sparkly book award in prime position ✨️

12/06/2025

Today's Resolute Childhood favourites comes from Sheelagh Aston, author of the upcoming In-Between Girl.

"Black Beauty was Anna Sewell’s only novel, for which she received the princely sum of £40 (about £3,000) but it was not published until shortly after her death at 57 in 1877.

I no longer have the original copy my mother read to me but the lovely classical edition my daughter (who I read the story to as a child) gave me a few years ago has many of the drawings and paintings of that original edition.

Today we would call the story of the chequered fortunes of the sweet natured black mare and her friends, Merigold the pony and chestnut Ginger, a moral fable. Sewell had a great love of horses, using horse-drawn carriages after a childhood accident left her unable to ride or to walk without crutches. She wrote it to encourage people to look after their horses properly at a time when many were maltreated. She is credited with helping to reduce cruelty to horses thanks to Beauty; for example, the use of bearing rains which prevent a carriage horse from moving their head from its high position were used less after the book’s publication.

I came from a family of horse lovers, both parents’ rode, and summers were spent at gymkhanas and cross-country events my older brothers competed in. Every time I read it, I am transported to those times and reminded how much we humans owe to those animals who carry out tasks that make our lives easier and give us pleasure.

11/06/2025

Our author Janet Hancock is on the Beneath The Page podcast!

'In this episode of the podcast, Sophie and Steve sit down with Janet Hancock, author of two powerful novels set during the Russian Revolution. The conversation focuses on her latest work, 'The West in Her Eyes' (Resolute Books) that crosses continents and dives deep into the turbulence of revolution and the personal stakes for those caught up in it.

They explore the themes of identity, talk about the tension between ambition and love, and discuss Janet's process.'

In this episode of the podcast, Sophie and Steve sit down with Janet Hancock, author of two powerful novels set during the Russian Revolution. The conversati...

09/06/2025

Today's childhood favourite book is brought to us by our author Sue Russell:

"I was a horribly precocious child who applied to join the adult library around the age of 11 - and they let me. Nobody policed my reading very much except when my mother found me reading Peyton Place at the age of seven and confiscated it. As a result I missed out on many of the children's classics, but I made up for it as an adult. I remember little about my early reading and have kept almost nothing, but one battered little book of verse still has a fond place on my bookshelf: A Puffin Quartet of Poets. Someone gave it to me, and there's serious stuff there, but my favourite was the wonderful E.V. Rieu, whose verse delighted me all those (many) years ago. It invariably rhymes and scans perfectly which probably added to my pleasure, but it was the funny ones I liked: Sir Smasham Uppe, The Lesser Lynx, and perhaps most affectionately remembered to this day, Mr Blob. Here's the last verse:

'My heart went out to Mr Blob the moment that we met,
And the sorrow of his going is a thing that haunts me yet;
For often when the clouds are low I sit at home and sob
To think that I shall see no more the face of Mr Blob.'

Mr Blob, I should add, was a cheerful little drawing."

You can grab Sue's latest book, The Art of Life, here. https://amzn.to/3LTqFf8

07/06/2025

Another Saturday, another stall.
Today inside beautiful St Mary's Church Hadleigh Suffolk as part of the Hidden Gardens event.