A look inside The Great Glacier Hotel Heist

 I've been so busy working on Watts and Whiskerton book 4 (publishing in November this year) that I didn't realise how long it'd been since I posted anything here. I haven't even shown you what to expect from book 3! So here's a peek at the insides of The Great Glacier Hotel Heist!

Watts is excited to on his first ever family holiday, and especially thrilled that Pearl has been invited too.

They are visiting the Great Glacier Hotel and Ski Resort. Here's a map of the hotel. This will help eagle- eyed detectives to solve the case.

Sadly, Pearl has injured her paw but she doesn't let that slow her down when a mystery arrives. It turns out that the president of Trotskovia is staying in the hotel to transport The Ice Crystal, a priceless necklace, back home with her, But when a jewel thief strikes and the necklace is stolen, Mr and Mrs Watts find themselves under arrest!

And then the president goes missing!

And a snowbeast is seen in the grounds of the hotel!

It's up to Watts and Pearl to find out how all of these curious events are connected and capture the jewel thief. Can they do it? Of course they can. But can they ski? Well...

The Great Glacier Hotel Heist is available to buy now. Ask at your local bookshop, or wherever you like to buy your books, and don't forget you can borrow it from your library too.

If you'd like a more summery adventure why not try Sabotage at the Fete Cake Bake. Featuring teamwork, baking disasters and a thief! Can our budding detecives solve this cake catastrophe and earn and a first class ribbon for baking too? 

You can read more about it by clicking here.

Or Buried Bones and Troublesome Treasure. Featuring a budding detective duo, dinosaur bones and a museum break in. Can Watts and Pearl work out what's been going on?

You can dig up more dirt on that mystery here.

Cover reveal - Watts and Whiskerton book 3

 Hello! This is an exciting day because I can finally reveal the cover for Watts and Pearl's next adventure: The Great Glacier Hotel Heist.

Watts is looking forward to a holiday at the Great Glacier Hotel and Ski Resort. But when they arrive, his and Pearl's quiet vacation soon turns into another high-stakes investigation: the priceless Ice Crystal has been stolen from the hotel safe, and his parents are the prime suspects!

Will Watts and Pearl be able to clear Mr and Mrs Watts' names? And will they be able to catch the real jewel thief? This dog and cat detective duo will have to navigate through heavy snow, suspicious staff, and a locked room mystery. But will they manage to ski, sleuth and save the day?

It publishes next year but is available for pre-order now by clicking here.

Or you can ask your lovely local bookshop to order you one in.

The Week Junior Book Awards 2025

Hello! I've just realised how long it's been since I've updated this blog. In the gap I've been busy finishing Watts and Whiskerton book 3 (more on that soon) and writing book 4. But back to the awards!

I had a really nice evening at the Week Junior Book Awards, a rare trip to London for me, and even though I didn't win my category (the excellent book Dungeon Runners by Kieran Larwood, illustrated by Joe Todd-Stanton did) I was thrilled to be highly commended.

Woohoo! 

The young fiction category was full of excellent books so if you're looking for your next read, this list is a good place to start. Behold the young fiction shortlist!

The Week Junior Book Awards

A few weeks ago I learned that Watts and Whiskerton: Buried Bones and Troublesome Treasure has been shortlisted for a Week Junior Award in the Fiction Younger category, which is lovely news.

You can find the other fantastic shortlistees here, as well as the nominees in all the other categories. It's a great place to discover new books.

The winners are announced in September.

Out now!

Watts and Whiskerton: Sabotage at the Fete Cake Bake is finally out! 

It has been published today which is strange because it feels like it's been out forever, only because I've known about it so long and I finished the book several months ago. But it's nice to know readers can finally get their hands on it.

For those who don't know, this is the second book in the Watts and Whiskerton series. They are a detective duo (and best friends) and each book is its own mystery so you don't have to read them in order, but it doesn't hurt. 

It's perfect for new readers, budding detectives and young bakers.

I'm currently working on the final art for book three so I'd better get back to it.

Back cover design

Watts and Whiskerton: Sabotage at the Fete Cake Bake (book two) is publishing next week. Here's a little look behind the scenes at the back cover design.

One we're ready to design the back cover the art director will send me a file with all of the words that will be on the back, as well as the space the barcode will take up. It's important not to put any important illustrations under these. And it's best to leave the areas under text as blank as possible.

I then send a selection of sketches to the art director and we decide which one will work best.

Cover ideas

For this book we actually used one of the drawings I'd sent as a possible front cover. The tent provided a nice blank space for the text to sit and the barcode box made a perfect table for the cakes to sit on. We wanted to make sure we saw some of the delicious cakes from the baking competition. These were actually my favourite things to draw.

I will then draw out the chosen design with everything exactly where it going to be. The art director will check this and I will move on the colouring the page.

This is the final image. I wanted to hint at the sabotage by showing the cakes weren't as perfect as the seem at first glance. There's also a sea of cake batter (which will be explained inside the book.) I'm really pleased with the way the cover turned out. The falling bunting frames to text space in a fun way while hinting that something has gone wrong. 

Here's the final cover on the book.

Sabotage at the Fete Cake Bake is published by Piccadilly Press on April 24th and is available for pre-order now. Perfect for detective fans and young bakers. Just ask in your local lovely bookshop. Or you can order by clicking here.

Meet the Bakers

Watts and Whiskerton: Sabotage at the Fete Cake Bake (book two) is publishing next month and I thought I'd show some of the character design sketches. I don't properly start work on character designs until I'm about to begin the final artwork, which feels a little late, but I like to get to know them in the roughs stage. By drawing them over and over again their personalities start to appear so I leave any final decisions until I'm done with this stage. Here are some of the sketches and final drawings.

Roughs stage

This is Fleur Wheatley. She's a great baker and last year's winner.

Character design

Fleur Wheatley in the book

Character design

Mrs 'Cookie' Cutter is the Whiskerton family's cook and she takes no nonsense.

Character design

Whip Lightly competed in last year's Fete Bake but has yet to win the title.

Character design

Ms Partridge is due to compete but is unable to attend. She gets her chance later on though.

Character design

Mayor Dove is in charge of proceedings. Hopefully nothing will go wrong!

Final art in the book.

Sketch

When Ms Partridge fails to arrive Mr Dove, Mayor Dove's husband, is forced to compete. 

But how will he do?

Final art

This image was to help me keep track of how tall the characters were compared to everyone else.

I'm sure everything will run like clockwork at this year's fete bake, but if it doesn't we have two excellent detectives around.

Published April 24th.

Available for pre-order now by clicking here.

Pre-orders really help authors so if you have already ordered a book thank you so much.