A J Lattimer & Co. - Michael Reidy

My thanks to Ian Thomson for his comprehensive and enthusiastic review of  Undivulged Crimes which appears on his website , on Goodreads , and on his LinkedIn page. If anyone hasn't discovered Ian's short stories and novels, you can find them here . His perception, wisdom and spleen are wittily set out on every page.  We eagerly await his forthcoming novel, A Dish of Apricots .

My thanks to Pauline Barclay and the judges at Chill with a Book for the Premier Reader's Award for The Rock Pool . The Chill Awards are for independent writers and provide exposure, promotion and recognition to authors choosing to self-publish. It provides a useful network and community for writers, editors, cover designers and others associated with book preparation and production. The judges' comments on the book were generous and I am honoured and humbled. This is a beautiful book in many ways. It is beautiful written and takes the reader back to those days when, as growing up, we saw the future as bright, positive and every dream could be realised. Mr Reidy takes you on a journey from when life was about nothing more than enjoying yourself, finding new adventures to the reality of adulthood. The book’s pace is perfect. The characters are real enough to feel you are a guest at their lobster parties, their graduation balls, at their side during their travels. It is a...

While shaving this morning, I was considering the cause for the canonisation of G K Chesterton, as one does. While he long defended the Church, and what we know of his life suggests that he will have been let into heaven (the definition of a saint), I wonder if his life was saintly as we understand it. He was devout. He was faithful (always carrying a pistol to defend his wife). I expect his piety was genuine and that he attended Mass and said his prayers. But is he someone through whom I would pray asking for intercession? He's not the first person to come to mind. Also, I am not aware of any miracles associated with him. In favour of his cause, wouldn't it be great to have a new saint who lived in the world in every sense? Who struggled, who worked for a living, who knew both success and opposition; someone who was alive almost in living memory and of whom stories are still told as personal anecdotes; who appears in photographs and in films? Also in favour of St Gil...