A Bedford author has taken inspiration from their floating home at Priory Marina for their new cosy crime murder mystery series.
And to celebrate its launch, they are dropping off free copies at some of their favourite riverside spots.
RJ (Richard) Beynon began his storytelling career at a young age.
At just seven, he contracted polio and struck a bargain with his hospital wardmates: they would strap the intricate brace he had to wear onto his leg – and he would tell them stories.
Since then, he’s spent his life telling stories in countless forms as a journalist and writing for the page and screen.
He’s written over 1,200 scripts of drama and comedy, led dozens of writers’ rooms, and served as head writer on some of South Africa’s most popular soaps.
He also established a writing school, All About Writing, which has helped well over a thousand participants to realise their writing dreams.
Recognisable local haunts and landmarks
His new book – Murder as a Working Hypothesis – is set in Bedford at a fictitious marina, Abbey Marina in Abbey Country Park [I think I can see the inspiration – Ed].
And to celebrate the launch, Richard and his wife Trish have dropped off free copies of the book to a variety of their favourite locations along the River Great Ouse.
“Although it’s fiction, readers – and lovers of Bedford and our gorgeous River Great Ouse – will recognise some of their favourite local haunts and landmarks,” said Richard.
For fifteen years, Richard and Trish have lived for months each year on his narrowboat, Patience, navigating the rivers and canals of England and Wales.
Their travels are now over, and their final destination is a houseboat on a lake just off the River Great Ouse in Bedford.
“Water has always been an inspiration to me,” Richard told the Bedford Clanger.
“In storm, in calm, iced over or full of Canada geese, it suggests conflict, war, peace and resolution – all the essential elements of any good story.
“Just as important for me in writing my James Clatterbridge mysteries has been the place: the marina we live in, and Bedford, with its complex network of rivers and streams.
“In fact, that is the subject of a workshop I’ll be running in Bedford’s first literary festival, Write by the River, in September. We’ve made it free to ensure it’s as inclusive as possible.”
Richard said he fell in love with the River Great Ouse on their first cruise up in over ten years ago.
“The more I got to know it, from the deck of a narrowboat, or the seat of a kayak, or neck deep in the water itself, the more passionate I became about it,” he said.
“Trish and I are celebrating the publication of the first novel in the Clatterbridge series by dropping off copies at some of our favourite spots along the river and in town. And we’re not done yet…”
Small marina. Big secrets. One very stubborn sleuth.
Murder as a Working Hypothesis is the first novel in the Clatterbridge cosy crime series, a witty and atmospheric tale with a dark edge, set among the waterways and allotments of Bedfordshire.
A body in the rhubarb patch was not part of the plan.
James and Inky Clatterbridge have come to Abbey Marina in search of a quieter life. Their houseboat at No. 7, Pontoon Pike offers exactly what they’d hoped – eccentric neighbours, evenings at The Heron, and the slow satisfactions of tending an allotment beside the river.
Then Inky discovers a dead man half hidden beneath the rhubarb leaves.
The victim – a rough sleeper known only as G – seemed to drift unnoticed around the marina community. But murder has a way of exposing the hidden currents beneath even the calmest waters.
And when the police recover the apparent murder weapon – James’s missing dibber – suspicion begins to settle alarmingly close to home.
The police believe the case is straightforward. But James, a writer of horror fiction with a professional interest in human darkness, has a working hypothesis of his own.
As he starts asking questions among the houseboats and pontoons of Abbey Marina, James discovers a community held together by secrets, loyalties and long-nursed grievances.
The deeper he digs, the clearer it becomes that somebody in the marina knows far more about the murder than they are prepared to admit.
And somebody is willing to kill to keep the truth buried.
Catch a copy
If you’re not lucky enough to find a copy of Murder as a Working Hypothesis at one of the riverside locations, you can purchase a paperback, e-book or Kindle copy here.
