Mont Noir, where are you?

It’s hard to believe it’s finally – almost – here. My third novel!

I wasn’t going to write a sequel to any of my books, but life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans. That’s also why it’s taken so long to get it out. The spark came in 2013, when I was visiting Belgium. On the border with France, I saw a sign, Mont Noir. What a cool name! I have to use that some time.

After Blood and Rain was published, in 2017, I started thinking about the next project. What would it be? I’d fallen in love with Celestina, the fierce anarchist we got to know in Blood and Rain. No, not a sequel. Maybe a fantasy thing? I plotted a story where the peasants are fighting a war against the gods. Celestina was not amused.

Mont Noir. The name kept calling me. Okay, fine. I came across an article that explained how Wilhelm Canaris, the head of German Intelligence had phoned Anthony Eden, the British Foreign Minister, in early 1939, informing him that a German invasion of The Netherlands was imminent. The Dutch War Scare, and I found old newspaper articles that confirmed this happened. It was a lie, but Canaris wanted to scare the west into preparing for what was to come. He disliked the Nazi regime and hated how the west was in denial about the danger posed by Germany. And so I had my story. Celestina had to go to Amsterdam.

It’s been years in the making, not because I write slow, but because I write sporadically. Work is busy, the house needs to be cleaned and fixed, and I wrote a series of short stories last year. All this time, Mont Noir slowly developed.

Recently I had it read by a few proofreaders and they loved it. It’s time to release the beast into the wild.

Publication date has been chosen, 12 January 2023 it shall be. You can check the book page here.