Venice at night is magical. And imposing. I’ve just returned from a few days in the city, and one of the best experiences was a gondola ride at 10pm. It was dark, creepy, beautiful, atmospheric, and scary. All the things this crime writer loves! And as we seemed to crawl silently across the top of the still inky water, with just the swish of an oar, I had so many ideas for stories. The crumbling buildings towered above us, and we caught sight of people in their flats and houses, glimpses inside hotel kitchens, and long expanses of dark, deserted canals where the pale yellow lamps fizzed and flickered. And just when I thought the large cloud moving above us might be a ghost, we burst out from under a bridge, moving past a glittering piazza filled with people at restaurant tables.
I’ve been to Venice twice before, staying in hotels, but this was the first time I stayed in a house looking out on the canal. It was at the end of a long, narrow street ending at the water. By day, it was bright and filled with people, and there was a school playground opposite, but at night it was deserted, and I didn’t sleep soundly. The flat had an atmosphere, not necessarily a bad one, but I felt the vibrations of all the people who’d lived there before. A few times a noise woke me in the night with a feeling like we weren’t entirely alone. I loved wandering the city streets during the day with no particular plan, and early morning and evening, we sat in the living room, watching the world punt past. Time was marked by the movement of the tides as the water slowly uncovered the five stone steps from our windowsill encrusted with oysters and seaweed.
This and previous photo, the views from our living room
Venice has no roads – you probably already know this – but that means that everything travels by boat; supermarket deliveries, rubbish collection, parents on the school run, funerals, ambulances, the police, building supplies, and of course, the locals going about their business and tourists in Gondolas. We watched it all, and here are my observations in no particular order. Venetians who work on delivery boats and the rubbish collection have great arms, the guys muscly and the woman beautifully toned, and so many of them have beautiful tattoos. Children who get to go to school by boat look like they’re having so much fun every single time. Also, the same goes for dogs travelling with their owners. At times, the canal was a crush of boats, but there wasn’t one collision, and everyone seemed to work together to keep things moving. So many tourists on gondola rides (which are expensive) never look up from scrolling on their phones! Also, there were quite a few young guys with excited young girls who looked really miserable (post-proposal regrets, perhaps? Or maybe they didn’t bring their sea legs.) And finally, so many people hang their washing out from windows, some as high as five or six stories above the canal, but I never saw any dropped socks in the water.
Venice has also become the place where influencers go to make their content; swinging around lamp posts with bunches of roses, skipping along the road with Venetian masks, gazing myopically off into the distance. And, of course, everyone who orders a coffee and cake combo needs to take a photo of it. This isn’t unusual, but when we visited Café Florian in St. Mark’s Square, there were people setting up tripods and ring lights by their tables, crashing into waiters while their ice cream melted and coffee went cold. Perhaps I’m just becoming an old fart, but it seems like the world has gone mad. Still, I suppose Venice is the place where you go to have a magical experience, and modern magical experiences should be documented in 4K with great lighting. My husband, Ján, proposed to me in Venice in 2008, and I can’t believe how quickly time has passed and how much things have changed. Back then, we took photos, but something went wrong with the memory card in Ján’s camera, and we lost them all. I have to admit we more than made up for it this time, and we joined in photographing our Negronis and Tiramisu. I love café Florian so much that we went three times, (we also went for coffee and cannoli made by Nonnas in which was equally delicious). Florian had a band outside in the square who were wonderful. They even played ‘I’m Ken’ from the Barbie movie and made it sound like it was from ancient Venetian times.
We only stayed for a couple of days, and whilst I loved Venice, I also found it a little overwhelming. Every day it fills with tourists. We got up super early each morning and enjoyed the city before it became like a stadium concert crush. It’s easy to forget that Venice is a real place, with real people trying to go about their day, shopping, walking their dogs, taking their kids to school.
It seems that every time I visit, I have more questions, and there are more streets that I want to explore. I hope Venice can survive as a real place, it’s such a beautiful unique city.
My new Detective Erika Foster book, Chasing Shadows has just been published and you can get your copy here: https://geni.us/Chasing_Shadows
Dear Readers, I hope this email finds you well, and I hope that 2025 has been treating you all well so far, and has been filled with lots of great books to read!
I’m very excited to share some book news – my new Detective Erika Foster crime thriller, Chasing Shadows, is now available to pre-order!
Click here to pre-order Chasing Shadows
(audiobook pre-order coming soon)
Thank you as always for all of your support and friendship – please tell your family and friends this exciting book news!
Happy reading, Rob x
In a deadly game of cat and mouse, Detective Erika Foster confronts her greatest nemesis—where the lines of justice blur and secrets unravel.
A collapsed ceiling. A dead body. What starts as a routine 999 call takes an unexpected twist when Detective Chief Inspector Erika Foster arrives on the scene and discovers the body of a woman in an empty flat, with all DNA evidence scrubbed away. When forensics find cocaine residue coating every surface of the ceiling, Erika calls in the drug dogs, who lead her to a mysterious parcel locker on the outside wall of the property. Chasing down the locker’s owner leads Erika back where she never expected to be – staring into the eyes of Jerome Goodman, the drug dealer who murdered her husband, Mark, ten years ago.
She arrests him on the spot, but there’s just one problem. His passport and his solicitor say his name is Kieron Bagshaw, and his record is squeaky clean.
With top brass demanding she take leave to deal with her PTSD and even her closest colleagues questioning her sanity, Erika decides to use the time off to do some digging of her own. Trawling for clues through old newspapers, encrypted messages, and secret underground passageways, Erika makes a series of shocking discoveries that move Mark’s murder from cold case to active investigation, all while flying under the Met’s radar.
The revelations will push Erika to the brink, forcing her to confront the trauma of her past and the truth about what happened the day Mark died – and who among her friends was involved from the shadows.
Click here to pre-order Chasing Shadows
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! I can’t believe we are nearing the end of 2024. How has it gone so fast? I’m so grateful for all the wonderful messages you’ve sent me, the creative posts, stories and reels so many people upload on social media with my books. It really lifts my spirits and keeps me going when I’m writing a new book. And thank you for telling your friends and family about my work. I have the best readers in the world. There are some exciting new things to come in 2025, but for now, I wanted to wish you and your family a wonderful Christmas and holiday season, and a very happy and healthy New Year.
Rob xx
Six weeks ago, we took our doggies, Riky and Lola, to our favourite coffee place for an early morning walk. They both have so much bouncy energy, and Lola, the younger of the two, is always active and jumps around, but when we got back in the car, she was subdued. When we got home, she was wobbly on her legs, and by the evening, her back legs had stopped working, and she was dragging them across the floor. It was awful. Our dogs are like our children, and I’ve always known that when a dog can’t use its back legs, it often means. . . Well, it didn’t bear thinking about.
After visiting a vet, we were told about a clinic in the nearby town of Trenčín that specializes in neurological problems in dogs. They did an MRI scan and found that one of the discs in Lola’s spine had dislodged and was pushing on the nerves in her spinal cord that make her legs work. The vet in the clinic said they could operate, but it was risky with her age. We took the risk, and I’m so glad we did because she came through the operation, a testament to her resilience, and her legs were much better.
However, the last six weeks have been stressful, trying to keep an overactive dog from moving too much. Lola hated having to go into a small cage. Even though it was comfy with a blanket, water and her toys, she would bark and bash on the bars. After nights of no sleep, I kept hearing lines from the William Blake poem, with the words, ‘Little Lola in a cage, puts all heaven in a rage.’ Our other dog, Riky, had also become incredibly distressed when Lola disappeared for four days. They’ve never been separated for more than a walk or a haircut, and he refused to eat or drink. And he couldn’t understand why she was locked in a cage when she did come home.
He wouldn’t even let us give him water in a syringe, so he ended up three times at the vet’s on IV. Everything seemed ten times worse after nights with no sleep, and for a couple of weeks, we really thought we were losing our minds. How could two little balls of fur cause so much angst and chaos? I just wished they could understand what was happening.
Thankfully, Lola’s now much better, walking well. Riky is happy and hydrated. And we’re sleeping. All of us. Everyone at the Neurovet.sk clinic, where Lola had her operation, were amazing, the surgeon, doctor and the nurses who looked after Lola. Our regular vet Pavol Zubrický, and all the nurses at Veterinarna Poliklinkia Althea in Nitra have been brilliant, as always. And Lucia Radošovská, who does Lola’s rehabilitation has helped her to get stronger and use her legs again. We are forever grateful to them all for their expertise and care.
In between running a puppy rehabilitation centre, I’ve been writing the next Erika Foster book. I’m thrilled to share that it’s in the works, and I can’t wait to tell you more details soon. I also wanted to catch up with my readers around the world with news of new book releases. . .
Dwaalspoor /The Lost Victim is now published in The Netherlands and Belgium in Dutch. You can get your copy here: https://www.boekerij.nl/producten/dwaalspoor-9789049205058
The Czech and Slovak editions of The Lost Victim have also just been published. Get your copy in Czech: https://www.grada.cz/zahadna-obet-14221/ and in Slovak here: https://www.grada.sk/zahadna-obet-14221/
And, A Vítima Perdida /The Lost Victim is also published in Portugal: https://almadoslivros.pt/products/a-vitima-perdida
And it’s great to see Nine Elms, the first book in my Kate Marshall series published in Turkey. You can get your copy here: https://www.ithakiyayingrubu.com/nine-elms-kate-marshall.aspx
And it always excites me to see my Coco Pinchard romantic comedy novels published into translation. Just in time for the festive season is Kerstmis met Coco / A Very Coco Christmas which is now available in The Netherlands and Belgium, in print ebook and audio, too https://www.boekerij.nl/producten/kerstmis-met-coco-9789402324440
Thank you as always for all of your messages and love on social media. I’m very lucky to have such wonderful readers. Rob x
[videopress 7276qlUK]
I’m very excited to tell you that my new Private Detective Kate Marshall crime thriller, THE LOST VICTIM is out now! It’s available on all retailers in ebook, print and audiobook!
You can get your copy by clicking HERE (This is a location- based link that will open in another window and take you to a list of stores wherever you are in the world).
When schoolgirl Janey Macklin disappeared from the seedy side of London in 1988, her case went cold, with no body and no witnesses. Now, thirty years later, private detective Kate Marshall has been approached by a true crime podcast producer with an intriguing question they need her help answering: What if Janey was killed by Peter Conway, the notorious Nine Elms Cannibal?
I hope you enjoy reading and listening to THE LOST VICTIM Thank you, as always, for your wonderful support for my books.
Rob Bryndza
The Lost Victim book trailer is by Dominic Forbes Design
What I’ve realised about publishing books is that there are so many second, third, and fourth chances.
Today, my debut novel, The Not So Secret Emails of Coco Pinchard, is published in Dutch in the Netherlands and Belgium as Het geheime leven van Coco Pinchard. I couldn’t be more excited to see the book find new readers.
When I started writing, I had no clue how to write a book, let alone get it published, and along the way, there were so many doubts and tears and tantrums and moments of elation and tears, and more tantrums.
I couldn’t have done it without the belief and love of my husband, Ján, who supported me emotionally and financially all along the way. He was the one who told me, on a rainy afternoon at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland, that perhaps I might enjoy being a writer more than an actor. It was the best piece of advice anyone has ever given me.
When I finished writing the book, I queried endless agents, and I was lucky to find one who loved Coco, and it came close to being published traditionally by one of the big publishers. And then it all went away, when the answer was, ‘Sorry, we love it, but we don’t think it can find a big enough readership.’ The literary agent dropped me, and I was devastated. The book lay in a drawer for two years, but I always believed readers would love Coco Pinchard. Then, I heard about self-publishing through Kindle Direct Publishing, so on a quiet morning, sitting on the sofa in our flat, we pressed upload, and people could buy The Not So Secret Emails of Coco Pinchard.
It took some time to find an audience. We were clueless about publishing, but slowly, it gained traction with readers and reviewers, and eight months later, Coco Pinchard went into the top 100 Kindle charts on Amazon UK. It sold over a thousand copies that weekend, making enough money to pay our rent and bills that month, and suddenly, there was the tantalising possibility that I could make money doing something I love. I decided to write more Coco Pinchard adventures. The next two years were so much fun, I wrote and we self-published a second, third, fourth, and fifth book, and with each publication, my audience grew.
I then decided to try my hand at crime novels, which were slightly more successful than my romantic comedies, but I still think I’m a comedy writer masquerading as a crime writer. I loved writing about Coco Pinchard’s adventures, and seeing them continue to find new readers gives me so much pleasure. The Coco Pinchard series has now sold over 600,000 copies in all formats, and translations have been published in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Croatia, and now in the Netherlands and Belgium in Dutch.
Some of the English language and international editions of the Coco PInchard series, and in the centre, the original first manuscript for The Not So Secret Emails. . .
I’m so excited to hear what my Dutch-speaking readers think of Het geheime leven van Coco Pinchard. I’m also thrilled that my Dutch publisher will be publishing the next four books in the Coco Pinchard series in Dutch over the next few months and into next year.
And very soon, I’m going to write that sixth Coco Pinchard book. . . Until then, happy reading! Rob x
Hello from Spain, where it’s been a bit stormy lately but today the sun is shining and the sea is calm – perfect weather for publication day.
I’m very excited to tell you that my new Detective Erika Foster crime thriller, Lethal Vengeance is out now in all formats – ebook, print and audiobook! You can click here to get your copy.
(This is a location- based link that will take you to the stores wherever you are in the world).
I have loved writing this book, and being back in the world of Erika and her team. In Lethal Vengeance Erika faces a terrifying serial killer who is also a master of disguise… I hope you enjoy reading it!
Thank you, as always, for your tremendous support for my books.
Rob Bryndza
Hello, my wonderful reader friends,
I hope all is well with you? I’ve been busy since I last posted here, writing the next Detective Erika Foster book. I’m very excited to tell you it’s called Lethal Vengeance, and it will be published worldwide in the English language on February 8th in all formats: eBook, print and audiobook. You can pre-order your copy of Lethal Vengeance by clicking HERE
Here is the book description;
The man lay on his front, his arms and legs bound and pulled up with a rope connecting the two. His head was arched back, so he faced the curtains, and there was masking tape over his mouth. Erika gingerly reached out and checked his pulse.
Yep. Dead all right.
When Detective Erika Foster finds politician Neville Lomas naked, hog-tied, and dead in his own bed, skittish higher-ups at the Met quickly rule the death from natural causes. Case closed . . . until two months later when a well-known casting director and a star footballer are found murdered and tied with the same knots. The Met can no longer ignore what’s staring them in the face: there’s a serial killer loose in London, and they’re out to settle a score.
As Erika and her team investigate, things take a strange turn as CCTV footage turns up five female suspects . . . and they’re all identical.
In the hunt to identify the women, Erika is outpaced at every turn by an elusive sex worker with dirt on enough powerful men to make the Met’s top brass nervous – and desperate.
As time ticks away until the killer strikes again, it’s up to Erika to untangle the web of evidence and answer the critical questions: What ties the victims together, who else is caught up in this scandal, and how far are the higher-ups willing to go to protect their own?
Gripping, tense and impossible to put down, Lethal Vengeance will have you on the edge of your seat, racing to the final dramatic page.
You can pre-order your copy of Lethal Vengeance by clicking HERE – stay tuned for more news and updates! – Rob
The Harrogate Crime Festival starts today (20th July) in the UK. I’m not going to be there this year, I’m working away to finish the next Erika Foster book, but I thought I’d share this video interview from when I went to the festival in 2017.
This was one of the most fun interviews I’ve ever done. The wonderful crime writer Angela Clarke had a van parked up outside the Swan Hotel, and she would grab crime writers walking past to take part in an interview and a fun challenge – silly things, like eating five cream crackers whilst balancing a glass of water on your head. I was given the option of choosing the challenge – and I ended up agreeing to read the description of The Girl in the Ice in the style of Brenda Blethyn in Mike Leigh’s film Secrets and Lies.
Secrets and Lies is one of my favourite films, and I always like to make my husband Ján laugh by talking like Brenda Blethyn’s character. So some how I got talked into doing this in the interview. Brenda Blethyn was also at the festival that year, promoting the tv series Vera – I don’t know if she ever saw or heard this, but if she did, I hope I did her proud.
Anyway, sending you all lots of love, and rest assured I’m cooking up a great 8th crime adventure for Erika Foster which will be called… Lethal Vengeance.
Hello,
I hope all is great with you? I’m writing to let you know that my first stand-alone crime thriller Fear the Silence is now published! It’s available now as an ebook, paperback and hardback, and also to buy and stream as an audiobook. You can click here to get your copy.
I hope you enjoy reading and listening to my new book, and thank you, as always, for all of your wonderful friendship and support.
Wishing you a great day, and happy reading, Rob x