It was my absolute pleasure to meet lovely Jenni Keer at the Love Stories etc fiction festival in Manchester back in July. I simply had to invite Jenni onto Linda’s Book Bag and with a brand new book out tomorrow, when better for Jenni to stay in with me?
Let’s find out more:
Staying in with Jenni Keer
Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag, Jenni and thank you for agreeing to stay in with me.
My absolute pleasure, Linda. What with the darker evenings and distinct drop in temperature over the last couple of weeks, staying in is by far the preferable option. *Grabs thick, knitted cardigan*
You’re absolutely right – and that’s a great cardi by the way! Tell me, which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it?
I’ve brought my latest release, The Peculiar Incident at Thistlewick House. Look at the beautiful Cadbury’s purple cover! And all those skulls and bones dotted about in the thistle-themed border.
It’s a fantastic cover.
Hopefully, this gives the reader a sense of what the story might contain. The idea for this story came to me when I read about the graveyards falling into the sea as our coastlines erode. It got me thinking about who the bones might belong to and why they might be buried in the cliff…
Oh. I hadn’t thought about that aspect of coastal erosion! When is The Peculiar Incident at Thistlewick House out?
It’s published in all formats on 11th October, which is perfect in the run-up to Halloween.
Happy publication day for tomorrow. So, what can we expect from an evening in with The Peculiar Incident at Thistlewick House?
To match the season, this book is a deliciously dark Victorian gothic novel, with my usual mix of romance and history, murder and mystery (oo, that rhymes!) and the sprinkling of magical realism that I’m now known for. It’s set in the fictional village of Thistlewick Tye on the north Norfolk coast, in the bleak autumn of 1895, but has a fabulous flashback to 1855, when a travelling circus visits the area and mysteriously disappears. If you’re interested in Victorian spiritualism, and enjoyed The Greatest Showman, this could be your cup of spooky tea.
It most certainly is. I can’t wait to read The Peculiar Incident at Thistlewick House and am thrilled to have a paperback copy (ebook readers can order it here today and have it just after midnight).
What else have you brought along and why have you brought it?
In my Red-Riding-Hood-style basket, I’ve brought a bottle of mulled wine to warm our cockles, some of my favourite cheeses, and a selection of juicy olives. Perhaps I should have brought a bottle of absinthe (Edward Blackmore’s favourite tipple) and a selection of the foods that are mentioned in the book, such as seagull eggs, bladderwrack seaweed, winkles and Maude’s watery stew… Hmmm, after careful consideration, I think we’ll stick with the cheese and wine.
Ah, now usually I can’t drink wine as it makes me ill, but funnily enough mulled wine seems OK and I love the look of that food.
For ambience, let’s light the fire and place my husband’s favourite Georgian pewter candlestick on the side. How about a bit of spooky music playing in the background? Maybe a Halloween playlist? Muse – Supermassive Black Hole? I know we all associate that with Twilight and vampires, but it’s got the right vibe. Then, we can place some lovely fluffy blankets over our knees and get cosy. Although, to be fair, once the mulled wine kicks in, we’ll be super toasty and have a lovely, ruddy glow about our cheeks.
That’s us all cosy then Jenni. But there seems to be several more folk arriving…
To make the evening truly memorable, I’d like to invite all the members of Samson’s Circus of Astonishing Spectacles, if you think you have enough chairs? I’ll warn you, they’re a rowdy rabble. Little Cupid often ends up off his face on cheap gin, Katerina, the Russian fortune teller, can be a tad judgemental, and her common-law husband, Samson the strongman, looks damn scary but he’s soft as butter, really. The Giraffe woman doesn’t say much, but the stable lads will entertain and amuse, if you can cope with the rough and ready language. Perhaps Zella will perform some of her acrobatics, and Hazibub has a great party trick – if you’re not afraid of snakes?
Er, the snakes don’t bother me, but that sounds like quite a crew you have there. Are you sure they’re OK?
Whilst they look quite an intimidating bunch, and have some pretty dubious morals much of the time, they’re like a family. You’ll see how protective they are of each other and, boy, have they led interesting lives. So, as long as I can persuade them not to initiate a mass orgy on your living room rug at the end of the night, I think it would definitely be an evening in to remember!
It’d be pretty memorable either way!
I’m also going to ask Edward Blackmore along, the hero of my story, because he’s an interesting fellow. And I’ve slipped a ouija board into my basket – not that Edward uses them when he contacts the spirits – but then, I’ll let you into a little secret, he’s a total charlatan. Perhaps he can be persuaded to share some of the tricks he uses to make gullible clients believe he’s communicating with their departed loved ones? Mind you, if you drink too much of the absinthe (he’ll doubtless bring a bottle, tucked into his long overcoat) then you may start hallucinating and think you can see spirits regardless.
Um, I think Edward is very welcome…
Thanks so much for staying in with me to tell me all about The Peculiar Incident at Thistlewick House, Jenni. It sounds absolutely brilliant.
Thank you for inviting me to stay in with you, Linda. I do hope my guests behave and that your readers are intrigued enough to check out my next book. It’s certainly an autumn read and fabulous for a cosy, blanket-snuggled night in.
Jenni x
My absolute pleasure. Now, you pour the mulled wine and I’ll give readers a few more details about The Peculiar Incident at Thistlewick House as it really does sound brilliant:
The Peculiar Incident at Thistlewick House
As the bones start to fall, the spirits will rise…
Norfolk, England, 1895: When renowned spiritualist Edward Blackmore receives a desperate message from his cousin Barnabas, begging him to come to the coastal village of Thistlewick Tye, his first thought is to ignore the request. Despite his cousin’s insistence that his wife is possessed by a malevolent spirit, Edward has no time for the man who stole his inheritance.
Lured by the promise of money, along with a genuine concern for Barnabas’s wife – who he’d once loved – he reluctantly travels to at Thistlewick House, only to arrive too late. Emma is dead.
Barnabas suspects there are supernatural forces at play. But Edward is convinced murder is afoot. As he begins to investigate, he finds himself drawn into the lives of those in this isolated and unnerving village, especially the beguiling woman who gathers up the human bones falling from the rapidly eroding cliffs.
Then he discovers that a travelling circus completely disappeared in the area forty years previously and no one is willing to talk about it. Perhaps not everything at Thistlewick Tye is quite what it seems…
A totally gripping and unmissable historical novel from the bestselling author of No. 23, Burlington Square.
Published by Boldwood tomorrow, 11th October 2025, The Peculiar Incident at Thistlewick House is available for purchase here.
About Jenni Keer
Jenni Keer lives in the glorious Suffolk countryside with her four sons, three cats but just the one husband. She is often frustrated by their inability to appreciate that when she’s staring into space, she’s actually working, and that watching television counts as research. Jenni’s quirky cocktail of romance and history is often mixed with a dash of magical realism and sprinkled with the odd murder or two.
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English (US) · 