Happy New Year! I hope your 2023 has got off to a happy and healthy start. We had such a nice break, visiting family and friends over the holiday period, eating and drinking much too much, reading books, watching movies, and all-round just having a fantastic time.

Now, I wanted to spend a minute today briefly recapping 2022 and then figuring out what’s ahead for 2023.

2022 recap

With so much going on in 2022, I picked out just three of the biggies:

• 4 new short stories exclusive to mailing list subscribers. I released these gay romcom short stories checking in with Arthur and Gabriel before, between and after the events of the Rise and Shine books. If you haven’t joined my mailing list and picked up your copies yet, you can do that right here.

• 1 new novel. I published Murder on Milverton Square, my debut full-length novel, and I have been blown away! I thought it would peak during release month, but more and more readers keep discovering the book and sales are strong going into its third month. It has been well received too, with an average rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars from 77 ratings on Amazon.

• I joined TikTok. I avoided it for years, thinking it was just a dance app for the kids. But it’s been six weeks since I started posting silly bookish videos and I’ve been so delighted and inspired by all the readers and writers over there. I am still regularly baffled by the platform, but I can’t get over how fast-paced, enthusiastic, and energetic it all is. If TikTok is your jam, find me at @gbralph. But if not, I totally get that, and will still be focussing here on my mailing list for all the best stuff!

2023 plan

And now for 2023, the main goal is to publish Milverton Mysteries #2: Poison at Penshaw Hall. I’m really excited about this one, seeing what Addison, Jake, and the residents of Milverton get up to when they end up with another death!

I’m on track to finish the first draft by the end of March, followed by multiple rounds of editing, before publishing in October. It’s also already up for pre-order if you want to be sure to get it on your Kindle the moment it’s released. But don’t worry if you’re not keen on pre-ordering, jump on my mailing list and I’ll be sure to keep you posted in the coming months.