George Chedzoy

Guten Tag! Your English is probably better than my German, so I'll write this in English if that's ok.

Book Five of the Lou Elliott mystery adventure series is on its way! I'm sorry it's taken such a while. So many other things have required my attention in recent months, not least the growing care demands for our autistic son. But Lou, Jack, David and Emily are all doing well and really looking forward to sharing their latest adventure with you.

The series begins with Smugglers at Whistling Sands and their fifth adventure finds them back in their beloved North Wales. It's summer again and this time they are camping amid the mountains of Snowdonia. The parents of Jack, David and Emily are with them - perhaps after what they happened in book two, they didn't want to let them go off camping on their own. Mr and Mrs Johnson assume that with a close eye kept on their offspring, nothing untoward could possibly happen. But with Lou joining them, they could well be wrong about that!

After a slightly more sedate time of it in book 4, Trouble at Chumley Towers, when the children turned detective over the Christmas holidays to try to solve the mystery of thefts from a stately home, book five sees them firmly back in the thick of an exciting and at times dangerous adventure.

The book is still being written (as of early October 2017). I hope it will be ready for sale in time for Christmas. But it might go into early January. I will post regular updates on its progress here. The important thing is, those of you who have begged me to get a fifth book out will not have too long to wait. And my intention is to keep going with the series for as long as there are readers out there keen to keep following the lives of Lou Elliott and her friends Jack, David and Emily Johnson.

I have also written a fantasy adventure novella with a Halloween theme: The Mystery of the Misty Woods and since published a sequel to this, involving a bottle with a strange message inside which washes up on the sea shore. It leads the youngsters to make friends with a strange, fragile young girl called Martha. It's called The Mystery of the Message in a Bottle.

I know how much-loved are the novels of Enid Blyton in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and indeed, I have a couple of her German translations. I think those of you who enjoy reading her books in the original English might also enjoy my novels, since my newspaper background has instilled in me the need to write in clear, uncomplicated, lucid English.

As for me, I am a full-time freelance writer working from home and avoiding the two-hour (sometimes three-hour) commute that used to be my fate as a newspaper journalist. It is also my task to help my wife raise two young children at our home in North Wales - possibly the toughest challenge of all - especially Thomas who has pretty bad autism and ADHD. But he's lovely lad and that's the important thing. As for Sophie, aged nine, she is the latest reader of my Lou Elliott series and so far, she's really enjoying them. She won't shirk from honest criticism along the way though, that's for sure!

I love hearing readers' thoughts on my books and please consider leaving a review if you have time. You can contact me via email at georgechedzoy@hotmail.co.uk with any comments, queries or feedback. You might also wish to take a look at my blog: http://georgechedzoy.blogspot.com

I would be delighted to pick up a few more German-speaking readers and it would be great to hear from you.

Kind regards, vielen dank!

George