Hello from Bath,

I'm just back from a walking holiday in the Algarve, Portugal, which was pretty hot but also a wonderful time walking on the coast. It reminded me of the Camino Portuguese that I did a few years ago, which I wrote about in Pilgrimage.

Now I've returned to the UK to find autumn has arrived with the first fall of the conkers (also known as horse chestnuts), which you can see above.

I always get a lot of ideas when I walk, how about you? Are you a walker? Click reply and let me know.

Relics, canals, and the Basilica of the Holy Blood

Readers of my ARKANE thrillers know how much I love a good religious relic, and on a recent trip to Bruges in Belgium, I visited the Chapel of the Precious Blood, and also saw a fragment of the True Cross (one of the many!)

It was an interesting trip and will no doubt appear in a future thriller.

​Click here for more photos from Bruges​

If you enjoy stories based around religious relics, then here are some of my other books and the relics they are inspired by:

• ​Stone of Fire — The relics of the Apostles, including those of St James at Santiago de Compostela in Spain
• ​Tomb of Relics — Thomas Becket's martyrdom and relics at Canterbury Cathedral, England, as well as the Magi relics at Cologne Cathedral, Germany
• ​One Day in Budapest — The 1000-year-old Holy Right Hand of St Stephen in Budapest

Book recommendations

As ever, I read a lot, and even more so since I have now finished my Masters degree in Death, Religion, and Culture! Back to more of my own writing soon. In the meantime, here are some of my recent reads. Please let me know what you recommend.

​Reliquary — Hannah Whitten. A remote island. A wealthy aristocratic family with a bloody secret, and a young woman ready to fight back before she's offered to the dark god beneath the waves. An edge of horror and suspense.

​Damascus Station — David McCloskey. I love the Slow Horses series from Mick Herron and also Daniel Silva's Gabriel Allon spy books, so I was interested to finally try McCloskey. I am currently into book 4 of the series, so it's going well!

​Scythe — Neal Shusterman. Excellent trilogy about a possible future where death has been solved. A benevolent AI keeps everyone safe and happy, but the population must still be kept under control by Scythes, who kill based on ethical terms ... until they don't. I loved this trilogy!

I'll be back soon with more updates on (hopefully) a new ARKAE thriller. In the meantime, happy reading!