This week the first copies of my new cosy crime Deadly Dancing at the Seaview Hotel arrived from my publisher. They have the quote from Strictly Come Dancing's Anton du Beke on the front too! These are advance copies, needed in time for the book launch in Scarborough on December 5th. If you'd like to come, please book your ticket here. There'll be cakes, cocktails and glitterballs! It's going to be a fun day. I'll be in Chester-le-Street for two book signings in December, one of which is at Boyes Stores on Front Street. Thank you to In and around mag for including details in their new edition which you can read online at https://inandaroundmag.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/InA-Nov-Dec-25_Online-1.pdf Thank you  to The Sunderland Echo for including my novels on this wonderful list!  https://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/people/shop-local-guide-18-ideal-sunderland-gifts-to-give-a-mackem-this-christmas-5407694 Honoured to have my novels on sale in Ryhope's new (and only) cafe and florist, The Petal Patch. It's on the colliery bank next to the Ryhope mural.   Read all about it at https://sunderlandecho.com/lifestyle/food-and-drink/i-turned-my-passion-for-floristry-and-crafting-into-a-new-sunderland-coffee-shop-5401361  Hmm... AI really is rubbish, isn't it?  According to AI my Birtley library talk next week is cancelled. I can confirm it's NOT cancelled and all are welcome! Birtley library on Tuesday 25 Nov at 2pm, all details at https://gateshead.gov.uk/article/35300/Secrets-of-the-Toffee-Factory-Girls Meanwhile, the Italian version of Foul Play at the Seaview Hotel is gaining rave reviews in Italy. One blogger says it "...transports me to a world of rich breakfasts and salty air. It's reassuring yet gripping, as befits a good thriller. The author has a fluid style  that often raises a smile, plots are never banal, and characters are wonderful. You can read the full review in Italian at https://labottegadeilibri.it/recensione-delitto-a-quattro-stelle-al-seaview-hotel-di-glenda-young/generi-letterari/romanzo/giallo/cozy-crime/ I crafted another episode of my weekly soap opera Riverside for The People's Friend magazine. I've been writing Riverside weekly since 2016 and you can find out all about it here. I also kept the Coronation Street Blog ticking over with news and editing the team of 16 bloggers.  Sign up to receive my free, monthly email newsletter with competitions, events and news  __ Glenda Young X: @Flaming_Nora BlueSky: @Glenda Young Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor Website: GlendaYoungBooks.com

Have yourself a Mackem little Christmas by shopping local with some Sunderland-themed gifts.

Join best selling author Glenda Young for a talk on her latest book Secrets of the Toffee Factory Girls. Adults only. £3 - Pay cash at venue. No booking required.

I’m a self-confessed Strictly nut. I follow the stars and dancers on social media. I watch Tango on TikTok, gather dance intelligence on Instagram, follow the Foxtrot on Strictly’s Facebook feed and learn about the Paso Doble via podcast. Not only have I never missed a show of Strictly in all of its years, but I’ve also watched every single episode of It Takes Two. Oh, and I listen to radio programmes and podcasts about it. In fact, if anything in the media mentions Strictly, I’m on to it, faster than a foxtrot.  I think you might be starting to get the idea just how jangled up in jive and wrapped up in waltz I am about the show. If I’m away from home when Strictly season starts, it’s a must that the hotel I’m staying at can get BBC, just in case my phone gives up.  I’ve even watched the show in Spanish bars and on holiday in Lanzarote lounges. Did I already tell you that I never miss a show? Nothing and no-one comes between Strictly and me. Woe betide them if they did. When the show ends each December, I’m bereft. The loss of my favourite show after being intensely involved with it for months feels like I’ve gone into mourning. If I had a glittery black arm band, I’d wear it while I grieve. And so, the last time the show ended, I had an idea. What if I didn’t have to leave the Strictly bubble? What if it carried on in my imagination? What if I created my own dancing troupe who would dance to my tune? That’s when my Strictly thoughts turned to crime. During a harsh winter, writing a cosy crime inspired by my love of Strictly Come Dancing seemed the perfect way to bring glitz, glamour and glitterballs, colour and camp, sequins and spray tans into my life until Strictly aired again. However, I knew nothing about the world of dance. I began to research extensively. I read a mountain of books about ballroom and Latin dancing. I watched dancing DVDs. I even tried to learn (and failed at) dancing myself. I know now I’ve definitely got two left feet. I also spoke to dance teachers and dance students. I visited Scarborough Spa and watched amateur dancers take to the floor. Some were hesitant, others enthusiastic, but all of them shared a love of dance. Best of all, I spent a few glorious days inside Blackpool’s Tower Ballroom watching dancers from all over the world. While in Blackpool for research, the weather outside was grey, wet and cold, but inside the Tower Ballroom was a different world. There was a live orchestra, pretty lighting, colourful dresses, beautiful women and handsome men. I soaked up the atmosphere, closed my eyes and swayed to the music, then made as many notes as I could to capture my mood and the way dancing made me feel. All of this helped fuel the dancing atmosphere in the book. My novel became Deadly Dancing at the Seaview Hotel. In it, I invented a quirky troupe of ballroom dancers including Tommy Two-Shoes and Ballroom Bev who bring the glamorous world of ballroom dancing to the seaside town of Scarborough. However, beneath the glitter balls and sequins, there's bitter rivalry between the dancers - both on and off the dance floor - and the dancing turns deadly when one of them is murdered. Seaside landlady Helen Dexter's Seaview Hotel plays host to the dance troupe when the murder takes place. Aided by her rescue greyhound Suki and the Seaview Hotel cook Jean (a no-nonsense Yorkshire woman you don't want to mess with!), Helen steps out and puts her best foot forward, but can she solve the crime? As Tess and Claudia might say, if you want to find out. K-e-e-e-e-p Reading! Glenda Young’s cosy crime series was shortlisted for Best New Crime Series with Richard Osman and Val McDermid in the Dead Good Reader’s Awards at Harrogate Crime Festival 2022.     Glenda’s website: http://glendayoungbooks.com Deadly Dancing at the Seaview Hotel is published by Headline in hardback, ebook and audiobook on September 11and in paperback on December 4. http://bit.ly/DeadlyDancing __ Glenda Young X: @Flaming_Nora BlueSky: @Glenda Young Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor Website: GlendaYoungBooks.com

This week I've been working in Scarborough, which is my happy place on the Yorkshire coast. It's where I set my cosy crimes. I was there to give a talk to a group called The Scalby Wives, who were nowhere as scary as they sound.  Feedback was remarkable. "Everyone thoroughly enjoyed your talk. You have been one of our most popular speakers for a long time." Not bad for someone who wouldn't say boo to a goose before becoming an author!  They followed up my talk with a piece in The Scarborough News, below. While I was in Scarborough, my local newspaper at home, The Sunderland Echo ran an article about me and my books and they have a competition to win a copy of my latest Scarborough cosy crime, Deadly Dancing at the Seaview Hotel. You can read the article here. I made front page news, too! In Scarborough, on a cold and wet day, I called into Waterstones where there was a warm welcome. Many thanks to the Scarborough bookseller for being my third hand in holding my books.  Over coffee one morning in Scarborough by the sea, I read the latest edition of the wonderful Scarborough Spy magazine. This edition features my book launch for Deadly Dancing at the Seaview Hotel. All welcome, book your tickets here. I also visited the venue for the book launch, Oscar's Bar Function Room, which is the old CIU Club, opposite the railway station.  It was a wonderful place, really friendly and the cakes looked great! And there was a sparkling review of Deadly Dancing at the Seaview Hotel from the fiction editor at My Weekly magazine who made it her book of the month! She said: "A must for Strictly Come Dancing fans – no surprise, as the author is a lifelong Strictly enthusiast! A mystery brimming with charm, humour, and heart." Plus, on the other side of my writing life - my historical sagas - Celebrations at the Toffee Factory - proof copy arrived for a final check before it goes to the printer. It's the final book in the toffee factory girls trilogy, out 2026, order now at http://bit.ly/ToffeeCelebrations  ENTER TO WIN - THREE competitions to win signed books:Living North magazine: http://dlvr.it/TPG6mX Sunderland Echo: http://dlvr.it/TPG6mYBooks & Toffee Giveaway: http://dlvr.it/TPG6mZ #competition #giveaway I crafted another episode of my weekly soap opera Riverside for The People's Friend magazine. I've been writing Riverside weekly since 2016 and you can find out all about it here. I also kept the Coronation Street Blog ticking over with news and editing the team of 16 bloggers.  Sign up to receive my free, monthly email newsletter with competitions, events and news  __ Glenda Young X: @Flaming_Nora BlueSky: @Glenda Young Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor Website: GlendaYoungBooks.com