October 29th is International Robin Hood Day!
Can you imagine what those early balladeers would say if we could tell then that the stories they created still had the power to bring joy today.
As many of you know, Robin has formed the backbone of my life since my teen years.
I was lucky enough to write audio stories and short novels for the fans of the 1980’s television series, Robin of Sherwood for a decade.
I loved every second, but I’m glad I stopped when I did, for to go on would risk diluting the product – and that would be a terrible thing. Love for this epic television programme – the creation of the late, great, Richard Carpenter – is as strong as ever, and I’d hate to have let its fans down by going on too long.
Cast and crew of Robin of Sherwood – and me! (Photo @Kim Jones)
The writing of the aforesaid stories has led to me having many adventures. Amongst these, comes the attending of a number of fabulous events, including the Robin of Sherwood fan conventions. (The Hooded Man events). I have waxed lyrical many times before about the people, the places, the things I saw, heard, experienced, so I will spare you more. Let’s just say it was a rollercoaster of highs and lows – just like the earliest ballads themselves – and often, the Sheriff won – but there’s always hope…
I often said these events would inspire me to write a novel one day, and they did just that. A year or so later, The Robin Hood Club was born. A cosy crime series, the tales of Dr Harriet Danby, writer-cum-reluctant sleuth, opens with a visit to Buxton in the Peak District: Manuscript Mysteries at The Robin Hood Club.
Blurb
Welcome to the Robin Hood Club!
There’s great excitement when a previously undiscovered Robin Hood ballad manuscript, Robin Hood and the Carter, turns up in the same town as the Robin Hood Club’s latest fan convention.
But the Robin Hood Club’s special guest – Harriet, “Hari”, Danby, writer and creator of the hit TV series, Return to Sherwood – can’t help thinking the discovery is rather too coincidental.
With her best friend, Dot, at her side, Hari finds herself taken out of her quiet writing life and catapulted into a world of enthusiastic fans, actors egos, and jealous fellow authors.
As the Robin Hood Club event gets underway, speculation about the new ballad grows… and then Hari notices that one of the Robin Hood Club’s most devoted followers has gone missing…
***
Not only was The Robin Hood Club influenced by my Robin of Sherwood experiences, but it was coloured by a novel I’d previously written- Romancing Robin Hood. This was the story that brought me to the attention of Barnaby Eaton-Jones, (the man behind the original audio productions). RRH concerns an academic called Grace Harper, who is obsessed with Robin Hood. I had always intended to expand this story and give it sequels. However, each time I tried, I accidentally killed a character – not something that happens often in a romcom. To get around this, I decided to reinvent my original idea and, so, The Robin Hood Club was born.
Book Two: May Day Murder at The Robin Hood Club will be released in Spring next year. It brings Hari, Dot and Jez back together – this time at a convention near Salisbury in Wiltshire. I’ll say no more about this one for now…
A happy moment with Barnaby Eaton-Jones at one of the Hooded Man Events (Photo @Kim Jones)
Robin Hood as inspired so much of my work – not just my PhD on the ‘Perceptions of Lawlessness’ (in the fourteenth century East Midlands), but my medieval mystery series, The Folville Chronicles, and no end of unwritten tales that live in my mind ready for the day when I have time to put finger to laptop.
But why Robin Hood?
Hope.
Every version of the legend, however leftfield, recognises that hope lies at its core.
So, whenever people ask me “Why Robin Hood?” That’s what I tell them. It gives me hope. Always.
If you are keen to get your copy of Manuscript Mysteries at The Robin Hood Club, then you can read it via kindle or as a paperback from:
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