Author Anna Sayburn Lane with her latest book Murder on the White Cliffs
Kingsgate Bay is the backdrop for the latest book by east Kent author Anna Sayburn Lane.
Murder on the White Cliffs is the 10th book published by Anna and is a murder mystery set at Kingsgate Bay castle. The castle was built for Lord Holland in the 1760s as the stable block of his nearby country residence Holland House. Sold by Lady Avebury in 1922, the castle became a fashionable hotel and was then converted into 32 private flats in 1954.
The new novel is the first of Anna’s jazz age detective tales to feature Broadstairs and Thanet.
Anna, who lives in Deal, said: “It was so interesting to learn about the history of the castle, which I’ve often wondered about during cliff-top walks from Broadstairs to Margate.
“I read up about the hotel in newspapers of the 1920s and discovered it was popular among theatre people and golfers, who loved the proximity to the North Foreland links. I also discovered reports of a fight that broke out in the hotel after a particularly heated game of bridge!
“The castle, with its tunnel down to the secluded Kingsgate Bay, was irresistible as a setting for a murder mystery. And to celebrate publication day, I went to the Walpole Bay Hotel in Margate for afternoon tea – a very English tradition that my 1920s sleuth Marjorie loves!”
In Murder on the White Cliffs private detective Marjorie Swallow finds herself in the middle of a deadly mystery. A mysterious woman in white has been hanging around the hotel – but when a corpse is discovered at the foot of the cliffs, every guest is a suspect. Marjorie and her team must sift through evasions, half-truths and lies to discover the truth. And she learns quickly: trust no-one.
Anna has been writing crime fiction for ten years. She began her career working on local newspapers in Kent and London, before turning to fiction.
She has written four contemporary thrillers, all set in Kent and London, and six classic detective novels set in the 1920s.
Murder On The White Cliffs is the sixth in the 1920s Murder Mystery series. It’s published by Starling Street Books.