Notes From
The Cave
The blog of mystery Author, A. D. Hay
featuring an exclusive look at her
behind-the-scenes misadventures.

A Few Books on My Recommended Reading List: July 2023
So, I have a confession to make. Since September 2022, I’ve been putting off writing reviews of books that I’ve loved. But thankfully, I take notes as I read, which makes the retrospective review writing much easier. Because I’m an author, writing reviews can be a little difficult. In light of this difficulty, I only allow myself to review a book that I loved and/or would read again. As you’ve guessed, below is a list of my recommended reads, along with a short review of my thoughts. Without further ado, let’s get on with the reviews.

Behind the Scenes of a Locked Room Mystery
To celebrate the release of my locked room mystery which was creatively titled, The Locked Room, I thought I would share a little of the behind-the-scenes or the making of this novella that, as a reader, you never get to see unless I take you along with me.

The Candidate, A Murder Mystery Novella Read by A. D. Hay
Hello, Book Lovers! In this episode, I want to share with you a publishing update and let you know about all the books that I've published since my last behind-the-scenes writing vlog. After this, I share the book description and a little about the series of my...

010, Things are Happening
Hello, Book Lovers! In this episode, I want to update you about what's happening with the Book Nerd Podcast; you probably would have noticed that the name, podcast artwork, and logo have changed. I'm doing this because a couple of weeks ago, I discovered there...

An Interview with James Lalonde
If you’ve read the books in my James Lalonde Mystery Series or my Rookie Reporter Mystery Series, you’ll be familiar with my protagonist, James Lalonde. The events that occurred in Suspicion happened in May 2015. So, I thought it would be fun to interview my protagonist seven years later and have a bit of a catchup, minus the spoilers. But, if you’re yet to read Suspicion or any of the other books, this will serve as the perfect icebreaker.

Location, Location, Location: 8 Interesting Places in England and France from my Mystery Novel, Suspicion
One of the best things about being an author is visiting interesting places physically or with the help of modern technology like YouTube videos, pictures taken by other travellers, or simply good ol’ Google Maps. As I outlined, wrote, revised and edited my mystery novel Suspicion, I included eight interesting places across England and France. Sometimes, the real and imaginary blend together in fiction. And, Suspicion is no exception. Here is a short list of these locations and what inspired me to choose these as settings in my mystery novel Suspicion, along with details on how you can visit these places yourself.

Duplicity is Available for Preorder
After much deliberation, I pulled the plug and decided to upload the next James Lalonde amateur sleuth mystery, Duplicity, to all the online ebook retailers and placed it on preorder.

009, My Favourite Mystery and Thriller Novels of 2021
In this episode of the Book Nerd Podcast, I’m going to discuss my favourite mystery and thriller novels that I read in 2021. I what you’re thinking, “it’s been a while since the end of 2021,” but hear me out. I wanted to put a bit of distance between the end of 2021 and my reading because I wanted to discuss the books that stood out to me the most. From memory, I read close to fifty books in 2021. Actually, I’ve checked, and it was 49 books read.

008, Agatha Raisin: Books vs TV Series
As you can tell by the title of this episode, I’m going to discuss the Agatha Raisin books vs TV Series. In order to avoid spoilers, I’m going to focus on how Agatha is portrayed and not the events in the show and novels.

Read Chapter Two of My Next Murder Mystery Novella
After publishing the last blog post where I shared the first chapter of The Candidate, I felt a little mean. So, I decided to share the next chapter in the murder mystery novella, with you. As you might have guessed, the candidate is the first novella in a new series called the “Rookie Reporter Mysteries”, featuring James Lalonde.