There are so many advantages to living on a houseboat in the middle of the city of London, but reliable food delivery service is not one of them. Don’t get me wrong, I adore being a part of the eclectic group of souls who’ve run away from life on dry land to join London’s urban armada––living in the nautical equivalent of brightly colored circus caravans. Our boats are charming and very distinctive, so why does Deliveroo insist they can’t find me? I’m convinced they don’t really try.
“Another kabob disappears into the void,” I said with disgust.
“Maeve Gardner, if you don’t feed me soon, I swear I’m going to wither away.” This from my best friend India who’s sitting in a deckchair on the bow with a canned G&T in her hand, stroking the Captain’s ears.
Captain Jack’s my first mate although, I think if you asked him he’d say he was the commander of our diminutive floating home. The Writer’s Revenge is a proper narrow beam canal boat––seven times as long as she is wide––painted a pale yellow with vibrant royal blue trim along the roof line. A floating fairytale cottage. And at this moment most importantly a moveable fairytale cottage.
“Right, troops,” I said, “we’re lifting anchor and heading to the Feng Sheng Princess to grab a proper takeaway.” The Captain gave a woof of approval. The black patch over his eye making him look like a pirate as he took up his usual position in the very front of the boat. We could bike to the restaurant, but I hadn’t had the Revenge out on the canal in over a week, and it was time for a quick jaunt.
We make our way past the neighboring longboats parked nose to tail, bobbing softly in our wake. India had joined the Captain and they were sitting side by side, India dangling her legs over the front. “Orange chicken and fried rice?” she asked looking up from her phone.
“And some Peking duck for himself,” I replied.
Swinging the rudder out I maneuver under the Park Road bridge and we meander slowly past India’s bookstore, the Book Boat, its twinkling lights strung along the outside tempting visitors to return in the morning when tables set out along the canal side by the mooring will be overflowing with books.
We chug along past Regent’s Park Zoo listening to the night sounds of the animals like Bogey and Becall on the African Queen. As we come into the Cumberland Basin, I maneuver the Revenge into line with the Feng Sheng’s dock before hopping off to secure the mooring line. Seeing the restaurant from the water side is magical. The three-story red pagoda shaped building perched on a commercial barge and floating in the canal gives off a golden light that shimmers on the water becoming an Impressionist blur of red and yellow. India jumped onto the dock and trotted off to get our order.
This is my world, and I love it. Ditching my cheating boyfriend and moving on board the Revenge to live and work was the best thing I’ve ever done for myself. It brought me a contentment I hadn’t known in years. In this moment I just wanted to enjoy a picnic on deck with my two best friends. The rain had stopped, and the clouds had cleared. It was a perfect night. If it wasn’t for the murder charge hanging over my head back at berth 409, life truly would be grand.
A Ghostwriter’s Guide to Murder
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release: July 2025
Format: Print, Digital, Audio
Purchase Link
Charming yet wickedly imaginative mystery ghostwriter Maeve Gardner finds herself at the center of a murder investigation with more twists and turns than any story she’s ever written, perfect for fans of Anthony Horowitz and Richard Osman.
Maeve Gardner kills people for a living. A dodgy occupation perhaps, but as ghostwriter for the long-running Simon Hills mysteries, Maeve has planned the perfect murder time and again, and she enjoys it. She dreams of writing something under her own name someday rather than babysitting her adopted character Simon, but at least she’s writing. And as one of the burnt-out souls who’ve run away from dry land to live on London’s waterways, she has the joy of working from the home she loves: a colorful houseboat. Life on the canals is grand, but when her cheating ex-boyfriend turns up floating facedown in the water outside her boat, murdered, and the police arrest her, the plot takes a wayward turn.
Suddenly, Maeve is thrust into one of her own crime dramas, complete with missing money, violent thugs, extortion, and conspiracy. Only this time, there is no real-life Simon Hill to come to her aid. Instead, with the help of friends from the river—India, owner of a popular floating bookshop; Paul, the exceedingly attractive landlord of the local pub; and Ash, Maeve’s quiet, nerdy neighbor who is keeping some secrets of his own—Maeve may have a shot at saving herself.
As Maeve and her motley crew of would-be investigators find themselves wondering if they are in over their heads, a killer lurks and won’t hesitate to kill again…
About the author
Melinda is the author of the Whisky Business Mysteries, a six-part series of traditional mysteries set in and around a boutique single malt whisky distillery in Scotland. And coming in July 2025 the first of a new traditional series, A Ghostwriter’s Guide to Murder, set on a houseboat along the Regent’s Canal in London.
Melinda is a travel junkie and a life-long advocate for children’s literacy causes both domestic and international. When she is not in the UK, she lives just outside of Washington, DC with her whisky-collecting husband and two wild Covid canines named Bailey and Captain Jack. Find her at MelindaMullet.com or on Facebook and Insta at Melinda Mullet, Author.