What is Diane Janes reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Diane Janes, author of Why Didn't You Come for Me?.

Her entry begins:

I am currently working hard on my next novel (working title Flirting with Ghosts) which means I don’t get as much time for reading as I would like. When my mind is busy with the intense stages of my own book, I tend to return to familiar books, which don’t take too much effort and thus I have been re-reading A Horseman Riding By by RF Delderfield. It’s the story of how a young man who unexpectedly comes into a fortune, buys a large English country estate, complete with tenant farms. The book covers the first forty years of the twentieth century and having last read it more than twenty years ago, I am enjoying it anew. Delderfield seems to have gone out of fashion, but he had a great gift both for conveying both landscape and character – anyone who wants a taste of British social history in the first part of the twentieth century could do worse than read his work. My favourite Delderfield book is probably one of the least well known: Come Home Charlie and Face Them – a clever little mystery, set in the Welsh Valleys.

The hero of A Horseman Riding By is Paul Craddock and by a strange coincidence the policeman investigating a death in the book on my bedside table is...[read on]

Among the early praise for Why Didn't You Come for Me?:

"The climax is shocking, more I will not say. But read this excellent piece of compelling writing for yourself. Highly recommended."
--Lizzie Hayes, Euro Crime

"Very well written, the narrative flows well and before you need therapy yourself the book ends with a bang! Character development is excellent and I felt as if I was on a voyeuristic journey with the entire cast discovering all the dark secrets, past and present, in all its monochrome glory! A wonderful taught and emotive psychological thriller that will keep you guessing to the very end."
--Milo's Rambles

"...a remarkable and memorable story..."
--Amy Myers, Shots

"Highly recommended."
--The Bookbag

Learn more about the book and author at Diane Janes's website.

Janes is a full time author, who lives and writes in the English Lake District. Prior to be accepted for publication she was shortlisted twice for the Crime Writers' Association Debut Dagger and her first novel The Pull of the Moon was a finalist for the John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger in 2010.

The Page 69 Test: Why Didn't You Come for Me?.

My Book, The Movie: Why Didn't You Come for Me?.

Writers Read: Diane Janes.

--Marshal Zeringue