Annette Kane

writes

debut novel out on July 28th 2023

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BOOK LAUNCH

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  • Date: 18/08/2023 07:00 PM
  • Location: TOPPING & CO BOOKSELLERS OF BATH (Map)
  • More Info: https://www.toppingbooks.co.uk/
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About

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Welcome to the world of Dolly Butler!
June 1908, and London is preparing for Women's Sunday, a massive suffragette rally in Hyde Park.
It turns out to be a dramatic and life-changing week for Dolly.

Dolly, polymath and dilettante, thinks this time it'll be different – that her new detective agency will be a rip-roaring success. And it'll give her an excuse to wear lots of different disguises and indulge her penchant for cross-dressing. Her first assignment takes her into the murky world of the East End plumage industry where she encounters more than she bargained for.

Meanwhile, she insists that her adored lover, Caroline, stays at home, hiding from her violent husband (who doesn't even know she's had his baby). But then their embittered maid, Maggie Fisher, gets wind of their "unnatural practices" and teams up with Dolly's green-eyed ex-girlfriend, to find daddy.

Events escalate and threaten to expose Caroline's dramatic secrets and to put her baby's life in danger. Will Dolly be able to save them? Or will she mess it up like she always has before?

Contact

AVAILABLE FOR TALKS, READINGS & SIGNINGS - OR FOR JUST A CONVERSATION

  • Bath, England, United Kingdom

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reviews

 ...Dolly Butler is a great read. It's funny, it has warmth, it has great pace, intriguing and likeable characters, a gripping story that also has contemporary relevance. It's a triumph and I thoroughly enjoyed every page. 

Lesley McDowell: Writer

 I loved the character of Dolly, despite all her flaws, and she reminded me of a novelised Gentleman Jack. 

Editorial report: Publisher

 It was such a treat getting lost in the world Annette Kane has created. Dolly is a marvellous character — they all are — and Annette is clearly a talented storyteller, able to mix humour and drama while easing in historical detail in such an entertaining and engaging way. I gobbled down the last hundred or so pages in one go. Let’s hope Dolly has many more adventures ahead! 

Susannah Stapleton: Author of The Adventures of Maud West  |  Susannah Stapleton
  

Blog

EXCERPTS

 Preparation for my new enterprise had not only included the study of English law but also toxicology, ballistics, criminalistics, cryptology and psychology. I had sat through endless trials at the Royal Courts of Justice and the Old Bailey, and followed random people in the street on five occasions. Although challenged by my prey four times, I was now proficient at it. My new equipment included a magnifying glass, a Powell and Leland microscope, a gimlet, a gem, binoculars, a torch kit, a Swiss Army knife, and a gun licence (but no gun). I had acquired a hollow bangle that could hide a supply of narcotics, a cane with a secret compartment for maps and the like, and I had applied, using a male alias, to join a few London clubs that might be useful, including the Press Club, the Carlton and the Alpine Club (which I'd done accidentally thinking it was the Athenaeum). I'd lined up a handful of newsboys and taxi drivers as possible narks, and experimented with picking locks. Already a fluent speaker of Russian, Romani and Swahili, I had started to learn Polish, German and Greek. I was prepared properly this time. Success was assured. 

Dolly Butler

 As I watched the activity outside I thought about what Etta Lemon had said about suffragettes’ hats. Everyone was in their Sunday best, and what a menagerie the women’s headgear was, along with their feathery parasols, muffs and boas. Plumage fluttered by, in all colours, some natural but mostly dyed, and different sizes, lengthened or wired. Some hats were so immense that the women looked like standard lamps, so top-heavy they might overbalance. I wasn’t one for over-adornment myself, but the hat I had treated Caroline to was an abundantly plumed affair. I had thought it so grand, sitting on the hall table, next to my new top hat and bowler. She enjoyed parading up and down the hall in it and catching sight of herself in the mirror. I would sit on the stairs and watch her, delighting in her grace and beauty. 

Dolly Butler

 It being a Monday, I had grappled with the laundry and used bed linen. I handled it gingerly, knowing what had taken place upon it, or not knowing, but finding all sorts of pictures popping into my head unbidden. I felt obliged to sniff it – and the towels and flannels – in order to establish what bodily fluids might have been released upon there, although I confess I have a limited knowledge of the range of possibilities. I know that men have some sort of discharge, but do ladies? I imagined it might involve blood as that is what is commonly produced from a female, although that does not involve contact with another person. As I lifted the linen to my nose, I smelt only the faint odour of Lady C’s 4711 cologne, although her flannel yielded a more pungent scent. I brought it to my nose several times to try and work out what it was. I was sure I had smelt it before somewhere. 

Maggie Fisher
  

SCRIPTS IN DEVELOPMENT

SCRIPTS IN DEVELOPMENT thumbnail
 
Six  ten-minute TV episodes