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A first time reader on The Dead Letter Office.

I was really pleased to receive this review from Maryann on Goodreads. I want The Read by Candlelight series to be able to be picked up at any point, so I was really excited to have a review from someone totally new to the series. If you haven't picked up one of these books yet, this is what Maryann had to say: "“The Dead Letter Office” is a first time read for me by Gillian St. Kevern. She melds the paranormal, an Egyptian artifact, historical context, family drama and a budding relationship into a gothic mystery with twists. I liked the gradual connection that develops between Jasper and Candy as it opens up secrets about both of them. I hope there’s...

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Baxter and Maisie double team!

As is now Read by Candlelight tradition, I’m going to introduce the pets that Read by Candlelight is dedicated to. If I’d been thinking ahead, I would have dedicated the book to Cora, the most ghostlike of all the cats I have housesat. Instead, I went with Baxter and Maisie for their contributions to the editing process.

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New release: The Dead Letter Office on Amazon!

Happy Amazon release day to The Dead Letter Office! If you’ve preordered this book, it should have made its way to your kindle already—I think. We started daylight saving on Sunday, and I’m still adjusting. It’s been a long week! In addition to daylight saving, it’s the school holidays here. I wound up babysitting my niece and nephew, and wow. I already had a huge amount of respect for parents, but even more so now. Two days, and I am wiped out, with an energy hangover I just cannot shake. That said, it was a ton of fun! Highlights include: - taking my niece to a cat cafe! - visiting the Christchurch Museum for their 150th anniversary and getting birthday...

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Researching the Mail

  One of my favourite parts of any new Read by Candlelight book is the research. No matter what  the subject, I know I’m going to learn something new and unexpected. Case in point, the other day I was researching Victorian sleeping aids and ended up discovering that Queen Victoria used medicinal cannabis to treat her menstrual cramps. How cool is that? Writing The Dead Letter Office was a particular challenge, because while there are a ton of resources online focused on the Victorian period, for some reason, the Post Office got passed by. There is a museum dedicated to the Post in the UK, but alas, at the time I was doing my research, they were closed due to...

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