BEATING ABOUT THE BUSH "Refreshingly down to earth... Linda Taylor has a wonderful ability to make the reader laugh" - The Irish World 'Beating About the Bush' is my third novel. I had an idea about the plot, then the characters and their words grew from that one simple idea and completely took over the story without my consent. Of all the heroes I've written about so far, I've had the biggest response to Jaz, the CID man who sets up a surveillance camp in Ella's bedroom. Otherwise known as Jasbinder Singh, Jaz seemed to strike a chord with many readers who fed back to me about him. Thank you for that - I thought there was something a little bit special about him too.

The story revolves around three women setting up house together in a creaky, country Oxfordshire village. Ella has abandoned City life to take up a horticulture course; Miranda, who crews on exclusive flights, doesn't want to live in town but there's easy access to Heathrow from Oxford, and Faith, the vet nurse and ELO fan, was brought up in that village, and while moving out of home, is not moving on. They actually have nothing in common and it shows - at least, at the start. Into this equation walks DI Jasbinder Singh, and before they know it, more is being unearthed than any of them thought possible.

It's an offbeat story about finding your own identity rather than having one ascribed to you, and it's about friendship between women - in this case, between three women who for their own individual reasons have not embraced female friendships before. And it's about romance blossoming under the most unusual circumstances. I've been told that this is the funniest of the novels I've written so far, and for everyone who's told me it's funny, thank you very much, that's a lovely compliment. But 'Beating About the Bush' is special to me not just because of the humour, but because of the developing triangular relationship between Ella, Miranda and Faith. For me, this book is a tribute to female friendships.

"Fast-paced and funny... the perfect summer read" - 19

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Excerpt...

They heard Faith lumber through the kitchen. She pushed open the adjoining door wide and appeared in the living room clutching the biggest bunch of red roses Ella had seen since one of her ex-boyfriends had turned up to announce that he and his wife were patching things up and going on a second honeymoon.

'Faith!' Miranda launched in first. 'This dog, sweet as he is, is a complete liability. Look what he's done to all Ella's lovely things. The least you could have done is brought home an animal that was house trained. You just don't think do you?'

'Who let him in here? Faith frowned at the bomb-site. 'I came back at lunchtime and walked him, and when I left I put him in the kitchen as usual. I told you, we can't let him have the run of the house until he's a bit older.'

'Well, you obviously left the living room door open,' Miranda insisted.

'No.' Faith shook her head. 'I wouldn't have done that.'

Ella was too busy staring at the roses to be angry just yet.

'Where did you get those?'

'Oh, these?' Faith sniffed and studied them without much interest. 'Giles gave them to me.'

Ella sat bolt upright and took the lampshade off her head. Miranda just gaped.

'Giles the vet?' they both managed at the same time.

'Yeah.' Faith wrinkled her nose at them. 'Got any vases?'

'Now just hang on.' Miranda strode forward purposefully and wrested the flowers from Faith. She examined them closely, as if she expected to find that they were plastic, or the sort of flowers that squirted water into your eye. 'Why?'

'Yes, why? What happened?'

Faith grabbed the roses back and returned to the kitchen. She began rummaging through the cupboards.

'Spill the beans,' Ella instructed.

'I think he might like me after all.' A flush grew over Faith's chin and spread up her cheeks as she twisted the tap to fill the vase she'd found. 'And, um, I wondered if you two could do something for me.'

Simon had started to yap at the back door and it was very clear he wanted to get out and divest himself of some energy. Perhaps it wasn't Faith's fault he'd attempted to demolish the house while they'd been away. Perhaps it was normal behaviour for an overgrown three-legged puppy. Ella was prepared to think it was.

'What would you like us to do?' she said.

'Well, you know you said you'd give me some advice on things. Just perhaps how to do something with my hair. It gets a bit hot around my neck.'

'You want a make-over!' Ella jumped in eagerly. There were many things she wanted to do to Faith with an eyeliner pencil at that moment, but she thought she could stick to putting it around her eyes.

'Nothing dramatic,' Faith said quickly. 'And maybe I'm just being silly. Perhaps I don’t need one after all.'

'Oh, you do,' Miranda said emphatically.

'Leave it to us,' Ella assured Faith. 'Once you've walked Simon and I've cooked us all a nice hot supper, Miranda and I can have a stab at you.' Ella shook the image of the eyeliner pencil as a weapon away again. 'I mean, have a go at making you look lovely.'

'I don't want to look lovely, just a bit neater.' Faith plonked her roses in the vase and handed them to Ella. 'You put them somewhere nice.'

'My bedroom? Only joking.'

'And I'll take Simon out now. It's late for his exercise. One of you two could have done it seeing as I was late.'

Miranda and Ella fiddled about pointlessly in the kitchen while Faith expertly took Simon's lead, called him to her ankles and marched away with him down the hall to the front door.

'And don't even think about putting that curtain rail back up yourself, Ella. You need the right sort of -'

'Drill,' Ella chanted in a bored voice. 'I know.'

'Ability,' Faith corrected, and let herself out.

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also available

Reading Between The Lines

Going Against The Grain

Beating About The Bush

Rising To The Occasion

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