J A Gilbert - Author, Castle guide and secretary, but not in any particular order!

I was born in West Sussex, in the south of England and have lived there ever since.

 

I worked in a solicitor's office for almost twenty seven years, before deciding I needed a complete change of career. I now work part-time as a secretary and during the summer I am also a guide at Arundel Castle. This gives me the opportunity of indulging in my love of history, art and languages.

Working part-time also ensures that I have sufficient time to devote to my writing.  My first novel, "McArthur's Country House Hotel," was published on Amazon in 2014 under the name of J A Gilbert. It is a mystery/detective novel, with a touch of the supernatural.  

 

My second novel tells the story of a man's efforts to uncover the history of an object he inherits, which reveal skeletons in his family's past. It was published in 2015 under the title of "The Stuffed Giraffe's Head."    

 

I am currently writing my third novel, which I hope to publish shortly.

 

In the meantime I have published two anthologies of short ghost stories, under the titles "Tombstoning and other supernatural tales" and "Black Shadow and other supernatural tales."

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All of my books are available as either ebooks or paperbacks from Amazon.

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One of my short stories, "The Choirboy" was chosen as a winner in a competition run jointly by Chichester Independent Authors and the Chichester Observer. It has been included in their anthology, "Write Across Sussex" which is available on Amazon.

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As a complete change I have also co-written a short guide to Arundel with my historian friend, Mark Phillips. This is mainly aimed at children, but we feel it will appeal to adults too, as it features part of Mark's collection of historical photographs of Arundel. It was written at Mark's suggestion, as he had seen some of the non-fiction/historical articles I had written. With his assistance, these have now appeared in publications such as the West Sussex Gazette, Sussex Local, The Bell and the Littlehampton Gazette.

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My other interests include photography, cooking and knitting. 

 

J A Gilbert, author