Katie Simpkins – Marble’s Marvel’s

Today, I get to be on the Book tour for Marble’s Marvel’s written by Katie Simpkins. Thanks to Zoe of ZooLoo’s Book Tours and Next Chapter for my copy of the book. First read all about this fabulous book.

Famed Hampshire restaurant, Marble’s Marvels, is struggling. Poor food, few customers. And competing with the Italian restaurant across the road is not helping either.

Kate and Aiden Marble are out of ideas. Aiden is still struggling to cope after a tragic accident split their village in half two years ago. Kate tries to hold everything together, knowing that unless things change soon, they will lose the restaurant.

Out of the blue, a chef turns up and offers to cook them the best food they’ve ever tasted, in exchange for a job as sous chef. It seems like the fortunes of the restaurant are turning around. But is it a coincidence, or is there something magical about the new, mysterious chef?

A book I wanted to read by an author whose work I have loved from the first book I ever read of theirs.

Katie and Aiden have tragedy in their lives, and their restaurant, Marble’s Marvels, is struggling. Then, a random chef appears and promises to cook them the best food they have tasted in return for allowing him to work as their sous-chef. As the restaurant picks up trade and their fortunes seem to be improving, it looks like their chef has a mysterious magical quality about him…or is it all just coincidental?

A superbly written novel that is perfect for cosying up with on one of our dark, dank British winter days. A gentle and easy read, with magic included that will lift your spirits.

The characters are fully fleshed out and immediately make you care for them. I just wanted them to see what everyone else could. I loved the community spirit in this story. It took me back to when I was younger and the community spirit was so evident then. That’s where Marble’s Marvels took me. The fact that when all else fails the community around you stands up to support and help. That’s part of the magic of this story.

A feel-good story that shows even if you have had tragedy in your life, with help, you can overcome it.

Author Bio

Katie Simpkins is the pseudonym for crime and psychological thriller writer, Duncan Brockwell. Katie’s first publication, The Southern Belles was released in July 2019 to positive praise from readers.

Duncan then signed a 3 book contract with digital first publisher, Bloodhound Books for his thriller series, The Met Murder Investigations, starring Nasreen Maqsood. No Way Out, Bird of Prey and Bad Blood were published in July, September and November 2020.

In January 2021, Bloodhound released Mr Invisible, Duncan’s first standalone psychological thriller.

His second Katie Simpkins novel, Marble’s Marvels was published on March 19th under Fusion Press.

In April 2021, Bloodhound Books released his latest novel with them, The Hard Way.
Duncan has several projects coming up, 2 with new publishers and Spellbound Books. They are Oakwood Falls, a supernatural fantasy novel and Hellingly, a hardcore horror set in an abandoned mental asylum.

He is now writing a horror novel called The Notorious Six, a throwback to 80s horror movies such as A Nightmare on Elm Street. After that, he plans on finishing a couple of projects he started, most notably, Trailblazer, an action comedy about an aging country singer who is trying to get to know his estranged daughter while on tour and being chased by the mob, the FBI and a particularly crazy sheriff.