Jan Jones
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janjonesauthor.bsky.social
Jan Jones
@janjonesauthor.bsky.social
1.8K followers 410 following 28K posts
I write mysteries (contemporary, 1920s), romance (contemporary, Regency), poetry (as the mood takes me). New tag: "Putting the heart into cosy mystery".
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janjonesauthor.bsky.social
Here you go, isn't it pretty?
The cover of a book called TIED UP WITH TINSEL by Jan Jones. It shows a white chalet bungalow lightly covered with snow. There is snow on the drive, a Christmas tree with yellow lights outside, and a large cardboard box by the front door held closed with strands of red and silver tinsel.
December 13, 2025 at 2:12 PM
janjonesauthor.bsky.social
Forgot to post a photo of son's 40th birthday cake. Can you tell I used to be a mathematician?
Round chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream filling and icing. Top is decorated with solid triangles made from smarties. Four of them are 4 smarties wide at the rim of the cake decreasing to one at the point. altaernate triangles are 3 smarties wide at the rim of the cake. there is a silver candle at the centre.
November 28, 2025 at 10:48 AM
janjonesauthor.bsky.social
Went downstairs to answer the door. Came back up and...

I appear to have finished work for today.
A red wheely chair with a red check scarf over the back and a black-and-white tabby cat curled up on it. Behind is a screen and a very cluttered workspace.
November 24, 2025 at 3:23 PM
janjonesauthor.bsky.social
This is the old bobbin mill in Caldback. Once thriving and ringing with voices, it is now ruined and deserted. The day I found it, I had it to myself. Just me and the ghosts.
#SundayPixOffTheBeatenTrack
A few ruined grey stone buildings at the end of an overgrown path. Encroaching greenery surrounds them. There is a bench to sit and drink thermos tea and listen to the silence. The inside of a ruined grey stone mill building. Roofless, wide windows with no glass, beams running across which once supported machinery.
November 23, 2025 at 8:22 AM
janjonesauthor.bsky.social
Look, @craftycow.bsky.social , it's only taken three days for Lucy to sit on your mat. This may be a record.
Black-and=white tabby cat couchant on a mat patterened with cats. The mat is on the kitchen floor in front of a cream-coloured Aga. A pair of blue jeans is drying on the rail.
November 20, 2025 at 9:12 AM
janjonesauthor.bsky.social
Here she is on her fleecy blanket. I'm lucky to have central heating, but it still feels cold.
Cold black-and-white tabby cat tucked under a radiator on a soft grey-checked blanket
November 18, 2025 at 3:41 PM
janjonesauthor.bsky.social
That would be a terrible idea. Because it might end with people being allocated words to sponsor and nourish. And those words might unlock the key scene at the end of a book.
Acknowledgements page of "Mystery at the Black Cat Club". The relevent paragraph reads: Thanks to Lev Parikian for unwittingly supplying the very words I needed to unlock the concluding scenes of the story [via his utterly joyous "World Cup of Random English Words" on Twitter which brightened a very gloomy 2022].
November 18, 2025 at 1:25 PM
janjonesauthor.bsky.social
Look how pretty Lucy is.
Black-and-white tabby cat looking slantwise at me over the edge of the sofa.
November 15, 2025 at 7:56 PM
janjonesauthor.bsky.social
Right. Let the big-soupmaking commence. I know how to weekend, me.
kitchen counter top with chopping board, knife, celery, potato, carrots, parsnips, onion, garlic and mushrooms.
November 15, 2025 at 4:44 PM
janjonesauthor.bsky.social
If you haven't already, this is the one I have. My nurse-neighbour says it's good.
Photo of a blood pressure monitor box. Brand is Microlife. Description is BP monitor with gentle technology.
November 12, 2025 at 7:45 AM
janjonesauthor.bsky.social
Eleventh day of the eleventh month.
The poppies instalation at the Tower of London from 2014. A stream of poppies is pouring from a high window to flood the moat.
November 11, 2025 at 8:35 AM
janjonesauthor.bsky.social
Oooh, see what just came in the post! Thank you, Kate! @loreandordure.com
Packs of 'Seven swans a-swimming' Christmas cards propped up against a wooden pen-holder swan.
November 7, 2025 at 1:12 PM
janjonesauthor.bsky.social
Bookshelves in my chaotic and wildly mis-named dining room. #SundayPixBooks
An entire wall of bookshelves crammed with books.
November 2, 2025 at 10:44 AM
janjonesauthor.bsky.social
Saturday tea. You'd pay good money for this in a restaurant. And they'd only give you a quarter of it, excised with a scone cutter.
Round plate piled with slices of roast chicken, topped with carrot-parsnip-potato mash, topped with home-grown French beans and frozen peas. Champion.
November 1, 2025 at 5:53 PM
janjonesauthor.bsky.social
Sending @wombat37.bsky.social a birthday cake full of power today. Happy birthday, cap'n.
#SundayPixWombie #SundayPixWombat #SundayPixWombat37
Circular chocolate birthday cake decorated with smarties arranged in five triangles of solid colour and one triangle of orange and green stripes. The triangles are each four smarties wide at the rim of the cake, decreasing to one at the point. There is a space in the centre for the candle of your choice.
October 26, 2025 at 7:55 AM
janjonesauthor.bsky.social
Nothing like it for lifting the mood.
Large frying pan full of cooked bacon.
October 23, 2025 at 1:44 PM
janjonesauthor.bsky.social
Lucy is making her feelings about the weather very plain this morning.
Black-and-white cat hunkered down on checked blanket in front of radiator.
October 23, 2025 at 7:36 AM
janjonesauthor.bsky.social
My acer Cascade is turning red very early this year. 🌱🌿
Acer Cascade shrub in a large earthenware pout partly sunk into gravel. The branches are widely spaced, reaching upwards and covered with very red leaves. There is a six foot high wooden fence behind.
October 21, 2025 at 8:31 AM
janjonesauthor.bsky.social
Another #SundayPixStacks photo from some time ago showing the piles (and piles and piles) of books I took off the large bookcase downstairs when we were having the cavity walls filled. "Take everything off the walls," they said...
Many piles of books that have been taken off shelves and stacked on the floor. There are probably 50 or 60 piles, with at least ten books per pile. The floor is covered with them.
October 19, 2025 at 7:28 AM
janjonesauthor.bsky.social
An old #SundayPixStacks photo from when I was still running the RNA conference. Collated conference packs ready to be personalised and go into envelopes.
Kitchen table with two stacks of collated conference packs. Each individual pack of around ten sheets is laid at ninety degrees to the previous one, making them easy to separate and giving a pleasing geometric pattern to the piles of paper. There are about 200 packs in all.
October 19, 2025 at 7:20 AM
janjonesauthor.bsky.social
You are welcome ANY TIME, Emma. (I looked back at past photos and magnolia was in full display mode late March early April this year.)
Back garden with magnolia tree laden with pink blossom on 1st April 2025.
October 18, 2025 at 11:17 AM
janjonesauthor.bsky.social
That was quick! Thanks Simon @biggreenbooks.bsky.social and @humanaqvi.bsky.social and #buyastrangerabook day!
A photo of the paperback copy of "The Bookshop, The Draper, The Candlestick Maker: the history of the high street" by Annie Gray.
October 17, 2025 at 11:41 AM
janjonesauthor.bsky.social
One last #SundayPixBelonging
From a wary, traumatised, re-homed cat to this. The very essence of belonging.
Black-and-white tabby cat stretched out purring next to me on the bed as I work. (I'm not in the photo, just her.)
October 12, 2025 at 5:54 PM
janjonesauthor.bsky.social
An early morning photo for #SundayPixBelonging
This is where I belong: in this house, in this garden. Don't ever want to leave.
Garden photo showing a curving stone path, a weathered wooden bench, a flower bed with roses, crimson daisies and autum colour. Trees and a small greenhouse in the background. Mug of tea on the arm of the bench.
October 12, 2025 at 7:02 AM
janjonesauthor.bsky.social
Chilly October morning, but the evening primroses are still evening-primrosing away in the shady border. 🌱🌿
Low growing clumps of flowers in a leaf-strewn garden bed. The yellow flowers are cup-shaped, several to a stalk, and smell delightful.
October 9, 2025 at 7:13 AM