Margaret Williams, strangled. Mary Morgan, hanged. Thomas Heslop, shot. John Thomas, battered to death. Adeline Coquelin, drowned. Sarah Jacob, starved. Jane Lewis, slashed to death...

These are some of The Stories in Welsh Stone that feature in my new book.

"Stories in Welsh Stone - The Secrets within 15 Welsh Graves" by Geoff Brookes

The book was published in November 2008 and examines 15 nineteenth century graves in Wales. The book has been published by Welsh Country Magazine and represents a significant step for both of us. It is a beautiful hardback book, full of pictures and maps. Janet Thomas, in her review on the Gwales website for the Welsh Books Council, writes,

"This book hits on the clever, evocative idea of retelling fifteen of Wales’s most infamous murders or mysterious deaths by focussing on the gravestones. The graves and landscapes around them are depicted in beautiful photographs and each story is accompanied by directions to find the grave."

The Western Mail described it as " a colourful and handsome book about passion, drama, injustice and tragedy."

I have written about these graves for the magazine since 2005 and we became convinced that the stories should be recorded and preserved. It would be a great tragedy if these stories should disappear. So we expanded those stories which had already appeared in print and added new ones. As a result we have a book about murder, infanticide, poisoning, vendettas, sudden death, mystery.

Many of the churchyards in Wales are very beautiful. They are sometimes remote and generally peaceful. Yet they hold such secrets. Human frailty, drama, heartbreak, treachery. Huge emotional storms that are preserved now only in fragile crumbling words on stone. In their own ways, these stories have contributed to what we are today. They are part of the heritage we share.

So before you go any further may I welcome you to the website. I hope you find something of interest here, something that will persuade you to visit these crumbling memorials before it is too late.

On the site you will find a brief introduction to the book and an outline of the content. There is a direct link to the Welsh Country Magazine who have an e-commerce facility where you can purchase the book with confidence and security.

I would like to thank my daughter Jennie and her partner Dan Gladwin from Sheffield for their invaluable and expert help in designing this site. I hope that the site does justice to the book. And certainly, if it does nothing else, I hope that it reflects the considerable skill that the two of them showed - and the enormous patience they needed when explaining things to me.