NEW FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF I DON’T TALK TO DEAD BODIES What if your biggest challenge became your greatest adventure?
One day, Dr Rhona Morrison was a respected forensic psychiatrist planning for retirement. The next, on her birthday, she became a widow, stepping into an uncertain and unplanned future alone. But as Rhona soon discovered, an ending can also be a beginning – if you grasp the opportunities life presents.
In this warm, witty, and inspiring memoir, Rhona shares how she navigated the twists and turns of her loss and subsequent reinvention, transforming her grief into opportunity. From launching an art business and writing her first book, I Don’t Talk to Dead Bodies, to becoming a cruise ship lecturer and embarking on global adventures, she tackled each step with an open heart. Along the way, she discovered unexpected joys, new passions, and a renewed sense of purpose.
From Crime Scenes to Cruise Ships is an uplifting story of resilience, reinvention and embracing the unknown. Whether you’re facing loss, retirement, or a major life shift, Rhona’s journey is a reminder that even when life feels uncertain, you still have the power to shape your future. It may not look like you once imagined, but it can still be rich with meaning, adventure and possibility.
Your story isn’t over; the next chapter is waiting. So, let’s turn the page and step into what comes next – together.
My Review
Thanks to Anne Cater, of Random Things Tours, and to the author for a copy of their book. I read and reviewed Dr Morrison’s first book about her time as a forensic psychiatrist. It ended on 23rd March 2018, on her 55th birthday, her retirement from the NHS, and the day her husband Richard died. This book takes up the story from there.
The message of Dr Morrison’s first book was the destigmatising of mental illness. The message of this book is more about how to navigate changes in life whether expected or unexpected. Dr Morrison focuses on her retirement and how the plans she made with her husband were suddenly wiped away by his illness and death. Instead she went on cruises with friends and then alone, before writing her first book and becoming an ‘enrichment lecturer’ on cruises. In the process she has visited all 7 continents, made lost of new friends and joined the Rotary Club, while also running an art business. It’s impressive!
I found the book inspiring and encouraging. I’m going through a big change in my life plans so it came at the right time in my life. How serendipitous! Serendipity, putting yourself out there, making connections and seeing where things go from there are encouraged by Dr Morrison. That’s how she lives her life and it’s helped her deal with her grief and making a new path through life after retirement and bereavement. She writes about making friends and business connections through Business Network International and Rotary, and advises that people should make connections where they can. My connections, my networks, are the local ND and Queer community. I have made external connections through my Spec Fic and ND communities. It’s helpful to think about it in terms of networks that can help with my hopes for the future.
Currently, I am working for an organisation that supports autistic adults, and have done for 5 years, but I’ve been involved with an arts organisation for over a year. First the gallery hosted my Neurodivergent History project, and then my friend started Lucy’s Art Club, and it’s gone from there I’m now a Director of a new organisation, Purple Peacock CIC, helping disadvantaged creatives in our region. At the end of the year I’m giving up my salaried job to take on self-employed work, both independently and with Purple Peacock CIC. I want to focus on my writing and creative work. I told my employer two weeks ago and it has been a weight lifted. In a week I’ve completed a purple peacock for the gallery, finished a short story for a Humber SFF anthology competition, and read a book. I need to finish two books tomorrow.
I feel like I’m able to access the creative part of me that was gradually locked up by my job taking all my focus. I’ve also made contact with the editor at Spondylux Press about doing some proof reading and editing work for them. If you’re ND and want to find a publisher, I recommend Spondylux, I met the editor at Autscape and I will be reviewing two of the books I bought at a later date. Nema (the editor) is lovely.
Some of my projects with Purple Peacock CIC will be managing a reference library of poetry books we inherited, running a writing café, and eventually, in several years, starting a small press for local disadvantaged authors. The message of the book is supportive and I’m raring to go with my new projects!
It’s a hopeful book that encourages the reader to treat changes in life as a positive opportunity while Dr Morrison entertains the reader with tales of her adventures. Sharing stories and a message works so well for her as a writer. She is a witty, accessible writer and I encourage people going through a change in life or entering retirement with no plan.
Everything Is Better With Dragons 