With only a couple of weeks to go until the start of NaNoWriMo, I’ve collected quite a few ideas about what to include in this year’s visit to Pitkirtly. During last week I added another one to the list.
I decided it was time we found out what had happened to Christopher’s sister Caroline – last seen in a strait-jacket (more or less) after trying to jump off the roof of a hospital in ‘Crime in the Community’. I hadn’t really expected to meet her again, but when I was mulling over loose ends from the previous three novels in the series, I realised there was scope to develop her story a little further. Some may think I am being a bit cruel to Christopher by bringing her back into his life, but that’s what writers are like! I’m sure he’ll be happy to see his niece and nephew again anyway, as he was very fond of them and probably misses them quite a lot.
In case Amaryllis is wondering, she won’t be consigned to the sidelines during this touching family reunion but will be doing something special of her own – again something unexpected which will make people wonder what I’ve got against her.
After spending the summer in the south of France (only in my mind, I’m sorry to say) with a heroine who will insist on getting pursued by villains, abducted, blown up or shot at (attention-seeking or what?), a visit to nice restful Pitkirtly is just what I need – after all, nothing ever happens there – or does it?
Cecilia Peartree - woman of mystery 