Because I’m in the middle of writing ‘Pitkirtly XXVIII’ [still no title but I’m hoping one will spring out and ambush me when I least expect it] I am keen to find any excuse for procrastination, and this is why I found myself thinking about which books I’ve most enjoyed writing. This often becomes clear only in retrospect, since there are almost always some sticky bits that seem to take a long time to get through while the writing is in progress.
I’ve now settled on a short list. Readers might find some of the choices surprising, or maybe not. It’s been a close thing in some cases. For instance, I really enjoyed the ending of ‘A Christmas Catastrophe’ and I liked the start of ‘Frozen in Crime’. Also, saying I enjoyed writing ‘The Great Calamity’ is a bit of an exaggeration – it’s more the case that I felt a sense of relief and achievement once it was finished! Though I did like doing the research for it, some of which involved lengthy sessions on the National Library of Scotland’s map collection pages, and some of which took me down rabbit-holes in a quest to find out more about sawmills on the Water of Leith, and the layout of Osborne House.
Anyway, the results are in. I’ve chosen six things that are my personal favourites. Most of them are from recent years as I tend to forget about the earlier ones – this is probably unfair, of course. I could have added more from the Pitkirtly series, I suppose. I almost always enjoy writing them, apart from ‘Unrelated Incidents’ – the clue is in the title! Another one I considered including was ‘Quest for a Father’ because I enjoyed the research so much.
Here’s the list, absolutely not in any order, and I have a rather colourful image to go with it:
- The Great Calamity
- It’s a Long Way from Pitkirtly
- The Case of the Late Capybara
- The French Heir
- Pamela Prendergast and the Fatal Accident
- A Little Too Fond of Cake and Other Stories
I enjoyed the setting for ‘It’s a Long Way from Pitkirtly’ and some aspects of this made it an interesting challenge to write – the lack of mobile signals and public transport, for instance. ‘The French Heir’ is probably my favourite of all my Regency novels, again because of the research, which included a trip to Rye and the Royal Military Canal. ‘The Case of the Late Capybara’ evoked some memories of my former day job, while ‘Pamela Prendergast and the Fatal Accident’ had a setting I knew very well. ‘A Little Too Fond of Cake’ was really just a really relaxing story that I wrote without any pressure.
Cecilia Peartree - woman of mystery 