We’re more than halfway through August. I’m looking out onto a winter-white sky. Rain washes my skylight windows, now firmly closed against the chill. So why am I glad?
If bright sunshine lit my room at the top of the house, I would roast and need to shift myself. Since I’m wandering with Kate Shackleton into her eighth adventure, I would much rather stay put.
Fortunately the sun shone on Saturday and Sunday, during the 22nd Mystery & Crime Weekend at St Hilda’s College, Oxford. This year’s conference was dedicated to the memory of P. D. James, a great supporter who frequently attended. The theme was Love and Crime. As always, speakers provided entertaining, informative and challenging talks. It was good to meet with old friends, and to make new friends. The event was so engrossing that I forgot to take photos. Here is one I took last year – a punting traffic jam.
My latest news is that in 2016 my publisher, Piatkus, will bring out the three sagas first published before I turned to crime. I’m very much looking forward to that, and to seeing the cover art. It’ll be interesting to see the differences and similarities between the saga and the mystery book covers. (For advance information and photos, click the Sagas button.)
In the States and Canada, the Kate Shackleton novels are published by Minotaur. From next year they will publish two a year, so as to catch up with UK publication dates. That’s great news for me and, I hope, for the readers who write to me about the stories.
Talking of catching up … that’s just what I must do. It’s back to Kate Shackleton number eight. I have left Kate in a rather perilous situation and must see what happens next.
