At the Kennington Beverley Hills

Author’s Note: Because of a number of unforeseen circumstances, the publication of my next book, A Deception in Denmark, will be delayed until late next winter or early spring. Therefore to keep my readers interested, here is a snippet of how Elspeth Duff got hired by Lord Kennington. At the Kennington Beverley Hills Elspeth Duff turned…

Snippet 3: A Hollywood Christmas

I have only hinted about Elspeth’s life before the murder in Malta, so as a Christmas gift to you I thought I would write a snippet about her time in Hollywood. This story would have taken place in 1989. A Christmas Eve Reflection in Hollywood Elspeth Duff Craig stood at the kitchen counter and surveyed…

Snippets

In July I was knocked down by an untethered standard poodle and suffered a severe concussion and broken bone in my back, luckily without nerve damage. My doctor has told me I should not be writing anything as complex as a novel for the next six months. She did say, however, I could write short…

My Favourite Characters

On Saturday I attended a book talk by an author who has written a mystery about the town where I now live. She spoke of her favourite character, one she had not originally intended to put in her book. An author naturally has favourites in each book. I thought I would list mine. When writing…

Elspeth’s Days Off

At a book talk I was asked what Elspeth enjoyed doing when not travelling for Lord Kennington. Consequently I began thinking about Elspeth’s times away from work. When not on long assignments, she lives most of the time in Gordon Mews (an imaginary place) near Kensington Gardens in London. She doesn’t like clutter and spends…

A Day Off

I try to write or work on one of my books everyday, seven days a week, even if I have an event scheduled, but recently I took a day off. I normally look forward to my time at the computer and immersing myself in Elspeth Duff’s world. One day last week doing so lost its…

The Origin of Elspeth Duff’s Name

Someone asked about the origin of Elspeth’s name. I spent a long time finding the right name for Elspeth Duff. I wanted the name to be Scottish. I played with the name Elizabeth because if we had a daughter (we had a son) she would have been called Elizabeth. Elspeth, of course, is the Scottish form…