For the last ten days, while my editor is doing a final review of A Scandal in Stresa (the second Elspeth Duff mystery), I have taken a complete break and gone to the seashore. I purposely chose a location that would never appear in my mysteries. (Too many  of my vacations are really working trips to…

Recently I have been given some constructive criticism of A Murder in Malta, which I plan to use in my upcoming books. (Hopefully A Scandal in Stresa will be out by September.) I also have received some amusing comments. My favorite one was from a woman who absolutely insisted that anyone who went to Blair School…

As I talk to more and more people who have read A Murder in Malta, I am amazed at the different take they have on my characters. When I first was in the process of developing Elspeth Duff and Richard Munro, a fellow author advised me to find photographs of a real person whom I thought…

As a mystery writer, I am always faced with the predicament of using existing places. This morning I was working on proof reading A Scandal in Stresa (a task I hate, by the way) before sending it along to my editor. I got to a passage where I had Elspeth Duff and Lord Kennington having…

I try to travel in May and October, before and after the summer school holidays. Once you start reading my series, you will see that they are often set at these two times of year. The weather is usually good and the scenery gorgeous, particularly when I am in the countryside. But increasingly this has…

This week I am in Ireland confirming research for a book tentatively tilted A Danger in Dublin. I am just about to embark on a walk on the Cooley Peninsula, where one of the final scenes of Draft 1 takes place. Then on to Dublin. I love trips that involve research for my books because…

Now that A Murder in Malta has been available for several months, I would love to know what you think of it. Please post a review on Amazon.com and let me know. I’m delighted by the very positive reviews it has received so far.

Gozo is one of the three major islands in the Republic of Malta. Gozo is not a little Malta but an island that is quite different in looks and feeling and has a long history of its own. Gozo will feature prominently in many of the Elspeth Duff mysteries. Magdelena Cassar, Elspeth’s Aunt Mag, is…

Which English language? There are many. Anyone one who has read my book(s) will have begun to realise that I love languages. But it may be perplexing when I shift between American English and British English. (I am conversant in both.) I am an American but Elspeth Duff is Scottish. Hmm. When I wrote A…

I frequently use photographs I have taken as an aide-memoir when writing. Attached are three I used when writing A Murder in Malta: one, Grand Harbour, which might have been the view from the dining room of the Kennington Valletta, two, a Valletta street where Loren and Evan might have jogged, and three, the hole…