Crime and Romance

Sorry folks. I’ve been a busy girl this month. Lots going on and the latest scorching weather is just melting me into a soggy pool and turning my brain to mush. I can’t move an inch without breaking into a sweat so have been sitting on my chair with a fan going and reading Agatha Christie novels.

I ought to mention going to London a short while ago for the CWA Golden Daggers Awards. My daughter Thalia and I went together hoping to see a mutual friend, Laura Wilson, win the big prize. Laura was shortlisted amongst the final six which is an achievement in itself. Her book A Thousand Lies is a stunner.

I met Laura some years ago when she was about to go to University. She was a cheeky, chatty, punky young lass with hair standing on end but now . . . she is a calm, cool blonde, elegant and utterly beautiful. Sadly, she didn’t win the prize and I totally forget who did as I was so cross about it. It would have been a nice £20.000 for Laura!
Then off to the Romantic Novelist Conference at Penrith in Cumbria, a glorious location. This was my first conference and I thoroughly enjoyed it, picked up lots of tips and hints and expertise from the speakers. The RNA is well known for its friendliness, the help members give one another and general air of comradeship rather than belligerent competition. But then a Romantic Novelist must surely be ruled by Venus, Goddess of Love so you’re generally going to find a co-operative and helpful bunch under her rule!

And at 12. noon on Monday 17th July I finished the first draft of The Crimson Bed my latest novel. Always a sublime moment of birth and an auspicious time at noon when the Sun is at its zenith. I feel like a Mum who has just given birth and, as with all births, now comes the real hard work! Glaring discrepancies already stare at me and so off I go to sort them all out before some cruel editor swoops upon them.

Crime and Romance are strange partners and the bookshop that has both used to be Murder One in Charing Cross Rd. London, now sadly closed. But there's always Goldsboro Books in Cecil Court, London with their signed first editions!