I do hope you all had a lovely Christmas.
I can’t believe that another year has almost gone and a new one stretches ahead. My pristine 2020 diary is already filling up fast and it looks as though the coming year is going to be a busy one. My publisher has just given me a contract for two new Wesley Peterson mysteries and also wants me to write a stand-alone crime novel. I’m looking forward to the challenge of beginning work as soon as the Festive Season is out of the way but beginning a new book from scratch is always a little daunting.
Just before Christmas I finished the third book in my Albert Lincoln trilogy (The House of the Hanged Woman) and sent it off to my editor. It was good to get it all done and out of the way so I could concentrate on family and the festivities. I just hope my editor likes it!
The week before Christmas also saw me celebrating with readers at my local library where the fantastic staff had recreated a Poirot-style drawing room and the audience sat with mulled wine and mince pies while I read out my Christmas short story The Christmas Card List. I also sang new words I’d made up to the tune of Santa Claus is Coming to Town. My own little tribute to Agatha Christie!
YOU’D BETTER THINK UP A GOOD ALIBI
IT BETTER BE CONVINCING, I’M TELLING YOU WHY
HERCULE POIROT’S COMING TO TOWN
HE’S MAKING A LIST
HE’S CHECKING IT TWICE
THOSE LITTLE GREY CELLS WILL WORK IN A TRICE
HERCULE POIROT’S COMING TO TOWN
HE KNOWS WHEN YOU’VE BEEN LYING
HE KNOWS WHO DID THE CRIME
HE KNOWS IF YOU’VE BEEN BAD OR GOOD
AND WHO DESERVES TO BE DOING TIME
SO YOU’D BETTER THINK UP A GOOD ALIBI
IT BETTER BE CONVINCING, I’M TELLING YOU WHY
HERCULE POIROT’S COMING TO TOWN
I’m delighted to say that everyone enjoyed it and joined in with the chorus!
One good thing about Christmas is that normal working life is put on hold and once your guests have left you can slump in front of the telly with a (almost) clear conscience. I was very much looking forward to the new adaptation of A Christmas Carol but I’m afraid I was disappointed and gave up half way through the second instalment. All Dickens’s warmth, wit and rich characterisation was cut out and replaced by darkness, abuse and abject misery. Oh dear – I never thought an encounter with Scrooge and co would prove so utterly depressing (when you could hear what they were saying). I confess I had to watch Alastair Sim’s version straight afterwards to get remind myself what the book was really like. Dickens managed to get his message over perfectly well with a light and entertaining touch. Perhaps this is something all writers should remember.
I’m still mulling over my New Year resolutions but I reckon that a complete ban on stollen and mince pies after January would be a good start.
Here’s wishing all my readers a really happy New Year. All the best for 2020 and happy reading!