The grain of an idea — sometimes that’s all it takes to grow a story. In this case, it was planted on a grey and windy day on a Scottish island where distilleries abound.
Read MoreIt was still lockdown, but the power of the internet meant that I could chat to a fellow writer in Brisbane, and she had an idea for a detective series. It would be composed of stories by writers across the world and the common denominator would be the victim…
Read MoreI am to be envied. Sitting under the trees in a garden in a village in the Vendée; the heat of the day has abated a little, and it's almost apéritif time. I have always loved the Vendée:
Read MoreThe Castle of Tiffauges stands at a bend in the busy D753 which runs west from Cholet, ancient town of weavers, to the salt marshes of Saint-Jean-de-Monts. It is known as Le Château de Barbe-Bleue: Bluebeard's Castle.
Read More'Confessional' deals with the relationship, factual and imagined, between Gilles de Rais, medieval serial murderer and France's warrior-saint, Joan of Arc.
Read MoreIn the old folk tales of the Vendée and beyond, the character of Bluebeard murdered successive wives in a gruesome chamber of his castle. Tiffauges, once the home of Gilles de Rais, is known widely as Bluebeard's castle, and the remains of a sinister double-walled keep are said to testify to his crimes of child murder.
Read MoreMy fascination with the voice and persona of the French singer, Edith Piaf, goes back a very long way. I can remember as a child hearing her on the BBC Light Programme and being captivated even then by its plaintive, husky swoops and dips.
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