Hey there, lovely reader,
I broke open the Christmas decorations this week. The trees aren't available yet, but I can put up the rest and it seemed a good way to spend my time as I adjust to returning to the US.
This week I'm answering a reader's question, announcing a new German translation, and have a new jigsaw for you!
Back now
How do you research the Diana books?Β Β Thereβs so much technical information. I love how she thinks and canβt wait for her next adventure.
I research Diana in a number of ways. It is the same with all my books. I am always logged in (no offline writing for me!) and will interrupt my writing as I need to in order to research.
Google is a good friend of mine. I would be very embarrassed/concerned if anyone ever searched my computer history. I interrogate Google for technical answers, also Youtube, sometimes I'll ask ChatGPT (I always say please and thank you). I'll look up anything I need to know: homemade bomb recipes, how to dig up concrete, church floor plans. I kid you not.
I also attend workshops for crime writers. Presenters typically include senior UK police officers, SOCOs, TV crime writers, covert ops personnel. They can be quite intense but I nearly always come up with a new idea or two for books or I'll get answers to questions I have about a work-in-progress.
Lastly, I belong to a couple of groups where I can ask questions directly of crime professionals – police, forensic investigators, lawyers. I also have a few people in my life who have worked in the field and of whom I can ask questions if I need to. They never know what they might be asked over a cup of tea!
All the above apart from the friends are online resources. I am old enough to remember the days when writers would accompany police on patrol, go out after dark to interview night workers, or visit the country they were writing about. While that still does happen, it is rarer these days. Everything is done online.
I'll be writing the last in the Diana series next year. In the meantime, you can catch up with the series at the following links:
(Free with your starter library)
Thank you to Bonnie C. who asked this question. If you would like to ask me one, please simply reply to this
Another German title!
Julia, my translator, beavered away over the summer and I am now delighted to announce that Der verschwundene Brief is now available in German.
The response to the translated series has been so good that Julia is contracted to work on the series full time until we are up to date and has already started on Die hΓΌbsche Lady which is now available for preorder.
I'm now about to work on a Roxy prequel. Not sure when it will come out. I fit it in between other projects, but it is ongoing. Have a lovely week. Don't forget to download your starter library.
Happy reading,
