Puttin' on the Style

PUTTIN' ON THE STYLE

Although 'style' does relate to the way I, and others, write, this may be a slightly misleading title as it's more about accents. 

Dick Strawbridge/Inspecteur Guillaume Bruissement

In my series of crime novels set in the 1950s my detective, DI Sonny Russell, has an opposite number based in Boulogne called Inspecteur Guillaume Bruissement. Throughout the books they becoem firm friends and Bruissment often helps with tricky international cases. Although not slavishly based on him, I have a picture in my mind of the tv personality, Dick Strawbridge, when I portray him. I guess there's a little of Poirot too and I like to mix French with English when I write his dialogue, as if he's thinking in both languages. This brings up its own set of challenges as he frequently drops his aitches and mixes his languages and parts of speech. But he is fun to write him and try to make him sound real.

One of the things I try to get right is the necessary accents when inserting French words. I do hope I succeed and I'm sure my readers will let me know if I get it wrong!

 

EGYPT BECKONS

 

EGYPT BECKONS

In my last blog post I talked about the struggle I've been having with my latest work-in-progress, Blood on the Nile. Well, you'll be pleased to know I'm making steady progress and approaching the half-way mark. Whoopee! Only another 40,000+ words to go. But I've got to the point where I have to decide if DI Sonny Russell will actually have to go to Egypt. If he does travel to the Middle East, I feel it will make for an interesting read but... it will involve me in some serious research.

 I've been watching a lot of documentaries about Egypt so I feel I'm partway there. It's a fascinating country with an incredible history but what's most amazing is the experts feel they've only just scratched the surface and there are still myriad treasures to be uncovered. In one programme I watched, an American scientist, using thermal imaging drones, uncovered huge areas of urban development buried under the sand. However, this is now, with modern technology, and I'm still in the 1950s, so not very far removed from the explorations of Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon and the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. So, more research is need but that is something I really enjoy. Now to find out how Russell will travel to Egypt and who he will liaise with when he gets there.

And, as an aside, for my loyal readers, do you have a picture in your mind's eye of the DI? Well, naturally, I do. He's inspired by my late uncle, Sonny Russell, who I remember as a lovely, cheerful man, always with a smile playing about his lips. 

Getting a wiggle on

 GETTING A WIGGLE ON

Bait digger - low tide, Winchelsea Beach

No, I'm not going to talk about lugworms or ragworms or those hardy souls who go down to the beach at low tide to dig for bait. Much as I realise this could be suitable topic for a blogpost, I'll leave it for another day. No, this is more about me getting a wiggle on.

Ornamental Egyptian scarab

On checking back, I discovered that I started my current work in progress, back in November 2022. Normally I aim to finish writing a book in about a year and all six previous ones have followed this pattern. I have no real excuse for why this one has taken 16 months already and I'm still only a third of the way through. I could make excuses - well I will.

Pectoral brooch

The working title is 'Blood on the Nile and the initial theme for the story was the illegal import of artifacts, possibly looted from the tombs in Egypt. Superintendent Stout put Sonny Russell on the case saying 'you were out in the East during the war'. Although the DI pointed out he was actually in south-east Asia, not North Africa, Stout dismissed his protest. In order to make sure I know what I'm talking about I've planned for some time to visit the Egyptian Galleries in the British Museum. I'm still waiting to go so this may be a reason for my slowness.

Sanatorium

As my readers are aware I always include more than one story line, and try to weave the different themes together until finally bringing them to a satisfactory climax. This book is to be no different and I've introduced a mysterious sanatorium and a body found on the beach. I'll say no more - I think I've given enough away already. I'll leave you with this image of a hidden camp in the woods and let you guess why.

Just one more thing. In all my books I start each chapter with a definition, or explanation, of something that appears a few pages on. I really enjoy the research involved and hope it adds to the book. But I'd be interested to hear what those of you have read any of the books think about me continuing it.

ANYONE AT HOME?

 ANYONE AT HOME?

I haven't written a blog post for a long time - not sure why. In fact I don't seem to be writing anything as intensely as I have in the past. Book seven, provisionally titled BLOOD ON THE NILE, is making much slower progress than the previous six. I guess I've just been concentrating on other projects. But, as my blog seems to be getting quite a number of views lately I thought I'd better write something.

The provisional title of the book may be a little misleading. The reason is that my detective, DI Sonny Russell is tasked with tracking down the origin of some Egyptian artifacts that are thought to have been obtained illegally. His boss, Superintendent Stout, thinks he's the right man as he was out in the East during the war, despite Sonny's protestations that Egypt is a long way from where he was stationed. Now, if I was a full-time writer, with a decent income from writing, I could justify a trip to Egypt for research, but as I'm only a poor part-timer it's unlikely to happen. So It will be the usual Google and Wikipedia searches for information.

As with my other books I try to weave several story threads together and the title of this post is a reference to another of those. Briefly, a man is found dead beneath the cliffs at Pett Level (I'm not giving anything away as this happens early in the book) and a nearby 'sanatorium' comes under suspicion. Strangely though, when the police return, the building is empty and the neighbours can't help. I've just posted on social media, asking where to find information about the ownership of the house and almost immediately a number of people have come back. The Land Registry seems the best port of call. I won't need to actually follow it through - this is fiction, after all - but I now know where the police need to go.

TREADING WATER

 TREADING WATER

Do you ever go through a seemingly endless period where a lot seems to be happening but you don't feel as if you're achieving much? Those times when however much you try to tick items off the to-do list, it never seems to get any shorter? And your diary seems to be piling up with so many engagements you wonder if you'll ever be able to do any of them, let alone all of them? Well that's how I feel at the moment.

But, I keep telling myself, it's not as bad as it seems. My sixth book in the DI Sonny Russell series of crime novels has recently been launched and is selling well*. Plus, the others in the series are still going out, particularly the first one, Blood on the Tide. This is gratifying as hopefully, if new readers like it, they continue with others in the series.

*I stepped into the breach and gave a last minute talk recently as the scheduled speaker had tested positive for covid. The talk was to quite a small group in Benenden in Kent but as much of the action in Blood on the Dunes takes place nearby, I sold quite a number of copies, which was most gratifying. 

Although I've started on book six, provisionally titled Blood on the Nile**, I haven't made much progress, due to the reasons outlined above. But, I have been asked several times, by readers who have already finished 'Dunes', when the next book will be ready! As it usually takes a year to write a book, there will be a bit of a delay.

** Does this mean that DI Sonny Russell will be venturing further abroad, I hear you ask. Well, possibly. For relaxation, I model narrow gauge railways and several of my books have been inspired by the layouts I've built. In fact, the whole series started with a model I made based on the quayside at Rye Harbour in Sussex. For a while now I have been building an Egyptian themed layout called Caravanserai, so this has provided some of the inspiration for the next book. But, book and model alike are a long way from being finished, so meanwhile, I'll continue trading water.

 

MORE RESEARCH

 MORE RESEARCH

CARAVANSERAI

Now that BLOOD ON THE DUNES is - almost - done and dusted, I've started thinking about the next book. Blood on the Tide was inspired by my narrow gauge railway layout, Compass Point, Blood on the Strand by Castle Quay, my Rock-a-Nore based layout in a winebox. So as I'm currently building Caravanserai, an Egyptian themed layout, my thoughts turned towards North Africa.

SUEZ CANAL

I've mentioned in the previous books that DI Russell spent time in the East when he was in the army during WW2 although I didn't specify where precisely. However, I did say that was where he found an interest in Eastern philosophy and vegetarianism, so I doubt it was Egypt. But, I'm wondering if he might have had a colleague who stayed on and joined the Egyptian police. My thoughts are turning to the possibility that ancient relics are being looted and smuggled into the UK. This would allow the narrative to swing between England and the East.

Obviously he'll need to be able to get there easily so another part of my research involves looking at means of travel and, it seems, British European Airways may well have flown there in the 1950s. The other thing which has piqued my interest is the Suez crisis, which could provide a rich seam of information. Although that was over by 1957, I'm sure I could include some of it on the book.

Anyway, it's early days yet so there's lots of fun ahead.

WORMHOLES - getting lost on the net

 WORMHOLES

getting lost on the net

Eric Ravilious - Drought

Wormholes. Do you ever disappear down them? I do, and I just have. As Blood on the Dunes is finished I'm having a break from writing and have been able to indulge in something else. I've long been a fan of the artist, Eric Ravilious, and came across one of his paintings I'd not seen before called Drought. It features an out-of-use steam roller with a living van, tar wagon and water bowser. I'd been planning a model railway layout based on another of his paintings, The Cement Works and thought the roller ensemble would make a nice little cameo on the layout.

Eric Ravilious - The Cement Pit 1

I already had a roller, I'd made from a kit, and a scratchbuilt living van, then I found an exquisite ready-made model of a tar cart on a model website. Now all need was a water bowser. The only ones available - in kit form or ready made were of a different pattern, and as I wanted to remain as faithful as possible to the picture, I would have to make my own.

I found a suitable photo and assembled the necessary components - a pair of wheels and little plastic vial. By combining these with some shaped styrene sheet and stiff wire I've fashioned a semblance of the water cart in the picture. Then, I disappeared down an internet wormhole.

I was struggling with resolving the shafts which must be used to pull the cart. In the painting they appear to be two parallel bars, suitable for a horse. This seemed strange as I assumed it would have been pulled by the roller. The other conundrum was the actual purpose of the wagon. Further digging revealed that there are two distinct types. One, is used for the sole purpose of transporting water, like this WW1 example.

The other, is for sprinkling water onto freshly laid tarmacadam, and this is the type in the painting. Luckily, as I travelled down the wormhole, I was able to find evidence of this in an article about the restoration of one at the Beamish Museum.

This clearly shows a box attached to the back, with holes drilled to distribute the water so this is what I will model. As to the shafts, do I leave them as is, or convert them so they can be towed by the roller?