This week, I took delivery of the illustration that will go at the beginning of ‘Starting with Secrets.’ Since beginning the Larkspur Mysteries series, I have added an illustration at the start of each book because… Well, I’m not sure. When I published ‘The Clearwater Inheritance’ I had someone draw me a map of Europe showing the route of the Orient Express, because I thought it would be fun for readers to follow the journey. Previously, I’d engaged an artist to draw some of my characters from photos and add some Victoriana, such as the correct costume. I was doing this for a book I am still considering, ‘The Clearwater Companion, and I’ll tell you about that another time.
What I thought I would do today is put up the collection so far: the collection of illustrations which have been drawn by an artist who lives in India and has a company called DazzlingDezigns. If you click on that link, you will see her page on Fiverr, which is where I was lucky enough to find her. I’ve not been able to commission every main character (and let’s face it, there are a lot of them!), but here, in no particular order, are those who have so far made it into the gallery. There are also a couple of other illustrations which have been used in the Larkspur books and for the cover of ‘Banyak & Fecks.’
Lord Clearwater, Archer, around whom both series revolve 
Silas Hawkins, trickster, mimic and all things underhand 
The map from ‘The Clearwater Inheritance’ 
Thomas Payne, when he was a butler 
Silas Hawkins from the cover of ‘Banyak and Fecks’ 
The plague mask from ‘Agents of the Truth’ 
A new character you will meet in ‘Starting with Secrets’ 
Mrs Norwood, the ‘new woman’ housekeeper and coachwoman 
Joe Tanner, deaf antiquarian 
Jasper Blackwood, the concert pianist from the workhouse 
James Wright, messenger to footman to valet to detective 
The Colvannick standing stones 
Frank Andino, the Greek, foul-mouthed mathematical genius 
Fecker cover drawing 
Andrej Borysko Yakiv Kolisnychenko (Fecker to his friends, Fecks for short) 
Dr Markland, the bonkers medical genius with a thing for cricket 
Dalston Blaze (who drew all the sketches) 
Chester Cadman as a master of ceremonies 
Billy Barnett, the opera-singing caretaker of Larkspur Hall
You can find all my books on my Amazon page
The Clearwater Mysteries start here
The Larkspur Mysteries start here
I’ll be back on Wednesday with an exciting update about ‘Starting with Secrets.’