The news today is that I am now 61,000 words into Delamere four, ‘Where There’s a Will.’
We have just had Easter here in Greece, so my writing regime was interrupted, what with family dinners, returning visitors wanting to see us, and all those festivities, but I am back to normal now and beavering on with the first draft of this more classic mystery.
What I mean by ‘more classic’ is that this is a simple mystery set in an isolated location where the reading of a will calls for the presence of at least one independent investigator. When I first outlined the idea to a writer friend of mine, her first question was the same as mine; why an investigator? Exactly! Why would anyone stipulate they wanted/needed a detective at the reading of a will? I wasn’t sure myself when I started, and I am still not too sure, but that’s the joy of writing mysteries. I often leave it up to the story and characters to work out what’s going on, because I don’t have a clear idea when I start. (I can also go back and change/clarify or exclude things later.)
In this case, I had a rough idea, and so far, it is working. I have been dropping clues like breadcrumbs, so I might need to highlight or discard some of them, otherwise when it’s all worked out at the end, the list of pointers and clues will be too long.
That’s all technical. What is more fun with this one is that Will Merrit is the main POV character, so I am writing from his point of view. There is a secondary character whose point of view we also get, and he is the love story (gay love story of course). This isn’t just because my readers like a gay love connection and sometimes nookie in the books, his storyline is vital to the solution of the riddle at the heart of the story—why call a detective to the reading of a will.
When I started, I envisioned the classic ‘Cat and the Canary’ scenario, and apart from the murders, I have it, so far. I have my cast cut off during a storm on a private island in the Bristol Chanel, with one of them going mad, one already mad, a love story unfolding, and only 48 hours to solve the puzzle, or else everything, including the island, goes to the Church. Fun stuff, and I’m well on my way to the final act.
More news soon.
