It’s February 14th, and you must choose one Valentine from fourteen. Who will you pick as your date?
This is just for fun because, sadly, I can’t bring my characters to life anywhere else but on the page. But, if you could invite one of them to step from the past and go with you on a Valentine’s date, who would you choose?
Below, in random order, are fourteen characters from the Clearwater, Larkspur, and Delamere Mysteries. I have put their name and their main series so you can see who’s who.
When you’ve made your choice, put a comment on my Facebook page and let’s see who you think would be good to take on a date, and why. (You can copy and paste the photo too, if you want.)
I was just browsing through a file I found under ‘Clearwater’ and which is titled ‘sketches.’ I hadn’t realised that over the past few years, I have commissioned 22 sketches of characters and items associated with the Clearwater, Larkspur and Delamere series (not including two maps). I was wondering who to have sketched for the inside of the next book, ‘Grave Developments.’
It strikes me that although I have a drawing of James Wright, it’s slightly different to the others because it’s an ‘action’ drawing.
James Wright
Maybe I should find that face again and have my artist do me a standard, ‘Dalston Blaze’ portrait as I’ve done with the others. Here’s one of my favourites:
Mrs Norwood
Dazz, as my artist is known has also drawn a couple of story-related items which aren’t characters. My favourite of these is this one:
The mysterious Larkspur standing stones.
These played a large part in the second Larkspur book, ‘Keepers of the Past,’ as you might remember.
Now working on the Delamere Files, we have had images of Jack and Will Merrit, Larkin Chase and Ned Maddiver. I have to say, Jack’s drawing makes him look a bit rough, but then, when the series starts, he is working 18 to 20 hours a day driving his cab, looking after his ‘special’ brother and trying to pay off debts and avoid eviction, so there’s no wonder. Maybe, I should ask Dazz to draw him as he is by book six?
Or maybe we’ll have a sketch of James…?
Tell you what, with a growing cast of Delamere characters, let me know who you’d like to see a sketch of. We’ve not yet seen Max Pascoe, Benjamin Baxter, Simeon or Ronny Felman, or Mrs Sparks. Send me an email soon because with draft one approaching the 80,000-word mark, I will soon be commissioning a new drawing from Dazz, who – should you need an artist – you can find on Fiverr as DazzlingDezigns.
Meanwhile, today’s promo link takes you to some spooky, mysterious, action-thriller adventure set in all times and places. Have a click and enjoy the browsing.
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
