At the end of my last post Victorian Master Chef Auguste Didier was fighting 21st century car detective Jack Colby for my attention. Jack Colby won the battle but I can report that Auguste Didier has unexpectedly entered the fray once more. I was in search of an idea and impatient at my slow progress he seems to have got busy on his own account.
Firstly the editor of the wonderful Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Janet Hutchings, who has published quite a few of his short stories over the years asked me to guest blog for the EQ site www.somethingisgoingtohappen.net on the subject of writing historical mystery stories – and in the course of the article Didier’s name naturally cropped up.
It then cropped up again in a big way when I heard the exciting news that nine of my novels featuring him are shortly to reappear as ebooks from Headline. In gratitude, Auguste has just planted the long sought idea for another short story in my mind. All I have to do is write it …
Not to be outdone, my other Victorian sleuth, chimney sweep Tom Wasp, decided to get in on the ebook action as well. A book of his short stories is published as an ebook by AudioGo under the title Victorian Villainies – and if you like to delve further back in time AudioGo have also ebooked Georgian Villainies – in which my short stories featuring the eighteenth-century parson, Caleb Pennywick appear. These also formerly appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. I need another idea for him too. Back to Jack first and then …