summer’s over
It's been a while, so I thought I'd better put pen to paper or rather fingers to keyboard (it hasn't quite got the same ring to it, has it?)
Judging by the dark mornings, chilly weather and abundance of rain, I think it's fair to say that summer has well and truly said goodbye. How was your summer? Mine was… interesting, for want of a better word. From what started as my husband Dan simply getting out of breath a lot, it led to something altogether different and much more serious, ultimately leading to life-saving surgery. As you can imagine, it was a particularly shocking and challenging time for us all. To his credit, Dan bore it all with his customary cheeriness and enthusiasm, which is probably why his recovery from open heart surgery is going so well. It's not over yet; he still has a long way to go, and our lives look very different now, but he is getting stronger every day. It was a shock and a tough time, but now that he's home with our boys and me, it feels terrific.
Miraculously, amongst all that, I managed to finish a book! 'Josef' or as it is now known: 'Les Enquêteurs: Josef' has turned out to be a fascinating story to the one I had first envisaged. Set primarily in Israel (with a little cameo from Paris, bien sûr!), it moves between two periods of time. It follows the discovery of a skeleton buried for over a quarter of a century. My first story away from the worlds of Hugo and Coco has certainly been exciting, and I think I still need to work on the dynamics of our new hosts in the second draft, but I like Lucien. He's calm and patient and not at all like Hugo & Coco, which is, I suppose, the whole point of the 'Les Enquêteurs' in the first place. Lucien is meant to guide these new stories to allow other detectives to come in and out. It's early days, so we'll see how it pans out!
All of that is a long way off, though. First, we have the confirmed date of 15th December for 'Hugo & Madeline.' The final story in the Hugo Duchamp prequel trilogy arrives just in time for Christmas, and it's a very special one. I was sad to end the trilogy, but it feels good that they are all done and exist other than just in my head. I'm very proud of them and hope you enjoy the conclusion as much as the others. I'll warn you now; it's a bit of a weepy!
I'll write more soon, I promise. I just wanted to check in and say that I'm still here; I'm just a bit overwhelmed! I hope all is well with you, and thanks again for all your love and support!
GX