The Oxford Street Coffee House

Right now, I am busily--as busily as I can--scribbling away at the 3rd portion of the sequel to "Patrician Lady," which is called: "The Hampton Forgery." It's quite the entertainment, let me tell you. To give you an idea, I had to do a great deal of research concerning British inheritance laws...and poisons. Hmmm, pique the curiosity at all? The Oxford Four are back--Mr. McDougal, Jack, Mary and Elsie--and right from the off, they have to rescue a young Edward Manchester from the threat of certain death. However, what should have been a simple rescue turns into a race against time, because he has not been shot at or kidnapped--he has been poisoned. Meanwhile, Mr. McDougal is whisked away to the home of an old friend to settle a mysterious and vicious inheritance dispute. Things never calm down for our favorite detectives, do they? I am to finish the 3rd part by tomorrow, and then the 4th in two weeks or so. After that, I shall edit it and publish it on amazon! In the meantime, take a look at its predecessor, "The Case of the Young Patrician Lady" at amazon!
 http://www.amazon.com/Patrician-Oxford-Street-Coffee-ebook/dp/B004NSUZPK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1299532637&sr=8-1

The Paradox Initiative

This is a novel in the works. I've been writing it and then sending it chapter-by-chapter to a select group of amazing readers, who have been giving me feedback. "The Paradox Initiative" is a time-travel science fiction about a young woman working in a sleepy spaceport, only to have a time machine land in her back room--a time machine containing a rugged, handsome, scarred and irascible young man toting a sawed-off shotgun that has to be centuries old. When he asks for her help, she gets dragged into an adventure that spans the galaxy, and takes her into the jaws of one of the most evil plots in history. You can check out its website here:
http://paradoxinitiative.webs.com/
And I will be posting updates on its progress here! So follow me to see where we take this adventure...

Pen and Paper versus Plugged In

The idea of being "plugged in" has never really appealed to me, and yet, in this world of Facebook, blogs, twitter and texting, I am finding it hard to avoid. I would much rather spend a long afternoon in the quiet of an old house next to an open window overlooking a garden, reading a beaten copy of "The Hobbit" and sipping a cup of tea. In fact, one of the most deeply pleasant memories I have is of sitting outside the Powerscourt Hotel in County Wicklow, Ireland, near a giant chessboard on the emerald lawn. I sat on a white bench wrapped in my pea coat and Ravenclaw scarf while the sun beamed down on me, the green of the Irish landscape, and Sugarloaf Mountain. As I recall, I was reading the afore-mentioned battered copy of "The Hobbit," feeling the age and life and glow of my surroundings seep into the story. I knew what Bilbo meant as he described the rolling hills and gnarled forests and winding walls.
    I love the feeling of a book in my hands, especially an old one. I'm a lover of antiques, old buildings, old cars, old music. I also truly enjoy writing letters to my friends, practicing my penmanship and receiving notes in the mail. In fact, the first draft of this blog entry was written in pen in a notebook. (Speaking of the word "blog," I'm not sure I like it. It sounds like a mix of "blob" and "log" and "blab." Something messy, with no planning or forethought. Hopefully, what I  write here will be more akin to a journal or captain's log.)
   Despite my love for tradition and history and everything old-fashioned, I've found out that, due to the obliviousness of agents and publishers, I must turn to this vast frontier called the internet in order to deliver my books to you lovely readers. So, although my tale comes to you across a screen, imagine that you hold in your hand a battered copy of it, while you sit in the sun on a white bench, within sight of Sugarloaf Mountain.