Well dear reader, you’re probably fed up with the delayed arrival of the next Radwinter train chugging into the station of publication – I don’t know whether it’s the after effects of the lost years, the writing genie having departed, laziness/procrastinationitis, the muse evaporated – but I am chugging on and am very nearly there. I can’t say when I will be finished but I’m soldiering on.
Meanwhile, Thomas Radwinter has been asked to try and solve the mystery of a man who disappeared. His wife, Sylvie Monnet appeared in a previous novel ‘Saltpans’ when Thomas helped her with a little mystery. Thomas, his friend Livia and a fourteen year-old called Lewis are checking out an old hotel – Livia has gone to have a look at it while the other two wait in the car.
Lewis began to bite his nails, and forgetting he was nothing to do with me I told him to stop it, and he muttered sorry. I was itching to get out of the car and follow Livia, desperate to do something, and because I knew in the past I’ve rushed into things without thinking, I began to tell Lewis the bones of the story. My words came out in bitten off sentences.
- A lady I’ll call Sue met a man I’ll call Jay.
- They got married and had a daughter. They had a hotel by the sea.
- One night he walked out of the bar where he and his wife were with friends and he disappeared.
- He – or his body have never been found.
- No-one knows if he is alive and ran away from home, or if he’s dead and drowned in the sea.
- Sue asked me to try and find out what happened, ten years ago when he disappeared.
- I found another family with his unusual surname and asked them if they were related to someone called Jay and I showed them his photo.
- There was no-one called Jay in the family but someone recognised the photo and said it was a lad named Luke who they hadn’t seen for thirty odd years.
I told the rest of the story – the mystery Phil who appeared, the connection to the Swiss Cottage Hotel. We sat in silence. I think Lewis had switched off half-way through my rambling, he was staring out the window. Where was Livia? Should I go and look for her?
Here’s a link to ‘Saltpans’:
Lois Elsden 
I’m SO looking forward to this!
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Back to work shortly!
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