Facebook tells me that it’s the anniversary of me publishing my seventh Radwinter novel, ‘Winterdyke’. It appeared three years ago, and I admit I was very pleased with it. I started writing about Thomas Radwinter (it was supposed to be a one-off novel, never dreaming it would have even a sequel, let alone, six, soon to be seven, more adventures!) In the first novel, Thomas leads a very ordinary and rather isolated life. He accepts that this is how it is, is uncomplaining, long-suffering in an unhappy marriage, and unfulfilled in a boring job with uncongenial colleagues. By the second novel his life has changed in every single way, and despite suffering from acute anxiety, he is happy and positive about his new future. Over the next few novels he has various adventurers, his life is at risk on numerous occasions, and he becomes an expert in solving weird and curious mysteries. His personal life is joyous, everything he ever wished or dreamed of – and more.
In ‘Winterdyke‘, he is once again alone – not for any bad reason, because Thomas has a commission:
Thomas Radwinter is invited to Athelmond Grange, a huge old place not far from Winterdyke Mere. It’s the home of the very wealthy Robespierre family. Gerald Robespierre, the elderly patriarch wants Thomas to research his family history and invites him to stay while the rest of the Radwinters are away visiting relatives.
Right from the start Thomas is baffled because the research, although covering an enormous number of people and wide time span, is actually really quite simple. However, it soon becomes clear that there is a hidden agenda and a particular reason why Thomas was asked to do the genealogical investigation.
“I looked at my notes on the somewhat mysterious undertaking. I’d been contacted by the PA of an extremely wealthy family who wanted me to do a complete genealogical survey. I wasn’t exactly regretting accepting, they were paying me way, way over what I’d normally expect, but I had a few doubts. To be honest it seemed a bit odd, and if I had a sixth sense it would be pricking right now – if that’s what sixth senses do. But doesn’t the sixth sense enable you to see dead people? I remembered the film, and then wished I hadn’t.”
He uncovers what might have been a murder committed a hundred years ago, which the family may not want to know about. As if that wasn’t enough, two other members of the family separately approach him, asking him to take on different but equally extraordinary commissions, one to look for a Viking hoard, the other to prove the identity of someone claiming to be a Robespierre heir, someone who is now dead.
It is the worst winter for many years and Thomas is stuck at Athelmond. Someone doesn’t want him to succeed but with which commission? He begins to wonder if he is safe, or if his life in danger? Who can he trust? There are no friends, but who are his allies, who are his enemies?Thomas is trapped by a big freeze and wonders if he will be able to get home… And will it ever stop snowing?
I have finished writing the next adventure; Thomas is a very different man and has concluded that he will never, ever, ever accept a commission which has the slightest whiff of danger about it. So, researching the disappearance of a friend’s husband over a dozen years ago, trying to find an elderly lady who had been squatting in an empty house and was last seen getting into a taxi , surely they will be just boring and safe paper exercises for him?
I’m still struggling with a title… I expect it will come in a flash! Fingers crossed that Radwinter VIII will be available soon!
Lois Elsden 