Magic in the Air

The Cotswolds. A romantic view of a typical village. The last resting place of Agatha Christie, the place where M.C.Beaton and her Agatha Raisin mysteries live. It's a place many stars call home, handy for London, Oxford, Stratford on Avon, Birmingham, Bristol. also The Chipping Norton set. 

For the past 4 years it has been home to my fictional runaway millionairess called Hilary Long.

I wrote the Hilary Long mysteries when we moved to the Cotswolds, the mixture of honey coloured houses, and the interesting people living in them filled me with inspiration.

Hilary wasn't mean to be a sleuth. She was just trying to prolong her life after a court case found her business partner trying to undermine the City of London. She knew he would be out for revenge. In my research I found out that people who go into witness protection usually only survive two years. Shocking. So my character had to become someone else that no-one knew, not even the police.

Unfortunately she ended up in Overdown, a place where one of my minor characters, Stacey, says "you wouldn't buy a bag for life if you lived here!"

Where does the magic come in you ask?  Well all my books have supernatural events in them. When we first moved here I noticed the trees in the Cotswolds reach their arms to sky, the knots in the wood, have faces, dark things race across corners in my house. There are goblins and fairies that you almost see. Sometimes the cats catch something and you really don't know what it is. It has wings, green mostly, as they die they disappear.

I work in historic houses, sitting in a bedroom where the lady of the house commited suicide, I as a room guide, could feel her pain, near the window by her dressing table. Tangible, real.

So the paranormal crept in and stayed, involving research that scared me silly, but based on real spells, real events, even real people that I have met here.

Halloween is coming up, so as a treat a week before all the Hilary Long e.books will be reduced in price. Look out for:

Hope you enjoy these two. There are two previous books that lead up to these, but they also stand alone. So get a glass of wine, light a candle, and snuggle down to be scared witless!