Thank you for your welcome. In answer to Binand, I will ask Legend Press to put
"Murder at Oakwood Grange" into markets you can access. I understand that the
Book Depository mails books worldwide and a friend said that post and packing is
free.

As far as Sherlock goes, it was he who made me want to be a crime writer. I love
the convoluted plots and his amazing deductive powers. I can remember as a 9
year old asking my father for a good method of murder, so I was obviously
writing then.

As I grew older, I became interested in ACD. I have always said that the two
Edwardians I would love to have met were ACD and the composer Elgar. When I went
to college, I knew I would have to write a thesis for the English Literature
part of the course. My tutor wanted me to "discuss the tales of ratiocination of
Edgar Allen Poe". I didn't. I wanted to write about Sherlock Holmes. That was
when my in-depth study began, because the rebel in me wanted to show that if my
tutor could be so pretentious as to use the word "ratiocination" instead of
"reasoning", then I develop a rock-solid intellectual theory to put around my
study of the stories and I found one in the imagery for the pre and post
Reichenbach Falls stories. Nobody could argue with it and I think it turned some
of my fellow students and my tutor onto the canon.

I find that there are times in your life when you need comfort and safety. I
know that when I am ill or depressed or life is just getting too much, an
evening spent at 221b Baker Street usually sorts it out. As for favourite
stories, I suppose the Speckled Band rates high. Has anyone come across Adrian
Conan-Doyle's "Exploits of SH"? The tale about the canary trainer - i think it
is called "The Deptford Horror" - is similarly chilling. I also like the Copper
Beeches and the Three Garridebs, but it is easier to say the stories I don't
like and there is only one - His Last Bow. In the same way that I cannot read
the last Inspector Morse novel, I have problems reading about the "death" of SH.
That said, the Empty House is definitely a favourite. I enjoyed writing "Murder
at Oakwood Grange" so much that I am sure I will soon take another foray into
the world of the master. My husband knows that if I come out of the office and
say "The game's afoot", I will be back in Victorian London with its fogs and gas
lamps.