Hello, and welcome new subscribers,
I’m glad to report that following on from my last newsletter, the plot of The Burglar continued to flow, and reached its conclusion. The question is: Will you will like that conclusion? I will go back to Little Compton next year, and when I do, I’ll ask you to let me know what you think might happen, or if I should leave well alone! The manuscript is now with Sharon, the editor, and I’ve booked, Jill, the proofreader. Who knows, with a fair wind, it might even get published a little earlier. If you want to pre-order you copy, you can do so HERE. Before I leave the subject of Little Compton, I must just say I’ve just listened to the first four chapters of the audio version of The Murder. Some characters surprised me, but I LOVED it! Perdita really brings Liz to life. You audio listeners are in for a treat. I’ll keep you posted about when it will be available.
As I am free to do as I please for a couple of days, I’m catching up on stuff I put off. One of those being to update
the ‘Work in Progress’ section – it was last updated on Valentine’s Day! When I got there, I remembered all about poor old Rosie Webber & the Bearing Witness ladies. Their stories are sitting in a file on the laptop somewhere, but as the update says, a vague outline of Meredith & Hodge‘s next case is shouting the loudest, so that’s my next project. I don’t even have a working title yet, but I’ll beef up the outline a little, write the opening scene, and hopefully I’ll be off and running.
That brings me nicely to the purpose of this newsletter. When I asked for suggestions for characters to be included in The Burglar, I got some crackers. Now Axel Wagner, Michelle Neale, and Geoff O’Brien are now living, breathing, residents of Little Compton. Next time I go back there, I’m sure they will at least make a cameo appearance. BUT now I’m after characters for the next M & H. So, if you’re feeling creative, get your thinking caps on and send in your suggestions. I’d like: Name, age, occupation (if any), personality, any family you want me 
to know about, any secrets they might be hiding. (Can even be you if you like). I can’t promise I won’t have to tweak them a little, but those selected will appear alongside Meredith & Hodge. I will acknowledge your contribution in the book, and a £10 Amazon voucher will be yours as a thank you.
I don’t know how many I’ll use because I’m still at the planning stage, and however nice they seem to be, I can’t promise that it won’t be your character ‘whodunnit’. Email me by hitting the contact button above. Can’t wait to meet some new characters.
That’s it for now, I have to get my own thinking cap on!
Happy Reading,
From Pippa Domitruk – Single mum, Michelle Neil. Mother of two children who she adores, and a party animal. Now free of her abusive spouse, and confident enough to leave her children with babysitters, she intends to have some fun. She’d have more if she could, but money is tight, and those kids just won’t stop growing.
arriving on an ereader near you! The lovely Lee Beddow is just finishing off the audio version of 
for a day out. Little Compton does of course have a pub, The Swan, a mini-market run by the lovely, Derek Vaswani, a posh delicatessen, or as village matriarch, Alice Green would call it, the cheese shop. There’s also a bakery, a cafe, a pizzeria, and of course the church and church hall, which houses the village’s library. The map shows only Lower High Street, and a few of the roads which lead off it. But you can see where accountant Tom Large, and cleaner Liz Thorne live. An unlikely sleuthing duo, but it won’t surprise you to hear that they’re quite good at it. In the top right hand corner, is the area or woodland where poor old Denise Knight met her end, and in the bottom right, the Chow’s home, outside of which, Rhianna Chow was abducted. I’ve put the names of a few other residents on the map, all of whom you will meet either in 
proportions over the last few weeks, I’ll wait and see. But to be fair, the daffodils are out, the tulips in bud and the hyacinths are positively blooming. All this and the promise of an Easter egg too! It’s not only Easter eggs that are promised either. (Can I hear a drum roll…) My lovely editors Sharon & Jill have almost finished working their magic, their wands must be worn out, and 
December 2022. Then came 
date. All this means that in an eight-month period, I will have published four books! Not only that, but I already have the basis of 
Many thanks to all those who took part in the last competition. As promised, the draw took place on publication day, my granddaughter Edie did the draw ?and Nanny forgot to take a photograph! Drum roll . . . .and the winners, in no particular order, and drawn at random are:
Hodge, which many of you are chasing me for, but still, it’s finished. And, I will confess that eighty per cent of it was written quite a while ago, but most of it had to be rewritten or tweaked, so I’m counting it. It was going to be a one off, but I might just pull together a mini-series, as I have a couple of ideas for stories with a similar set up. The working title is An Unexpected Turn of Events, but it’s more likely going to end up being called, Who Killed Charlie Birch? Which of these two titles would grab your attention in the first instance?
US & UK. I only have a limited number so it will be first come first served. I also have a number of codes on all the
glorious sunshiny days, to just about bearable heatwave (for us), to spectacular thunder storms. We are currently in a lull and if it wasn’t for the temperature, when you look out of the window, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was November. That’s the weather dealt with! I’m not going to talk about the pandemic, I think we all hear enough about that, other than to say, whatever your views, I hope you and yours stay safe.
you’ve yet to meet the young Meredith click 
news!
One Secret Too Many
two.
This is a photograph of my beautiful daughter, Ellie. It was taken in early November at her 30th birthday celebrations. Her birthday was on the 4th, a Monday, and family and friends had lined up a weekend of celebration, culminating in a family meal on the Monday. Ellie named the weekend, “Hello thirties, bye bye Boobies”.
knew I’d love the opportunity to see it again. It was during our journey to the theatre she told me she’d found a lump, and thought she probably should get it checked out. She did the next week, and the doctor referred her to the hospital.
bilateral mastectomy. If she could be brave, then so could I, and, dry eyed, we asked a LOT of questions.
On a cheerier note, the other reason my life is hectic are these beauties. 
Edie and Frankie. My beautiful grandchildren, and I’m happy for them to take up my time any time they like.
little time dedicate to writing, and when I do get a few hours here and there something happens to distract me. Not If You Paid Me, the next Meredith & Hodge story, is certainly moving along, but powered by snail rather than rocket. Hopefully this will all change soon, as the distractions settle into a pattern. . .
series, and fingers crossed, also a narrator for Meredith & Hodge. We are some months away from release, but as with all things, I need to know what makes an audio book listener click that button. I’ve put together a small survey that will take less than 3 minutes of your time to complete, and there’s a chance to win one of three 10.00 Amazon voucher.
readers were delighted to meet Meredith’s half brother, and . . . No. No spoilers here, you’ll have to read it to find out. The cover has been chosen for the next in the Bearing Witness series, Terms of Affection, and it was …..The Scarf. The novel itself is making steady progress, and is still on course for publication in late spring.
