Ding, dong, merrily on high . . . the bells are ringing out the old and ringing n the new.

Will the new year be any different from the old? Will we repeat past mistakes, or will we find that we can move on without regrets? I’m not one for making resolutions to change. At my age, I know that life throws stuff at you, and sometimes you can deal with it easily, and sometimes you can’t.

What I do know is that writing something to remind people that good people can make a difference in the world is what I am supposed to be doing, so I will continue for as long as I can. Which, being translated, means that the next book is coming along nicely, now that I’ve untangled what every character is doing at any particular moment in time, and where the stairs are in the renovated house. And yes, Diana is well to the fore in this book. You didn’t think she could get any worse, did you? Well, I am happy to say that she is Much, Much Worse than she has ever been before! I cannot believe how awful she is! It makes writing about her so enjoyable.

Meanwhile, everyone who read the pre-Christmas story about Joe and his Scientific Investigation into which of three Father Christmases on offer was the real one, said how much they enjoyed it. That came out at the end of November. And the Christmas story – titled Christmas Mislaid –about a nasty character demanding attention over Christmas, came out in the double issue of the Methodist Recorder on December 27th. If you aren’t on my list to have them automatically sent to you, and would like to see either or both of these stories, just drop me an email and I’ll send it/them to you.

You remember one of my old friends told me that an earlier Ellie Quicke – titled Murder in the Park – had dropped off the available list? There’s good and bad news about this. My agent got the rights returned, but as it’s the only title in the series which is out of contract with Severn House and no one wants a singleton, so far she hasn’t found anyone else to take it on. A pity. I liked that story. Maybe things will change in the future and we can bring it out again.

Here’s wishing us all a New Year in which we have more reasons to rejoice than to be sad. God bless.

Veronica Heley