Guest Blogger - Elizabeth Bailey

A warm welcome to my friend Elizabeth Bailey here to tell us more about the inspiration behind her latest book, The Killing Cave.

Corpses follow Lady Fan wherever she goes… 1799, England A family holiday to the seaside takes a dramatic turn when Lady Ottilia Fanshawe’s young son Luke accidentally stumbles on a body in a cave. Lady Fan and her husband Francis quickly rush to the scene and find the corpse bound and blindfolded with a bullet hole in his head. It appears the man was executed, and with smugglers well-known to operate in the area, the local sergeant suggests it was a quarrel amongst the reprobates. But Ottilia is not so sure. The crime scene seemed staged, and the dead man too well dressed to be a common criminal. There is nothing else for it. The Fanshawes must extend their stay on the Norfolk coast to allow Lady Fan to take the lead. But with her health compromised, four young children to care for and a grumbling mother-in-law in tow, can Lady Fan summon up enough strength to unravel this mystery? Or will this be the case that finally forces her into retirement? This sounds fabulous so I asked Elizabeth to tell me the inspiration behind her book. Ottilia, my heroine sleuth, was originally meant to star in a grand historical series based around an heirloom fan. She existed as notes in my ideas book. I envisaged her then as a shy, retiring type of woman - an image that rapidly faded under the onslaught of the bold crime-fighting Ottilia who emerged. My brother, also a writer, suggested the series might work as crime. Frankly, as an avid reader, I didn't think I could write in the genre. I mean, you need clues, and clever plotting, twists and all that. I dismissed the idea, but it niggled for years. I mentioned it to my friends at a Romantic Writers' event. Their arm-twisting did the trick. With trepidation, I began to write. By fluke or good fortune, the story rolled off my fingers onto the keyboard, probably due to Ottilia refusing to play second fiddle and demanding her place on centre stage. When characters take charge, writers have very little say in the matter. You can buy your copy HERE Thus Lady Fan was born, along with an entourage of familiar characters which has grown with the series. Not least, Lord Francis Fanshawe, her champion and husband, whom she meets in the first book, The Gilded Shroud. More about Elizabeth: After a career on the stage, Elizabeth found her true metier in writing novels. They lived in her bottom drawer for years until she found success with Mills & Boon's historical romance line. 18 stories later she turned to crime with The Lady Fan Mystery series. It had instant success which crashed after two books. Elizabeth returned to romance, but persisted with the mysteries and eventually found a new publisher in Sapere Books. The Killing Cave is the eleventh book and Lady Fan is still going strong.