I’ve just realised it is three years since my last blog. My only excuse (and it’s not a very good one) is that a lot has happened in that time.

I recently received an invitation from a local primary school to do a workshop with the children on World Book Day. It was my first ever school visit and I decided that, since the Eye Spy series is about
detecting, we would start with a discussion about what makes a good detective, mentioning the most famous detective of all, Sherlock Holmes. After that we would play some games that involved memory and observation, like the game from my childhood where you are briefly shown a tray full of small objects, and then have to try and recall what they are.

I really enjoyed my day at the school surrounded by children and teachers dressed as characters from fiction. Was it a coincidence that the boy who solved the most difficult puzzle was dressed as Harry Potter? And since I have always been keen to engage boy readers, who tend to lose interest in fiction quicker than girls, it was gratifying that at the end, more boys than girls bought copies of my books.

Whilst I was preparing and delivering the school workshop, I could feel Alex and Donna nudging me to find another mystery for them to solve. So now I have started working on Eye Spy 4. I always feature animals in my children’s books, and this story is going to be about a big cat that’s rumoured to be on the loose in Holcombe Bay, and will also involve a llama farm. Didn’t know you could find llamas in the UK outside a zoo? Neither did I, but they seem to be proliferating. You learn something new every day.