Blog

  • Reichenau…

    …is a tiny island on our lake. It belongs to Germany, and over the centuries has been home to over 20 churches and chapels, though only three remain. Last week I went there with a couple of friends – the original plan was to bike round the island (only 11km), but as it was well…

  • Holiday superlatives…

    It’s summer holiday time, everyone’s favourite season. We have sunshine (hopefully), we have freedom – so what’ll we remember most about summer ’17?? Some of my past hols have been more memorable than others – for various reasons. A small selection: Best childhood holiday: That would be the first year we went to Cornwall, when…

  • River…

    I’ve always lived near water. In Glasgow, we have the Clyde, and nowhere in Scotland is hugely far from the sea. (Insert horror memories of learning to swim in a North Sea fed pool in St Andrews.) Arriving in Switzerland in the 80s, I was pleased to be living so close to another lovely river.…

  • Summer…

    At long last we’re getting shorts and t-shirts weather here in N.E. Switzerland, and it’s lovely. Breakfast on the balcony overlooking the woods, birds singing and wasps buzzing – okay, maybe I could do without the buzzing wasps. Here’s a sunshine pic of the woods today, at 6.42 a.m. exactly. Even sunnier was my mood…

  • Come back, Madame – all is forgiven…

    Remember your French class at school? I do. At least, I remember the class. I sat beside one of our six Annes, with two others in front, and we had Roddy up the back who kept us all amused with clever remarks… What I don’t remember much of is the actual French, which is a…

  • Baby Dear…

    It’s not long to go until Baby Dear, my new ‘book baby’ is out there in the world – I hope to have the cover on the blog very soon (it’s brilliant, thank you, Bloodhound Books!). Meantime, I’ve been thinking a lot about babies… how you worry about them… all the funny and wonderful and…

  • A Bookish Happy Easter

    Easter. Chocolate eggs. (Or they’re more often chocolate bunnies, here in Switzerland.) Springtime in the garden. And, for most people, a few days off work and plenty of time to read. So especially for Easter, here are a few of my recent and upcoming reads, as well as a couple of long-time favourites: (where there were…

  • Crime writers go hiking…

    One of my purchases in Scotland was this bag – The Body In The Library is one of my favourite Agatha Christie reads. On Friday, a friend and I took it for the first hike of spring, here in N.E. Switzerland. We were at Altenrhein, the border between Switzerland and Austria, where the ‘old’ Rhine…

  • Ah yes – I remember it well…

    Or maybe I don’t. It’s half a lifetime ago since I lived in Scotland, but I always love going back for a few days, catching up with friends and family and re-visiting some of my old haunts. I’ve just spent a week in Glasgow – and this time, I came across so many ‘culinary memories’……

  • Location, location, location…

    A couple of weeks ago I opened a book I’d bought a while ago, and immediately I was transported – to exotic countries I’ve only dreamed of visiting. Couple that with one of the best suspense stories I’ve ever read, and you get an edge-of-the-seat experience: Kai wakes up in a foreign hospital, but she…

Got any book recommendations?