Nespresso and John Steed

some rain and drizzle, some sun, mild, temps 16

Wonderfully mild. the first green sparks on the lilac at home. always amazes me. And just when I think we need to go away next year in April, this happens and I think, 'Gosh, I wouldn't miss this for the world.'

Drove to Montreal after Pat and Tony arrived to stay at our place and look after Trudy. They have 2 dogs themselves including a new rescue - Daisy. So, lots of romping.

Did a bunch of chores in Cowansville and Montreal, including recycling old capsules and getting some new Nespresso caps. It's our new addiction. This book has definitely been fueled by Nespresso cafe au laits and Zipped episodes of classic TV. Mary Tyler Moore, Rhoda, The Avengers. Just watched the very first 3 episodes on DVD. Made in 1963 - black and white, of course. With Honor Blackman as Mrs. _____ - just forgotten her name...but not Mrs. Peel. Diana Rigg came later. These first episodes are fascinating because they're quite different in tone and style - but you can see the glimmer of what it was about to become.

And, of course, bathtime! One of the things I miss when away. Long, leisurely baths. I write hunched over - I think most people do. For four or five hours of the day. So a lavender or rose water bubble bath is bliss.

Off to Washington thursday, for Malice Domestic. Sarah Melnyk, from Minotaur Books, will be bringing some advance copies of A TRICK OF THE LIGHT. That's an amazing moment. To hold the new book. Wow.

I'm a little stressed, though, that over at the marvelous site, GoodReads there's been a mix-up somehow - apparently to do with the isbn numbers....and reviews of another book have been credited to A TRICK OF THE LIGHT. It is obviously impossible that those reviews are for my book since no one has read it yet. The arcs aren't even out. And, to make it worse, that mix-up book is clearly mediocre!

I just cringe to think people believe A TRICK OF THE LIGHT is rated quite poorly. Especially at a site as well regarded and influential as GoodReads. The same ISBN mix-up happened briefly at Amazon a few weeks ago, but that got sorted quickly, before the other person's not-great ratings went up. My editor, Hope, and the others at Minotaur and St. Martins Press are trying to sort it out. Indeed, when the listing first went up at GoodReads and even Amazon, it described A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny as a novel of WW2 intrigue in Denmark. Huh?

Unfortunately, while the description has changed, the ratings haven't. So please, if you go to GoodReads, or anywhere else right now and they have ratings for A TRICK OF THE LIGHT, by me - disregard them!

It's unfortunate this has happened - but when you think of the number of books, of isbn numbers, of websites, it's a bit of a shock this doesn't happen more often.

Speak to you before too long - am off to pretend (via google) to be shopping for flats in central London. That gets Michael's heart pounding. His cardio for the day.

No huge deal, but at this stage, when people know so little about the book, I'd just hate for there to be a sense it's disappointing - when actually I'm extremely excited about it. Oh well.