I am a very organised person. I have the equivalent of a B at maths “A” level (I did the International Baccalaureate instead, albeit in the pre-computer dark ages). These two parts of my character have united in the Sam Plank series, in that I (a) plotted all remaining six books in the series as soon as I had finished the first one and realised I couldn’t live without Sam, and (b) decided that the books would be set in consecutive years (“Fatal Forgery” in 1824, “The Man in the Canary Waistcoat” in 1825 and so on). Simples, as they used to say.
And so I find myself beavering away on “Plank 6”. I’ve been researching inheritance law and body-snatching (the former more confusing, the latter more gruesome). And I’ve been setting it all against the background of events in 1828. Yesterday I was putting together my supplies for the Shelford Feast (I’m speaking at their Literary Evening tomorrow – we’re up against England in the semi-final…) and printing little price-lists for the books. Against each book price I wrote a little description of the book – and realised that “Faith, Hope and Trickery” (book five, and published in March 2018) took place in 1828. You see my error.
It’s not hard, is it? I have ten fingers for the complex calculations. If book one is set in 1824, of course book six will be set in 1829. Back to the drawing board.
Susan Grossey 