COVID19 killed my Sicilian scouting trip. I’d been so looking forward to sailing from Naples to Sicily as a part of the research process for writing and investigating vineyards and cafes which would feature in my book, Roman Roulette.
Small details make stories richer and Over Byron Bay and Substitute Child benefited from my detailed local knowledge of the locations where all the action happened
If you’ve read Substitute Child, you’d know that it concluded with Charlotte Wyatt stuck in Rome, and like her, I was stuck in Australia. Unable to fulfil the next stage of my plans, I turned to Google,as one does, to identify the places where my lead characters would argue, plot, fight, dance and escape from.
In Substitute Child, we watched Charlotte struggle with her identity and what she wanted for her life. When a curious opportunity puts her on a world stage and in grave danger, she acted boldly. You’ll need to read the book to see what she did and what happened as a result.
In Roman Roulette, she needs this new found courage and higher order planning skills as she looks for a friend who’s gone missing. Inadvertently caught up in the international slavery trade and forced to choose between several unbearable options, Charlotte embarks on a bold plan to save the women captured by The Monk, and in doing so, to save herself. I particularly loved writing the scenes at the old theatre in Taormina and look forward to going there, once we are out of lock-down, and gazing at Mt Etna and out across the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Roman Roulette goes-live on Amazon on June 15 2021. You can pick up your copy here
