Willows Dip Backstory
Willows Dip was never meant to be a series. A Lapse of Sanity was my first attempt at fiction with the Chloe/Adam/Nathaniel triangle. I wanted a chocolate box village setting but the name of it was quite elusive and even when I settled on Willows Dip I wasn't sure if it was right but it grew on me. The book's working title was A Temporary Madness but I changed it after hearing that line in Captain Corelli's Mandolin - I'm paranoid about breaching copyright.
Book 2, After the Solstice, came as an idea for a sequel. Book 1 could have ended either way with whichever man Chloe chose and for Book 2 I decided to explore the alternative - what if she'd chosen the other man?
NOTE: As of 12th September 2021 I have revised a certain aspect of this story. At the time of writing originally this was just a sequel and I had no plans to make it a series, that idea evolved. A scene in this book is covered in a more effective way in Book 4, hence the amendment in future copies of this book.
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Book 3, Free Flight, came from my own experience of meeting someone on a car park. The person I met was married so we only ever chatted but it was an unusual place for a meeting, a car park, so I gave the experience to Connie. I thought it would be a good setting for her bird sanctuary to use Willows Dip and catch up with Chloe/Adam/Nathaniel from the earlier books. I'd read Jilly Cooper's Rutshire Chronicles and that was what she'd done and I'd enjoyed reading how character's lives from previous books had developed.
Free Flight (The Willows Dip...
Book 4, A Treasure Lost. The inspiration for this was Sophie Kinsella's Twenties Girl which I loved. Her ghost was a wonderful character and I decided I'd have my character's ghost solving her own murder.
A Treasure Lost (Willow's Dip...
Whisper to Me isn't technically part of the Willows Dip series but there is a link to the village later in the book so for continuity it would need to be read at this point. It is the story of a vengeful ghost who is not happy with her widowed husband's choice of her replacement. Sheena will have to go, but then a new client from close to Willows Dip books Theo Stanyer to drive her to London. These characters then follow on into the future Willows Dip books.
The idea for Book 5, Not Reported Missing, came from a news item about the discovery of a body and I wondered how the police went about identifying it. My character's ghost has its own story. I have a strong belief in the afterlife following my own experiences so most of my stories have a supernatural theme. Two new characters are introduced in this book, one of whom suffers from M.E/C.F.S as I do myself so she was easy to write. All of the other characters appear, all having grown, then a new family arrives.
There was never going to be a Book 6 but as Book 5 ended just before the UK went into lockdown for the coronavirus Covid 19, more and more I found myself wondering how my village and its inhabitants would be affected by the virus, so Don't Cough on Me was born.
Don't Cough on Me: Covid 19...
Whether there'll be a Book 7 I don't know. It depends where my imaginaton goes next. The first four covers were water colour paintings done by my writer and artist friend Mary Bennett. As time moved on I discovered The Cover Collection and the last two covers were fitting for my stories, Book 6 cover being expertly adapted by Debbie to include the virus molecules. It encompasses what the story is about.