Good morning from Caffe Nero on a cool, damp morning.

The schools have shut for the summer, and the students have gone home. This is the time of year when groups of pupils arrive in Cambridge with their teachers. Those who visit Caffe Nero are usually from southern Europe or China.

I include places in my writing with which I am familiar. There is a scene in the chapter ‘Cambridge Windows’ in ‘The Half-Life Girl’, where the villain, Michael Basilicus, and the two protagonists, Jack and Elektra, are seated at a table outside Caffe Nero in the hot sunshine.

Elektra, olive-skinned with short, dark hair, is comfortable with the heat. Jack, with his pale northern European skin, is suffering and would much prefer to be sitting in the shade. There is dark bruising under his left eye. Michael Basilicus, blond-haired and Greek, resembles a latter-day Alexander the Great. His eyes are golden, and a gold incisor glitters in the sunshine when he smiles.

Book Three takes Jack back to a familiar world - London in 1794. I am working on both ends of ‘Now Is The Time Of Monsters’. I’ve reached Chapter 15 at one end, and Chapter 59 at the other. I switch between the two depending on where the energy is.

A quarter of the book is now written. I’m not sure how I will feel when it’s complete. There will be a gap in my life.

At the back of my mind is the thought of writing a standalone book set in 1794 in the same London, centred on a detective agency. At least in my mind, this makes perfect sense!

Apologies for the late arrival of the newsletter. Something went horribly wrong with the first two attempts, and I’ve had to rewrite it from scratch.