CURSE OF THE CEMETERY CATS

I’m just back from a short holiday in Croatia, somewhere I’d never been before and knew shamefully little about. The beautiful landscapes, friendly people and extraordinarily complex history were utterly compelling, and I’ll definitely be back.

In the town of Omiš, the cats hang around the graveyard, where locals leave out bowls of food and water for them, presumably because otherwise they'd visit unspeakable curses upon the populace. Even then, as you can see from the photo above, they insist on turning up to people’s houses and complaining that there's no wine left.

There were plenty of highlights from my trip. There was the magnificent Diocletian's Palace in Split and the charmingly labyrinthine Old Town in Trogir. There was whitewater rafting on the Cetina River. There was swimming in the Adriatic, there was relaxing, there was eating, drinking, and spending priceless time with family.

There was also being pushed into a swimming pool, fully-clothed and utterly unprepared. It's possible this was down to a cemetery cat unhappy at the lack of red wine, but I'm more inclined to blame my younger daughter, given she was the one who actually pushed me in.

Despite all of the above, I did manage to get some writing done. My police adviser and beta readers have now been through book 1 of the new series and responded in glowing terms. I’m so excited to share more about it, but I’m forcing myself to wait a few weeks until you have the chance to read The Port and guess what’s going to happen in the final Cumbria Crime book, out early next year.

I’ll be in touch again soon. In the meantime, take care, feed your local cats, and happy reading!

Joel