RIP Xander, a Very Good Cat and Faithful Writing Companion

“If you want to concentrate deeply on some problem, and especially some piece of writing or paper-work, you should acquire a cat. Alone with the cat in the room where you work … the cat will invariably get up on your desk and settle placidly under the desk lamp … The cat will settle down and be serene, with a serenity that passes all understanding.” 

~ Muriel Spark, A Far Cry from Kensington

SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: Writers and cats, right? Or maybe it's cats and their writers?

This week I lost my dear cat, friend, and faithful writing companion, Xander. If you've read any of my books, he was probably pressed up against my leg or on my desk for 99% of the writing, revision, and editing process. He was there for failures and successes, and when I heard about Oprah, I screamed — and I'm sorry to say scared him so much he peed on the floor.

Xander was a stray and had a hard life before we took him in. We used to call him "our little POW" because he had such post-traumatic stress disorder — and really didn't come out from under the bed for a few years! But he came into his own finally and became a confident and spirited member of the family. 

(While never really losing his grumpy-ness. I used to tell people he was like Lou Grant, from Mary Tyler Moore, in a cat suit. The Kiddo, a different generation, said he was Ron Swanson from Parks and Recreation in a cat suit.)

And so we say goodbye to Xander this week. But don't be surprised if a little grey-and-white kitty shows up in a future Maggie Hope book....

Maggie's cat, pictured here on the Japanese edition of
THE PRIME MINISTER'S SECRET AGENT,
is based on the late, great, cat, Mr. K.

Raise a Glass of (Scottish) Gin to THE PRIME MINISTER'S SECRET AGENT!

SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: "You're going to Scotland and you don't like whiskey or play golf? Isn't that kind of a waste?" 

No. No indeed.

I may not drink whiskey (or whisky) or play golf for that matter — but it truly was one of the best trips of my life.

I fell in love with Scotland.

The Scottish trip was to research my newest Maggie Hope book, THE PRIME MINISTER'S SECRET AGENT. I spent a week in Edinburgh and then a week in Arisaig (on Scotland's west coast, near Port William). 

The week in Edinburgh was to research a plot line featuring Sarah Sanderson (remember her from MR. CHURCHILL'S SECRETARY?) Well, Sarah's still touring with the Vic-Wells Ballet (the precursor to the Royal Ballet), when a bevy of ballerinas become ill with a strange disease — or is it foul play? 

Meanwhile, Maggie — completely gutted from her last mission to Berlin where she did a number of unsavory things and is facing the moral fallout — is back at her old training camp in Arisaig, this time as an instructor. 

Here's where things get interesting. The actual manor house where the SOE (Special Operation Executive) agents trained is now a bed and breakfast, called Arisaig House. So I was not only able to go to Arisaig House, tour the buildings and walk the grounds, but I was able to stay there.

Readers, I loved it.

I saw exactly where all the agents did their paramilitary training. I saw the bridge they pretend bombed, the huts where the ammunition was kept, the beach where they threw grenades. ("You might see the odd grenade — they wash up on shore occasionally," said the gardener.) There are memorials to the brave women and men who trained there both at Arisaig House and also in the town of Arisaig.

Meanwhile, I was the only guest at the inn, so the family who runs it (and their three golden labs) pretty much adopted their odd American novelist for the week. I felt like an exchange student. It was fantastic.

Now, I might not be much for whiskey, but I would like to raise a glass today to toast Scotland — and I'm going to create a summer cocktail, using gin. 

Yes, gin.

Gin's having a bit of a renaissance in Scotland, with small-batch, handcrafted boutique gins using indigenous Scottish herbs and spices. Hendrick's is getting better known here in the U.S. (a gin that tones down the juniper flavor in favor of notes of cucumber and rose) — but there are others also worth seeking out, such as Edinburgh, Botanic, and Caorunn.

And so, without further ado, I'd like to present a summery cocktail, perfect for sipping while reading THE PRIME MINISTER'S SECRET AGENT — The Arisaig, a variation on the classic Gin and Tonic.

The Arisaig Cocktail

Here's what you'll need for ingredients:

2 parts Scottish gin (or any gin, really — but humor me)

2/3 parts freshly squeezed lime juice

1/2 part Elderflower liqueur (I'm partial to St-Germain, but I hear the Bitter Truth is excellent)

Mint leaves

Cucumber slices to garnish

Tonic water

And here's what to do:

Add mint to glass and break with muddler. Add ice. Add other ingredients. Top with tonic and give it a still. Garnish with cucumber slice.

And, as they say in Gaelic, Slàinte!

FROM THE PUBLISHER: For fans of Jacqueline Winspear, Charles Todd, and Anne Perry, The Prime Minister’s Secret Agent is a gripping new mystery featuring intrepid spy and code breaker Maggie Hope. And this time, the fallout of a deadly plot comes straight to her own front door.

World War II rages on across Europe, but Maggie Hope has finally found a moment of rest on the pastoral coast of western Scotland. Home from an undercover mission in Berlin, she settles down to teach at her old spy training camp, and to heal from scars on both her body and heart. Yet instead of enjoying the quieter pace of life, Maggie is quickly drawn into another web of danger and intrigue. When three ballerinas fall strangely ill in Glasgow—including one of Maggie’s dearest friends—Maggie partners with MI-5 to uncover the truth behind their unusual symptoms. What she finds points to a series of poisonings that may expose shocking government secrets and put countless British lives at stake. But it’s the fight brewing in the Pacific that will forever change the course of the war—and indelibly shape Maggie’s fate.

“You’ll be [Maggie Hope’s] loyal subject, ready to follow her wherever she goes.”—O: The Oprah Magazine

THE PRIME MINISTER'S SECRET AGENT is available at your local independent bookstore, library, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.

DEBS: Can I just say that I LOVED The Prime Minister's Secret Agent, and that reading Susan's post about staying in Arisaig House gave me chills?  And that I LOVE Scotland?  And to top it all, I love gin, and especially Hendrick's, The Botanist, and other new Scottish boutique gins that are cropping up.  Maybe I need another research trip... But in the meantime, I'm raising my glass to Scotland, Maggie Hope, and THE PRIME MINISTER'S SECRET AGENT. And I can't wait for the next installment. (No pressure or anything, Susan...)

Happy pub day!!! 

What We're Writing — Susan Elia MacNeal

SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: It was the best of weeks. 

It was the worst of weeks.

The best, because I'm proud to say that there are finally finished books completed (just in time for BEA this week) of THE PRIME MINISTER'S SECRET AGENT!

The worst (and, yes, this is relative, I do realize) is that I caught a horrible flu and Mattie also had a tough week with pollen/asthma — so when I talk about "What We're Writing" it's not going to be so much about writing. Not a lot of writing happened this week, I confess.

There was a lot of coughing, sneezing, and blowing of nose. There was a lot of soup and tea. There was a lot of napping. 

But not a lot of writing.

And it's OK. Life happens sometime. First, I was able to do some reading. The novel I'm reading for fun right now is Jane Thyne's BLACK ROSES. It was the perfect read — set in Berlin 1933, it follows the exploits of a young English actress who ends up working in Joseph Goebbels's propaganda films. She becomes Magda Goebbel's confidante and uses her insider status to help the British.


Loved. It. And there's a sequel!

And there was also time for "work reading" — which is still enjoyable, if needing a bit more concentration. This week I read, for research purposes for MRS. ROOSEVELT'S CONFIDANTE: Lynne Olson's TROUBLESOME YOUNG MEN,

Richard Toye's CHURCHILL'S EMPIRE, and 

Catharine Arnold's THE SEXUAL HISTORY OF LONDON. (Ha! I bet I have your attention now!)

And there were also videos: HISTORY'S VERDICT, especially the Chuchill, Roosevelt, Stalin, and Rommel episodes:

And then also, HBO's TRUE DETECTIVE. I loved it. I hated it. I hated that I loved it. And I'll probably be writing a post about it at some point about the way it portrays its female characters and its utter and complete failure of the Bechdel Test.

And that, lovely readers, is the news from here. Now that my Jungle Reds Week is over and the flu is abating, I'll be getting back to writing — and also gearing up for BEA (Book Expo America) this week. If you're there, I'd love to see you! I'll be signing copies of THE PRIME MINISTER'S SECRET AGENT at the Mystery Writers of America booth on Thursday, from 1:45 to 2:15.

Have a good week!

An Interest in Pinterest

Debbie Millman

SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: Back in March, we had Glenn Miller (not the "In the Mood" composer) as a guest on Jungle Reds, discussing “Social Media Profiles for Writers.” His post was about authors and bloggers using social media — namely Google+, Goodreads, and Amazon — to promote their work.

But what about the social media we do simply because we enjoy them? I like Facebook and come around to Twitter — but one social media platform I adore is Pinterest. Now, I don’t think I’m reaching all that many people — and I certainly don’t think I’m selling any books there.

No, Pinterest is just for me. (See my boards here, if you'd like.) 

And as the writer of the Maggie Hope historical mysteries, set during World War II, it's been invaluable.

Gosia Herba

First, I love being able to post all sorts of different pictures to a board. I have one board per novel, and when I find a particularly inspiring photograph, I pin it. Later, when looking for inspiration, or just to immerse myself in that world, it’s wonderful to have the images (of maps, flags, ephemera, drawings, photographs, you name it) all in one place. 

Susan Elia MacNeal

One image, a door knocker that I snapped a photo of in Berlin, was instrumental in inspiring a lot of the cat and mouse imagery I used in Maggie Hope #3, HIS MAJESTY'S HOPE. 

(Here's the whole board.)

SEM

To the left is a photograph I took in Scotland of Arisaig House, where the real World War II SOE spies trained before being dropped by parachute in Europe. It's the setting for much of Maggie Hope #4, THE PRIME MINISTER'S SECRET AGENT. 

Robert Heindel

And this is a photograph of a ballet dancer I felt expressed the beauty and eeriness of the two ballerinas  whose murders Maggie Hope investigates in the novel. (My board for upcoming THE PRIME MINISTER'S SECRET AGENT here.)

White House Christmas Tree Lighting 1941

Since my work-in-progress, Maggie Hope #5, MRS. ROOSEVELT'S CONFIDANTE, takes place in Washington, D.C. during the 1941 holiday season, this image has become something of a touchstone for me — the 1941 White House Christmas Card. 

I also love this sketch of the Mayflower Hotel (where some of Churchill's staff stayed):

Ingrid Thompson

Here's shot I took of a detail of the floor of the lobby of the Willard Hotel:

SEM

Also inspiring is the original Wonder Woman, who made her debut in 1941. (Entire board is here.)

H.G. Peter

Amber Interior Design

I also like the other boards, that have nothing to do with writing. Home décor has been useful. With the addition of the Kiddo and now Miss Edna moving in, we’ve been redoing rooms. Pinning different images has helped me figure out what exactly I like and how to research it. 

Lupita Nyong'o

And I have a board for fashion which is a bit of a joke (I'm happiest in sweats and tee-shirts) — but I love it because it's not the images fashion magazines are trying to sell me, but photos I find personally inspiring. 

Zandra Rhodes

And, of course, I have a board for Books, which includes favorites, amazing covers (many out-of-print), and images of readers, bookstores, and libraries. 


And the Art board is my favorite. This discovery was surprising to 

Olaf Hajek

me — I started by simply pinning images that caught me eye. But, in time, themes emerged: Women swimming, "outsider art," ravens, surrealism, hearts, eyes, hands, books, dancers, street art, installations, illustrations, the Virgin Mary, cocktails, foxes, mice, cats, white rabbits, Alice in Wonderland… 

What does it mean?

I don’t know what — if anything. Except now I’m more aware of themes and motifs that attract me and their possible meanings — fragments of dreams I might not recognize otherwise.

And so Reds and lovely readers, do you use Pinterest? 

Are there any themes you think might emerge for you? 

Would creating a board of images (online or a literal collection of photos and clippings) help your writing? Your life?

Tell us what you think!

What We're Working On — MRS. ROOSEVELT'S CONFIDANTE

SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: My next book, THE PRIME MINISTER'S SECRET AGENT (Maggie Hope #4) is coming out this July. I'm finally, finally, finally done with corrections and it's in ARC form now, with my last edits in. (Whew!)

And so I'm now working on Maggie Hope #5, MRS. ROOSEVELT'S CONFIDANTE. Some of you may remember my post about visiting Washington, D.C. and Alexandria, VA, tracing Winston Churchill's steps as he visited President Roosevelt and the First Lady in December 1941, after Pearl Harbor.

But how to get from there to actually plotting a World War II mystery? 

Research, research, research.


What's fascinating to me is that the UK's "Official Secrets Act" — which cloaked much of what went on behind-the-scenes in World War II has been lifted — giving us access to people and stories we've never heard before.


 One of those stories is told by Helen Fry, in her 2012 book, THE M ROOM: Secret Listeners Who Bugged the Nazis During World War II.  Here's a brief description: 

As seen on pbs and Channel 4 documentary "Spying on Hitler's Army"... This is the story of the German émigrés who fled Hitler’s regime and became secret listeners for British Intelligence during the Second World War. Behind the walls of the M Room (M for 'miked') they bugged the conversations of over 10,000 German PoWs, including 59 German Generals at Trent Park in North London. Providing a detailed, oft humorous, insight into life of the Generals in captivity, the book shows the farcical ‘stage-set’ in which they found themselves. But against this backdrop, the secret listeners eavesdropped on admission of war crimes and terrible atrocities against Russians, Poles and Jews; as well as details of an SS mutiny in a concentration camp in 1936, and Hitler’s human ‘stud farms’. This story places firmly on record just how much British and American Intelligence knew about Hitler's annihilation programme and how early. Why at the end of the war were these files not released for the war crimes trials to bring the perpetrators to justice? Was this one of the darkest secrets of the war? These transcripts, and thousands of others, of some of the most important Nazi secrets remained classified until 1999. During their clandestine work the secret listeners did not set eyes on a single German PoW, yet their work and the intelligence they gained was as significant for winning the war as Bletchley Park and cracking the Enigma Code. For over sixty years the listeners never spoke about their work, not even to their families. Many went to their grave bearing the secrets of the nation which had saved them from certain death.

The story of the M Room was also a documentary, called BUGGING HITLER'S GENERALS, which was first broadcast on PBS in the U.S, in May 2013.


Now, this is where it gets fun, like those children's "follow the dots" games...



The book and documentary talk about how Nazi officers let slip information about the V2 rocket program. That led me to:

SPIES IN THE SKY, 

OPERATION CROSSBOW, 



and the NOVA documentary on PBS: 3D SPIES OF WORLD WAR II. 

Hmmmm....


So, we have a secret Nazi rocket-building facility. 

We have RAF Spitfires flying over and taking photos, not really understanding what they're seeing.

We have a round-up of high level Nazis in British held prisoner in a British manor house, with every conversation being secretly recorded.

We have some of the Brits looking at the photos who believe that what they're seeing is the next Nazi mega-weopon.

On the other hand, we have people like Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his advisors not convinced and not willing to pledge manpower to bomb the site....

What they need is a something called a Wild (pronounced "vilt") A5 machine to turn the photographs in to 3D and give them more information....

Britain doesn't have one, so they'll need to — somehow — smuggle one out of Germany.... 

And we now have a ticking clock — can the Brits (and now the Americans) find the Wild A5 and bring it back to England and convince Churchill and the others to bomb the site before the Nazi V2 program is fully operational?

And I think we have the building blocks of a subplot!

(Thank you for playing along at home.)

Reds, how do you get from research to a plot line? 

Readers who are also writers, what do you do?