The latest in the Ethelred and Elsie series was published yesterday. This instalment takes them (as the title cunningly suggests) to Egypt. Though I have parodied Christie titles before (Ten Little Herrings, The Herring in the Library) previous books have not really had plots that noticably paralleled Christie’s originals. This time however Elsie and Ethelred board a paddle steamer that is more or less recognisable from Death on the Nile - or as Elsie puts it, "the general picture I’m getting here is the Ritz with a paddle attached to the back". Of course the characters, the motives, most of the action and the solution to the mystery are totally different from Christie's – but then there is such a thing as copyright. And as Elsie herself observes: “how likely is that you’ll get a bunch of murders, spies, writers and other disreputable people on board one small boat? And, if you did, why would you choose to shoot somebody in a place you couldn’t make a decent get-away from?”
It has already received some very nice reviews on It’s a Crime, Milo’s Rambles and Shots Magazine
The formal launch will take place at Goldsboro Books on 5 July.
The Herring in the Library is now also out in paperback, with a new cover to tie in with Herring on the Nile. It was recently reviewed on Lizzie Hayes’ Promoting Crime blog.
