Video interview

by Carola 

Gone West comes out on Tuesday, hardcover, Kindle, and Nook:

I'm now 5 months behind with my Work in Progress, so I hope you'll forgive me if the rest of this Wednesday's post is just a link to a video interview about my  career as a writer:

http://www.authorsroad.com/CarolaDunn.html

This was created by a couple who, on retiring, sold their house and bought a motor home with the intention of travelling about and interviewing authors. As they started from Portland, I was one of the earliest.

It's about half an hour long, so if you're interested allow time.

The joys of research

by Carola Dunn

Sometimes it's a real struggle to find information you desperately need for your story. Sometimes information you didn't even know you wanted just falls into your lap--more information, in fact, than you can possibly use.

My next book, GONE WEST, comes out this month, January 17th to be precise, in hardcover and for Kindle and Nook. It's the 20th in my Daisy Dalrymple series, set in England in 1926.

The story takes place in the Matlock district of Derbyshire. When I started to research the area, I came across mention of a huge health spa, Smedley's Hydro.

The building dominates the small town, so Daisy couldn't avoid noticing it. And lo and behold, there on the web was Smedley's visitors' handbook for the mid 1920s. I couldn't resist using some of the wonderful information, and the hydro ended up playing an important part in the story, though I hadn't ever heard of it when I began planning the book.

Here is an excerpt to whet your appetite:

...........................................................................

Bath Arrangements - continued

ELECTRIC TREATMENT.
    Galvanic or Faradaic          per application 1/6
    Both Galvanic and Faradaic                    2/-
    High Frequency                                2/6
    Diathermy                                     5/-
    Ultra Violet Rays                             5/-
    Electric Ionization                           5/-
    Bath                                          2/-

THE HOT-AIR OR RADIANT-HEAT BATH (DOWSING'S PATENT).
An installation of these baths has been in constant use for some years, and the results obtained have been very satisfactory. Recently the full bath of the latest pattern has been added. The heat is produced by Electricity, and there is consequently no vitiation of the atmosphere by products of combustion. These baths are especially useful in cases where the patient is enfeebled or crippled, or from any cause unfit for the ordinary Turkish or other form of hot-air bath.

    For a Single Bath           7/6
    Course of Three Baths     £1/1/-
    Course of Six Baths       £1/10/-
(If booked at one time and taken within one month.) £ s. d.
NAUHEIM TREATMENT, 
     Bath only                                      0 4 6
     Bath and Schott Exercises                      0 5 6
PLOMBIERES TREATMENT, per application               0 2 6
PINE BATH                                           0 3 6
AIX DOUCHE                                          0 3 0
VICHY DOUCHE                                        0 3 0

Night Attendance for Invalids.-The night watchmen are qualified to give simple treatment in case of need. If required, they will summon medical assistance. BATHS TO VISITORS.
Ladies and Gentlemen desirous of taking baths on their own account, and without consultation, are requested to apply to Head Bath Attendants. Time and place will be arranged so as to avoid interference with Patients going by prescription. Baths in the bedroom, and private baths, are subject to a small special charge in the case of visitors.
For Massage and such other of the foregoing treatments as may be taken by non-patients, the charges are 50 % higher.

Baths to persons not staying in the Establishment., £ s. d.
Turkish or Russian Bath per single bath             0 3 6
                        per series of six           0 18 0

---

Page 26

The Baths, &c

N0 description can do justice to Smedley's unrivalled suite of baths, renowned all over the world for completeness of equipment and efficiency. Nothing but a tour of inspection, or, better still, actual experience of the incomparable treatment, can convey any adequate conception of the astonishing scope of the health-restoration and health-maintenance facilities, aggregated during many years, and vigilantly modernised to the moment. . . . THE BATHS ARE UNDER THE SAME ROOF AS THE ESTABLISHMENT, THUS DISPOSING OF ANY NECESSITY TO GO OUT OF DOORS, WITH CONSEQUENT RISK OF CHILLS.

...............................................................................

Take a look at the rest--it's fascinating!

Unfortunately I was too far along in the plotting to use the Galvanic or Faradaic bath to bump someone off. Another time...

by Carola Dunn

This is the cover of my next book, the 20th Daisy Dalrymple mystery, due out in January 2012. I really like it, and when I posted it on Facebook so did nearly 80 people!


It looks rather more like a mansion than the farmhouse it's supposed to be. At least I had some input--I got "them" to reduce the size of the car and increase the size of the hills. It's set in the Derbyshire Dales, a fairly rugged part of England, and Eyrie Farm is in an isolated spot surrounded by steep slopes.

Daisy drives herself to Derbyshire in her newly acquired a motor-car. It's a 1925 Gwynne 8, a two-seater with a dickey.


Daisy stalls on a steep hill. She has to double-declutch to get the car going again. Having insisted on a self-starter, she doesn't have to crank the engine.

I'm not sure whether I ever learned to double-declutch, but I remember my mother doing it in our 1934 Morris, in the late '50s and '60s. It had a button on the floor to start it, though I think she had to crank it occasionally. The windshield opened in inclement weather. Towards the end of its life, the doors were held closed by straps around the door handles.



It was known as Uncle Morris, because it was purchased with a legacy from Uncle Maurice, my godmother's father. I decided to google his name, and found this, from the London Gazette archives:

NOTICE is hereby given, that the Partnership
heretofore subsisting between us, the under-
signed, Maurice Jellinek and Henry Jellinek, carrying
on business as Brush and Fancy Goods Merchants,
at 44 and 45, Farringdon-street, in the city of London,
under the style or firm of H. JELLINEK AND CO.,
has been dissolved by mutual consent as and from the
28th day of February, 1915. All debts due to and
owing by the said late firm will be received and paid
by the said Maurice Jellinek,. who will continue the
said business under the style of H. Jellinek and Co.
—Dated this 25th day of January, 1916.
MAURICE JELLINEK.
HENRY JELLINEK.

I'm sure it must be him, because I remember we always had a set of washing-up (dish scrubbing) brushes called Tip, Top, and Shine that came from the family firm.

Ah, the highways and byways of Google...!