The Valley of the Shadow: out at last

by Carola Dunn

The Valley of the Shadow, my third Cornish Mystery, is out at last.

I'm happy to say that it was picked up from the Indie Next booksellers list by USA TODAY, and is one of their BOOKS: NEW AND NOTABLE.

Lifeboat--the book is full of them!

Besides several signings, I've been doing a bunch of guest blogs. Don't be alarmed--none of them is very long. Here are some links:

Two excerpts from the book
http://historicalfictionexcerpts.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-valley-of-shadow.html

http://historicalfictionexcerpts.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-valley-of-shadow-out-at-last.html


A chatty letter from Eleanor 
https://notesfromme.wordpress.com/2012/12/12/eleanor-trewynn/

A "cozy" writer's dilemma:
http://damesofdialogue.wordpress.com/2012/12/10/what-happens-when-a-serious-subject-grabs-a-cozy-author-by-carola-dunn/

Here's one about dogs in my books:
http://sheilaboneham.blogspot.com/2012/12/guest-author-carola-dunn-on-doggin.html

And one I wrote for Seattle Mystery Bookshop
http://seattlemysteryblog.typepad.com/seattle_mystery/2012/12/dog-day-at-smb.html

Handicrafts in my mysteries? I didn't think so, until I started looking, for Lois Winston's craft blog:
http://www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com/2012/12/book-club-friday-guest-author-carola.html

The Valley of the Shadow is available from all booksellers and ebook sellers. Support your local independent bookseller!

Writing characters from one series into another...?

by Carola


I'm writing about lifeboats at present--a rescue from a cave. Both these types of boat are involved.

D-class inflatable inshore boat

I've had a lot of discussion on Facebook and on my website as to whether it's kosher to name the three lifeboats in my Cornish series mystery after characters in my Daisy Dalrymple series: the Daisy D., the Belinda, and the Lucy. These people, from the 1920s setting, would be in their 50s/70s by the time of the Cornish series.










The Royal National Lifeboat Institute is a volunteer organisation. RNLI boats are usually named after the donor(s) or fundraisers of the donations that paid for them. Daisy, her friend Lucy, and her stepdaughter, Belinda, could well have done this.

This is the actual Padstow lifeboat at the time of my story, now retired to Land's End.

The Oakley class--this is a 37'; Padstow actually had a 44', as pictured above.

Lots of readers liked the idea of a nod to the Daisy series. A few didn't like it, but those few had very strong opinions on the subject.


What do you think? Is it a mistake to intrude one series on another, in such a minor way? Maybe next I'll have an older Daisy turn up in Cornwall and meet Eleanor...

All photos courtesy of RNLI