Out the door!

Smith and winters Number Four will be finished today. Then out the door to the hardest critics of all, my agent and editor. I am not set on the title, Negative Image, so that might change.

Yesterday I was giving it one last glance over and I suddenly realized that X was never asked for an explanation of where they were at the time of the murder. Considering that X is a suspect, that seemed like a considerable oversight on the part of the police. And considering that in the town of Trafalgar, B.C. the police only do what I tell them, it’s my oversight.

So this morning I am out on the deck – another fabulous day – sending Detective Lopez around to question X. For reasons that will be explained, the formerly almost invisible Ray Lopez plays a prominent part in this book. A brief description: Despite his surname, the detective was red-haired and freckled, and very fond of a pint of Guinness.

In the first three books in the series, I have a Mountie named Ron Gavin and a detective named Ray Lopez. They never interacted, and as I said Lopez was pretty much invisible. Now in book four they come to work together and I find that I have a Ray and a Ron.

Which is pretty much of a disaster. So I use their surnames as much as possible but considering that everyone refers to everyone by their first names it is getting awkward. Bad planning on my part that.

Back to work...