A visit to Agatha Christie’s house – Kandy Shepherd

As a writer, there’s something fascinating about seeing the places where other writers write. I love it when authors share photos of their workspaces and I can see the actual place where their books were created. (By the way, no one has ever seen a photo of my workspace—it’s way too messy!

First editions of her books on display at Agatha Christie's summer house, Greenway

I grew up loving the mystery novels of Agatha Christie. In July this year, I was fortunate enough while in the UK to visit the beautiful house (well, mansion really!) where Agatha Christie spent her summers. “Greenway” is on the River Dart in Devon, one of the loveliest parts of England.

The house had scaffolding on it for repair work when we visited but was no less imposing

The elegant Georgian house and the magnificent gardens that surround it are open to the public by The National Trust. When a friend asked would I like to visit it with her I jumped to say “yes”. Agatha Christie is reputed to be the best-selling novelist of all time—of course I would love to see where she lived and wrote!

Interesting boats on the harbour at Dartmouth as we took the ferry to Greenway

We took the ferry from the quaint town of Dartmouth along the River Dart to reach Greenway—that was an experience in itself. Then we climbed up through the gardens to the house itself.

The gardens were magnificent

Agatha Christie and her family were collectors. The house is packed with treasures from several generations of the family, some of them very valuable. Yet the house is set up as the family home where Dame Agatha and her second husband, archaeologist Max Mallowan, enjoyed their summer holidays.

Views to the River Dart

My friend and I lingered in every room, listening to talks by the very knowledgeable National Trust volunteer guides. In several of the rooms, we listened to recordings of Agatha Christie in her very posh English accent talking about her writing process—fascinating stuff!

Agatha Christie's working notes for her play Witness for the Prosecution were on display

 Although Agatha Christie didn’t do a lot of writing in the actual house—she wrote in a boathouse on the grounds—her annotated manuscripts and first editions are on show and are beautifully curated. 

Apparently Agatha Christie was quite the shopaholic and brought home finds from all over the world like this inlaid chest of drawers in her bedroom

Many of Christie’s novels are set in country houses like Greenaway—some of the television series Poirot episodes were shot there—and visiting the house really helps bring them to life.

What a marvelous place for a writer to relax and find inspiration!

 An afternoon wasn’t nearly enough time to appreciate the treasures of Greenway. I can’t wait to go back!

Is there an author’s house you would like to visit—or have already visited? Have you read Agatha Christie’s books or enjoyed the TV shows and movies based on them? Did you have a memorable visit somewhere this year?

I’d love to hear your thoughts! I’m giving away a signed copy of my July 2014 release for Harlequin Romance, The Tycoon and The Wedding Planner. If you’d like to be in the draw, please include your email address in your comment.

Kandy’s third Dolphin Bay story for Harlequin Romance, A Diamond in Her Stocking, goes on sale on December 1, 2014 and is available for pre-order now.

Kandy Shepherd is an award-winning author of contemporary romance and women’s fiction. She lives on a small farm in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, Australia, with her family and a menagerie of four-legged friends.

Visit Kandy at her website

www.kandyshepherd.com

Connect with Kandy on Facebook and Twitter

For more information on Greenway visit:

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/greenway/

Cover art -- Kandy Shepherd

 Covers are so important, aren’t they? For books and magazines they are the first meeting between publisher and reader and do a lot to entice readers to buy the book—or at the least pick it up.

In my former life as a magazine editor-in-chief I was fanatical about covers, knowing what an influence they had on sales. We spent so much time on getting covers as right as we could get them. Our circulations people who would let the editorial team know in no uncertain terms why they thoughts sales had dipped or peaked.

When I edited a gardening magazine we had to plan our covers a year ahead. If, for example, we wanted to feature lilac on the cover we had to photograph a lilac cover in spring one year to feature on the next spring cover. The production cycle being what it was, we were getting those covers ready in the winter when lilac bushes were totally dormant! Same with rose covers (often best-sellers!), pansies or tulips.

Roses go well on the covers of gardening magazines (these are from my garden)

On food magazines, we had to do the same thing with seasonal fruit and vegetables. Cherries were a particular problem. Cherries are a favorite fruit at Christmas in Australia (Christmas is in summer Down Under) and we really liked to have fresh cherries in our Christmas recipes. So again, cherry covers had to be shot a year ahead. Christmas issues are usually worked on in September. There is not a fresh cherry to be found in either hemisphere of the world at that time. I know from experience!

You have to plan ahead for cherries on a food magazine cover (also from my garden) 

When I self-published novels I was determined to have good covers. I’m sure The Castaway Bride would not have been the best-seller it was without the lovely cover! (It was designed by the amazing Kim Killion at the The Killion Group.)

 I have truly been blessed by the cover gods for The Tycoon and The Wedding Planner my July 2014 release from Harlequin Romance. I just love this cover. To me it is deeply romantic and sensual in a subtle way. I love the way the cover models represent the story and I especially love the heroine’s gorgeous hair.

The Australian edition of the novel used the same image in a slightly different way. Again I love it!

The UK cover is also romantic and lovely and beautifully represents the story inside

How important are covers to you? I’d love to hear your thoughts! I’m giving away a signed copy of The Tycoon and The Wedding Planner. To be in the draw, please include your e-mail address in your comment.

Kandy’s second Dolphin Bay story for Harlequin Romance, The Tycoon and The Wedding Planner is on sale now.

Kandy Shepherd is an award-winning author of contemporary romance and women’s fiction. She lives on a small farm in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, Australia, with her family and a menagerie of four-legged friends.

Visit Kandy at her website

www.kandyshepherd.com

Connect with Kandy on Facebook and Twitter

Matters of the heart – Kandy Shepherd

 As a romance writer, I enjoy spending time with my daughter and her early-twenties friends. Falling in love and the emotional ups and downs of dating are, I believe, timeless. But contemporary life can bring different slants on matters of the heart and I like to keep in touch. Luckily the girls have no inhibitions about chatting with me!

The other night we were talking about unrequited crushes.

“What about when you’ve had a crush on someone for years and years and finally something happens between you and the guy?” I asked.

“Never ends well,” said one girl.

“Usually a disappointment,” added another.

So I told them about my new book for Harlequin Romance The Tycoon and the Wedding Planner (out on July 1.) We met Kate Parker in my first Harlequin Romance story The Summer They Never Forgot and knew she’d had a huge crush on Jesse (the hero from the first book’s brother) ever since she’d been a teenager.

When the new book starts, Kate is reeling: she finally got to kiss Jesse and felt nothing, absolutely nothing. She’s now left feeling embarrassed being around Jesse and doubting her judgment about men. So what happens when Jesse’s friend, gorgeous Sam Lancaster, arrives in Dolphin Bay to attend the wedding Kate is organizing and Kate finds herself attracted to him? Sam is drawn to Kate too, but both Kate and Sam have secrets that threaten to stop them from ever getting the happy-ever-after they deserve.

Of course the girls went home with advance copies of The Tycoon and the Wedding Planner…

Kate is organizing a special wedding in the book and she wants everything to go right. Do you have a wedding story to share—when things went well or things went wrong? I’d love to hear about it!

I’m giving away two signed copies of The Tycoon and the Wedding Planner. To be in the draw, please include your snail mail address in your comment.

 

Kandy’s second Dolphin Bay story for Harlequin Romance, The Tycoon and The Wedding Planner will be released on July 1, 2014.

Kandy Shepherd is an award-winning author of contemporary romance and women’s fiction. She lives on a small farm in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, Australia, with her family and a menagerie of four-legged friends.

Visit Kandy at her website

www.kandyshepherd.com  and connect with her on Facebook and Twitter