Today it's my pleasure to welcome author L M Milford back to the blog for the latest in these fun festive features... over to you Lynne to describe your dream Dinner Party table.
The first seat at my table would be given to my heroine Agatha Christie. I’ve always wanted a chance to sit down with her and discuss how she managed to come up with so many different plots, without seeming to repeat herself. I’ve also always wanted to have a murder mystery dinner party and Agatha would be able to help me come up with a cracking story for that.
Sitting next to Agatha would be Jane Austen. She’s another of my favourite authors and her wit would help the party to go with a swing. I’d also like to have a chat with her about publishing a book at a time when it was very much a man’s world. Given the fact that she self-published, I’d love to know how she decided when her books were ready and how she felt about sending them out.
Next to Jane sits someone who isn’t technically an author. Victoria Wood has been a favourite of mine for years, making me howl with laughter on a regular basis. For all she’s quite a quiet person in private, I’m sure she could be relied on to tell us a few funny stories. I’ve always wanted to meet her to ask about how she comes up with the brilliant dialogue that is a key feature of all of her work. She also achieved a great deal, having covered almost all aspects of TV from sitcom to sketch show to documentary. I’ve always wondered what she would have done next if she had lived.
So far it’s been an all-woman table, so I’m going to invite Charles Paris. He’s a character in a series of books by Simon Brett. Charles is a jobbing actor, who moonlights as an amateur sleuth, when he comes across murder and mayhem. I’ve listened to the BBC Radio 4 plays – rather than reading the novels – and Bill Nighy’s portrayal of Charles is hilarious. I’d invite Charles for his ready wit although I’d have to lock up the drinks cabinet. He has a liking for a few cheeky scotches but hopefully he’d be able to stay sober until the end of dinner.
My final invitee would be Maeve Binchy. She’s not my usual type of fiction (she doesn’t write crime) but her book Evening Class is one of my all-time favourites. The book features a new Italian adult evening class set up in a local school. It follows the fortunes of the class members as their back stories are skilfully revealed by Maeve. She’s the master of character creation with all the members of the class being completely credible and likeable. I’d love to have a chat with Maeve to find out exactly how she does it; how she creates a roomful of people and manage the individual threads without getting hopelessly tangled up.
Dinner would be traditional Christmas fayre, with turkey, roast potatoes, plenty of veg and - my personal favourite – pigs in blankets. There’d be a G&T or two as an aperitif and then a nice red or white wine, depending on the guest requests. There’d be Christmas pudding to finish the meal, with some Amaretto-flavoured cream to top it off.
I’m sure we’d all be pretty stuffed by then, but I reserve the right to bring out turkey sandwiches, cheese and crackers and my home-made mince pies (with more cream, yum yum) later in the evening.
After dinner entertainment would be provided by Agatha, with a murder mystery game. I don’t think we’ll be able to move very far after all that food, so it’ll be a table top game.
A Deadly Rejection is Lm Milford’s first novel, a murder mystery which has been described as ‘a cracking debut from a writer to watch’. The audio version will be available soon on Amazon, Audible and iTunes. The next book in the series – A Deadly Truth – will be published in the New Year with a third in progress.
A former newspaper journalist, Lynne’s experience has influenced her work, although her stories were never as exciting as Dan’s.
Lynne was born and brought up in the north-east of England, but now lives in Kent with her husband and far too many books. She loves cooking, baking and holidays in Spain. She’s partial to a good red wine and plates of cheese.
You can find Lynne in the following places:
www.lmmilford.com
Twitter: @LMMilford
Facebook: LM Milford
All book titles in bold are Amazon UK Affiliate links which will earn me a few pence if anyone clicks through and makes a purchase - any money earned will go towards buying books or gifts for giveaways.
No comments:
Post a Comment