Shadows on the Nile (53 page)

It was an odd coincidence that when I undertook my own research trip to Egypt in November 2011, the country chose that moment to erupt in Tahrir Square in Cairo, where I was staying. So I saw at firsthand their anger. I spoke to people there and was impressed by their courage and determination to have free elections, especially after all I’d discovered about their recent history during my research.

There is nothing like seeing a place with your own eyes, registering its sights and smells with your own senses. Books and films cannot compare. So I followed the same trail my characters would take – the long bumpy train journey from Cairo to Luxor, riding
on a camel and sailing a felucca down the Nile. Breathing in the same crisp dry air and feeling the constant presence of the desert just a heartbeat away. Nothing had prepared me – however many pictures I had seen – for the impact of the interior of the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings. I hope I have conveyed a sense of this in
Shadows On The Nile
.

And Georgie?

What research did I do for my dear Georgie? I talked to people who deal with these problems on a daily basis, and I read in depth about autism. I used the internet to open up this world to me. I admit that I did take some liberties when portraying Georgie, and I never use the word autism – it wasn’t around in those days. There are different levels of severity, but in the 1930s there seemed to be no option but to hide those affected away in institutions. Let’s be grateful that society is better informed and more broad-minded in that respect now and let us remain vigilant that it expands ever further towards acceptance.

What I love about research is that time and again it takes me places that I didn’t know I wanted to go. Always there are surprises for me. And for you too, I hope.

The decision to include references to Sherlock Holmes in
Shadows On The Nile
was an easy one. Once I had constructed my plot, I knew I needed one character to lay a trail of clues for his sister to follow. So I had to find a subject for these clues that would resonate with the reader.

Instantly the inimitable Sherlock Holmes leapt to mind. He is the supreme master of spotting clues and interpreting each stain on a sleeve or scuff on a shoe. Who else could conjure up such realities out of flimsy hints and fragile threads? I decided that the sleuth of 221B Baker Street was the perfect subject on which to base my own clues.

I have always loved his adventures, so the chance to make use of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories in my own book was irresistible. I first fell in love with Sherlock (I feel I know him well enough to presume to use his first name) when I was about nine years old. I was at school and my teacher was off sick that day, so a spare student-teacher was dragged in to keep us quiet, and she did so by perching on the front of the table that acted as the teacher’s desk, crossing her knees nervously and reading to the class the story of
The Adventure of the Speckled Band.
I was spellbound. Never had I encountered such rational thinking or such intensity of purpose in a character. Exactly the qualities I now want in my heroine, Jessie Kenton.

Over the years I devoured the rest of the exploits of Sherlock Holmes and his faithful companion, Dr Watson, which during Conan Doyle’s lifetime were published in
The Strand Magazine
– illustrated by the beautiful line drawings of Sidney Paget.

It comes as no surprise that films, television and radio all jumped onto the lucrative bandwagon to immortalise his name for each new generation. I have loved so many of them, but my two favourite portrayals came from the great Basil Rathbone – he shared with Sherlock a perfect profile and a penchant for disguise which served him well when he worked as an intelligence officer in World War I – and from Benedict Cumberbatch, with his quick intelligence and high cheekbones. For the purists among you out there, you might like to know that seventy-four different actors have so far played the part of Sherlock Holmes on film and stage.

My decision to use pointers from some of the stories meant that I had the perfect excuse to dust off my set of Sherlock Holmes books (four novels and fifty-six short stories) on the shelf and once again relish crossing swords with the indomitable Irene Adler et al. Once I got started, it was tempting to scatter clues like confetti – it became a game that gave me pleasure – but I restrained myself and most of them ended up on my study floor. But I do believe that it is important for an author to entertain herself/himself while writing, as much as to entertain the reader. That way, we both enjoy the book!

Conan Doyle’s stories were so popular at the beginning of the 20
^th
century that it is perfectly feasible that Jessie and her two brothers would be very familiar with them. There is no doubt in my mind that the logical reasoning of Sherlock Holmes would particularly appeal to Georgie’s orderly mind. It all slotted into place in a way that I feel Sherlock would have been satisfied with, and I hope you will enjoy this added layer of intrigue as much as I did.

Elementary!