Deadlier Than the Pen Part 27

"The next time I see Ben Northcote," she told the cat, "I will be the one who tells him what we will do next."

She would go back to New York with Horatio Foxe, Diana decided. She might even try out that new a.s.signment he'd offered her. But first and foremost, she'd use the weeks away from Ben to contemplate her past. That was the only way she'd be able to make sensible decisions about the future.

"April," she said to Cedric, as she scratched him behind one ear and provoked a positive ecstasy of purring. "A month." She nodded. "Yes, that seems an entirely reasonable length of time."

Just look how much had happened to her in March!

Author's Note.

Although the characters in Deadlier than the Pen are fictional, I've made reference to a number of real historical figures, in particular to Nellie Bly, intrepid reporter for the New York World, whose investigation into the treatment of the insane is the basis for what Ben sees and Diana imagines. Both New York City, particularly "the Rialto," and Bangor, Maine are real places. They are presented as accurately as I could manage. Only specific private homes, and one newspaper office, are complete inventions. Real newspapers from 1888 provided a tremendous amount of information about these places and I am grateful to Mantor Library at the University of Maine at Farmington and the Maine State Library for collecting so many of them on microfilm.

I have incorporated a number of incidents that occurred during the Blizzard of '88 into my novel, in particular stories of pa.s.sengers trapped on trains. The party for Jim the "trick cat" and the camel's escape on Broadway were also real events.

Those readers interested in the sources I've used will find a complete bibliography at my website, www.kathylynnemerson.com. Look there, too, for information about the next Diana Spaulding mystery.

Visit www.belgravehouse.com for information on additional t.i.tles by this and other authors.

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