A snake in the grass

Grass snake

The other day I was walking my dog in the woods near where we live when she nearly trod on a snake about as long as my arm (honest! See picture). Bianca - bless her heart - isn't the brightest thing on four legs and doesn't always notice everything that's going on around her, so she didn't see the snake as it shot off into the bushes, but I nearly jumped out of my skin. 

Bianca

Anyway, this set me thinking and I've decided I need someone to add a surprise element to the story, so a new character is going to appear in Chapter 29. I may have to cheat a little bit and back-fit references into earlier chapters to make the character more plausible, but it's my book so I can do what I want.
The question is, should this character be male or female? Hmm!

Chapter 28 audio file available now!

Lido, Venice - photo KR

 Don't feel like reading yourself? No problem, just listen to me reading to you Chapter 28 - 'Jesus and the dinosaurs' by clicking here and downloading an mp3 file. 
Just what you need to while away those boring hours on the beach!

Chapter 28 - Jesus and the dinosaurs

 I'm reading a great book at the moment,'The Goldfinch' by Donna Tartt and I'm feeling smug because she does exactly what I said was a key element in writing a best seller, she finds a relatively obscure field (in her case, furniture restoration - in '50 Shades of Gray' it was sado-masochism. Funnily enough I find myself far more entertained by the former) and the reader learns something about the topic in the course of being told a story.
In that spirit I hope you enjoy this chapter where you can learn something about how to rescue 15th century paintings. In case you ever need to do so.

The story so far ... while Franz rescues Nicoleta from being trafficked into prostitution in Italy, Celia is back doing what she does best, rescuing works of art. And once again, there are some surprises in store for her...

Chapter 28 – Jesus and the dinosaurs can be found on the right under 'Good stuff'.