What was I looking for in my 'choir tour' of England, Scotland and Ireland in April and May this year? I heard over 30 choirs, the most illuminating experience being 3 days of the Cork International Choir Festival. I wanted to study the words these unique groups of people were singing and to discover, if I could, what moved them and made them want to sing each set of lyrics. What was it about the particular words and music together that brought them the greatest satisfaction and commitment, and formed the closest rapport with the audience?

The simplest answer is to give you the lyrics of the song "Points and Lines"--a poem by Aldous Huxley. Set to mesmerising music by much awarded composer Timothy Doyle (b. 1991) and sung with tender sensitivity by Chamber Choir Ireland in the Cathedral of St Mary an St Anne on 2 May 2026, this stood out for me because of three elements: aurally it is a beautiful poem in itself; it explores one clear idea; its power comes from an extended metaphor. One could feel that the composer, the choir and the choir master Gabriel Crouch were profoundly moved by this contemplative piece. So was I. And that's the main thing I learned on the choir tour--there needs to be a unity of feeling and purpose for a choir to really reach their audience.

POINTS AND LINES 

Instants in the quiet, small sharp stars,
Pierce my spirit with a thrust whose speed
Baffles even the grasp of time.
Oh that I might reflect them
As swiftly, as keenly as they shine.
But I am a pool of waters, summer-still,
And the stars are mirrored across me;
Those stabbing points of the sky
Turned to a thread of shaken silver,
A long fine thread.

Aldous Huxley

At present I'm working on a series of 6 tone poems entitled Ocean Australis, with composer Nicholas Gentile.

This is a chateau near the town of Joinville in the Haute Marne region of northeast France. I don't know its name--I saved the image when I was exploring along the wide valley of the Marne with an unlikely hero in mind: a mere private in France's military police corps in the 1730s.

What chances might Cavalier Constant have to uncover anything useful about the rural aristocrats who live in a place like this? The approach on horseback, through the picturesque hills and farms that surround it, then across the well-tended grounds, is not too difficult. But what happens when he fronts up to the grand entrance? Are the privileged people inside these imposing walls obliged to even open their doors to him?

Discover more about Constant's risky investigation in Murder at Cirey on Amazon.

As you know, Murder at Cirey is on pre-order on Amazon and will be released in a week's time. Meanwhile the publication date of Death in Champagne, the next Victor Constant Investigation, is confirmed by Sapere Books: it comes out on 18 September, also on Amazon. If you're new to the exploits of Victor Constant and you're a reader of masters like Bernard Cornwell, Donna Leon and Peter James, you may be tempted by his first adventures. And for lovers of Mary Higgins Clark: an earlier edition of Murder at Cirey was once partnered with her The Melody Lingers On in Reader’s Digest Select Editions. Welcome to the darker side of the wonderful Champagne region of France!

Voltaire, one of the philosophers of the Enlightenment, fought for freedom of thought, liberty of expression and social justice. His works still cause controversy: in 2006 a production of his famous novella Candide, composed in the 20th century as an opera by Leonard Bernstein, was taken off the stage of La Scala because it satirised modern Western political leaders. Revived, Candide was a hit at La Scala in 2007. Also in 2007, Muslim protesters in a town in France tried to prevent a reading of Voltaire’s Mahomet (1741), but the mayor insisted that the play go on, in the name of freedom of speech.

Voltaire also wrote for the opera stage and in the 1730s provided the libretto for Samson by Rameau. He could not attend the first performances because he was hiding out in the remote Champagne province at the time, but his mistress Émilie du Châtelet was able to do so--she was a dedicated opera fan anyway. When she rejoined Voltaire at the Château de Cirey she gave him a report on the performances. I just came across a very amusing video revealing that this 'lost opera by Voltaire' has been revived for the Festival of Aix en Provence and broadcast by ARTE in Europe. The video is in French but the illustrations retell Samson's well-known story brilliantly.

Samson comes up in the first Victor Constant Investigation, Murder at Cirey, which is now on pre-order on Amazon.

On my Facebook and Instagram pages I'm continuing an interview conducted by author Helen Hollick with the hero of Murder at Cirey, mounted gendarme Victor Constant. In the spring of 1735 he was banished by the military police, the Maréchaussée, from Paris to a remote area in the Haute Marne, and then in the first week of summer he was faced with a murder case that because of a dangerous dissension with his superior officers he was forced to solve on his own. 

Here is the latest interview question from Helen Hollick. The illustration is of course a portrait of the redoubtable physicist and mathematician, Madame du Châtelet. Murder at Cirey is currently on pre-order on Amazon.

 HH: Tell me about one or two of the other characters who feature with you in your story. Who are some of the nice characters and who is the nastiest one?

I’ll start with the nastiest one, who is of course the murderer. He is just the kind of man (he would call himself a gentleman, but he doesn’t deserve the title) whom one meets in the top echelons of provincial society, and who takes advantage of his position to feather his own nest and treat everyone with contempt. This one is also intelligent enough to be a cunning conspirator, and ruthless enough to frame his associates for his own crimes. I finally got the measure of him—but I was nearly too late! At the opposite end of the aristocratic spectrum is Mme du Châtelet. But I wouldn’t describe her as ‘nice’, exactly. ‘Spectacular’ is perhaps the word. Here is the impression she made on me when she kindly offered advice on my detective work:

‘Victor took the cue and rose to his feet. He would have preferred to stay and continue the conversation that Madame du Châtelet had carried on with such verve and grace. Her presence and her musical voice animated the room, influencing the currents of feeling and thought in startling ways. Her figure was perfect. Her face, with its well-defined features and glowing eyes, had great powers of expression and she was dressed with a flair that set off her distinctive beauty. But it was not just her person that dazzled him, it was her sheer vitality.’

Hey, this is Cheryl Sawyer, librettist and choral lyricist posting--I've never been so happy to carry a showbag around! Cork City in May 2026 was completely taken over by choirs and choir enthusiasts and I was there to discover how passionate and committed today's ensembles may be to the words they sing.

Answer--those at the cutting edge believe as much in the poetry they're singing as the music, and with their conductors they achieve moments of sublimity wherever they happen to be: on stage in the great City Hall, in churches and cathedrals, in pubs and even in the streets. I was blown away by 30 choirs on my recent trip around the UK. During my three days in Cork I suppose the most illuminating performances for me were those of the Dublin Youth Choir under Lynsey Callaghan, but all were impressive in their way. Hats off!

The hero of the Victor Constant Investigations is a mounted military policeman and in my latest title, which I have just delivered to Sapere Books, he rides from his headquarters in the remote Champagne province to his home quarter in Paris, Saint-Jacques de la Boucherie. There he reports to the Chief of Police at the massive fortress, the Grand Châtelet, which houses seven law courts, a full company of civil police, the morgue for people found drowned in the Seine or dead in the streets, and a massive prison second only to the Bastille.

No one who writes about France in the 18th century has any excuse for getting the geography of their characters' journeys wrong! The maps of the time are incomparable. The section you see here of the famous Turgot map of Paris shows the Grand Châtelet as it stood in the year when Victor reported there, 1737. It's just above the bottom right-hand corner, the big complex with the tall towers that have conical roofs. He accessed it by riding to the right bank of the Seine over the Pont du Change, depicted nearby. The Grand Châtelet stood until the first decade of the 19th century.

Victor's first investigation, which takes place in the remote Champagne, is Murder at Cirey, now available on preorder from Amazon.

Victor Constant is a military policeman, the hero of a series of investigations carried out in the 1730s in the remote Champagne region of France. The first novel, Murder at Cirey, is on preorder on Amazon, from Sapere Books UK. Sapere have just sent me the first cover rough for the fourth novel in the series, Death in an Ideal Landscape, which I have just completed.Sapere's cover is in the style of Murder at Cirey (see in the blog below) and features a map from the same period by the redoubtable Cassini family.

I enjoy researching the real history and locations behind Victor's adventures and very pleased to tell you that in the latest book he has to chase a criminal all the way to Paris. There he checks out the horse markets on the south bank of the Seine, the biggest in France, which happen to be named for Saint Victor, like the nearby abbey. The map of the district shown above is by Félibien, 1734.

The last thing Voltaire or Émilie du Châtelet wanted to see at Cirey in the remote Champagne countryside was a uniform—let alone that of a private in the Maréchaussée, France’s military police corps. But that’s just what Voltaire had to face one morning in 1735, after a young man was shot dead in the Cirey forest. Research at Cirey itself, in the Musée de la Gendarmerie at Melun and on sites like imagesdesoldats.fr gave me a picture of what Voltaire saw as he strode across Émilie’s courtyard to confront Cavalier Victor Constant, the military policeman who made it his duty to solve the murder. While Murder at Cirey is on preorder at Amazon, I'd like to help you see Victor ride into action.

Sapere Books UK are releasing the Victor Constant Investigations series in June this year and the first title is on preorder at Amazon here. I am delivering the fourth in the series to Sapere this month. During an intimate conversation in that novel, a passionate young artist confesses that amongst the art works in Rome she can think of only one likeness of Victor's mouth, in a representation of the Emperor Lucius Verus. The head shown here is held in the Bardo Museum in Turin. I agree with her but only the upper lip is accurate, and to see the rest of the face you'd need to read the novel, which will also be out this year.

Sapere Books let me know today that their Kindle edition of Murder at Cirey, the first in the Victor Constant Investigation Series, is now on preorder from Amazon. This is a great thrill and I'm very pleased to have Peter Lovesey's generous phrase at the top of the cover and a genuine, contemporary map of Victor's territory at the bottom. The Jack Reacher of the eighteenth-century (as one reader would have it) deserves no less. 

These flowers were sent to me on a sad anniversary. This image is in tribute to those who went through tragedy on 14 December at Bondi. Last evening I placed safe candles at my gates to burn all night in mourning for those lost and injured in the murderous attack. Today I offer my heartfelt condolences to my dear Jewish friends in Australia, to the families and friends of the victims, to communities all over this country who are suffering. May you heal, with the knowledge that you are loved and cherished. Light will overcome evil and we will be one in peace.

I can hardly begin to express my sadness at the loss of Alasdair McGregor. I can only share with you one of his beautiful paintings from Australia's Wild Islands, which he wrote with Quentin Chester, and part of my letter of condolence to his one remaining sibling.

'We first met Alasdair in the late eighties when my husband Bert published The Kimberley, Horizons of Stone for Hodder & Stoughton. We quickly grew to admire his great talents as an artist and writer and were in awe of his exploits on land and sea, notably the wintering over in Antarctica. He was a friend almost before we knew it. He was not the kind of person who often invited people home, even for a simple meal, but I cannot remember Alasdair ever turning down an invitation from us over the last 35 years. In addition, I was for eight years the opera reviewer for the Australian Jewish News, which gave me two excellent seats for the first night of every opera at the Sydney Opera House. Alasdair happily accompanied me to many performances … It was always an absolute pleasure to have his companionship at such events.

'On every occasion that he spent with us—and they are countless—he was the most wonderful company. He lived life to the fullest and accomplished an extraordinary range of creative endeavours, but he shared his experiences with us in such an unpretentious yet eloquent and illuminating way that we valued him not only as a friend but as a remarkable and admirable man. We felt honoured to be part of the circle of people who appreciated him the most. I’ve just been looking at the exquisite paintings and photographs in Australia’s Wild Islands and remembering the exhibition of those very paintings in Sydney. We bought a large gouache of Alasdair’s 25 years ago—a vivid depiction of penguins on an ice floe, it was painted on Christmas Day. At the time I asked Alasdair about random white blotches that spotted the surface—he told me they were caused by snow blowing onto the canvas en plein air …

'As a writer and publisher myself I have a great admiration for his talents as researcher, historian, art historian, botanical writer … the list goes on. His incredibly broad range of qualifications made him the perfect author for so many non-fiction works, from the stunning and classic biography of the Burley-Griffins to the life and work of Frank Hurley. I have so many memories of our good times with Alasdair, often to do with books. I’ll mention just one: I paid a visit to his home on the South Coast in 2023 and while there I told him I’d like to buy Silo Art. We drove in to the local bookshop and fortunately they had the new book, which I bought and Alasdair duly signed. I said to the young lady behind the counter, "Would you like him to sign your other copies?" but she told me this was their only one. I said, "Well, you now have the chance to order it in again, because he’s a local author and you can use this to sell more books!" She looked very surprised and I learned from Alasdair when we left the shop that he had never announced himself at the bookstore or the local library. This was typical of the modest and unassuming way that he went about his extraordinary achievements—the most important thing for him was committing himself to a task and seeing it through to a high standard. He is a tremendous loss to many prestigious publishing houses in Australia.

'I will always remember with fondness his delightful characteristics, amongst which are his loyalty to those he cherished, his steadfast devotion to family, his undemanding and generous nature, his deep commitment to his country in all its forms and aspects, his abundant creativity. He was an exceptional human being.'

I am writing Death in an Ideal Landscape for Sapere Books at the moment, the fourth title in the Victor Constant Mysteries. I am also working on a big choral work with Nicholas Gentile, which requires me to research the Timor and Arafura seas, first-hand. Last Friday's sunset cruise in a catamaran on Darwin Harbour was dramatic. After sunset, a storm whipped itself up and we were followed by a rainbow, flanked by both sheet and forked lightning, and drenched by horizontal rain. All in the cause of art. Loved it!

Sapere Books have just created an author page here in advance of their first release of my novels. They will commence with the Victor Constant Mysteries of which award-winning Murder at Cirey is the opener, followed by two new titles, Death in Champagne and Murder on High. This author picture was taken in Paris last year.

Back on the Central Coast I have no special news to impart--except that the new Victor Constant Mystery, Death in an Ideal Landscape, runs in lively fashion through my head when I'm walking on the beach. Not bad exercise for a winter's day! The novel is contracted to Sapere Books for 2026.

I'm back home on the Central Coast in New South Wales after more than a year away. During that time I've devoted my energies and love to family, friends and writing, and have been warmly rewarded. Being home and looking at all the originals stored away that I can now rehang on my walls, I felt a yearning for something richly coloured, inspirational and new to keep me forging ahead.

And I remembered a painting that I knew I could only obtain through Bluethumb Art. Believe me it's worth visiting their website on a regular basis to see the new works that constantly appear in their well-curated collection. This one is Racing Horse, Running River.

2025 has begun so well for me--may it bring to you all the right kind of riches as well!

We're on the eve of an election in Australia, so many of us have been thinking deeply about our political institutions. Fortunately I don't see them as under threat, but it occurs to me that many of my historical novels depict characters required to make significant choices in times of upheaval. Rebel is a case in point. 

Somehow when I completed it in the late 1990s I was not aware how sincere a tribute it is to the Americans of every degree who fought for their great Republic. I remained fired by admiration even when my first American agent, the cultured and intellectual Alfred Hart of the Fox Chase Agency, warned me wryly that readers in the US might be more ready to remember the Civil War than their hard-won War of Independence. In Rebel I persisted in portraying leaders like George Washington and Benjamin Franklin as heroes, however, and they were seen as such by the brave protagonist in the novel, Viviane de Chercy.

In this extract from Rebel an unprincipled and indolent libertine, the Baron de Ronseul, alone at night with Viviane, favourably compares France’s absolute monarchy with the fledgling republic across the Atlantic.

‘I abominate the form of government the Americans are trying to found. Let me elaborate. In France, in all the countries of Europe, government is undertaken by gentlemen who are bred precisely to do that—to rule. Tradition and our systems ensure that the able members of the great families rise to power—prompted by their education, their upbringing and their sense of duty. Rogues and idlers like myself, meanwhile, attend to their own affairs and are overlooked or discouraged from any interference in the way the country is run.’

He reached out to pour more wine into his class and Viviane was so taken aback at hearing such a speech from him that she held her tongue.

‘In America they’re bent on destroying the traditions they inherited from the English monarchy. In future they will have no provision of talented men brought up to exercise government. All a man will need to give him a place in power is a large enough parcel of votes from an ignorant and capricious populace. In America, mademoiselle, it’s the rogues and idlers from the lower ranks who will rise up from the mire in which they are bred—and they’ll reign supreme, for there’ll be nothing to stand in their way. The consequences for that misguided country don’t bear thinking of.’

She could not hold back any longer. ‘I entirely disagree. America is led today by men of courage and principle.’

‘Perhaps. Not for long. As soon as their ill-judged systems are in place, the downhill slide into mediocrity and ruin will begin.’

‘Even now they’re planning for their future. It will be founded on example and education.’

‘Which they won’t achieve.’

‘The finest example is already there: in men like Washington, Doctor Franklin.’

He sneered as she named Franklin, but said, ‘Washington serves his country as a war leader and the old man as a diplomat. America will be soon be borne on weaker shoulders.’

‘You grossly underrate what is happening across the Atlantic.’

‘And you, mademoiselle, despite your first-hand experience, see it through rose-tinted glass.’ Then he shrugged and said quietly, ‘I’m afraid all we can do is agree to differ, on this as on everything else.’

For readers keen to know how Viviane fared in this risky confrontation, I’m delighted to say that Rebel will be republished by Sapere Books in 2025-26.

Today, the cynical assessment of the USA that I put years ago into the Baron de Ronseul’s mouth may seem uncannily accurate, but I know that the heart and soul of America defies it. The true spirit of the Republic lives in the citizens of the USA and these despotic times under the self-assumed autocracy of Donald Trump will pass, to reveal that well-founded integrity all over again.

What does this image have to do with me as a novelist? Nothing--but I am posting it anyway as an expression of my concern as an historical researcher. This is my only social media outlet at the moment and I find I cannot let the day go by without posting the following, which is a quote from an email I just sent to a close friend. I believe it expresses a deep concern that must surely be shared by millions of other Australians.

'While catching most of the last campaign debate on TV yesterday evening I was horrified to hear Dutton say that the welcome to country was 'overdone' all over Australia and should be reserved for events of national significance, amongst which he did NOT include ANZAC Day!!!! He said it 'cheapened' the ceremony to overdo it. 

'This is a slap in the face all over again to Aboriginal people who served in both the First and Second World Wars and received NO ACKNOWLEDGMENT for their service, let alone citizenship, which they only got in 1947. It is also an insult to First Nations men and women who have served in other wars since, including of course Vietnam. This disgraceful ignorance of Australia's collective history on Dutton's part is all of a piece with his ignorance about the price of eggs.

'Australians are 'doing it tough' indeed if the man who claims to be able to lead them into security and prosperity knows nothing about how and why their forefathers have fought for this country or what it costs to put something on our daily bread in our own day.'

This is how the salon at the Château de Cirey looked in 2007 when I was kindly received there by the Comtesse de Salignac-Fénelon. Not precisely as it would have appeared in 1735 while Émilie du Châtelet was sheltering Voltaire at her home in this remote corner of the Champagne—but its grandeur alone would have enough to intimidate a lower-class gendarme, if he were ordered to investigate a crime on her premises …

Cavalier Constant, mounted policeman, had to do just that in Murder at Cirey, my first novel in the new series that Sapere Books are launching this year. Here is their announcement, accompanied by two more images to introduce the character whom some readers have dubbed ‘the Jack Reacher of the eighteenth century’. Thank you, Sapere Books.