Wow, Connie, I could really relate. Not, like, note for note, but...

These drabbles are all amazing. Connie's gave me a chill, and Erika's put me into a thoughtful mood for a long, long time.

Question for my London Calling WIP readers, specifically:

Having had JP give Patrick Ormand the basics of the firebombing, the dead bodyguard, the obvious, not-bothering-to-hide-it planting of evidence by the inspector from the Cannes police, and Bree and Dom's arrest in the prologue, should I do the entire scene from JP's eyes in chapter six?

I'm thinking yes. But opinions are of the good.

I think so, Deb.

Yep. The more I look at it, the more I think the visceral impact, its effect on JP, what causes the meltdown that makes him call Patrick Ormand, is needed.

Also coming up? Mac, as flipped as JP is, remembering how he met Domitra and why he hired her on the spot at a hundred grand a year plus bonuses to be his bodyguard. Enter Domitra's baby sister, Savannah.

Another question percolating in my head: because neither Bree nor Dom are French citizens (Dom's got a British passport, Bree has an American passport), I can't see the Cannes police keeping them locked up, can you? Too many calls to various ambassadors, too much bad publicity, and since the Inspector in charge of this one is a rightwing Aryan fuckheaded support of the racist antisemitic Le Pen party and also contributes to the illegal hate groups locally, he really doesn't want too much focus. He's going to be worried enough when Patrick Ormand comes to town, armed with Interpol credentials, and begins making connections about the dead guys and the missing guy.

I can't see them keeping Bree and Dom locked up for long *after* Ormand arrives with his credentials, because that's when they'll know, Huh, this could look bad, etc. But maybe long enough to make everyone nervous?

The more I look at it, the more I think the visceral impact, its effect on JP, what causes the meltdown that makes him call Patrick Ormand, is needed.

Definitely. Also, you haven't been switching POV up to now, and it might be weird to start at this point. Unless you're meaning simply having JP go through the scene, rather than describe it in flashback, and not from someone else's POV.

Sorry -- that was muddled. I've got an antsy hero and a curious heroine on a dance floor at a wedding, and the hero's secret is about to rear its head, and I really need lunch. Also, I now have "Brick House" in my head because that's what the DJ is playing at the reception...

Heh. Is this the novella?

No, I just meant the entire scene, and I'm going to write it. JP's POV - I won't be switching POV's during this series at all. It's all John. His voice. Where I live.

And the French police tend to think in 4-hour blocks. So I don't see them hold Bree and Dom for longer than that; for one thing, the band's manager, Ian, would be at the Board de Tourisme so fast he'd leave skid marks, threatening all the bad publicity in the world for the Festival.

Yup. For the first time, too, I totally pantsed it (i.e., flew by seat of) and it took off in a whole other direction. Very strange. And I'm doing my usual down-to-the-deadline thing, and my back hurts and I'm sick of these people. I want them happily-ever-aftered already.

Four-hour blocks, huh? Weird. But yeah, all the more reason not to hold them too long.

Hell, I live by seat-of-pantsing, and it gets very surprising, sometimes; I didn't expect Charlotte in Matty Groves to be the way she was, at all. And Mac is turning out to be an incredibly interesting,a nd different, character than I thought he would be.

But it's damned tricky when your editor is sitting there, tapping their wristwatch and going, ahem.....?

Cruel Sister was my first deadline ever. Hate the teeshirt.

I think deadlines are like an homage to the redballs of my previous life. need the pressure. Need at least a vague one or I might not do anything. My clearance rate's getting good now, even if I'm lacking the green that is supposed to turn cases from red to black.