A few days in London - it's research. Absolutely.

I just got back from a few days in London, with an assortment of pictures on the camera, many snapped in the name of research.

Writers can poke their noses into just about anything and call it research. I had fun in London, and visited a number of locations that may or may not turn up in books, sooner or later.

Probably only a writer would take pictures of the neighbours' roofs. I found the back view of the buildings around Trafalgar Square fascinating - and maybe one day there will be a chase over those rooftops?

The ghost bus, which starts it's nightly prowls in Northumberland Avenue, where I was staying. I've not been on it but I couldn't resist the pic. And I have to say that the sight of it rumbling towards you on The Strand, as night begins to fall, is quite creepy.

The Blue Cockerel on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square. The square is featuring in a future book - definitely. But I'm going to have to move the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery - delusions of grandeur? 

A matinee of Private Lives - this was just for fun, but it's still good for thinking about how dialogue should flow.  

This is for Margaret James. A blue butterfly, as on the cover of The Wedding Diary. I was on the tube when I first caught a glimpse of it and promised her a picture if I got the chance. Here it is.  

And after snapping the Museum poster - my breakfast crockery also had blue butterflies!

The William Morris Gallery - the PreRaphaelites are a passion of mine and are supposed to be contributing to a number of forthcoming books. The Gallery is more about Morris's furniture and furnishings - but I've got ideas about some books set around a particular house - and houses have to have furniture, right? 

The Millennium Bridge. It's going to be the location of a meeting between another hero and a former boss - not a Black Ops operation, but certainly on the dark grey side. If I want authenticity I'm going to have to walk the bridge early in the morning in November. The things authors do for their art! 

The Crypt Restaurant under St Martin in the Fields. Another breakfast venue. The concerts in the Church are fabulous. I got the idea for burying a hero alive while listening to a Requiem here - I think it was Mozart.

Breakfast  - with added gravestones.

So many books in my mind, so little time :)