Thirteen in the Medina Read online

  As far as I remember I did not notice whether Keith had any tattoos on the visible parts of his body. Might have to investigate further, if I ever get the chance, that is.

  I placed my little plastic bottle of Saharan sand on my mantelpiece next to the bottle that had once contained Dead Sea water.

  Pat and the girls in the office received their postcard that I had handed over in the hotel next to the desert and which was (temporarily) secreted in a drawer; in fact, it arrived quicker than the one I had sent to my sister Harriet that I had despatched from Marrakesh a few days before. Something else that the south of the country proved to be far superior in than their counterparts in the north; their postal service.

  After eating three meals a day for fourteen days according to my bathroom scales I still only weigh three stone.

  Aren’t holidays great?

  Author’s note:

  The comment regarding photography in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt was made when this was indeed prohibited. I am aware that this state of affairs does vary; I visited in November 2017 when even our local guide who had recently taken groups into the valley was surprised to discover that for a fee of £10 permission could be bought to take photographs inside the tombs (without the use of flash).

  Carrie and Keith Mysteries:

  Material Witness –

  When Carrie develops an addiction to buying vintage clothes via the internet she buys a Victorian mourning cloak, and after avowing an intention of delving into the background of its former owner, she adds a wedding dress to her collection. After discovering the promised photograph of the original bride is missing from the parcel she feels cheated and sets out to track down what she sees as her property whilst at the same time she is also agonizing over her one-sided relationship with Keith, a man whom she met on the bus.

  Is Colin really Keith’s nephew?

  Who broke into her garage and why?

  Why, at odd moments, can she smell lavender?

  A lighted hearted suspense/ghost story, set in Dorset on the English south coast, during the summer of 2012 that will have you looking at hand-me-downs and second-hand clothes in a different light, as one of Carrie’s purchases has brought with it a little unforeseen added extra that sends her off onto a new obsessive tangent and a journey into the past, as she determines to discover the truth.

  Carrie and Keith Short Stories:

  The Way to Nowhere –

  When Keith volunteers to hand deliver an urgent letter to the Civic Centre Carrie agrees to accompany him. A serious road accident in the vicinity results in them taking a short cut through Poole Park at dusk where they see an unusually dressed woman waiting by a signpost pointing towards an aviary, and Carrie loses her bracelet.

  The following day Carrie tries to retrace her steps in order to find the bracelet but cannot locate either the path they followed nor find any trace of an aviary.

  She enlists Keith’s help and whilst searching they come across Frankie, a small boy who has had an accident on his scooter, and who has an intriguing reason for his mishap.

  Along with Pat, whose grandfather, a former park keeper who had maintained the park was haunted, they decide to research into its history trying to find evidence for the apocryphal aviary.

  Can Carrie and Keith find the path again?

  And if they do, what will they discover if they try to follow it to its end? Does it lead to an aviary or to somewhere more dangerous?