Take a Tour of The Pigeon Pie Mystery

Monday 16 July 2012
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It’s apparently all the rage for authors to make short videos to promote their latest novel. With the forthcoming publication of The Pigeon Pie Mystery in mind, I dutifully set off to Hampton Court Palace, where the book is set, a camera and willing friend in tow. The soggy truth is that we had to do that 90-minute journey four times in the end. I laughed so much during the first attempt that when my charming agent in New York watched it, I could hear her stunned silence all the way back in London. Off we went again, but the rain dripped down the microphone and I was abruptly silenced. On the third attempt, with a new video camera at the ready, a catastrophic downpour ensued, and we eventually swam home. Buoyed by a forecast of a brief appearance of the sun, we headed off for a fourth time in silent hope. Finally we pulled it off, swollen rain clouds perched teasingly above us. It wasn’t, in fact, as miserable as it sounds, for we sampled the cakes in the tearoom during each deluge. It’s the more joyful way to get through a British summer, and quite possibly the reason why the scone was invented...