That's it!! I have finished my fourth novel, Everything to Hide. I finished in late February and it took around 4.5 months to write. It's 100,000+ words, so I'll need to trim off some fat (probably around 15k). It was a fairly smooth writing process, though, thanks to my detailed outline.
I loved writing about Harold Chesterfield in On Jacaranda Street (where he makes his first appearance), and he's really come into his own as a quirky character in this standalone novel. I'm now busy researching for Dust Over Cairo (which I mentioned here). It will feature a younger Roland Cuthbert Barry (one of the main characters in Everything to Hide), but . . . I have another novel in mind, and it will feature Harold. More on this another time.
I have also decided to resuscitate a 2003 outline for a novel set in Bangkok, Thailand. My first visit to Thailand was in that year, and I've long thought about this novel. A wonderful friend in Bangkok has managed to find two or three books I need that talk about life in Thailand in the 1920s and 1930s. We've often talked about my novel idea, and I suspect a trip to Bangkok will be happening in 2024.
Meanwhile, the publication date for Everything to Hide is June 11, 2023. There's a lot still to do: editing, cover design, blurb writing, and promotion, but Everything to Hide is done and dusted!! Yippee!!!