This is John Street, Porthcawl, Wales in 1938. My heroine, Ann Morgan, walks down this street in 1944, just before she discovers a murder. A billboard on the right hand side of the picture advertises a crime movie, Penitentiary, starring Jean Parker, also pictured. Included is a poster promoting that movie.

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Sam is stargazing in A Parcel of Rogues, looking at Pegasus in the October sky. The picture shows Pegasus with the foal Equuleus, from a set of constellation cards published, c.1825. The horses appear upside-down in relation to the constellations around them.

Some beautiful views and background on Sam’s homeland, Wales.

It was Mark Knopfler’s birthday this week. So…

It’s a mystery to me
The game commences
For the usual fee
Plus expenses
Confidential information
It’s in a diary
This is my investigation
It’s not a public inquiry

I go checking out the reports
Digging up the dirt
You get to meet all sorts
In this line of work
Treachery and treason
There’s always an excuse for it
And when I find the reason
I still can’t get used to it

And what have you got at the end of the day?
What have you got to take away?
A bottle of whisky and a new set of lies
Blinds on the window and a pain behind the eyes

Scarred for life
No compensation
Private investigations