Murder Most Royal — читать онлайн бесплатно полностью

I hadn’t realised it was near the sea, or that there was a wildlife sanctuary on its borders, or that its estate contains several farms, where the Queen and Prince Philip enjoyed experimenting with sustainable farming methods and which Prince Charles is now turning organic as fast as he can. I didn’t know this was where Prince Philip intended to retire, or why he would want to spend the last years of his life in North Norfolk. Now I know all those things, and having spent some very, very enjoyable weeks there doing my research, I quite understand the royal couple’s love of the place.

The area is in fact sprinkled with celebrities who are quietly living their best life.

North Norfolk is rural, traditional and coastal. Don’t go there if your ideal holiday is the nightclubs of Mykonos. Do go there if your idea of the perfect beach is something vast and windswept and almost empty, until visited by a thousand wading birds.

The county is also home to lots of fictional detectives – some of which may already be favourites of yours – and I hope my royal sleuth fits right in.*

My interest was piqued by the question of who owns our countryside, who else loves it and how do they get along? When I started researching, rewilding was a niche topic that few people I spoke to knew about. Now it’s everywhere, and I challenge you to find a British aristocrat who isn’t trying it out.

I was also fascinated by the country’s houses great and small. I have invented Abbotswood and Ladybridge Hall, and had a lot of fun doing so, but Sandringham House is available to visit. You can even stay in the old head gardener’s cottage or an old water tower on its grounds.

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Thank you again for reading this book, and I hope you enjoy the rest of the series.

*(My own favourite Norfolk-related detectives include Lord Peter Wimsey, as written by Dorothy L Sayers, whose ancestral seat of Bredon Hall was in Norfolk, and Ruth Galloway, the archaeologist from the fabulous modern series by Elly Griffiths. I highly recommend both.)