Research is at least half the fun of writing. I particularly love mining local newspapers – the advertisements alone are priceless (Dr Williams’ Pink Pills for Pale People were genuinely being advertised in Cambridge newspapers in 1904). Since my Vita Crew stories are set in the early years of the 20th century, I get to call a stroll around a stately home a ‘site visit’ and amble about imagining the best places for the corpse to be found. This is what I did at Wimpole Hall, south of Cambridge, when planning Poison at Pemberton Hall. Here are a few of my not-very-expert photos. Pemberton Hall is based on Wimpole, but in the story I took liberties with the architecture.