Stranger Than Fiction

[James Twining]

Is history repeating itself? A few weeks before the US publication of The Double Eagle in 2005, the US Government made a sensational announcement. Ten 1933 Double Eagles, the same incredibly rare $20 coins that feature at the heart of my novel, had been seized from the family of one of the dealers implicated in the original 1940s enquiry. Given the plot of my novel (the recovery of five Double Eagle coins stolen from Fort Knox), it was an incredible coincidence that did not go unnoticed by American reviewers at the time: "Last month, 10 double eagle coins that disappeared 70 years ago mysteriously resurfaced. Federal agents fell on them as though they were grenades. They are now back in Fort Knox. Twining's publicist at Harper Collins should send the Secret Service a fruit basket." Now, this very evening, I read that the police have recovered da Vinci's Madonna of the Yarnwinder, a painting worth around $70 million that was stolen from Drumlanrig Castle in a daring raid in 2003. So what, you might say? Well here's the thing - that theft and the painting's fate form an integral part of the plot of The Gilded Seal! If this happens much more often, the cops will be paying me to feature high profile heists in my books in the hope that they might have a chance of recovering whatever was taken! I should charge a commission. Or at least place a bet. Maybe my laptop has had some strange gypsy curse or Voodoo spell placed on it?

[helen black]

Not blogging anymore?
HB x