‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked you such a personal question,’ said Catherine. ‘That was very unprofessional of me. Yes, let’s get back to the book. I have a suggestion to make. You may remember me telling you all on the first evening that Jonathan Mercer is coming to give a talk on crime writing. I don’t know if you’ve ever read any of his books but he’s been extremely successful. I spoke to him last night and he’s coming over on Thursday morning. He’ll give his talk at eleven instead of our usual second morning session. I think Giles and Isobel said there are some locals coming in to hear him too which will be nice and make the talk more stimulating, so I gather it will take place in the theatre, and then when they’ve all gone he’s going to stay and have lunch with our group so there’ll be a chance for anyone who wants to talk to him to ask him questions then. He’s a good friend and colleague of mine and he owes me a professional favour or two anyway. I’d like your permission to show Inside Knowledge to him and ask his opinion. I’m fairly confident he’ll like it and I think he might be very helpful to you. Would that be all right?’

‘It’d be more than all right! I’m a tremendous fan of his. I’ve read all his books.’

‘Good,’ said Catherine. ‘I’ll organise that. I think your book will specially intrigue him because he was Writer in Residence at a Scottish prison for a year. Can you spare this copy of the manuscript? I hope you’ve got another one?’

‘I have . . . and I most certainly can!’

Catherine looked at her watch. ‘We’ve got a few minutes left before my next appointment with Bunty, so let’s talk about another aspect of your writing. I think I suggested that you might bring me a short poem. Have you brought anything?’

He handed her a sheet of A4 paper. ‘I’ve brought an embryonic one and I’d love your opinion on it before I take it further.’

They sat at the table while Catherine read it. ‘Hmm. Too much unnecessary detail,’ she said firmly, ‘and I don’t think we need that last line at all – much more telling without it. Credit your reader with more perception and don’t explain too much. It’s certainly got the makings of a poem – possibly two different poems. I think you need to cut it fairly drastically and reorganise some of the lines. The secret of a good poem is often in what you plant in the reader’s mind, but don’t actually say. The trick is to get them reading between the lines.’