Another Death in Paradise?

Of the nine islands that I visited on my recent Caribbean trip, French was the principal language on just one, Guadeloupe (and one of two principal languages on St Maarten, an island split between the French and the Dutch). I found Guadeloupe fascinating, and not only because it's the place where that highly successful TV series Death in Paradise is filmed. The creator of the series, Robert Thorogood, named his fictional main town Honore, a hat tip to the scene of the crime in Agatha Christie's A Caribbean Mystery.

I didn't actually make it to the resort where the show is filmed, though one couple did make that specific pilgrimage, such is their love of the series. But Guadeloupe is full of interesting and often very beautiful places. And my interest in the macabre was piqued by the fascinating "checkerboard cemetery" to which we were taken. I've never seen anything quite like it.

During my trip, I managed to do plenty of reading, and the books I devoured will feature on this blog in the near future. I also had time to think about my current work in progress. But even more importantly in the long run, perhaps, I was able to continue my research into Caribbean life. I'm hoping to make something substantial out of this.

My fascination with the area has already resulted in two short stories. "A Glimpse of Hell", set in Gran Cayman, has already been published, while "Farewell Cruise" should appear in print next year. But I also have other plans in mind, which will draw on the research I've managed to undertake during my various trips to the area over the past three years. It will be a while before I'm in a position to talk further about these plans, but suffice to say that I am sure that Death in Paradise has not exhausted the possibilities for Caribbean-based crime fiction, and what I have in mind is something very different.