Sara O’Neill’s reading from her latest thriller was excellent. The crowd gave a large round of applause afterwards and I asked her about her previous books, how she got into writing etc. and then said we’d take questions from the audience.

This was, I had learned, the tricky part of any author event. I’d seen it go wrong a couple of times at the festivals we’d attended as the Bailey Bookworms and I was determined to be a good host.

Gerry Daly’s hand shot up but I decided to spare the poor woman that experience and called on another man instead.

“Hi, I loved your last book. I’m wondering if you’d ever consider killing off your detective and starting a new series with somebody else in that role?”

She laughed at that question. “Yes, I o...

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