Dr Dan is now well and truly launched, on a sea of tea, Doctor’s Orders cocktails (recipe available on application) and generous goodwill. Thanks to everyone who has bought it, read it, reviewed it and is asking for more.

Last Friday, aided and supported by kind friends who know how much I fear social gatherings, I hosted a little tea party for people who have done much to promote my books. The photo, which I submit in evidence, is a bit ‘soft focus’ but it seems to show me checking novelist Judy Astley’s heart with my pink, Dr Dan stethoscope.

I now need to put away my party shoes and get cracking on Book 2. First draft is already shaping up so, as long as I’m spared, I see no reason why it shouldn’t be out by next March. One of the advantages of going ‘independent’ is that I can set the pace. I still feel a bit naked without a big publishing house behind me but at least I don’t have to wait while my book moves at a snail’s pace along someone else’s production line.

In other news today, I have a piece in this week’s Spectator magazine  –  yet another cause for joy in my heart.

Laurie Graham has had a very good week, thank you very much.