I better make the plot good. I wanted to make it grip people on the first page and have a big turning point in the middle, as there is, and construct the whole thing like a bit of a roller coaster ride...

And I know I can do this because I went to London on my own, and because I solved the mystery…and I was brave and I wrote a book and that means I can do anything.

...and I went into the garden and lay down and looked at the stars in the sky and made myself negligible.

Well, we're meant to be writing stories today.

..because when we look up into the sky at night there will be no darkness, just the blazing light of billions and billions of stars, all falling.

And Father said, "Christopher, do you understand that I love you?" And I said "Yes," because loving someone is helping them when they get into trouble, and looking after them, and telling them the truth, and Father looks after me when I get into trouble, like coming to the police station, and he looks after me by cooking meals for me, and he always tells me the truth, which means that he loves me.

I think the U.K. is too small to write about from within it and still make it seem foreign and exotic and interesting.