George Langston interviews Esther Brookstone and Steve Morgan…
Early St. Paddy’s Day wishes for all my readers. On this day, everyone can be Irish! You don’t need to be of Irish descent to celebrate. (St. Paddy himself was a Briton.) Visit your local pub and toss down some Irish ale, stout, or whiskey and enjoy some lamb, bangers and mash, or a plate of corn beef and cabbage (that’s more an Irish-American invention, but it’s the spirit of celebration that counts), finishing everything off with an Irish coffee. If you’re vegetarian or vegan, have some potato skins or chips with cabbage. There might be singers and dancers to enjoy as well on this day when the leprechauns and banshees are out and about speaking their special secret versions of Irish Gaelic. Enjoy morning, noon, and night. Slainte!
***
[Note: Readers might know that George Langston was Esther Brookstone’s boss when she worked in the Art and Antiques Division of Scotland Yard; like Dr. Watson with the sleuth Sherlock Holmes, George became the chronicler of Esther’s adventures. In the following, he interviews both Esther Brookstone and Steve Morgan, another ex-Scotland Yard detective and now Bristol PD Detective Inspector.]
George: I’m here at The Masterworks Gallery with Esther Brookstone and Steve Morgan. Who wants my first question?
Steve: Ladies go first, George.
George: So, Esther, people are asking why you seemed to have turned your sleuthing activities over to Steve here. Was it because you were tired of being compared to Dame Agatha’s Miss Marple?
Esther (with a laugh): That was used more as an insult by wags at the Yard. When my husband, my Dutchman Bastiann van Coevorden, came into my life, they started calling him Poirot, although he only looks like the actor who played that sleuth. I’m still a lot sprier than Miss Marple, so there was never any valid reason for anyone to identify me with her.
Steve: I believe some of what led to those nicknames, madam, was your and Bastiann’s sleuthing prowess, so you could consider the moniker an honor. Lots of people recognized that even before that BBC documentary came out.
Esther: I made those pillocks remove that documentary from their server. No one even remembers it now.
George (with a grin): Except for the copies people had already downloaded. Do you think the fame that brought helped sales in this gallery?
Esther: You should study that, George. It will give you something to do in your own retirement. It’s hard to imagine any potential clients even making the connection to that BBC trash.
George: So, should we consider that Steve took over your sleuthing activities?
Esther: I don’t mind. He’s young; I’m old. And I might still be a spry old hen, but Bastiann and I aren’t getting any younger. We’re both retired.
Steve: And you cats have used most of your nine lives by now.
George: You were once at the Yard, Steve, like Esther. Why did you move to Bristol?
Steve: Esther was in your division, old man. Generally speaking, that should have been a more genteel policing position than being a detective inspector in the crime-ridden area of London where I was working. Too intense. It got to me. My girlfriend left me too. I needed a change.
George: Seems to me, considering recent events, that you jumped from the firing pan into the fire. Did you expect that to occur?
Steve: No. And I didn’t expect to find the love of my life in Bristol either. Esther and I have both been lucky in our meeting someone through our work.
Esther: The difference being that I met Bastiann when I was still at the Yard, and that only happened because recovering art and chasing art thieves is an international activity. I just stumbled onto my three previous husbands as well.
Steve: Three? I only know about that count you married before Bastiann.
Esther: You weren’t there when several different groups tried to steal an old friend’s new algorithms for quantum computers. That old physicist and his wife were good friends with another husband and me at Oxford.
Steve (with a laugh): The Yanks might call you a cougar.
Esther (with a frown): For your information, I dearly loved all my husbands. I can’t help it that the first three decided to leave this mortal coil.
George: It happens. Both your careers have been fraught with danger. Here’s a question for both of you: What part does the Russian ex-pat Vladimir Kalinin play in your cases?
Steve: I’ve only heard about him secondhand. Esther?
Esther: I’ve only met him in dangerous circumstances, when he saved that old friend and an MI5 agent. Bastiann and I know he was involved in other cases, including Steve’s and some in the US. Frankly, I hope we’ve seen the backside of him. Let’s just say he’s a complex and evil villain I’d prefer to avoid from now on.
Steve: Yes, let’s leave him to the agents of MI5 and NCA.
Esther: You’ve had enough on your plate at Bristol recently, so that’s a good idea. That cult leader was a real nutter.
Steve: Not to mention those Chinese and Russian scrotes operating in the Bristol area.
Esther: And the domestic terrorists who went after both of us.
George: Do you think Steve will have plenty to keep him busy in Bristol, Esther?
Esther: Of course. Most human beings are good people, even if a bit mad at times. But there are always bad apples in the barrel, and they can do a lot of damage. Steve can have them all. I hope I’m through with them.
***
Comments are always welcome. (Please follow the rules listed on the “Join the Conversation” web page. If you don’t, your comment is considered as spam.)
“Inspector Steve Morgan” trilogy. These three novels deal with some of the events and themes discussed in the interview above. In Legacy of Evil, Steve and his team tie up loose ends left over from Celtic Chronicles and tangle with a Russian oligarch. In Cult of Evil, they tackle an evil cult, but Steve is distracted by a terrorist out for revenge. In Fear the Asian Evil, China’s plan to destabilize British democracy is exposed as the team tracks down the shooter who attacked one of its members. (Notes: Esther’s adventure involving her old friend mentioned above is described by George Langston in Leonardo and the Quantum Code. The BBC documentary mentioned describes some of what occurred in Rembrandt’s Angel. All books in the Morgan trilogy are available wherever quality ebooks are sold, just not on Amazon.)
Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!
