I woke up at five o´clock yesterday morning, experiencing one of those eureka moments which strike all too seldom. I had in my head the whole plot of the first ten or twelve chapters of a completely new novel which I hadn´t previously even thought about writing, although I had the vague notion that I might try it one day in the future. Now this is my project for the next few months.

This novel will continue the story started in The Secret of the Cathars and will involve the same set of characters. But now problems have arisen between the main characters, Philip and Jackie, because she is so involved in her television series. Of course Jeanette is still waiting in the wings and another new woman also becomes involved. I haven´t decided yet how it will work out. Writing is like that. The solutions creep up on you as you write.

I already have a title for the new novel – The Treasure of the Visigoths. This is because Rennes-le-Chateau village is all that remains of Rhedae, the ancient capital of the Visigoths, the barbarians who sacked Rome in 410 A.D. and carried off the treasures which the Romans had themselves taken from the Temple in Jerusalem. This included the Ark of the Covenant and possibly the Holy Grail. Of course this is the theme of the main plot.

I can also tell you that the middle book of the three, which I previously called The Templar Legacy, has been renamed The Legacy of the Templars because I found that another book with the same former title had been recently published in USA. I am waiting for a cover to be designed for this book, which is expected in January, before I publish it early in 202