Today I'm happy to welcome on my blog fellow Crooked Cat author Nancy Jardine, whose historical romance The Beltane Choice, has received many praises and great reviews. Nancy has a new book out this week, "Topaz Eyes", an exciting mystery-romance novel. The story opens in the German town of Heidelberg and here Nancy tells us a little more about this lovely, historical town and why she chose it as one of the settings for her book.
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The Heidelberg of Topaz Eyes
What is it about Heidelberg, Germany,
that makes it an incredible destination to visit…and also to write about?
In my ancestral mystery - Topaz
Eyes – I needed the initial location to be a European city that has
great impact, yet doesn’t have too extensive a tourist centre: Heidelberg was perfect. Keira Drummond is familiar
with the old town areas of the Aldstadt, and loved living there as a twenty-one
year old student. Her enjoyment of the city itself hasn’t changed when she
responds to a mysterious invitation to revisit at twenty-seven - it’s the
people she meets that she’s not sure of. Finding herself involved in a family
quest for long scattered jewels isn’t what she expected, but being an excellent
tourist guide to Teun Zeger is something that’s no hardship.
What
is there for Keira to show Teun on their tourist wanderings?
Here’s what I love about Heidelberg – some of which is included in Topaz Eyes.
On arrival at the Aldstadt –the old city-
the sense of medieval history hits me immediately. The cobbled streets and the
glorious old buildings, so many of which could be a story in themselves, are
fabulous viewing.
The Renaissance style Alte Brucke (old
Bridge) with its distinctive bridge gates – the Brukentor – is only one of many
bridges straddling the River Neckar near Heidelberg.
I absolutely love the black tower tops of the Brukentor, which seem reminiscent
of the Pickelhaube helmets worn by
Prussian soldiers during the nineteenth century. The white towers guard the
city and are as imposing as the soldiers who would once have stood sentinel
there.
Walk half way along the Alte Brucke and
pause. There are the most fantastic views up and down the River Neckar from the
old bridge itself, the steep banks opposite the city clothed in dense foliage,
dotted at the lower reaches with white walls and red roofs. On a fine day it is
easy to spend ages just looking…and admiring.
In the old city itself, a walk of a couple
of hours gives you a glimpse of the main attractions. The pedestrianised
streets around Bismarckplatz and Hauptstrasse are full of beautiful
architecture - though if retail therapy is more your style you’ll find a wealth
of distinctive and exciting shops to cater to those needs. The Baroque-style University buildings were of particular
interest to me on one visit since my daughter was studying there, for a year,
as part of her UK University languages course. (A reader of Topaz
Eyes just might spot a parallel there.) A visit to the former students'
prison at Jesuit's Church (Jesuitenkiche) is a highlight not to be missed – a
tourist trap I gather most students drag their families to view.
A trek up the hillside or a short trip on
the Bergbahn – funicular railway - takes you to the huge Heidelberg Castle,
a jumble of buildings of different architectural styles. The smallish apothecaries’ museum is fascinating
and just had to be included in Topaz Eyes.
If you’re interested in a nice hike up a
steep hill then a trip to the Philosophenweg – The Philosopher’s Walk – is a
great way to spend an afternoon, the vistas from various outlook levels are
fantastic as you climb higher and higher.
This is just a taster to the many
attractions of Heidelberg.
If you’re interested in finding out more about the other cities I’ve used in Topaz
Eyes you’ll find me guest posting in other blogs about Vienna,
Amsterdam, Duluth
and Rochester
(Minnesota USA), and Edinburgh. Please check out my blog http://nancyjardine.blogspot.com for
the other blog tour URLs.
Thank you for inviting me to be your guest
today, Michela. It’s been my pleasure to highlight a few of the special places
in Heidelberg,
a city that will always mean a lot to me.
TOPAZ EYES
A peculiar invitation to Heidelberg
embroils Keira Drummond in the search for a mysterious collection of
extraordinary jewels once owned by a Mughal Emperor; a hoard that was last
known to be in the possession of Amsterdam
resident, Geertje Hoogeveen, in 1910.
Who among the progeny of Geertje – hitherto
unfamiliar third cousins brought together for the quest – can Keira rely on?
Distrust and suspicion among them is rife.
Which one is greedy, and determined enough,
to hire thugs to tail her… and worse… as she travels to Vienna
and Minnesota? Can Keira even trust Teun Zeger - a
Californian she is becoming very drawn to – as they pair up to unearth the
jewellery?
As they follow a trail of clues, will they
uncover the full collection before the hired gun kills them? Details remain
furtive and undisclosed until danger and death forces their exposure. And who
harbours the ultimate mystery item that is even more precious than the Mughal
jewels?
Greed, suspicion and murder are balanced by
growing family loyalty, trust, and love.
Jensen’s
reply lacked emotion, his face a blank screen, his gaze focused on Teun as
Keira regarded the by-play.
“Teun.
It may come as a surprise to you, but you actually know more about this
invitation than Keira. At least you knew from my letter I had something of
family interest you might be glad to take back to the USA with you.
Keira had no such suggestion made to her.”
Tension
rose in the room, which didn’t only radiate from Teun.
Keira
sat uneasy, also unwilling to be in the dark any longer. “Would you please
explain why you think I may have something you want, Herr Amsel?” She found
herself reluctant to use his first name, considering the antagonism now
mounting.
“All
in good time, Keira. And please call me Jensen. I don’t set out to be anyone’s
enemy. I believe each of you can provide access to items belonging to the
collection. All the pieces are likely to vary in monetary value but, viewed as
a complete entity, it will make an impressive display. It’s a historic set… and
unique.”
Topaz eyes will be
available in print and e-book formats from 7th December from: www.crookedcatbooks.com
An ex-primary teacher, Nancy Jardine, lives
in the fabulous castle country of Aberdeenshire,
Scotland. Her
husband mans the kitchen, her offspring only an hour’s drive away. When time
permits, ancestry research is an intermittent hobby. Neglecting her large
garden in favour of writing, she now grows spectacularly giant thistles.
Activity weekends with her extended family are prized since they give her great
fodder for new writing.
A lover of history, it sneaks into most of
her writing along with many of the fantastic world locations she has been
fortunate to visit. Her published work to date has been two non fiction history
related projects; two contemporary ancestral mysteries; one light-hearted
contemporary romance mystery and a historical novel, The Beltane Choice, also published by Crooked Cat Publishing.
Nancy's Blog
Nancy's website
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Follow Nancy on Twitter @nansjar
photos courtesy of Nancy Jardine ©
