Alongside a successful painting career spanning sixty years (including Portraits of foreign royalty and HM Queen Elizabeth for the British Embassy, Qatar) Mai has been writing and contributing articles to various publications since the early fifties. Ghost-writing and supporting others became a quiet passion and apart from a publication in 1977, Mai’s name rarely appeared as the author. ‘Echoes’ was a winning entry in an international short story competition, so she finished writing the first of her ‘Grey Series’ of paranormal mystery thrillers, finally writing under her own name. Mai is writing her fifth, now. www.maiwriting.com and www.maigriffin.com. p168, 200, 225

Vonnie was born in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire. A graduate of Cardiff University, she is an opera fan and a lover of Baroque music and has been a resident of Spain for twenty-five years.  p28, 54, 67, 71, 83, 91, 102, 121

In William’s working life there were two distinct phases – Royal Navy and post-Royal Navy – both roughly equal in time terms at around twenty-two years each. The stories that stick in William’s mind come from several different areas of his RN service – flying, diving and the events leading up to his M.B.E.  However, the most relevant one to William’s first book Over By Christmas  came from diving.

When William was the Diving Officer of the shore base HMS CONDOR in Scotland, he also founded and led the ship’s Sub Aqua Club. They dived on a number of wrecks in Scottish waters. On one such expedition, they found the two huge propellers (each weighing 14.5 tons) of HMS ARGYLL, a  battle-cruiser that ran aground on the Bell Rock during WW1.

Many years later, while carrying out research for Over By Christmas, William unearthed the true story of how ARGYLL mysteriously came to be on the rock, and the drama that unfolded inside the lighthouse that night. He published a short story about this little piece of history on the highly recommended web site at www.bellrock.org.uk.

William’s story, The Death of HMS ARGYLL, is on the site. The dramatic demise of the ship is also featured in Over By Christmas. 

William’s website is www.williamdaysh.com p110, 157, 181, 194, 216

Margaret was born in India and started writing as the bombs rained down on Calcutta, “Mainly plays, to keep us kids occupied,” she says.

Later, in England, she had articles published in ‘She’, ‘Parents’, and twice in the Bristol Evening Post.

When living five thousand feet up on Kilimanjaro, Margaret started writing her autobiography and also a biography of the famous Margarete Trappe. She now lives in Spain and concentrates on short stories. p32, 51, 63