Boston has served as a setting for a number of my books. I think of it as my city, although I live on a hilltop in northern New England. I attended college in Boston, and Joe and I lived in a cute (as in tiny) Beacon Hill apartment when we were first married. We went back for a year when our daughter was small. Now our adult children and our grandchildren live in the Boston area.

Let’s just say my love of this great city continues and my frequent visits inspire new scenes, characters and stories.

I was struck recently by this quote from iconic author Mary Stewart:

“If you create a place properly, you feel as if you could walk about in it.”

That’s how I like to feel when I’m writing about Boston, or any other place, whether it’s through the eyes of art crimes specialist Emma Sharpe, tough-minded undercover agent Colin Donovan or fish-out-of-water Irish priest Finian Bracken in my Sharpe and Donovan series.

Or Rebecca Blackburn in Claim the Crown, who finds herself inheriting a fortune and discovering she isn’t who she thought she was.

Olivia Frost in Secrets of the Lost Summer abandons Boston, as much as she loves it, to return to her small hometown and unexpected romance as well as a new career.

Spring in Boston when the famous magnolias on Commonwealth Avenue are in bloom is probably my favorite season, but I do love Christmas, too, with its stunning lights and decorations and festive spirit.

May wherever you are this holiday season be filled with joy and great memory-making!