THE SILVER CANE - THE BOOK TITLE THAT TURNED SPOOKY!

Have you ever had something you've long imagined materialise?  This happened to me last Tuesday morning.

My work-in-progress is THE SILVER CANE, a Fitzjohn mystery and #4 in the series.  My title comes from the fact that the murder victim carried a cane with a silver handle.

I’ve envisaged this cane for months.  A silver handle, atop a slim piece of dark wood with a silver tip at the end.  The only thing I had not visualised is what shape the silver handle would take, although I did know it would be some sort of bird.

I’d never even seen a walking cane like this and I didn’t expect I would.  The canes I have seen are rather clinical looking things that stand in corners of chemist’s shop, waiting for some elderly new owner to come along.

Oddly, on this particular Tuesday morning, I seemed to be carried along on a wave of activities I rarely participate in.  That is, I went out for breakfast to an old part of town that I don’t usually frequent.  After breakfast I went to a bookshop that I’ve never been keen on.  I found I still wasn’t, so I left after a couple of minutes, but instead of retracing my steps back to my car, I found myself walking in the opposite direction.  That’s when I happened upon what I can only describe as a curiosity shop.  You know the sort; a bit dusty, dimly lit, cluttered, and simply filled to the brim with bric-a-brac - in other words, a wonderful place to browse.  I'm a good browser so, of course, I stepped inside. No doubt you know the rest.  There, leaning against an old cupboard was the very SILVER CANE I had conjured up in my mind, complete with an eagles head for its silver handle, and a silver tip at its end.  True story!

I’m now the proud owner of that silver cane, made in Italy, no less, and a most beautiful object. I must say, this whole episode has brought more meaning to the title of my next Fitzjohn mystery - THE SILVER CANE.

Do you have any spooky stories?