October was spent mostly on edits for Thieves in the Temple. It’s been a bigger and longer task than I expected it to be, but it’s also been a huge learning experience.

The editing process has also made me stop and think about historical accuracy, and that has led down some very deep internet rat-holes. The most recent was a reference I made to lace in the story. When I checked online, the first historical references to lace are in a will by the Milanese Storza family in 1493, and disputed by the Flemish pointing to a 1485 painting by Hans Mernling.

Either way, the chances of lace being on garments during the Exile, would be a stretch. Fortunately, it wasn’t a big change to make in the manuscript and nothing in the plot hung on the lace.

A bigger gap was the realization I’d reached the end of the story and never explained how the crime was committed. That needed a little more work, including adding a couple of scenes.

I’m planning to get Thieves in the Temple available in early December. There’s also been a lot of thinking around the sequel – or rather sequels. I was looking through some notes a couple of weeks ago and had ideas for two Jacob and Miriam stories. Not sure where they’ll fit into the planning, but I’m sure that will become clearer as I get deeper into the next story – Death at a Wedding during November and December.