You may perhaps recall this snippet in Miss Seeton Quilts the Village:

"To be blunt—" began Delphick, and broke off as he saw Oblon's eyes widen, then narrow ...

Oblon’s reaction baffles Sergeant Ranger, who even makes a shorthand note about it. However, modern readers who know some history might not share the sergeant's bafflement.

The novel is set in 1975, and this particular scene (at the Foreign Office) involves some discussion of possible security leaks from Britain to countries behind the Iron Curtain. Unknown to Delphick and his sergeant, in real life as far back as 1964 a man holding the (genuine) position of Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures had confessed to MI5 that he was the “Fourth Man” in the Cambridge spy ring that included Burgess, Maclean, and Philby. The confession was kept secret until 1979, when Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher disclosed to the world that the traitor’s name was … Anthony Blunt.

When Delphick so casually uses the word “blunt” Oblon’s shocked response is to stare in horror at the thought of a mere policeman (who in the same context has just spoken of "pictures") being made privy to this closely-guarded secret. Which, of course, was not the case.

If you spotted that my use of the word "blunt" so close to "pictures" was deliberate, then please accept my congratulations. And if you didn’t, then I hope you feel that this obscure reference didn’t interfere with your enjoyment of the rest of the book.

You may also have noticed that Bonjour Miss Seeton, first published in 1997, concludes just a week before Nigel Colveden’s wedding to the charming Louise. The pair evidently had the longest honeymoon in history! We pick up the story again in Miss Seeton Quilts the Village which, although first published in 2017, opens just before the happy couple's return from the Isle of Wight.

Some explanation is required for that twenty-year delay before Miss Seeton comes back from her trip to the north. We soon learn that “the unexpected arrival of so rare a visitor as the yellow-crowned night heron had of necessity somewhat prolonged her stay.” What could have been more appropriate for Miss Seeton than a rare (for Britain) heron? Mr Carvic, her creator, would surely have approved.

If you've been waiting for the last of my Miss Seeton quizzes, it is now available at https://www.goodreads.com/quizzes/112.... This one covers the five books from Bonjour Miss Seeton onwards.

And, as for waiting, I have to advise that publication day for Watch the Wall, Miss Seeton has been put back to February 2019. If I'm to continue my fortnightly blog until then I'll need to find some new topics. If there's anything you'd like to see covered, please suggest it.

PS - Returning to my theme of external references from inside the story, there can be few better examples than Edmund Crispin's Holy Disorders. Crispin was still approaching his peak with this book, which does contain the odd disturbing scene, but much of it is truly comic crime. Not only has the character named Henry Fielding never heard of Tom Jones, but much of Chapter 8 is taken up with Gervase Fen's visit to Canon Garbin's study, where he encounters Garbin's pet raven. The subsequent behaviour of Fen and his companion Geoffrey Vintner may mystify readers who, like Garbin, are unfamiliar with the poem ... but this scene surely deserves an Edgar!