Digging Deeper with Merryn Allingham

Digging Deeper into Caribbean Evil with Merryn Allingham

Caribbean Evil is the third book in the Tremayne Mysteries series, set in the 1950s. My heroine, Nancy, first appears in The Dangerous Promise, where she is forced into a life and death struggle with her one-time fiancé turned stalker. Nancy marries Leo Tremayne, more as a means of escape than for any deep love, and honeymoons in Venice (Venetian Vendetta). In this beautiful but sinister city, she meets more danger, and it’s here that Nancy begins her career as an amateur sleuth. She has a difficult relationship with Leo’s assistant, Archie Jago. An intense attraction exists between them, but also all the prohibitions that marriage in the 1950s entail.

Protagonist:

She was pretty, very pretty. Not in that English rose kind of way—her hair was too dark, her eyes too grey. No, she possessed a more delicate beauty, so different from our own sun-toughened skin. She seemed uncomfortable and I wasn’t sure why. Her husband was a good deal older than her and I wondered if she wasn’t entirely happy in the marriage she’d made. Or was it something else? This island perhaps? Still, I dismissed her from my mind almost as soon as I’d seen her. She was a visitor, innocent, essentially uninteresting. I couldn’t have been more wrong. It was soon clear to me that she was one determined lady, the veritable dog with a bone. Nothing seemed to deter her, even though it led her into recklessness and danger. One thing’s for sure—she wouldn’t be the wife I’d want.

Antagonist:

I would never have believed he was capable of such terrible actions. He seemed so mild, so willing to please. Perhaps a bit too eager to please, but then I was a visitor and he was keen to be agreeable, to ensure that everything I heard or saw appeared commonplace. He obviously had a history—don’t we all?—but at first there was nothing to suggest any kind of secret life. Gradually, though, I came to see the horror that he’d been living and it was then I realised that he was more than capable.

Who would you choose to play each of them in a film or TV series?

Protagonist: Rosamund Pike

Antagonist: John Cusak

What is the creepiest action taken by your antagonist?

A dead crow left as a warning, its red blood seeping into a white counterpane.

Blurb:

When Paradise isn’t quite what it seems …

Nancy Tremayne has landed the job of her dreams in London. But this is 1955 and her husband, Leo, an art expert, has a project in the Caribbean and expects her to travel with him.

Reluctantly, she packs her suitcase for Malfuego, but almost as soon as she arrives on the island, witnesses a brutal attack on a defenceless young man. And there is worse to come.

Much worse.

When a murder occurs, Nancy is asked for help and, along with her husband’s assistant, Archie, discovers the very darkest side of the island. Together, they are forced to confront a terrifying situation —and, at the same time, find their lives have become dangerously entangled. After Malfuego, their worlds will never be the same again.

Social Media Links:

Website: www.merrynallingham.com.  Sign up to my newsletter and receive a free copy of  The Dangerous Promise

Facebook: www.tinyurl.com/m322ovu

Twitter: https://twitter.com/merrynwrites?

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