shewhomust | The calm and the storm

A beautiful summer evening yesterday, clear and bright and still, and we went to Cullercoats for the launch of Ann Cleeves' new murder mystery, The Raging Storm.

The event was upstairs at the club, so we went to the Salt House next door for something to eat beforehand. I vaguely remember it as a burger joint, but it seems to have converted itself to a tapas bar. My usual experience with tapas is that there's something I really enjoy, and something else which I don't order, and wish I had: last night that was the chicken thighs with a creamy bean sauce, and the crab, respectively. A large glass of macabeo was plenty to see me through the evening, and I was happy not to have to contend with the queue at the bar (though

durham_rambler, who had been abstemious with the wine, was disappointed).

Because yes, although we arrived at the club maybe a minute or so before the doors were scheduled to open, there was already a queue, and it took all of the half hour between then and the formal start time - and more - to get everyone into their seats. Which is very satisfactory, not only for the author, and the bookshop who organised it, but also for the RNLI: the book is dedicated to them, and the evening was a benefit event. Having already read the book, I knew that there was a connection there - the lifeboat is involved in the discovery of the first body (I don't think it's a spoiler to say that there's more than one murder...). But Ann had some stories to tell during the Q & A session which I hadn't heard before, including a daring lifeboat rescue off the island of Hillbre...

So that was fun, and then we drove home through deepening twilight: the sea still and luminous on our left, the moon hanging above us like a perfect lemon wedge in the sky.