Friday FACT or FICTION?

TRUE or FALSE:

In Chapter 1 of Seven for a Secret, when Kate Pembroke gets locked in her bathroom and must call for help out the window, this actually happened to the author.

I'll give you some time to mull it over...

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

The real "Camden" Court.

My studio apartment was on the top floor of this left-hand wing,

above the entrance at the top of those stairs.

Answer: TRUE!

This absolutely happened to me. In fact, a lot of strange things tend to happen to me in bathrooms (aside from the obvious), and this won't be the last time one such bathroom incident will appear in one of my books. :)

I'd elaborate on the details, but honestly, it happened exactly as described in the book. Except I hadn't moved in yet; the place was supposed to be painted that day or the next, and I was just checking it out before work in the morning. Even though completely by myself, I closed the bathroom door--and, actually, now that I think of it, I don't think I was even using the toilet; I think I was just testing the door, knowing how they can stick in those old buildings (in which case, what moron tests it from the inside??). Anyway, while my doorknob wasn't as pretty as Kate's vintage one, it did come out in my hand, and, well, read the book for the rest.

Calling out to an unknown neighbor in the courtyard was mortifying, and I wish that gal were even half as nice as Vera is to Kate at the time. She was a younger woman who came upstairs to let me out and then proceeded to say nothing as we walked back downstairs together. No matter my profuse apologies and gratitude for her help, she did not speak. Needless to say, in my two years in that building (Hampden Court, the inspiration for Camden Court), I never saw her again. So maybe she was a ghost...