A Note from
Christine Tipper
Author of The Paige Harper Mysteries
Weekly Letter · May 2026
Dear Reader,
Welcome back — and thank you, as always, for sharing a little of your week with me. I’ve been thinking about you all more than usual this week, because what I want to talk about touches on something rather delicious: the art of not being seen.
Hidden in Plain Sight
Decades ago I attended a workshop for language teachers. The person running the session handed everyone a text written in a language none of us could read, and asked us to make sense of it — to find the subject, the noun, the verb. We threw ourselves into the puzzle. We dissected sentences, compared word shapes, looked for patterns. It was the kind of concentrated, slightly panicked analysis that only a room full of teachers can produce.
When we’d quite exhausted ourselves, the workshop leader looked around the room and asked, very quietly: “How many of you looked at the picture?”
“The answer was there all along. We’d simply been told where to look — and so we looked in entirely the wrong direction.”
I have never forgotten that moment. And it is, I confess, at the very heart of everything I do when I write a murder mystery.
As a writer, my job is not simply to conceal — it is to direct. To give you something bright and interesting to look at over here, while planting something quietly significant over there. A clue that is hiding in full daylight, perfectly visible, simply waiting for the moment when you look back and say: oh. Of course.
I’ve just finished a book where the killer was revealed through a single, breathtaking detail: the dog didn’t bark when the murderer entered the room. Set during the night, when dogs are deep in their own dreams, it barely registered — until it did. Utterly, gloriously clever. The clue was there. We simply weren’t looking.
A Little Confession
Last week’s challenge — asking you to identify which book features the Rougemont Castle gatehouse — contained exactly this kind of hidden clue. Did you find yourself looking at me in my rather splendid bright pink jacket? How many of you thought to zoom into the photograph and read the plaque on the wall behind me? The answer was there. Right there. In plain sight.
This is why I love this genre so very much. It is a collaboration — between writer and reader, between what is shown and what is seen. The best mysteries don’t cheat. They simply know where your eyes will go.
A dispatch from
🐾 Sprite’s Corner
Hello, dear friends. Sprite here. Norfolk Terrier. Paige’s devoted companion and, if I may say so, her most astute investigative partner.
This week, Paige and I have been to St Sidwell’s Community Centre in Exeter, and what a lovely outing it was. There were humans of all sorts — my very favourite kind of gathering — and the smells were simply extraordinary. I conducted a thorough investigation of every corner, as any responsible terrier would, and I am pleased to report that nothing suspicious went undetected. Paige seemed to enjoy herself enormously too, though she spent rather more time talking than sniffing, which I feel is a missed opportunity.
I do love Exeter. There are always interesting things to observe. And — as Christine was just saying — one must always look carefully. You never know what you might find hiding in plain sight.
Until next time — nose to the ground, eyes wide open. 🐾
Find Me Online
For more about The Paige Harper Mysteries — and to keep an eye on what I’m cooking up in that new series — do visit me at:
With warmth — and a clue or two,
Christine
Let the adventures continue.
The Paige Harper Mysteries | christinetipper.com
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