A few days ago I mentioned that Mary and I had "finished" the rewrite of Six For Gold. I hope the character whose life was spared by the rewrite didn't read that entry...

Sadly, upon further editorial review, he or she will, after all, be joining the choir invisible next fall.

Not that the story will necessarily turn out that way when I remember it. I have a very poor recollection of what Mary and I write (or what I write myself) and what I do remember is the story I lived with for months during the writing process, not the last minute changes, no matter how crucial they might be.

What those who pick up the published books read isn't exactly what I recall. For example, the Two For Joy I remember ended in a much more dramatic fashion. (Well, OK, some editors and co-writers might have characterized it as ludicrously melodramatic...) And, so far as I'm concerned, someone named Amalathea will always be a major character in Three For A Letter even though you won't find her name in the printed pages.(Too many other people's names started with "A.)

As for tweaks to the clues and the solutions to the murders...forget it. Those I can't keep straight even while we're writing.