A fan called JEREMY emailed me recently, to ask the following question:

"I have a question about the timeline in the series. In the first Larten Crespley book, Birth of a Killer, Larten and Webster encounter Murlough in the cellar of an abandoned building. Does Larten remember Murlough when he encounters him in Tunnels of Blood?"

Jeremy isn't the first to ask that question. As he points out, a young Larten crosses paths with Murlough when the vampaneze is in his prime, but never mentions that in Tunnels Of Blood when he's telling Darren about him. Did he just forget about their previous encounter?!?

No, of course not. Now, being perfectly honest, *I* knew nothing of their original run-in when I wrote Tunnels Of Blood. Mr Crepsley's past was mostly a mystery to me when I was writing Cirque Du Freak and its sequels. I had no idea that he and Murlough were old foes. It was only when I came to write Birth Of A Killer that I saw a way to weave Murlough into the story -- I'd always wished that I could have done more with him, so I was delighted to be able to include him in the book, to give us a look at what he was like before his mind deterioriated.

If I HAD known about their previous history, would I have had Larten mention it in Tunnels Of Blood? No. I love that Mr Crepsley told Darren so little about his past. It was part of his charm, and one of the reasons why I think readers (and I) warmed to him so much. We could tell that he was a man still in much pain, and his refusal to discuss the source of that pain made us feel for him. So, even if I'd known about his encounter with Murlough, I wouldn't have nodded to it in Tunnels Of Blood. He was more fascinating to us in his pain, and if he'd started opening up to Darren, I think he would have lost some of his brooding appeal. His reluctance to talk through what was troubling him was tough for Mr Crepsley, of course -- but made for good reading for the rest of us!!!