
Donna Fletcher Crow, Novelist of British History, has written more than 50 books specializing in British Christianity. These books include: The Monastery Murders, clerical mysteries; Lord Danvers Investigates, Victorian true-crime; The Elizabeth and Richard series, literary suspense; and Glastonbury, The Novel of Christian England. She loves research and sharing you-are-there experiences with her readers.
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Donna Fletcher Crow, Novelist of British History
A traveling researcher engages people and places from Britain's past and present, drawing comparisons and contrasts between past and present for today's reader.
The Blue Train: Paris to the Riviera with Elegance and Murder
By Donna Fletcher Crow ~ October 6, 2021
Originated by the same company that started The Orient Express, The Blue Train—which got its name from the color of its sleeper cars, not from the fact that it connected to the Côte d’Azur, as I had thought—has had a long and checkered career, interrupted by wars and economic changes, but it remains a symbol of elegance and luxury, and its name conjures images of the epitome of opulent travel.
My first glimpse of this extravagant world was watching the movie “Mr. Bean&rsquo...
At The Hotel Negresco with Hercule Poirot
By Donna Fletcher Crow ~ September 28, 2021
Ah, Le Negresco, symbol of the French Riviera and one of the world’s most luxurious hotels.
No, my daughter-in-law and I didn’t stay there. After all, the current owner Madame Jeanne Augier reportedly replied to Bill Gates’ offer to buy it that, “He couldn’t afford it.”
But surely, our accommodation was a close second-best as our Air B and B was only a few hundred feet on along the Promenade d’ Anglaise. And we looked out on the same azure blue sea.
The hotel Negresco was built in 1912 by Henri Negresco, the son of a Romanian innkeeper. After service in the Romanian army, the young Henri left Bucharest for Paris. Then on to the Riviera, where he found success as director of the Municipal Casino in Nice. This gave him the idea to build a sumptuous hotel of quality that would attract the wealthiest of clients and appeal to the high-rollers that...
Riviera Adventure Continues with Escoffier in Monaco
By Donna Fletcher Crow ~ September 22, 2021
Today my daughter-in-law and I are focusing on the chaperone duties which we had scurried through that brief Covid let-up to perform. Our charges, my granddaughter Jane and her roommate Chloe, have finished their week of intensive study at the Princess Grace school, and we are on the spot to pick them up.
This is a nostalgic journey back to my childhood, since I am of sufficient age to remember the fairy tale romance of American film star Grace Kelly and Prince...
Sailing to Saint-Tropez with Alexandre Dumas
By Donna Fletcher Crow ~ September 13, 2021
Well, no, I wasn’t actually with the great French novelist Dumas père. In reality I was with my food writer daughter-in-law Kelly, who had planned our fabulous Riviera escape. Our excuse was our “chaperoning” my granddaughter/Kelly’s daughter in her ballet intensive in Monaco. But it turned out to be something of an intensive for us as well, as we discovered writers and gorgeous food at every location.
We couldn’t have had a lovelier day to set sail westward along the incredibly blue Mediterranean for...
New Blog series: Writers in France, Then and Now, Villefranche
By Donna Fletcher Crow ~ September 7, 2021
We were so fortunate. In late July of this year it seems that the planets aligned and a brief window opened after travel restrictions eased and before the Delta variant ramped up—and we managed to dash through like Alice through the looking-glass.
My granddaughter Jane had an interval between...
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