by Vivien Martin

ILIKE CONNECTIONS, especially literary ones. I’ve been known to choose holiday destinations based on books I’ve enjoyed. For example, an early visit to the Black Isle was inspired by Jane Duncan’s ‘My Friends’ series, nineteen semi-autobiographical novels, set in both Scotland and the Caribbean. After the early death of her engineer husband, it was to the Black Isle that Jane Duncan returned, and where she lived as a writer.

And I was first drawn to Wester Ross and Sutherland having read as a child Sheila Stuart’s ‘Alison’ books. The fact that my daughter is called Alison could well have some connection with these stories that I loved so much in my youth!

Below that archaeologists have unearthed a 4th-century basilica, originally part of the sumptuous home of a Roman nobleman

Some years ago, I read Ngaio Marsh’s When in Rome, where her suave gentleman detective Roderick Alleyn joins a select group on a murderous tour of a famous church, the Basilica di San Tommaso. The setting is based on the real Basilica di San Clemente, an ancient site where archaeologists have discovered at least three levels of buildings, the oldest being deep under the present ground level. Firstly there is the 12th century basilica. Below that archaeologists have unearthed a 4th-century basilica, originally part of the sumptuous home of a Roman nobleman. Below that again, a lower basement served as a mithraeum (a temple for the worship of Mithras) until that religion was outlawed.

It’s even possible that the home of that wealthy Roman nobleman had been built on the foundations of a much older republican-era building, which was destroyed in the Great Fire of AD64. These discoveries, each one further unravelling the mysteries of the past, have shed a great deal of light on the turbulent history of Rome and the varied lifestyles of its inhabitants. Naturally, having read the book, a family holiday to Italy had to include a visit to the Basilica di San Clemente! And I’m glad to say it lived up to expectations as an apt setting for a manylayered crime novel.