A Book Proposal (Case to Be Inserted When I Think It Up)
cold black seas surround the lonely island
so near the arctic circle so few lights observed from space
...a large warm apartment office and lab downstairs
curtained arched windows overlooking the lights of reykjavik
where ...dr. fiona petursdottir and the ...transwoman ...chef
whose name is ...birgitta an excellent name for someone so tall consult upstairs:
oysters on ice, vodka, lime ...yes, plenty of pepper
pork loin in orange glaze fiona likes it very well-done
arborvitae branchlets pickled capers
small gold potatoes and onions ...baked on a cedar
plank ...besides the kitchen the second floor has three bedrooms
...a small gym and a ...media room the third floor is fiona's suite
balcony bath bedroom ...vault
now let's think fiona says
they settle on ...flan for dessert
fiona is happy
snow caught in the window mullions
settling down in her ...eames chair under the ...chinese lamp she loosens her ...blonde hair
pets the ...setter ...who is getting on
pulls on her specs begins reading ...an autopsy report yes that's it
now ...sam the american assistant knocks on the office door
no sam isn't the girl's name it's...what is it...she's a college gymnast
with an m.a. in linguistics
the new client
bites her lip she is a foreigner
in a leather coat ...fur hat ...a bruised face
outside the last resort
(which is what fiona is)
winter is coming
pure and intransigent
fiona calls for... lapsang souchong
she leaps forward to help the ...fainting woman
suzanne that'll work for the assistant's name
or ...molly?
2.
fiona is a ...consulting forensic physician
well-known for her discretion and brilliance
she picked up a U.S. law degree along the way
she married ...twice when young
and is now celibate...she has a ...son
who lives in hmm...
owego new york with his wife and three toddlers
when they come to visit fiona can't work
she is fifty-two and looks it...brown eyes eyes dark brows
when she has an occasion she goes first to her favorite spa
and wears stella mccartney and looks pretty good but generally
she wears jeans and a blue sweater
navy turquoise robinsegg fisherman's knit angora cashmere
she wears her sable coat all winter to the coffee place
where she meets the...professor on ...wednesdays
fiona's dinners are legendary
the lesbian prime minister is usually a guest
now we're on a roll
she's a woman of few words but those betray wry humor
sometimes she grows morose and won't come out of her room for weeks
or disappears to the northern volcano country
very serious about her work
...did we say brilliant yet
she accepts only women clients
won't say why
sam...that is to say, suzanne
suspects she has been deeply wounded by a man
but this is not so
it's much more than that
a mystery really
3.
all through the series suzanne
who is the legwoman
will travel to far-flung locales
investigating
birgitta will sometimes act as butler and bouncer
at the apartment
fiona has connections...prefers email...
she stays home...collects...medieval torture instruments
she is not a sadist but her nemesis is
more about him later
...an exciting mystery now develops with quite a lot of violence, sex, gore, and suspense.
she figures it out at last
picks up the phone to tell the prime minister
about the menace
she puts the phone down not completing the call
she goes to her room and ...lights up a mild havana on her balcony
she's on...hringbraut street
overlooking the old cemetery and even on this winter
evening with a few sprinkles of snow
she has a good view of tjornin lake
birgitta brings her a dinner tray
...gravlax on toast
aqvavit
mocha mousse
an old song drifts up from a street boom-box
pink singing "who knew"
pink singing "who knew"