i rang katharine horsley in england this morning - it's the first time i'd talked to her for about a year, that is, not since she graduated and returned to england. i expect we've both been caught up in our own lives, and i still think about her very often, though we exchanged not more than a dozen emails in the past year, perhaps fewer. i'm much happier now of course, having made good friends and learnt to love cambridge and boston, but i shan't forget in a hurry that when i first got here and knew no one and hadn't yet found my feet she was the one real confidant and sister figure to me - readily available, generous with sympathy and encouragement, full of good counsel and personal stories - you feel heartened, practically brave again when you talk to her. i've said that a few times before, but every young woman needs an older woman in her life - and i'm fortunate to have two - katharine and cristina.

now is a good time to tell people about crime culture, an academic website for the study of crime fiction, film and graphic art, created by katharine and her mother (who is a lecturer in english at lancaster.) here are its aims and submission guidelines. julian would like this, and su-lin might like the section on victorian detective fiction, and for the medievalists and early modernists there's katharine's addition of the rogue's gallery, a collection of accounts of, confessions by, depositions on (etc) about outlaws, witches, cutpurses, conycatchers, pirates, highwaymen...have a look - it is most delightful!