I hadn’t come across the word poddle, until writing buddy Sharon Bee used it in connection with my character police officer Trevor Harris, who is the lead character in the fourth book in my Little Mallow cosy mystery series . Distracting Crimes and Romantic Proposals in Little Mallow will be out later this year.

Sharon says that Trevor seemed to ‘poddle along‘. I guessed the word meant to be relaxed, unstressed, not particularly hurried or dynamic. That’s because of how Trevor was behaving in the scene Sharon was commenting on. We were both right. Poddle means to travel or move in a leisurely manner, and Trevor is more than capable of that! He has many good qualities and can be brave, quick thinking and decisive when needed, but you’re not likely to mistake him for Jack Reacher or James Bond. That makes him a good fit for a series which is more in the style of Agatha Christie than Karin Slaughter.

Oddly I couldn’t find a photo of Trevor, so here’s one of me poddling in the Lake District. Have you ever poddled?

Btw there’s a river Poddle in Ireland. I wonder if it’s fast flowing?