Having just returned from my first holiday in two years I was horrified to read that a member of the Dunnett reading and discussion community – Pam Crane from New Zealand – had gone missing on a Dunnett locations trip in Russia after completing a Bejing to Moscow Silk Road trip, and that her body had been found later, presumed murdered. My sincere condolences to her family who must be deeply shocked.

It is a reminder that Dorothy travelled to some very out of the way places in pursuit of her researches and at a time when such travel was rarer and more difficult than it is now. Fortunately she always emerged from her trips unscathed – it is a tragedy that years later, and after the fall of the Iron Curtain, Pam should be far less fortunate.

Please, all of you who are undertaking trips, take care of yourselves and be sure to be completely aware of your surroundings and any possible dangers.