I see that Joan Aiken died at the weekend, aged 79. I really loved her stories as a kid, and particularly remember her collections A Small Pinch of Weather and A Harp of Fishbones, and when I was a little older the series of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Black Hearts in Battersea, and Night Birds on Nantucket. It seems she was still writing to the end and her last novel will be published in the spring. I’m sad to hear that there will be no more.