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Today’s guest is Holly Bell, sharing a thoughtful look at how she would cast the characters from Amanda Cadabra and The Twilight Toxin if her series ever made its way to the screen. It’s a behind-the-scenes style conversation about how writers sometimes already see their stories unfolding visually long before any camera rolls.
There is also a sneak peek of Chapter One included below.
Casting My Book as a Movie: Who I’d Choose
by Holly Bell
Would you? Could you? Is it just a fantasy? Can an author say who they want in the film adaptation of their book? Well, it depends. On what? On what you put in your contract with them. The phrase you are after is … wait for it … ‘casting control.’ It can be a bit or a lot. JK Rowling had quite a bit. Stephen King had a lot. Then again, he owned the production company.
The point is that as an author, it is something that you really could have. So this is more than just an imaginative expedition. And I’ve thought about it. In the course of which I have discovered why being a casting director is so very challenging. Many say the hardest part is the rejection, having to tell actors they didn’t get the role. So at least I am spared that!
Let’s start with the main character: Amanda Cadabra. How was I to find a British actress who could pass for not much more than averagely pretty, reclusive, a fish out of water, but who has to find her courage and even has to play the attraction game?
I thought long and hard, and then I remembered Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. Karen Gillan, the shy teenager who is transformed by the infamous game into Ruby Roundhouse, a dance fighter.
She could certainly play the role and look the part, as I imagined Amanda, and by now she could still pass for the right age: late 20s to early 30s, yet with the child’s view of the world. Karen had been in Dr Who and Avengers; she could certainly handle a wand. Cast.
Next? The favourite character of many readers: Tempest, Amanda’s ever-grumpy feline familiar. Does he talk? Yes, inside Amanda’s head. I needed a voice. I hovered between Stephen Fry and Derek Jacobi. Stephen has the job. Cast.
And now came the trickiest role of all to cast: Detective Inspector Thomas Trelawney of the Devon and Cornwall Police, on secondment to the London Metropolitan Police on special assignment to Amanda’s obscure village of Sunken Madley. Where Amanda had found just one body too many, and the crime has been solved using uncomfortably magical measures. Uncomfortable, especially for our Thomas, who has long been a perfectly normal methods, by-the-book, proper police procedure man. He is only just beginning to come to terms with his own history with unfortunate magical associations. Who could play the part? The hunt was on.
I settled on a Welsh actor who was no stranger to the paranormal, police procedure or time travel (Amanda has to do quite a bit of that: the solution to every murder lies in the past …). The part of Thomas Trelawney goes to … Tom Ellis. Cast. Now for the easiest. The moment the name Amanda Cadabra was suggested by Tim (my fellow friend, now illustrator, and whose editor I am, and who got me into the writing the series back in 2018), I saw her, and I saw her familiar and knew his name, and I saw her grandmother. Exactly as she is played by the one and only, as seen in Downton Abbey … Maggie Smith. That is how Amanda’s formidable aristocratic Cornish maternal grandparent, Senara Cadabra neé Cardiubarn, came out of the box. In her absence, I choose … Helen Mirren. Cast.
Grandfather Perran Cadabra (also Cornish) is cast as Michael Caine. That was a reasonably easy one. Cast.
The last of the key characters in the series is Former Chief Inspector Michael Hogarth, a somewhat enigmatic character who appears to see the humour in every situation, however inappropriately. He is described by a fellow Cornish local as ‘the thinking woman’s crumpet’, and in case you are unfamiliar with that term to a British audience, it means a person who is considerably attractive. Say no more!
Who could fill this pivotal role? An Irish actor best known for his Bond movies, but who has shown both depth and a capacity for comedy in other roles: Pierce Brosnan. And I think he could just about fit the above description. Cast.
But what about characters outside the home cast, who appear in my latest book, the cozy paranormal mystery/urban fantasy, Amanda Cadabra and the Twilight Toxin, that are either new or in very much supporting roles?
These include Thomas Trelawney’s grandparents, his father, his father’s housekeeping friend, Trelawney’s detective, his detective sergeant, and the mysterious Jori who lives on Bodmin Moor, various neighbours, and a builder. Is the murderer among them? … That is for you to discover if you so choose. No time now in this post to cast them, but …
Do I seriously imagine my books will one day be made into films? I wouldn’t be the first author to do so. Some, such as Ian Fleming (back to James Bond again somehow), certainly did. Some authors even went on to become screenwriters.
But it’s not that I write with cinema adaptations in mind, it’s rather that I can see the action in my head as it takes place: I know the faces, the voices, the manner, the mannerisms, the moves, the rooms, streets, landscape, weather, the vegetation and the sound of the birds and the wind. And most of it is all there, in the words. Easy to transfer to the screen. And so maybe we will see them there; maybe if you are a writer and want to be, they will be your words transformed into sight and sound. And when it happens … I’ll tell you if you’ll tell me.
About Amanda Cadabra and The Twilight Toxin
Paranormal Cozy Mystery
9th in Series
Setting – Cornwall, and an English village
Publisher : Independently published
Publication date : April 29, 2026
Print length : 422 pages
Paperback
ISBN-13 : 979-8252946870
ASIN : B0GZ3HJ99Z
Digital
ASIN : B0GY11CBMZ
Someone is Watching
A body is discoveredin a troubling location, just as the killer had intended, the crime scene drawing covert witch Amanda and her irascible feline familiar back to the Cornish land of her birth. Inevitably, Detective Inspector Thomas Trelawney is drawn in to help her unravel this perplexing crime.
At the heart of this heinous murder lies an unknown weapon, a device possessing an extraordinary and lethal power. Worse still, the killer remains, somewhere close by … waiting. Who can it be? Can a daring venture into the past, to reclaim a distant memory from the curious Lucy Penlowr, bring Amanda and the inspector any closer to the truth?
Trelawney, determined to solve the case by normal methods, finds every turn a blind alley until a perilous path leads to two fateful hours at a secret gathering. Now, Amanda’s mounting temptation to embrace a dark revenge, and the ultimate test of her burgeoning magical skills, risk everything in a race for survival
Can Amanda and Trelawney unmask the killer and discover the true meaning of The Twilight Toxin?
A British urban fantasy with a side of cosy mystery, a dash of adventure, and a healthy helping of humour, The Twilight Toxin is the ninth standalone whodunnit in the Amanda Cadabra series.
About Holly Bell
Humorous and quintessentially English with excitement and magic.
Cat adorer and chocolate lover, British author Holly Bell’s life changed in a day. A best-selling author friend convinced Holly that she could write cozy mysteries, after many years’ experience with non-fiction, photography and video making.
Holly devoured all of the Agatha Christie books long before she knew that Miss Marple was the godmother of the Cozy Mystery. Her love of JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings meant that her first literary creation in this area would have to be a cosy paranormal. Over the series the books have grown to straddle urban fantasy mystery too.
Having derived immense delight from the adventure of writing Amanda Cadabra and The Hidey-Hole and its 8 sequels, and a prequel to date, Holly has more in the pipeline.
Her favourite feline is a black cat called Bobby. He is black. Like her favourite hat. Purely coincidental.
Holly loves to hear from readers. She always responds in person.
The Amanda Cadabra Cozy Paranormal Mysteries (in order):
Amanda Cadabra and The Hidey-Hole Truth
Amanda Cadabra and The Cellar of Secrets
Amanda Cadabra and The Flawless Plan
Amanda Cadabra and The Rise of Sunken Madley
Amanda Cadabra and The Hidden Depths
Amanda Cadabra and The Strange Case of Lucy Penlowr
Amanda Cadabra and The Hanging Tree
Amanda Cadabra and The Nightstairs
Author Links
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TOUR PARTICIPANTS
June 17 – Salty Inspirations – AUTHOR GUEST POST
June 18 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – SPOTLIGHT
June 18 – The Editing Pen – AUTHOR GUEST POST
June 19 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT
June 20 – Book Hookup – REVIEW
June 21 – deal sharing aunt – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
June 22 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
June 23 – Cozy Up With Kathy – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
June 24 – Sarcastically Yours, Jen – SPOTLIGHT
June 25 – Baroness Book Trove – SPOTLIGHT
June 26 – StoreyBook Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
June 27 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT
June 27 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
June 28 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
June 29 – Sarandipity’s – AUTHOR GUEST POST
June 30 – Book1987 – SPOTLIGHT
Excerpt- Chapter 1
At The Gates
The dog was always nervous at this point in the walk. The estate perimeter was boarded up. There was nothing to see, and it had long been abandoned to the encroaching wild grasses and ivy. Even so, Flussy always made sure to hurry past the gates on the opposite side of the track, not even sniffing to ‘read’ the news of other dogs or foxes who had passed by.
But today was different. Flussy began pulling on the leash as she and Martin neared the plank-obscured entrance, straining towards it.
‘Flussy?’
Suddenly, she wrenched the leash from Martin’s hand and pelted towards the gate, barking frantically.
‘What? Flussy!’ Her owner took her seriously and, seeing a loose board, swung it across to look up the driveway. Blessed with long sight, Martin peered at the great house. All but one window was blind, but in a lower one, the tall shutters had been opened. It was just possible to make out a table … and … something … on it. Could it be? Surely not. But Flussy was growing more vociferous by the minute.
The first task was to calm the dog. Martin picked up the quivering animal, ran with her past the borders of the property and held her, speaking soothingly to her. Finally, Flussy was quieted enough for the call.
Martin was an organised man. On his phone were the numbers of the gas and electricity supplier, the water board, his doctor, his dentist, the fire brigade, and the police station.
The phone was answered at once.
‘Hello, Bodmin Police Station, how can I help?’
‘Hello, my name is Martin Hicks and …. Well, er, yes, I think I did go to school with your … Yes, I’m actually calling about …. Well, yes … no … I … I’m not sure if it is an emergency. Look, it could be nothing, I really can’t be at all sure, but Flussy has been going mad …. No, she’s not my wife; she’s my bi–. My dog. Look, I don’t know if I’ve found anything. It’s just … that is I think … it’s a body.’
***
Detective Inspector Thomas Trelawney, of the Devon and Cornwall Police, on permanent loan to the Met on special, low-key assignment to Sunken Madley, poured milk into his perfectly brewed tea. He walked back to his desk, where a shaft of mid-morning sun was cast across his handwritten notes. He was hoping that a reviving beverage and a dip into the tin of shortcake biscuits, presented to him by his kindly landlady, might give him some inspiration.
Trelawney took his mug over to the window. It was a receptacle he rarely used, but, unusually, he hadn’t got around to washing up any these past three days, and it was the last one. A gift from Joan the postlady and Jim, her husband and local caterer, it bore the legend, ‘I like big busts and I cannot lie’. Trelawney felt that, while humorous and given from the right place, it somewhat lacked the gravitas due to his station-cum-office-cum-flat in the quaint English village of Sunken Madley.
Trelawney’s notes were various attempts at analyses of the series of murders that had taken place in the village during the past two years. Try as he might, any connections continued to elude him. Not that he’d had as much time with it as he’d have liked. Trelawney was also on secondment to Barnet Hill Police Station, which kept him busy. Although the inspector, as was understood by his superior there, always deferred to the priority of any matters pertaining to the village, and, of course, Amanda.
Amanda Cadabra.
Amanda Cadabra, who had got under his skin from that first moment in the cottage ….
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A big thank you to Holly Bell for joining Salty Inspirations and sharing her guest post.
If Amanda Cadabra and The Twilight Toxin is now on your reading list, be sure to add it to your TBR and explore the links above to learn more about the series and author.
Feel free to browse around the blog for more guest authors, book spotlights, and cozy reads.
As always, thanks for stopping by for some Salty Inspirations! —Michelle❤️
Michelle, thank you so very much for hosting my guest post on here on Salty Inspirations. I love the graphic you made out of my cast for the Amanda Cadabra series!
Thank you, Holly! I’m so glad you enjoyed it. Your cast photos made it way too fun not to turn into a graphic! – Michelle❤️