William Gilbert started his mystery writing with the Garnet and Petunia series, featuring a cynical ex-merchant seaman and ex Metropolitan policeman now operating a detective agency dealing with Brits in Bangkok with his Thai ladyboy sidekick. Following the pandemic, William decided he needed to take a long break and was kindly granted temporary residence by the Mexican authorities and moved to Mérida.

Since then, he has moved his fictional detective over with him, leaving the Thai ladyboy assistant behind in fictional Bangkok, and given Garnet a new, handsome, upright, Mexican ex-policeman business partner, Sr. Trujillo (named after the Mexican consular official who gave William his immigrant visa and thus enjoys his undying gratitude). The pair of them have so far provided the material for three books: Garnet and Trujillo’s  The Pink Flamingo, Atlantis, and The Mini with the Union Jack Roof. William tries his best to make sure that some at least of the action takes place in Mérida in each of his Garnet and Trujillo books.