Book Chick City: Interview with mystery writer, Frances Brody!

Interview with mystery writer, Frances Brody!

Monday, September 27, 2010 | Posted by Book Chick City |

I am very pleased to welcome Frances Brody to Book Chick City today. She is the author of a great new mystery series set in the 1920s featuring Kate Shackleton. The series starts with DYING IN THE WOOL, published October 2009, which I really enjoyed and reviewed a few weeks ago. Look out for book 2, A MEDAL FOR MURDER, which is being published this coming October.

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Hi Frances, thank you for being here today and for answering my questions, it's a pleasure to have you. For those who are unfamiliar with your Kate Shackleton books can you tell us a bit about them?

Kate Shackleton is a First World War widow turned sleuth. She’s been described as a young Miss Marple! Her sidekick is ex policeman, Jim Sykes. The books are murder mysteries with plots that set a puzzle for the reader.

Is Kate based on any body in particular or is she completely fictional?

We have family albums bursting with old photographs that go back a century. Kate stepped from there with her 1920s bobbed hair and carrying a camera. She’s fictional and has qualities I would like to have. She’s quick witted, tenacious and ahead of her time. I’m now writing book three and the great thing is that I’m still finding out about her: how she acts and reacts in different situations. Kate received the familiar wartime telegram about her husband, Gerald: ‘Missing presumed dead’. Part of her still hopes that one day she’ll find him.

What gave you the inspiration to set your books in the 1920's?

It’s a very ‘modern’ period. Those who could afford it (like Kate!) owned cars. People drove motorbikes, listened to jazz, learned new dances, joined camera clubs, drank cocktails and wore great fashions. I was brought up on family stories of those days – which for many were times of great hardship. It’s a period of huge contrasts and rapid change, particularly in the lives of women.

Did you do a lot of research? Do you enjoy this side to writing?

There are two strands in A Medal for Murder, a theatre production, which took no research at all because I’ve written for touring companies and love theatre. Researching the grandfather’s military background, I visited Cape of Good Hope museum in Cape Town, discovering little details that you couldn’t make up.

A Medal for Murder is set in Harrogate – home to the annual Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Festival. I know Harrogate well, but it was a pleasure to explore while imagining what this genteel spa town would have been like in the 1920s.

I adore the covers for the series. Were you happy with the cover art and did you have any input?

I love the covers too. The design is done in house by Emma Grey and then illustrated by artist Helen Chapman. The art work comes to me for comment. What’s to be said except brilliant!

Do you have a favourite time and place to write?

I start work at eight or nine in the morning and work until late afternoon or early evening. The loft at the top of the house has plenty of light. I have two desks and two chairs – one for writing and scribbling and one for writing and typing. Our two cats try to get to the chairs before me, or take revenge by walking across the keyboard.

Have you always been interested in mystery? Is this a genre you enjoy reading yourself?

I’ve always liked mysteries and grew up with the Sherlock Holmes stories and tales by Edgar Alan Poe. My uncle was a bookmaker on the race courses, so there was usually a Dick Francis library book in the house. I enjoy reading contemporary crime writers and have recently read books by Martin Edwards and Rebecca Tope. I also read classic crime favourites including Ngaio Marsh (especially the books with a theatre background) and Josephine Tey.

Who has been a great influence with regards to your writing?

My mother. She left school at thirteen but was an avid reader and a great letter and diary writer. Long after I started to write, she told me that she had wanted to be a writer. She was orphaned and brought up by an uncle who was landlord of a public house. One day she asked a journalist in the pub how she should go about becoming a writer. He said she would need a typewriter. That was out of her reach – and not very good advice!

Do you have an idea how many books you would like to write for the Kate Shackleton mystery series, or do you just take one book at a time?

Just now I’m writing book three and have a title and idea for book four. I hope readers will like Kate as much as I do, and then she’ll have more adventures. It would be great for her to sail on a liner to New York. I have a yen for her to do that because I once worked in Manhattan.

Outside of writing what do you enjoy to relax?

I swim and also go to a local yoga class with a brilliant teacher. Living close to the Yorkshire Dales, I walk with a friend who’s much better at map reading than I am. I go to the theatre and the cinema, and have recently joined a book club.

Who are your favourite authors?

Ever since Lives of Girls & Women I’ve been hooked on Alice Munro’s stories. I love her characters, the worlds she creates, and the way she writes in circles. Though it’s a long time since I read her novels, I’m a fan of Alice Walker and have just read a perfect essay of hers called Am I Blue? I also like to read English regional novelists who are out of fashion, like J B Priestley, Arnold Bennett and Constance Holme.

What are you reading at the moment?

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver and Joan Lock’s Scotland Yard Casebook, ‘The Making of the CID 1865-1935’

Thanks so much Frances, and best of luck with your new book A Medal For Murder - I've read it and it's fab!

Thank you! It’s lovely to be here.

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You can read my review of Book 1 in the Kate Shackleton mystery series, Dying in the Wool, here

You can find out more about the author here:
Website | Goodreads | Piatkus

Labels: Author Interviews, Frances Brody

6 comments:

Stephanie said...: What a wonderful interview. I remember loving the look of these books when you mentioned them last time (what's not to love about a 20s era mystery?), and given how personable Brody seems, these are definitely on my to-read list now!; 27 September 2010 07:06
paul magrs said...: Oh, I definitely want to read this series. I love her mention of classic 'regional' authors, too. She sounds great.; 27 September 2010 12:29
Anaiz said...: Wonderful interview! The covers are gorgeous, I will check out her first book soon :D Have a great week!; 27 September 2010 16:34
justpeachy36 said...: Great interview! The covers as well as the premise of the books are really interesting. I like the time period for the setting too. Might have to give these a try.; 27 September 2010 17:05
Laura Summers said...: Great interview.
I've nearly really given mysteries a go, only read one series, but these look very cute :); 27 September 2010 20:30
Amy said...: I really enjoyed this interview! I haven't read any of Frances Brody's books yet but I'm now planning to. Kate Shackletn sounds like a character i'd really like. I loved Miss Marple & I've also found that I prefer mysteries & crime fiction by British authors. I also like the time period of the 1920's, it's a busy, fun time in society and "modern" in its way as Frances pointed out, withare cars available, cameras etc. very helpful tools/devices for a sleuth!

Thank you for this interview & introducing me to a new author & series! I missed your review of "Dying in the Wool" so I'm off to read it now.
~ Amy; 29 September 2010 14:15