Category: Historical Fiction

Researching The 'Golden Age' of Crime Fiction

23/5/2020

The Murder AT The Vicarage

Why Agatha Christie Was So Popular

As part of my research for my new series set in York in WW2, I’m currently reading dozens of novels and short stories written by British ‘Golden Age’ crime writers. Detective crime fiction is an inspiration for my two new lady sleuths, Gemma James and Roberta ‘Bobbie’ Baker. I needed to find out what books they might have enjoyed.

York in the 1940s

I've also trawled hundreds of old newspapers to gain some historical perspective and I was shocked to read about a bitter argument in York in 1940 between a women’s group and the local police. The latter had refused to recruit female officers even though a quarter of their men had signed up to fight and left.
Prejudice against women was rife in British society and the police force at this time. It doesn’t seem to have crossed anyone’s mind that women were as capable as men at solving crimes.
This attitude is reflected in the 'Golden Age' crime fiction. Most of these detective stories are narrated by very clever men, who tell other very clever men how they – or one of their very clever male friends – solved the murder. This style of narration - made famous by Arthur Conan Doyle in his Sherlock Holmes Mysteries - was copied relentlessly in the first half of the 20th Century.

A brilliant fictional female detective had yet to be created. This huge gap in the market was eventually filled by Agatha Christie with the elderly spinster, Miss Jane Marple, a character whose crime-solving mind is sharper than her knitting needles. No wonder she was so popular.
I have just re-read Murder in the Vicarage and – when put into context against the output of Christie’s contemporaries – it was a breath of fresh air. No wonder she was so popular.
Christie’s plots are always a devilish brain-tease and this one is no exception. But to have a female character solving a crime that baffled the police was a radical and ground-breaking development.
Christie never commented on politics or involved herself in political campaigns and I’m sure she would have hated to be called a ‘feminist’. But the creation of Jane Marple was a subtle and brave contribution towards changing society’s attitude and lifting the ignorant prejudice against female sleuths and detectives.

News: Cover Reveal!

17/4/2020

DEATH AT THE FROST FAIR

I'm absolutely delighted with the new book cover for my latest short story, Death at The Frost Fair. (To be published on May 22nd).
My fabulous designer, Lisa Horton, has bought and used an image from Alamy, depicting the real fair in February 1814 and I think she's used it so well. Scroll down to see the original old drawing.
'Death at the Frost Fair' is available to pre-order and costs $2.99/£2.99.
Pre-Order it HERE.

Research Article: 'The Body in the Well'

26/3/2020

'Dreadful Murder'

'For a week past, the water in the well of the Duke of York public-house at Brompton, Kent, had been affected with so nauseous a taste and smell that it became unfit for use. The servant, when drawing, found something hindered the bucket from filling…and thought that she perceived something like a body, and on moving the rope backwards and forwards to fill the bucket, she found pieces of skin and animal substance adhering to it when it was drawn up. Within the last few days, the smell at the mouth of the well had become so exceedingly offensive that no one would go near it.’

The Morning Chronicle, 23rd October 1818

The murder of the heavily pregnant Bridget Donallen and the callous disposal of her naked body caused a public outcry in 1818. The wife of William Donallen, a soldier in the 98th regiment, Bridget had been murdered and ignominiously dumped down a tavern well in Westcourt Road, Old Brompton. Her water-logged and rotting corpse wasn’t discovered until a month later.

Map showing Brompton, Kent

The newspapers of the time reported every grisly detail surrounding the difficulty experienced by a group of volunteers when they tried to retrieve her remains. The Morning Chronicle, in particular, was in its element:

‘On Saturday morning, some soldiers who were drinking at the Duke of York, offered, for a trifling reward, to go down the well and clear it of its impurity. A young man was accordingly lowered down, but before he arrived at the bottom, he was almost overpowered by the fetid effluvia, and called out to the men who were lowering him to stop. Having waited a few seconds and recovered himself, he proceeded. He, with infinite horror and dismay, discovered a naked human body floating on its back. To be certain, he took hold of the hair, when the body rolled over, and the hair and scalp became detached from the skull and remained in his hand. Terrified in the extreme, and almost reduced to insensibility at the horrid sight, he called to the men on the brink of the well to draw him up…’

The Morning Chronicle, 23rd October 1818

The article went on to describe how one of the other soldiers later braved this hellhole and brought up the decomposing body wrapped in a sheet. But this chap was so affected by the foul air, he fainted when he reached the top and nearly fell down the well himself.

Old Brompton, Kent

An inquest was held, and Bridget’s husband was deemed to be the main suspect for the murder. A warrant was issued for Donallen’s arrest but during the weeks that had elapsed, he’d left the army and disappeared. Bow Street Police Office was contacted. Principal Officer Stephen Lavender was employed to find the suspect and solve the case. Lavender finally tracked Donallen down in County Mayo, Ireland and brought him back to Kent to face trial. Donallen was hanged for the murder of his wife in August 1823.

Bow Street Magistrates Court

I first came across this gruesome case, while browsing through the yellowing and musty pages of an 1818 edition of the Morning Chronicle during a visit to The National Archives in Kew. I needed a strong stomach as well as the standard-issue white gloves for my research that day.

The Morning Chronicle wasn’t alone in this period in its use of sickening and repugnant detail. The Times, that highly respected and most illustrious of newspapers, also pandered to the public’s taste for blood and gore. Describing another of Lavender’s cases, a particularly nasty attack on an eighty-six-year-old man in Northamptonshire, The Times took great pleasure in telling its readership about the ‘large quantity of clotted blood that had settled in his [the victims’] mouth.’

The second thing I noted in the Morning Chronicle’s report about the Donallen murder was the reporter’s indifference to the danger posed to the staff and customers of The Duke of York by the contaminated water. But when we put this in historical context, it’s not surprising really. It would be several more decades before doctors and scientists linked the drinking of poisonous water to lethal outbreaks of cholera and typhoid fever.

In fact, if we are ever to really understand our Georgian ancestors, we also need to put their morbid and blood-thirsty curiosity into context. Like a lot of people, I formed a romantic impression of Regency Britain when I was a young woman. Thanks to Wordsworth and Coleridge, Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer and Thackery’s Vanity Fair I thought it was a delightful period in history. But tea parties in a Hampshire vicarage and balls in the assembly rooms of Bath, with giggling ladies in high-waisted, white dresses escorted by dashing soldiers in scarlet uniforms, were only one small part of their complex world.

This was still an era when whole families took picnics to watch public hangings. The brutal treatment of male and female prisoners – and their children – in our over-crowded jails and prison hulks barely elicited a shrug of concern (although prison reformers like Elizabeth Fry were starting to make their voices heard). Sometimes crowds of ten thousand people lined the streets and encircled the gallows to watch the suffering and terror of the condemned. They cheered when the dying criminals twitched and defecated themselves at the end of the rope. And with over two hundred and twenty crimes on the statute books which were punishable by the death penalty, there were plenty of hangings to watch.

Further evidence of the blood-lust of this generation can be found when we examine the most popular culture of the time. Yes, the novels of Jane Austen were popular, but the Regency publishing industry made a fortune from cheap novels full of spine-chilling gothic horror laced with a generous splattering of blood. This genre dominated the industry for more than sixty years after the novel format was first invented by Samuel Richardson. In addition to this, most London theatres were kept afloat by producing a string of gory melodramas.

But don’t just take my word for it. Go online, read some old newspapers and discover for yourself the true extent of our ancestors’ revolting fascination with decomposing bodies and oozing body fluids.

The Times has its own online archives and a small monthly fee paid to The British Newspaper Archive will give you online access to another 35 million pages of other British and Irish newspapers dating back to early 1800s. These websites can be accessed for free at most libraries.

You might be surprised at what you learn – just don’t eat before you browse.

News: 'Death at the Frost Fair' available to pre-order!

10/3/2020

DEath at The Frost Fair
Available to Pre-Order!

I'm delighted to announce that, Death at the Frost Fair, my latest Detective Lavender short story, will be published on 22nd May 2020 - and the story is already available to pre-order here!

There's no book cover yet, but here's the blurb:

CHILLED TO THE BONE
February 1814: London is gripped in the thrall of the worst winter in living memory. When the River Thames freezes over, thousands of people descend onto the ice to enjoy the Frost Fair, an exciting, frozen extravaganza.

But Detective Stephen Lavender and his loyal constable, Ned Woods, are distracted from this carnival of colour and noise by the perplexing case of a missing man. Their investigation takes on a sinister and more dangerous twist when a body is found on the rapidly thawing ice beneath the arches of Blackfriars Bridge.

Set against the thrilling backdrop of London’s last Frost Fair – which is also one of history’s darkest moments – this bone-chilling short story is a superb introduction to the Detective Lavender Mysteries and a bonus read for the half a million readers who already enjoy this series.

Pre-order Death at the Frost Fair here.

News: 'The Sculthorpe Murder' Sell 100k copies

28/2/2020

The Sculthorpe Murder
reaches 100K Sales

I have exciting news! Sales of Book #3 in the Detective Lavender Series, The Sculthorpe Murder, have crossed the 100 thousand milestone. My publishers have sent their congratulations and are thrilled for my continued success. Meanwhile, this little author continues to do her 'happy dance' around the kitchen...

News: The Willow Marsh Murder - Now published

4/2/2020

THE WILLOW MARSH MURDER
Now Published

I'm delighted to announce that The Willow Marsh Murder, the sixth Detective Lavender Mystery is now published and available to purchase on Amazon in eBook and paperback format. Simply follow this link or click on the image.

Ten years after the death of Irish Nell, Lavender and Woods are summoned to a remote estate in the watery fenland of Cambridgeshire to solve a murder. They soon realise they’ve come across the feuding Delamere family before – in the direst of circumstances. With no dead body and no sign of the woman who summoned them, Woods fears someone has planned a murderous revenge.

Meanwhile, Lavender dreads the disclosure of his greatest secret. A secret that, if revealed, will destroy both his career – and his relationship with Woods. Haunted by ghosts from the past, Lavender and Woods must tread a careful path through this watery and dangerous terrain in order to solve one of the most perplexing mysteries of their career.

News: Success of 'Irish Nell' & 'The Willow Marsh Murder'

9/1/2020

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2020 has already begun with a BANG! for myself and Detective Stephen Lavender.
My short story, The Death of Irish Nell has had a flurry of sales over the last few month, especially in the UK, and is doing very well in the Amazon rankings. It was lovely to see her awarded an Amazon 'Best Seller' badge.

In addition to this, both Irish Nell and my forthcoming new novel, The Willow Marsh Murder, have been promoted on Amazon as HOT NEW RELEASES in Historical Mysteries.
Apart from doing my famous 'Happy Author Dance' around the kitchen, I added a sexy little wiggle at the end of my usual routine to celebrate my hotness. Although, when several FB readers on my Author Page asked if they could buy tickets or get video evidence, I stopped that nonsense straight away. (Winky Face)

News: Cover Reveal for 'The Willow March Murder'

12/12/2019

Book Cover:
The Willow Marsh Murder

I'm delighted to reveal the amazing book cover for The Willow Marsh Murder, the sixth Detective Lavender Mystery. The Willow Marsh Murder, is due to be published on 1st February 2020 and is now available to pre-order on Amazon. Simply follow this link or click on the image below.

Once again, I'm in awe at the imagination and skill of my designer, Lisa Horton. I'm particularly impressed with how she took a stock photo we bought from Alamy of the Great Ouse River near Brandon Creek (a remote area which sees a lot of dramatic action in the novel) and turned it into the background for the book cover.

Of course, Ely Cathedral isn't really in that spot but we all have to suspend our imagination a bit now and then.

I hope you like the finished product as much as I do.

Review: Sarah Dunant

18/11/2019

LOving the Books of Sarah Dunant

I'm a prolific reader of crime and historical fiction. Not surprisingly perhaps, my favourite genre is historical mystery. I'm often asked by readers for recommendations so I occasionally use this blog to recommend books I've enjoyed.

Today I'm featuring just one of my favourite historical fiction writers: Sarah Dunant, whom I met at the Glasgow Historical Novel Society Conference in 2018. (See photo below).

Sarah is that rare thing - an award-winning, best-selling author who can seamlessly jump from one genre to another, taking her fans with her. She's also a brilliant keynote speaker for conferences and dazzles and inspires from the podium in equal measure.

Meeting Sarah Dunant at Glasgow HNS 2018

Sarah first hit the literary scene in the 1990s with a a trilogy of crime thrillers featuring feisty, British female private eye, Hannah Wolfe. In 1994 she won a CWA silver dagger for 'Fatlands'. All her thrillers are very enjoyable and have avoided becoming 'dated' by spotlighting issues like surrogacy, cosmetic surgery, animal rights, and violence to women which are still pertinent today. The first of these thrillers is 'Birth Marks'.

In 2000, on an extended visit to Florence Sarah's old passion for history was reignited, and she started to research the impact of the Renaissance on the city in the 1490s. The result was the best-selling 'The Birth of Venus', the first of a trilogy of novels about women’s lives in the Italian Renaissance. I am steadily reading through these novels and thoroughly recommend them to lovers of historical fiction.

News: Cover Reveal for 'The Death of Irish Nell'

8/11/2019

Revealed: The book Cover For
'The Death of Irish Nell'

TA-RAH!!!
And finally...we have a book cover for The Death of Irish Nell (to be published on 1st December).
I thought grey would be a great contrast to the vivid colours I normally use and I think my cover designer, Lisa Horton, has once again done a super job.
Now you can see what it looks like, if you fancy pre-ordering The Death of Irish Nell at the reduced price of £1.199/$1.99 the link is HERE.