B.V. Lawson's Blog, page 119

FFB: Under the Snow

Before the recent Scandinavian crime fiction invasion, before even Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, there was Kerstin Lillemor Ekman (born August 1933), whose debut crime novel, Thirty-Meter Murder (30 meter mord), was published in 1959. Her first few mystery novels grew out of her background as a documentary filmmaker, and she wrote seven crime fiction books in all before turning her hand to more general psychological and social themes (and one book that's a history of Sweden told from the POV of a troll). She did later return to the genre, with the detective novel Blackwater (Händelser vid vatten) in 1993, which won the Swedish Crime Academy's award for best crime novel.



Eckman's novel Under the Snow (De tre små mästarna) from 1961 is set in the harsh, distant landscape of the Arctic Circle's Lapland in the town of Rakisjokk during the extended darkness of winter. Or as one character notes, "You might say this is where the world comes to an end." A drunken evening ends in the death of a local artist and teacher named Matti Olsson, but when Constable Torsson sets out to investigate (a 25-mile trek on skis across a frozen lake), he is met with a conspiracy of silence, mismatched stories and only a single clue: a bloodstained mahjong tile. His efforts aren't helped by the fact that the locals are part of the ethnic Sami group who speak Finnish and don't think very highly of Swedes. Torsson has no choice to close the case. That is, until David Malm, an eccentric redheaded painter and friend of Matti's, arrives in town to investigate the truth on his own and runs into beautiful teacher Anna Ryd who is caught with a bag containing a bloody noose with a human hair clinging to it.



Eckman maintains the dark atmosphere of the unrelenting subzero cold and sunless days (followed by nights where the sun never sets) where nearly everyone has secrets, but still manages to inject bits of humor and her trademark irony: the super-fit younger colleague decked out in the 1960 version of chic Gore-Tex gear who turns an ankle in the first few yards during his first attempt on skis; a language professor who happily scribbles down the ferryman's epithets; a elkhound that barks nonstop. One unusual technique: Ekman wrote Under the Snow almost completely in the third person except for Chapter 12, where Matti's killer explains how the murder was committed. Of her writing influences, Eckman has said "I live in  a small village and I have been living in two other small villages far up north in Sweden. Very close to the forest, the mountains, the waters. They have had a great impact on me, melting into my language."



Under the Snow remained unavailable in English from the time of its publication until the translation by Joan Tate in 1996, 35 years later. Entertainment Weekly called Eckman "Striking...a sort of Graham Greene meets Dean Koontz," and the Library Journal added that "Ekman's brilliant evocation of a place and culture above the Arctic Circle is as compelling and mysterious as the crime itself." Ekman was elected member of the Swedish Academy in 1978, but left in 1989 when the academy didn't take a strong stand after the fatwa against Salman Rushdie. She also turned her hand back to the screen with a Swedish TV movie based on one of her books and appearances as herself in documentaries.

            

Mystery Melange

The International Book Publishers Association announced the finalists for the annual Ben Franklin Award, celebrating excellence in book editorial and design. The Mystery & Thriller category shortlist includes Bleed Through: Alex Greco, ADA Series Book 2 by Roger Canaff (Brooklyn Writers Press); The Last Getaway by Clay Savage (Ocean Park Press); and A Veil Removed: A Henrietta and Inspector Howard Novel by Michelle Cox (She Writes Press).

The South Carolina State Museum has been hosting the International Exhibition of Sherlock Holmes, which takes visitors through an elaborate display of Victorian Era artifacts. It's also interactive, allowing visitors to play detective in analyzing clues and solving crimes. The museum has temporarily shut down through April 5 due to the coronavirus, but if they are able to reopen at that time, the exhibit is expected to continue through April 19.

If you order print books from Amazon, don't be surprised if they are a little delayed. Amazon announced it was deprioritizing book sales amid the coronavirus crisis as it works to meet the surge in demand for "household staples, medical supplies, and other high demand products." The delays should continue until at least April 5 - and it's another good reason to shop via your local indie bookstore, many of which are now having same-day home delivery and curbside pickup.

Bloomberg Businessweek profiled James Daunt, the new CEO of Barnes & Noble, about his plan to rescue the ailing bookstore chain by to acting like an idie bookseller.

In a surprise announcement, Macmillan has abandoned its controversial embargo on new release e-books in libraries, effective this week. Macmillan CEO John Sargent sent a memo to librarians, authors, illustratos, and agents, saying, "There are times in life when differences should be put aside. Effective on Friday (or whenever thereafter our wholesalers can effect the change), Macmillan will return to the library e-book pricing model that was in effect on October 31st, 2019. In addition, we will be lowering some e-book prices on a short term basis to help expand libraries collections in these difficult times. Stay safe."

Good news, according to a relatively recent report from the NEA that indicates 55.5 percent of U.S. adults (131 8. million) read books outside work or school—either in print or digital formats, inclusive of audiobooks. The bad news from the same report is that the average reading score of 4th and 8th-graders slipped between 2017 and 2019, with the number of "proficient" readers also in decline.

More good news: LibraryThing is now offering free membership. LT is similar to Goodreads with the ability to set up personal bookshelves, participate in giveaways and review books, but it has a few added features, as well, such as leeting you know if local libraries or bookstores have the book you’re looking for.

If you're a fan of Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch series, Crimereads has a listing of "The Essential Crime Novels of Los Angeles."

Writing for Rock Paper Shotgun, Matthew Castle has an introductory look at Japanese crime fiction.

If you want to know "Which Political Thriller Should You Read?," Bookriot has a quiz for you.

How good are your sleuthing skills? Do you savor Agatha Christie novels and figure out who did it before the big reveal? If so, the skills you use to read a good detective novel may also help you discover the origins of cyberthreats, according to Maya Horowitz, director of threat intelligence and research at Check Point Software Technologies.

Beer-loving bookworms can now indulge both pleasures with the launch of the UK’s first-ever literature-labelled beer can. The collaboration between Glasgow-based Drygate Brewing Co and Scottish crime fiction giant Chris Brookmyre is named Killer Twist and features the first chapter of Brookmyre’s new paperback, Fallen Angel, on the beer can. Killer Twist is the latest release from Drygate’s Convergence concept, an ongoing series of unique small-batch releases which combines creativity in all varieties with the brewing process, celebrating music, art, brewing and beyond.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "The Ogre's Wife" by Robert Plath.

In the Q&A roundup, E. B. Davis interviewed Mary Daheim over at the Writers Who Kill blog as they chatted about Bitter Alpine, Mary Daheim’s twenty-eighth Emma Lord mystery; and the Mystery people's Scott Montgomery quizzed author Scott Phillips about his satirical crime novel, That Left Turn at Albuquerque featuring Southern California attorney Douglas Rigby.

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An Idea for What to Do While You're "Social Distancing"

Since many folks are staying home as part of efforts to prevent the spread of coronavirus, there's one fantastic and relatively inexpensive way to while away the time and escape from the news:  books! The virus is taking its toll not only on people but also on businesses, and many indie bookstores were already struggling before this latest roadblock came along. The potential long-term effects for book retailers are sobering and possibly even devastating.



Josh Cook from Porter Square Books in Cambridge, Massachusetts, noted ways on Twitter to support one’s local bookstore when no one is leaving the house. Suggestions from him and others include:

Sign up for a store’s newsletter
Follow your local stores on social media
Sign up with Libro.fm, and not only will you get two audiobooks for the price of one, 100% of your payment will go to your local bookstore(s)
Order books from your local stores' online shops, where available, to be delivered straight to your home or, as my local One More Page bookstore has available, curbside pickup
Buy ebooks (and other bookstore offerings like puzzles, games, food, and clothing) through the same online shops, with instant delivery to your phone, ereader, or tablet, or laptop; and don't forget your elderly neighbors - pick up a few books for them, too
Pre-order books that are being published later this year
Buy a bookstore gift card
If your local bookstore is offering something like Ally Kirkpatrick is, of Old Town Books in Alexandria, VA and its virtual classes from writers, signup for a class (they also have a new-book subscription service)
Donate to the Book Industry Charitable Foundation, which helps booksellers impacted by natural disasters, health problems, higher education, etc.

If you want to locate the indie bookstores near you, Indiebound has a handy store locator for stores in the U.S. If you're in Europe or other parts of the world, you can still help out your bookstores via most of the measure above, and some of the stores are even offering free deliveries via bicycle or skateboard. Bookstores everywhere are trying to help customers and their communities during this difficult time; one store in the UK offers staff recommendations over the phone, but also "a simple chat if anyone is isolating and feeling lonely" and holding a fundraiser for the local food bank.



Also, If you live in the UK or Ireland, No Alibis Bookstore has teamed up with a group of local authors to give away a #CrimeCarePackage to ten people each day this week, fifty packages in total, containing a selection of great books hand chosen for each recipient. If you or someone you know is facing isolation in the coming days, they would like to send you a curated selection of books to the value of £25, free of charge. 



Buying books will also help support your favorite authors, including many who have had to cancel book launches, tours, and other events, in addition to all the conferences and festivals that have been canceled.

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Edgar Week Events Canceled

Mystery Writers of America announced they have made the decision to cancel the annual Edgar Awards Mystery Week events, originally scheduled for late April. The Edgars Symposium, Deadly Anniversaries launch party, and the Edgars Banquet are all affected. Here's the official statement:

It is with heavy heart that we have to let you know we are cancelling both the Edgar Awards banquet and the symposium.

All bars and restaurants have been closed in New York City due to the pandemic (other than for delivery and pick-up), and The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a statement on Sunday urging people to cancel or postpone all events bringing together 50 or more people for the next eight weeks, including weddings. “Large events and mass gatherings can contribute to the spread of COVID-19 in the United States via travelers who attend these events and introduce the virus to new communities,” the CDC said on their website. “Examples of large events and mass gatherings include conferences, festivals, parades, concerts, sporting events, weddings, and other types of assemblies.

This year is the 75th anniversary of MWA; our Edgar week festivities were to be a celebration of that anniversary.

But the health, safety, and well-being of our nominees, guests, members and the hotel staff have to be paramount, and it is not in anyone’s best interest that we go forward with the festivities.

We still plan on celebrating the achievements of our finalists and announcing the winners; how we will do that is currently under discussion.

We also still intend to publish this year’s Edgar annual.

We do hope you will join us next year, when we will celebrate this year’s anniversary for MWA along with the 75th anniversary of the Edgars themselves.

Please do everything you can to keep yourself and your loved ones safe, and we look forward to seeing you next year.

MWA National Board of Directors

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Media Murder for Monday - Coronavirus Edition

It's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a brand-new roundup of crime drama news:



THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

The biggest news coming out of Hollywood right now is the fact the coronavirus scare has shut down almost every film production as well as pushed back premieres from spring or summer until fall. I reported last week on the rescheduling of the latest James Bond movie from April to November, but there are plenty more now. If you want a current tally of all the movie schedule changes, you can check out this list, which includes Fast and Furious 9 and Mission Impossible 7 (as well as No Time to Die), with more likely to be added soon. Most global movie theaters currently still open are also using limited seating and ticketing.

Many film festivals have also been canceled or postponed, including the 63rd-annual San Francisco International Film Festival; the Garden State Film Festival (which will go online); Chicago Critics Film Festival (postponed); 39th Istanbul Film Festival; 2020 RiverRun International Film Festival; St Patrick’s Film Festival London; 22nd Annual Roger Ebert’s Film Festival (rescheduled); Sun Valley Film Festival; Miami Film Festival (canceled in the middle of the event); TCM Classic Film Festival and more. Cannes hasn't pulled the plug just yet but will wait until the end of April to decide what shape the festival (scheduled for the second week of May) might take.

Sean Patrick Flanery is set to star alongside Abigail Hawk, Weston Cage Coppola, Mark Dacascos, and Michael Jai White in the indie action thriller, Assault On VA-33. The plot centers on decorated veteran and PTSD sufferer, Jason Hill (Sean Patrick Flanery), who meets his wife, Jennifer, for lunch at the VA hospital where she works. After Jennifer is called away for an emergency consultation, the hospital and everyone in it are taken hostage by heavily armed terrorists. Jason becomes the last line of defense and must battle the terrorists and his own PTSD-induced demons to save everyone.

Flash star Grant Gustin has signed on to headline Operation Blue Eyes, playing Barry Keenan, the infamous businessman who orchestrated the kidnapping of Frank Sinatra, Jr. in 1963. Criminal Minds star Joe Mantegna is directing the indie from a screenplay by Bradley Barth and Joseph Nasser. 

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Many TV productions have also shut down due to the coronavirus, including just about every crime drama currently on the schedule, such as the CSI, NCIS, and Chicago franchises, as well as various cable shows like Fargo and streaming shows like The Good Fight. This also includes those companies shooting pilots for consideration for the fall season. Along with the networks canceling the usual spring "upfront" presentations, it will remain to be seen how this affects the fall TV schedule.

So, you'll have to keep that information in mind when considering the next news tidbits, as there's no telling when or if these shows will be going forward:

ITV is remaking the crime drama, Professor T, starring Ben Miller and Frances de la Tour. Based on the hit Belgian series of the same name, Professor T is set against the backdrop of Cambridge University, one of the world’s most prestigious educational institutions. Miller, who also starred in BBC crime drama Death in Paradise, plays the genius OCD criminologist, Professor Jasper Tempest, while de la Tour stars as his colorful but overbearing mother, Adelaide.

Uma Thurman will headline Suspicion, a high-paced thriller about the kidnapping of the son of a prominent American businesswoman, played by Thurman. She's joined in the series by Kunal Nayyar (The Big Bang Theory), Noah Emmerich (The Americans), Georgina Campbell (Black Mirror), Elyes Gabel (Scorpion), Elizabeth Henstridge (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) and Angel Coulby (Dancing On The Edge). The story centers on twenty-one year-old Leo’s abduction from a large, upmarket hotel in central New York, which is captured on video and goes viral. Four British citizens staying at the hotel quickly become the prime suspects, but are they really guilty or just in the wrong place at the wrong time?

The Stranger actress Dervla Kirwan has landed the lead role in Smother, the noir thriller produced by BBC Studios for Irish broadcaster RTÉ. Kirwan will play family matriarch Val Ahern, whose partner is found dead at the foot of a cliff the morning after a family party. As she unravels the circumstances that led to his demise, she discovers how his controlling, manipulative behavior may have impacted his children and siblings.

Natalie Alyn Lind is set as a lead opposite Katheryn Winnick and Ryan Phillippe in The Big Sky, ABC’s straight-to-series drama created and executive produced by David E. Kelley. Based on The Highway, the first book in C.J. Box’s Cassie Dewell series of novels, the project is a procedural thriller in which private detective Cassie Dewell partners with ex-cop Jenny Hoyt on a search for two sisters who have been kidnapped by a truck driver on a remote highway in Montana. 

Ginger Gonzaga is set as a series regular opposite Shannyn Sossamon in The Cleaning Lady, Fox’s drama pilot based on the Argentinian series. The story follows a whip-smart Filipina doctor, Reyna Salonga (Sossamon), who comes to the U.S. for a medical treatment to save her ailing son. But when the system fails and pushes her into hiding, she becomes an on-call cleaning lady for the mob and walks the tightrope of morality. Gonzaga will play Fiona Rivera, Reyna’s undocumented half-sister who gets mixed up in a mess of side hustles and bad boyfriends.

Andy Garcia is set to star opposite Katey Sagal in ABC’s Erin Brockovich-inspired drama pilot, Rebel. Written by Grey’s Anatomy showrunner Krista Vernoff, Rebel stars Sagal as Annie "Rebel" Bello, a blue collar legal advocate without a law degree who cares desperately about the causes she fights for and the people she loves. Garcia will play Julian Cruz, "the lawyer for whom Annie ‘Rebel’ Bello consults, although sometimes it seems like it’s the other way around." It was also announced that Lex Scott Davis has joined the cast, playing Cassidy, the daughter of Rebel who is one part attorney and one part recovering juvenile delinquent.

Gavin Stenhouse (Black Mirror) and Gwendoline Yeo (American Crime) are set as series regulars in the CW pilot, Kung Fu, a reimagining with a female lead of the 1970s David Carradine-starring TV series. The story centers on a young Chinese-American woman who uses her martial arts skills and Shaolin values to protect her community and bring criminals to justice — all while searching for the assassin who killed her Shaolin mentor and now is targeting her.

Violet Brinson (Sharp Objects) and Kale Culley (Me, Myself and I) are set as series regulars opposite Lindsey Morgan and Jared Padalecki in Walker, a reimagining of CBS’s long-running 1990s action/crime series Walker, Texas Ranger. It centers on Cordell Walker (Padalecki), a widower and father of two with his own moral code, who returns home to Austin after being undercover for two years only to discover there’s harder work to be done at home.

A trailer was released for HBO's limited series, The Undoing, which premieres in May. Nicole Kidman stars as Grace Sachs, a beautiful upperclass New Yorker whose perfect life is torn apart by a scandalous murder. Hugh Grant co-stars as her outwardly perfect husband, but he too appears to have duplicitous ways. Even Grace's dad Franklin (Donald Sutherland) and her son Henry (Noah Jupe) behave suspiciously. Edgar Ramirez co-stars as a police detective determined to find the truth.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

On the Crime Cafe podcast, host Debbi Mack interviewed crime writer June Trop about how she discovered Maria Hebrea, the woman who inspired her protagonist, Miriam bat Isaac, while researching a paper for a class on the history of chemistry.

Writer Types guest co-host Alison Gaylin joined host Eric Beetner to talk with LC Shaw (The Network), Hilary Davidson (Don't Look Down), and Suzanne Redfearn (In An Instant).

A new episode of Mysteryrat's Maze is up featuring an excerpt from the first chapter of The Body in Griffith Park by Jennifer Kincheloe, read by actor Casey Ballard.

Read or Dead hosts Katie McClean Horner and Rincey Abraham talked about how the ghost of Agatha Christie might be haunting a museum; Snoop Dogg adapting the IQ series; and some backlist books.

Suspense Radio's Beyond the Cover welcomed Tasha Alexander to talk about her latest book, In the Shadow of Vesuvius, book 14 of the Lady Emily series.

Meet the Thriller Author chatted with Bill Brewer, professor of Human Anatomy & Physiology and author of Dawn of the Assassin, the origin story of the reluctant killer of men, David Diegert, the protagonist of Brewer’s thriller series.

Wrong Place, Write Crime host Frank Zafiro spoke with Shawn A. Crosby about A Grifter's Song; his Anthony Award; and the craziness accompanying the upcoming publication of his new book Blacktop Wasteland.

Writer's Detective Bureau, hosted by veteran Police Detective Adam Richardson, took on the topics of "Interview Dialogue and a Cozy Missing Person turned Murder Mystery."

It was a Dark and Stormy Book Club interviewed Bonnie MacBird about her novel, The Devil's Due, A Sherlock Holmes Adventure.

Listening to the Dead host Lynda La Plante discussed "DNA and Blood Forensics."

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More Cancellations

Sleuthfest, scheduled for March 25-29 in Boca Raton, Florida, announced it is canceling the conference for this year.  If you have purchased a manuscript critique, it will become a virtual critique instead of a face to face one. Organizers are also in the process of evaluating refunds after factoring in booking fees and paid expenses, but also add that "We look forward to seeing you in 2021."



Malice Domestic also announced that they are postponing the event, that was to be held April 30 - May 3 in Bethesda, Maryland. Event staff noted they "have chosen to postpone rather than cancel for a number of reasons, not least of which is that we are committed to bringing the Malice family together when it is safe to do so." They're also working with the hotel to finalize the new dates, and all Malice registrations will transfer to those dates. (Note: the website hasn't been updated with the news just yet, although an email was sent to all registrants and the media.)

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Quotation of the Week

           Related StoriesQuote of the Week 

More Conference Cancellations

It's hard to keep up with all the closings and cancellations among the various organizations and events, but in addition to the previously announced cancellation of the Virginia Festival of the Book and Crime Wave, as well as the postponement of the LA Times Festival of the Book, there are two new additional cancellations to report:

Left Coast Crime was currently in full swing in San Diego, California, when it was abruptly shut down by San Diego County. Janet Rudolph over at Mystery Fanfare has an update.

Murder & Mayhem in Chicago was also just canceled, with no plans to reschedule at this time.

            

FFB: Victorian Tales of Mystery & Detection

Historical crime fiction has been growing in popularity since the likes of Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco and the Cadfael mysteries by Ellis Peters. And of course Victorian fiction is right in the thick of it all, thanks to the enduring legacy of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. This particular 1992 volume of Victorian Tales of Mystery & Detection is an Oxford anthology that includes writers who actually lived and created stories during the reign of Queen Victoria, as opposed to present-day writers looking back on the era. The roster starts off with an Edgar Allan Poe tale from 1845 and works its way up chronologically through writers Sax Rohmer and Robert Barr (1904).



Editor Michael Cox, who selected all the included stories, opens his Introduction with a G.K. Chesterton quotation about crime writers being divided into two types, "poisoners," who prolong the agony of anticipation or bewilderment in novel form, leaving the reader writhing on a sick-bed of baffled curiosity, or "cut-throats," writers who realize that the murder story cuts lives short and therefore chooses to startle readers via the quick stabs of the short story.



Cox goes on to add that, although the short-story form has inherent limitations, in capable hands these are turned into triumphant effect with pleasures for the reader that the detective novel can't provide. And the tools of those capable hands? An engaging narrative voice; a flamboyance of invention and an economy of style, compression and well-paced plot; and characters sketched swifly, but decisively, and tied back to the simple and surprising main idea. That's really not so much to ask, it is?



The 31 stories included more than meet the task, penned by masters, all. In addition to Poe, Rohmer, and Barr, there are also offerings by J.S. Le Fanu, Charles Dickens, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Mrs. Henry Wood, Wilkie Collins, Barones Orczy, and Arthur Conan Doyle. The protagonists include police detectives, gentleman amateurs, lady detectives, one psychic detective and even an "anti-detective," in the form of Guy Boothby's Klimo, who devises a crime for himself to solve.



Stories range from M. McDonnell Bodkin's "Murder By Proxy," in which a gentleman is shot in the head at close range—by a murderer who wasn't in the same room, to J. S. Le Fanu's double-locked-room mystery, "The Murdered Cousin," where gambling habits prove to be fatal. Conan Doyle's contribution is "The Lost Special," in which cunning Herbert de Lernac commits the "inexplicable crime of the century" by making a train and its passengers vanish into thin air.



If you're a fan of the Victorian era and the more genteel crime writing of the day, this anthology is certainly one you'll enjoy and want to add to your collection.

            

Author R&R with Marty Ambrose

Marty Ambrose’s writing career has spanned almost fifteen years, with eight published novels for Avalon Books, Kensington Books, Thomas & Mercer—and, now, Severn House. She also teaches creative writing at  Florida Southwestern State College. She placed as a finalist in the Florida Writer’s Association Literary Palm Award last year with the first book in her Lord Byron Mystery trilogy, Claire’s Last Secret. Marty lives on an island in Southwest Florida with her husband, former news-anchor, Jim McLaughlin, where they tend their mango grove.  



Her second book in the trilogy, A Shadowed Fate, is set in Florence, Italy in 1873, and narrated by Claire Clairmont—the last survivor of the famous Byron/Shelley circle. She is still reeling from a series of events triggered by the arrival of an old friend, which culminated in a brutal murder, and begins a desperate search for her long-lost daughter while repairing the past with lovers who betrayed her.  Publishers Weekly describes the book as a mix of "regret and wistful longing for dead loves, [which] imbue the story with a seductive power."



Marty Ambrose stops by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R about researching and writing the book:

 

Researching the Lord Byron Mystery Trilogy

When I moved from writing mysteries to historical mysteries set in Italy, I had no idea the “road of research” would take so many twists and turns.  Doing the background work for the Lord Byron Mysteries involves journeying down so many complex avenues, especially because many of my characters are actual literary figures who possess a large degree of fame from their work.  Lord Byron, Mary Shelley, and Percy Bysshe Shelley all figure prominently in my books, though they are narrated by the “almost famous” member of their circle:  Claire Clairmont, Mary Shelley’s stepsister.  So, I have to pay respect to their well-known personas, but also find a way to make them work as characters in my own mysteries—a tricky balance, especially when there are so many readers who are quite devoted to these authors’ reputations.  I find that I have to immerse myself in their biographies, letters, and journals; but, I also travel to Italy (a tough job, but someone has to do it) to find details that have never been recorded, one of the most interesting aspects of research.  I love the thrill of connecting with places and people who have knowledge that they are more than willing to pass on.

Biographies:  I always start here because my literary characters have had so many biographies written about them—especially Lord Byron.  His life has been analyzed minutely over the last two centuries.  As a writer, I delve into the facts (though they are sometimes a bit contradictory from bio to bio), so I know the basics of dates, activities, and historical events.  But what I look for is something that stands out as a possible dramatic point that can be used in my novel.  For example, I spent quite a great deal of time researching Byron’s pursuits in Ravenna during 1821, so I could include some of the intriguing episodes in his fictional memoir that I include in my book.  He was involved with the Carbonari—an Italian revolutionary group—and this figures prominently in my book to build tension in the plot.  Luckily, Byron and the others had big lives, so there is no end to mining these kinds of biographical details.

Letters and Conversations:  Famous literary figures in the nineteenth-century tended to write letters—a lot of letters.  And, luckily, the people who received these letters kept them.  What is provocative is each author takes a slightly different perspective on the same event.  Bryon wrote letters about his relationship with Claire, Mary Shelley wrote letters about his relationship with Claire and, of course, Claire wrote letters about her relationship with Byron.  I found by taking all three versions of this central couple in my mysteries, I could shade its complexities and subtleties.  Since Clair is the narrator, I did defer to her at times!  Most compelling, though, was the number of people who wrote about their “conversations” with members of the Byron/Shelley circle.  Much like today, people liked to write “tell-all” books in which these celebrated personalities were “framed” in moments of sharing reflections or simply idle chit-chat.  I read some of these volumes with skepticism but found they often had a nugget of information that I could use in character-building.

Travel:  By far, traveling to Italy twice has been one of my absolute favorite aspects of doing historical research—especially because my husband is fluent in Italian.  I visited the towns where my characters lived (often somewhat remote—which added to the adventure!) and walked through many of the houses where they lived.  I used the descriptions of these spots for setting details.  I find if I don’t see a place, I have a hard time making it “come alive” in my books.  Streets have a certain look and feel and smell.  Palazzos occupy space in a particular way.  The Italian landscape has light and shadow that is so distinctive.  Every locale I visited gave me more and more of an ability to flesh out the background setting for my characters.

Locals:  One of the most delightful aspects of researching in Italy is talking to local librarians, archivists, and academics.  They often had knowledge of my characters’ lives in Italy that I could not find in a biography.  One local whom I met in Bagni di Lucca was considered as an expert on the Byron/Shelley circle in the area (which isn’t covered too extensively in the bios).  He spoke only Italian, so my husband translated, and he showed us sights and explained little historical “footnotes” that I included in my mystery, such as the cave where Mary Shelley and Claire would enjoy the hot steam of the thermal springs, or the woods where they would roam near the town.  It always amazed me how eager locals were to share their knowledge and simply drop everything to spend time with my husband and me on our quest!

Certainly, researching historical mysteries is time-consuming, even frustrating at times; but, the excitement of digging for information and finding some unknown fact propels me through the bumps on “research road.”  And there is nothing so satisfying than having a reader/reviewer comment on the “meticulous research” of one of my books.  Bellissimo!

 

You can learn more about Marty Ambrose and her writing by visiting her website and also follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Goodreads. A Shadowed Fate has just been released and is available via all major bookstores.

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