Today’s feature is a very exciting one. I’m thrilled to welcome Rhys Bowen, author of fifty (!) novels of historical fiction and mystery, to the Cluesletter. Her latest release, Peril in Paris, is the sixteenth installment in her Royal Spyness mystery series. In the interview below, Rhys and I chat historical fiction, her approach to mystery, and her advice to writers.
Connect with Rhys on Facebook, Instagram, Goodreads, and her website. Click here to purchase Peril in Paris from various retailers.
Hi Rhys, thanks so much for joining! Your newest release, Peril in Paris, is book sixteen in your Royal Spyness mystery series, set in 1930s London (and beyond!). It stars Lady Georgiana Rannoch who, despite being distantly in line for the throne, struggles to make ends meet, and takes on odd jobs where she is often thrown into trouble. What do you love about Lady Georgie’s character? In your opinion, what makes a great sleuth heroine?
My readers love that they can identify with her. She is naïve, she makes mistakes, she is insecure, sometimes clumsy, but always hopeful, resilient. I love writing about her because I get to watch her grow with each book and, I suppose, because I see a lot of myself in her.
What makes a good female sleuth? Great powers of observation. This is where women are so superior to men. We notice body language, pick up on tiny clues, and are great at interpersonal interactions which men never pick up on. Also, women tend to be overlooked and not seen as a threat. Women sleuths can observe unnoticed (think Miss Marple and her knitting). And my female sleuths have a good amount of intuition.
Your other books, including the Molly Murphy series as well as your standalone novels, are also set in the past. What are your favorite time periods to write in, especially for mystery? What kind of historical research do you do while writing?
I love writing about the past because the present is too worrying for me. It’s too dark already! I am most drawn to the first half of the twentieth century: the early 1900s for Molly Murphy, the 1930s for Lady Georgie, and several standalones set in World War II. I find that time between the wars to be fascinating—such a time of contrasts, a mixture of light and dark, struggle and indulgence. Bertie Woosters drinks champagne from a slipper while men stand in bread lines. And World War II—a time of heightened emotions, so many stories waiting to be told of bravery, endurance, love and loss.
I do lots of research for all my books. I visit sites (e.g., Bletchley Park, Paris, New York) and try to walk where my characters would have walked. I read lots of biography, [especially] lots of first person accounts of World War II. For researching Lady Georgie, I have benefited from marrying into an aristocratic English family so I have observed how those older upper class ladies spoke and thought. And I have stayed in those big drafty houses!
What’s your approach to writing mystery? Are you a planner, or do you let the mystery develop as you write? How does writing a series such as the Royal Spyness series compare with writing standalone novels like The Tuscan Child and Above the Bay of Angels?
I’m very much a pantzer. I start knowing little. For the mysteries I know who is going to be killed and why. I have already researched the setting and other things I’ll need like the real historical background, but as to what happens in the story and when, I like to follow my characters and see what they are going to do next. I like to be surprised by their actions!
Writing a series is obviously much easier as I come in knowing my characters. It’s like visiting family each time. The challenge is to make every book different and exciting so that the reader has a nice visit with favorite characters but also an exciting plot and a different setting.
The big standalones do take a lot more plotting, work, and revising as they sometimes have multiple points of view and multiple time periods, so I use things like a whiteboard with timelines, individual storylines, and when they interact. I also use Post-It notes to myself, saying “We need to know about her father at some stage.” I work surrounded by research materials—such as a map of Venice, training manual for spies, photos of my settling, and Google Earth.
For all my books, if I’m writing about a real time and place, then everything has to be real and accurate so I work hard to make sure every little detail is correct.
With a long writing career, including over forty novels, under your belt, what advice would you give your younger self? Do you have advice for newer writers and authors hoping to find similar writing success?
I’ve just published my 50th novel!
Write what you are passionate about, not what you think will sell. You have to spend a long time with those characters and that setting. It has to be somewhere you can’t wait to return to every morning. If you are excited by your story, then readers will be too.
Another piece of advice: Every book has to be better than the last. Nothing is written in stone. Don’t try to make your characters do things they don’t want to. If a plot is not working, it’s often because a character is saying, “No, I’d never do that.” Once you create them, it’s their story and your job is to follow along and write it down. There is an element of luck in any career. Enjoy the successes and don’t ever forget who made you successful. I fully appreciate my fans.
Lastly, what are you currently working on? Are you planning more books in the Royal Spyness series, and/or more standalone novels and mysteries?
I’m just starting Royal Spyness #17. This one is called The Proof of the Pudding and is about a poison garden, a creepy author, and a banquet that turns deadly.
I have finished my next standalone called Island of Lost Boys. It takes place in Paris before World War II, in England and France during the war, and then in Australia. It’s very intense!And I’m continuing the Molly Murphy series with my daughter Clare. Our second book together called All That Is Hidden comes out in March. It’s about corruption at Tammany Hall and a crooked election.
Thanks so much to Rhys for the interview. Sleuths, I hope you enjoyed it! If you aren’t already subscribed, please be sure to sign up for the Cluesletter and get author features like this alongside other mystery goodies, delivered to your inbox every other Tuesday.