Home

Friday, 17 November 2023

Celeste Connally Invites Readers to "Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord"

Celeste Connally

Celeste Connally’s debut historical Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord is an entertaining, hard to stop reading mash-up of romance, adventure, a big swoony ball, and a socially sensitive mystery. She introduces a fierce new character, Lady Petra Forsyth, who has just announced to society at large that she plans to remain unmarried. She’s greeted with derision and disbelief, and she handles it all beautifully. This is a wonderful series kickoff.

Robin Agnew for Mystery Scene: You’ve made a switch from cozy to historical mystery—what brought that on?

Celeste Connally: I’m a huge fan of historical fiction. The first books I ever read and loved were set in the past, and I grew up watching period dramas and classic movies, so it was a very natural transition for me. Plus, my cozy mysteries (which I adored writing, and haven’t given up the idea of writing more) were all about the past, with my main character being a genealogist. I all but set myself up for writing historical mysteries with that series! Also, the idea for Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord came when I was bingeing period dramas during the pandemic, so I do have to give credit to my comfort shows for sending me down a path I’ve long felt was part of my writing destiny.

How did you balance the character of Lady Petra to make her seem of her time, while also a strong and appealing for a contemporary reader?

The lovely thing was, I didn’t have to balance all that much after I learned through my research how often women in the Regency really did flout the rules. How so many were more relatable to us as modern-day women then you would think.

One example is Jane Austen herself. If you read her letters, there are parts where she sounds so amazingly of our times that you almost have to remind yourself that she was born in 1775 and passed away in 1817, before the Regency era (1811–1820) even concluded.

All the same, I wrote Petra as I saw her—clever and resilient and upbeat and curious and headstrong—but I kept a check on her actions to make certain she would remain the properly brought-up lady of her times. I also felt like Petra enjoyed all the trappings of her femininity, and her place in society in general, but that she had a rebellious, tomboyish side to her, as well as a desire to do what was right over what might have been easy. The combination of all that made the balancing act a fairly smooth one.

How common was it in 1815 for a woman to have her own fortune? And then, if she married, it all went to her husband, correct?

This answer could get very long, so I’m going to keep it to general terms. It was actually quite realistic for me to write Lady Petra as having money of her own that she inherited. Oftentimes, a woman’s money did come from having her father grant her a dowry during the marriage negotiations and contracts, but women could and did inherit money as well. However, no matter where her money came from, if a woman married, her monies, her possessions, and any children she would later bear became her husband’s from the moment they married due to the English law known as coverture. There might be provisions in her marriage contract that stated that her husband could not touch the principle of her dowry monies, but unless the daughter came from a powerful family who they could ensure their daughter’s monies would be kept safe, there was very little to prevent the husband from taking as much (or all) that he liked, if he were so inclined. (Which not all were, of course!)

I liked the combination in this book of romance, adventure, and some more serious social commentary. Kind of a Deanna Raybourn-Anne Perry mash-up. Can you talk a bit about the tone of the book and what kinds of things were important to you as you were writing Petra’s story?

It makes me very happy that you saw in my book what I wanted readers to see and feel. I’m honored by both comparisons, but I especially love Deanna Raybourn’s Veronica Speedwell mysteries. Her writing is brilliant, so the comparison makes me feel (to be very on-brand) a bit swoony!

This is my fourth published mystery, and I’ve found that I particularly love writing two things: action scenes and banter (especially romantic banter). Also, a wonderful bookseller coined my earlier cozy mysteries as “light thrillers,” and I felt that suited me and my writing very well. Yet, while I like my books to have a lighter tone, some humor, and definitely some romance, I really like writing in a few taut scenes, as well as depth. I want my main character to be relatable in her flaws and to be open to learning and growing as a person. With Lady Petra, that means that her sheltered existence and gentle upbringing will be challenged when she goes against social norms, and when her eyes are truly opened to the issues and lack of rights faced by her fellow women.

There are now several excellent series set around this time. What makes yours stand out and what calls to you about the Regency period?

I agree that there are excellent series set during the Regency era, no doubt. I’d like to believe it’s the faster pace of my story combined with the unique situation of my main character of Lady Petra that sets mine apart. At least, that’s what I love about it!

As for the Regency, it’s been a love of mine since I was very young, thanks to my wonderful mother introducing me to PBS literally from the day I was born, and the fantastic period dramas it aired. And of course, because of Jane Austen, whose novels made many of those future historical dramas possible. Also, I loved the fashion, and despite the very strict social rules of the Regency, it was actually a slightly freer time period in relation to the later, more austere, Victorian era. Of the pre-20th-century eras, the Regency is my favorite, and therefore setting my book during that period was simply a given.

There were several interesting characters whom I’m hoping will be carried through a series. One that really intrigued me was the female herbalist-pharmacist. Can you talk about developing her character a bit?

The character of Frances Bardwell, daughter of Sir Bartie, the apothecarist to the Royal Family, emerged almost out of nowhere, and I’ve been intrigued by her ever since. I decided on a whim that her mother (Sir Bartie’s second wife) is from Spain with Moorish roots, and that naturally lent a bit of something extra fascinating in Frances that you don’t often see in Regency characters. Beyond inheriting her father’s talents for herbalism and apothecary arts, she’s serious, introspective, watchful, and loyal, and I feel like she does a good job of rounding out the foursome that is Petra’s newfound band of girlfriends. I have fun things in store for Frances, and I hope to get to see them play out!

I thought you really captured what must have almost been the chaos of a huge ball like the one that opens the story. Can you talk about your research on this aspect of Regency life?

I went down a warren of rabbit holes in researching Regency balls, and I loved every second of it. From the fact that balls were almost always held around the full moon so that carriages had as much light as possible by which to travel, to the guests that could number from a few dozen to well over four hundred, to the song that opened the ball (usually a minuet), it was all interesting to me. One of my favorite facts was that the festivities didn’t end until after breakfast the next morning, well after a supper that happened around one o’clock in the morning. And at that supper, the hostess always served white soup, which is a creamy soup made from veal, rice, cream, and finely ground almonds. Also, those who were partners for the “supper dance,” which was the dance directly before the meal was served, usually walked into the dining room together, but there was not generally a formal seating arrangement otherwise. Clearly I found it all fascinating and would have made the ball scenes twice as long if I could because there were so many fun details to write!

I once heard Laurie King say at a conference that when you write a book about the past you are really writing about the present. I’m not sure how you could keep that out of a book, it seems unavoidable, but can you talk about some of the real kind of social issues you write about in this book and how they might connect to the present?

I’d have to agree with Laurie, and I think the reason why writing about the past is really writing about the present, in my opinion, is because of the old adage that as much as things change, they stay the same.

Still, my adding in social commentary actually came as a bit of a surprise. Somewhat because I’m a pantser and I rarely know exactly what I’m going to write before I do, but also because, while I do try to have depth in my books, I didn’t specifically set out to make a statement. It came out naturally as an extension of what Petra was feeling and going through as she navigated—without giving away too much of the plot—both the mystery of her missing friend combined with the judgment, censure, and even ill will that surrounded her decision to remain unmarried. In my opinion, much, if not all, of what Petra feels remains very true to this day when it comes to women, our rights, and how we are perceived and respected in society. And I did my best to have Petra express herself with passion, objectivity, and a measure of eloquence.

And how does a girl from Texas make her way to Regency England? Who are your literary and historical influences?

I’m a Texas girl with a mostly British ancestry, and I’ve been an Anglophile since my earliest days. Some of the earliest books I read were from British authors, and just some I could count as favorites and influences include Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, Dick Francis, James Herriot, Martha Grimes, and Jacqueline Winspear. In fact, when I was writing my very first book and many years from being published, I paid a talented editor to review my manuscript. One of her comments was that the dialogue of my modern-day main character sounded a bit formal and that it was “okay to use contractions.” I remember how much I laughed at myself for this, and thought that if anything indicated I should write a historical novel at some point, her comments were a sign! So, while I don’t plan to limit myself as to genre or time period, I really feel as if it’s my destiny to write historical fiction.

Finally, what might be next for Petra in what, I hope, will be a long series?

I, too, have my fingers crossed that it will be a long series! I would love that so much. For now, the second book in the series, titled All’s Fair in Love and Treachery will be out next year (exact date to be determined), and I’m very excited about it. It’s set during the real-life three days of citywide celebrations that took place in London after word reached the city that Napoleon had been defeated at the Battle of Waterloo. It was so much fun to write, and I hope that will show through!

Celeste Connally is an Agatha Award nominee, and a former freelance writer and editor. A lifelong devotee of historical novels and adaptations fueled by her passion for history—plus weekly doses of PBS Masterpiece—Celeste loves reading and writing about women from the past who didn’t always do as they were told.

Robin Agnew is a longtime Mystery Scene contributor and was the owner of Aunt Agatha's bookstore in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for 26 years. No longer a brick and mortar store, Aunt Agatha has an extensive used book collection is available at abebooks.com and the site auntagathas.com is home to more of Robin's writing.

Monday, 13 November 2023

Review: "The Best American Mystery and Suspense, 2023," edited by Lisa Unger

Ben Boulden

Best American Mystery & Suspense 2023

Best American Mystery and Suspense, 2023
edited by Lisa Unger and Steph Cha
Mariner, $18.99

The Best American Mystery and Suspense, 2023, edited by Lisa Unger and Steph Cha, is (as usual) a quality affair. This year’s anthology, like all of those with Steph Cha as the senior editor, does a fine job of mingling well-known genre writers—such as S. A. Cosby, Jess Walter, and Walter Mosley—with the unexpected, Sylvia Moreno-Garcia, and, even better, a bunch of lesser-known but no-less-talented writers.

Leigh Newman’s “Valley of the Moon” is a slow-burning and absorbing tale about two sisters from a broken family. Set in Anchorage, Alaska, it draws a dark and chilling reminder that we are, at least sometimes, prisoners to our shared past.

“Not Exit,” by Walter Mosley, is a hard-as-nails, noirish thriller about a slow-witted savant, Tom Exit, with an uncanny talent for remembering everything he is told. After Tom is sent to Rikers Island for interfering with a police investigation he is victimized by both guards and his fellow inmates. But Mosley adds a surprise that elevates “Not Exit” from its bleak reality and into something exceptional.

Sylvia Moreno-Garcia’s “The Land of Milk and Honey” is an atmospheric and richly detailed Mexican gothic with undertones of horror and a deliciously devious denouement. Set in a crumbling mansion in an unnamed city and told with a lyrical, almost poetic quality: “There lived an old man and six women, just them and no one else.” When a young man comes to reside in the house, he brings life to one of the women…but to write more would spoil the fun.

“33 Clues into the Disappearance of My Sister,” by the incomparable Joyce Carol Oates, is a brilliant novella about the rivalry between two sisters. The narrator is unreliable, the Upstate New York setting is bleak— almost gothic—and the emotional impact of loneliness and sorrow is melancholy and sharp. The best part, the story went somewhere this reader never saw coming.

Anthony Neil Smith’s marvelously titled, “The Ticks Will Eat You Whole,” is a playful and clever tale about a husband learning something dark and surprising about his wife’s past, while hiking through the woods to disperse the ashes of his father-in-law. “Love Interest,” by Jess Walter, is an entrancing journey into what-may-have-been for a retired film star from the 1960s and 1970s. A private eye story, of sorts, “Love Interest” crosses the threshold between reality and our willful illusions about film and its stars. It is a near perfect story in every sense.

The Best American Mystery and Suspense, 2023, includes other fine tales by Joseph S. Walker, Jacqueline Freimor, James A. Hearn, Jervey Tervalon, and others.

Ben Boulden is the author of Western novels Blaze! Red Rock Rampage and Blaze! Spanish Gold, as well as the novella Merrick. He writes the column “Short & Sweet: Short Stories Considered” for Mystery Scene Magazine and has written more than 300 reviews, articles, and essays. He blogs haphazardly at Gravetapping and is married with a daughter, a dog, a one-eyed cat, and a fish named Drink-Drink.

Tuesday, 31 October 2023

Meet Maggie Bird, Tess Gerritsen's New Leading Lady in "The Spy Coast"

John B. Valeri

Tess Gerritsen

It all began with a voice in her head. Having written more than 30 novels in an illustrious career that’s spanned nearly four decades, Tess Gerritsen knew better than to tune it out. Instead, she tuned in—and then she committed that voice to paper. The result is The Spy Coast—the first book in a new series for Amazon’s Thomas & Mercer imprint. Inspired by the community of retired spies that make their home in her coastal Maine town—and following an unexpected return to Rizzoli & Isles with 2022’s Listen to Me—Gerritsen introduces an enigmatic new heroine.

Maggie Bird is living as a recluse on a chicken farm in New England after having left the CIA following a mission gone wrong. But when a dead body turns up in her driveway, the message is clear: somebody knows who she is, where she lives, and what she’s done.

With local authorities (deliberately) stymied, Maggie and the “Martini Club”—a small group of fellow former operatives—must put their old skills to the test. But solving this present-day murder mystery means looking to the past, and Maggie’s haunted history. Can she finally put those ghosts to rest or will her newfound solitude be forever shattered?

Tess Gerritsen was kind enough to reveal all the intel on her new spy thriller to Mystery Scene feature writer John B. Valeri.

John B. Valeri for Mystery Scene: The Spy Coast is the first in a new series (The Martini Club) following many years of having alternated Rizzoli & Isles books with standalone novels. What compelled you to enter into a new and continuing saga? And how did you endeavor to establish a world that could sustain both singular book and series storytelling?

Tess Gerritsen: The story was inspired by a peculiar feature of my town in Maine. Soon after I moved here, several decades ago, I discovered that a surprising number of CIA retirees live here. I've heard various explanations for why they've chosen Maine, and perhaps they're all true. ("It's a place where people respect your privacy. It's far from any nuclear targets. It's long been a location for safe houses.")

I thought about what stories they could tell, and wondered what retirement is like for them. That's when I heard the voice of Maggie Bird in my head: I'm not the woman I used to be. And that launched the novel for me, as I let Maggie's voice tell the story of her past, and of her troubled present. When I started writing the book, I didn't know it would turn into a series. It's the characters who pulled me in, who charmed me, and by the end of The Spy Coast, I wanted to watch what they did next.

You’ve written many books across a multitude of subgenres, from romantic suspense and historical fiction to police procedurals and medical/scientific thrillers. Here, you tackle a new area: espionage. Tell us about the real-life entry point into this enigmatic realm. How did you go about capturing the physical, emotional, and operative realities of the spy trade in an authentic way?

Instead of focusing on the technical and operational details of spycraft, I wanted to write about the emotional and psychological stresses of being a spy. How does it affect your friendships, your romantic relationships? How can you trust that this new friend you've made doesn't have secondary gain from the relationship?

My undergraduate degree in college was cultural anthropology, so that colors my approach whenever I write about a new occupation. I want to know what it's like to be part of the "tribe," and my research strategy was to start off by reading memoirs by retired spies. Of course I also researched operational details and global issues like the London Laundromat and Russian operations in the west, but it was Maggie's emotional journey that was the real heart of the story.

Readers will come to know your main character, Maggie Bird, in both her retirement years and the prime of her career as a spy. How did this construct allow you to explore age and gender stereotypes? In what ways does Maggie use these (mis)perceptions to her advantage throughout the different stages of her life?

That construct of past/present allowed me to show how Maggie became the woman she is today. At the start, we know her as only a Maine chicken farmer who happens to be very good with a rifle. As fresh details about her are revealed, the reader realizes she's more than just a farmer, and she has a group of friends, also retirees, who seem to be a bit peculiar as well. We start off thinking, "Oh, they're just old retired folks."

And that is how older people are so often viewed in American society: "They're just retired folks." That's the stereotype I want to smash in this book, a stereotype that, ironically enough, works to Maggie's advantage because she's underestimated by local police chief Jo Thibodeau. Being underestimated, it turns out, is actually a superpower for Maggie and her friends.

Despite her extraordinary skills and training, Maggie is human—and therefore subject to the same insecurities and weaknesses as the rest of us. How does her personal life create opportunities for peril—and, in non-spoiler terms, what hold does the past have on the present?

That's exactly how I wanted to approach the espionage genre: When the personal collides with the professional, the result is catastrophe. From the start, I felt that Maggie is a haunted person, that she lives with ghosts from her past. My primary emotion as I wrote her character was sadness. As a working spy, she's quick, she's smart, she's capable, she's patriotic. But as a human being, she's vulnerable. As are we all.

The book’s primary setting, coastal Maine, is one that you’re intimately familiar with. In a general sense, how do you see place as an enhancement to plot—and, more specifically, in what ways does The Spy Coast’s desolate midwinter backdrop underscore the tonal and thematic elements you were hoping to capture?

I've lived in Maine for 33 years now, and I'm so glad to finally be able to feature this beautiful landscape in a story. There's an almost mythical element to this place, perhaps inspired by Stephen King stories. There are small, isolated towns and harsh weather and stoic Yankees here. There's also a mixing of locals and people from away, with inevitable conflicts between them. So yes, it is a wonderful setting for a story—or a series.

Given the international implications at play, there’s also a bit of globetrotting throughout the story. What was your approach to capturing a rich sense of international culture and intrigue despite the fragmented nature of the narrative?

I've been to all the places I write about in The Spy Coast: Bangkok, Istanbul, Gümüslük, London, Como. My visits there were never for research, but always for pleasure, and sometimes the most authentic way to describe a place isn't about geographical accuracy, but rather about sensory memory. What did Bangkok smell like? What does the sand feel like on a Turkish beach? It's those memories I mined for the story, because those are the same memories Maggie would have as well.

During the writing of this book, you shared on social media that you’d reached a point of frustration and uncertainty—which you said inevitably happens at some stage of every project. How have you learned to overcome these nagging doubts? And what advice would you offer other, perhaps less seasoned, writers, in terms of conquering their own inner demons?

I have those doubts with every book I write! In fact, I just went through a similarly tough patch with the book I'm finishing now. My chaotic process is partly to blame. I don't have an outline, and I write by the seat of my pants, which means I don't know what happens next. I have to get there to find out, and then I get stuck. The way I've dealt with it in the past is to simply walk away from the story. Take a walk, take a long drive, lie on the couch and stare at the ceiling. It's always scary because it feels like I've "lost the touch," that I'll never write another book. But then I remember that I've done this 30 times before, and I've always managed to get unstuck. I just have to have faith that I will manage it this time as well.

Leave us with a teaser: What comes next?

I'm finishing up The Summer Guests, a sequel. Once again it features Maggie and her band of retired spies, as well as police chief Jo Thibodeau, working together to find a missing girl—only to uncover a skeleton of a long-lost woman.

Tess Gerritsen began to write fiction and in 1987, her first novel, Call After Midnight. Her first medical thriller, Harvest, was released in hardcover in 1996, and it marked her debut on the New York Times bestseller list. Her novels have hit bestseller lists ever since. Among her titles are Gravity, The Surgeon, Vanish, The Bone Garden, and The Spy Coast. Her books have been translated into 40 languages, and more than 40 million copies have been sold around the world. Her series of novels featuring homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles inspired the hit TNT television series Rizzoli & Isles, starring Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander. Gerritsen has won the Nero Wolfe Award (for Vanish) and the Rita Award (for The Surgeon). She and her son Josh produced a feature-length documentary, Magnificent Beast, about the ancient origins of the pig taboo. It aired on PBS channels around the country. Their previous film, Island Zero, was a feature-length horror movie that was released in 2018.

John B. Valeri is a lifelong lover of books and the people who write them and the host of Central Booking, where he interviews authors and other industry insiders. Valeri is a contributor to CrimeReads, Crimespree Magazine, Criminal Element, Mystery Scene Magazine, The National Book Review, The New York Journal of Books, The News and Times, The Strand Magazine, and Suspense Magazine. He regularly moderates author events and book discussions at bookstores and libraries throughout Connecticut, and serves on the planning committee for CrimeCONN, a one-day reader/writer mystery conference cosponsored by Mystery Writers of America/New York Chapter.