Defending Daniel

My latest Molly Murphy mystery, The Family Way, has been out for a month now and I've been gettins some flak about Daniel and the high handed way he behaves toward Molly. I agree, I wouldn't want to be married to him and be ordered around like that....

however, this is a historical novel. I'm writing about 1905, a time when women had no rights. They could not vote. Not be heard as a voice in the community. In the state of New York, where my stories take place, they could not own property, their husbands could beat them with a stick no thicker around than their thumb (hence the rule of thumb. Who knew?) AND it only took the husband plus one doctor to have them certified as insane and committed to an asylum.

The woman was at the mercy of her husband in all ways. No wonder Molly thought long and hard before agreeing to marry a man she knew she loved. He loves her too, which makes it all right. For a man of his time he is quite understanding, and when there is hitting involved it is interesting to see who does the hitting.

But one doesn't need to go too far back to see the same blueprint for marriage. Look at all those TV shows from the 1950s. I Love Lucy, father Knows Best, Leave It To Beaver. Mom wore the apron, baked the cookies and left the decisions to the dad. Lucy is terrified if she bought a new hat without Ricky's permission.

It is only when women come into the workplace that the playing field evens out. With money comes power. So don't be too hard on Daniel. In the end he really wants to protect Molly, and being a sleuth is really a silly idea for a woman, isn't it? Not that it will ever stop her...
The next book is written and being sent to the publisher this week. it's called City of Darkness and Light and it takes place in Paris. And yes, Molly is again called upon to do a spot of detecting.

This week i'm off to Malice Domestic, the convention in Bethesda, MD celebrating the traditional mystery, and again I'm nominated for an Agatha Award (making my 11th nomination). After that it's over to England for a reunion of college friends and then on to Istanbul for...for much needed R and R.

Ah, Spring!

I realize I've been remiss about blogging recently, but I do have good excuses...finishing the first draft of the new Molly book, tentatively called City of Darkness and Light. Oh, and a little thing called TAX. I worked on it all week and have finally faced up to the fact that I owe money, however hard I try.

So with both things now out of the way I can finally acknowledge that it's Spring and I should be leaping around, enjoying myself. My front garden looks as good as it ever will, being a steeply sloping hillside, and the jasime and pride of Madeira are blooming like crazy at the back, and the birds are all chirping happily.

And deep within me a little voice is whispering "Spring cleaning". Those who know me can attest that I do not do housework from choice, but I do like the end result when all is clean and gleaming. So I may just attack some windows.... I only say may....

I should also attack the garden, but it's such an overwhelming task that I get too discouraged. It's not as if I have neat little flower beds. I am on a hill, steep up and steep down and no soil to speak of and hundreds of deer and rabbits waiting to munch on any plant I put in. So I content myself with the view from my balcony. if you want to know what that looks like, go to my Facebook page and look at the header (www.Facebook.com/RhysBowenAuthor).

Do you have any spring rituals? Cleaning, planting, new hats, throwing out old clothes?

Catching up, Vintage clothing and more

I realize I've been silent on Rhys's Pieces, but my time has been fully occupied with hosting Jungle Red Writers last week, doing all the promo for the new Molly book, THE FAMILY WAY, and with trying to finish the first draft of the next Molly book before we close up the condo and leave Arizona for California on Monday morning.

I've also had some fun excursions this week: I went to visit a friend who collects vintage clothing. I'm going to be in a fashion show, dressed as my character Lady Georgie, so my friend Dinah let me try on wonderful real 1930s dresses. I turned down the really dainty and fragile ones, scared of what might happen if I sat down wrongly. But I did accept a fabulous apricot color evening cape in soft velvet, and a pair of real 1930s shoes. I'll wear these with navy silk palazzo pants and my blond flapper wig. (I'll post pix after the show.)

But here are some pictures I took at Dinah's house.

I also took my grandkids to a ghost town, did a tour of an old mine and let them pan for gold. What a fun day.

So now it's packing up and making sure the fridge is clean and empty and everything I need for six months is taken with me. And all I really want to do is finish the darned book.
Then off to Colorado on Wednesday for Left Coast Crime in Colorado Springs, then home to the Bay Area for several book signings with Cara Black.
Orinda Books March 28
Books Inc Laurel Village, April 17
Bay Books, April 22

Hope to see you at one of them.
AND this weekend, St Patricks Day, March 17, I'll be signing at The Poisoned Pen, Scottsdale AZ at 2 p.m. Fun St Paddy's day party.

Women Trailblazers

It's twelve days to go until The Family Way is published, so I'm getting excited.

I'm also gearing up to respond to more people who tell me Molly could never have been a detective in her time. So I've been thinking more about what women actually achieved in Molly's time. Of course the expectation was the women stay home and raise a family. But in spite of this women were doing amazing things.

Do you remember that wonderful TV series called The Duchess of Duke Street? It was about a woman from very humble beginnings who goes on to found one of the best hotels in London. And it was based on a real woman who founded Brown's Hotel (still going strong--the hotel, not the woman).

Then there is Coco Chanel, whom I have written about. She came from an orphanage, learned to sew, started designing hats for ladies, then their outfits and went on to create a fashion house and perfumerie known all over the world. Not only did she start a fashion house but she designed business suits for women, and chic trousers long before anyone else in the world dared to wear them. Hooray for Coco.

And we mustn't leave out the scientists and inventors. Madame Curie who won the Novel Prize for science. Alice Hamilton was a distinguished physician who was the first woman on the medical faculty at Harvard. And Augusta Ada King, the Countess of Lovelace worked with Charles Babbage on the first mechanical computer in the mid 1800s, writing was has come to be accepted as the first computer program.

So Molly--feel free to be brave, adventurous, ambitious.  Molly is married now, so it will be interesting to see whether being a married woman restricts her from carrying on a professional career, won't it? Somehow I don't think she'll stay home and have tea parties.

Feisty Females of the Early 20th Century

It's just a month now until the 12th Molly Murphy novel comes out. It's called The Family Way and it deals with the meaning of family on many levels (as well as being a really suspenseful mystery).

So to build up to March 5, I'm doing a series of blogs on the real Molly Murphys of the ealy 20th Century--women who defied all odds and did amazing things. And today I'm starting with the real life investigators.

So many people have said to me that Molly couldn't possible do the things I have her do. No woman at that time could be a detective. Aha--well I love to prove them wrong. My first true life example is Isabella Goodwin. Mrs Goodwin was a police matron in New York City, married to a policeman who died. The police department started using her for under cover surveillance and she proved to be so good at it that she became a fully fledged police detective, the first of two women detectives on the squad at that time. I've seen her uniform at the police museum in New York. How anybody could run after crooks with that high neck, tiny waist, tight sleeves I've no idea!  But I was so impressed with her that she comes into several of my books.

My other shining example of what a woman could do at that time is NELLIE BLY  Born Elizabeth Jane Cochran to a working class family she came to the attention of a newspaper editor when she wrote a scathing rebuttal to a letter in the Philadelphia newspaper. He hired her first to write a column then he started sending her out to do investigative reporting. When she was sent to Mexico to cover the election there she was a little too probing into corruption and had to be whisked home to save her life.

Back home she moved to the New York World. She became famous for beating Jules Vernes fictional Around the World in 80 days. She did it in 72 and reported it all to her newspaper who saw their circulation soar as a result. Other remarkable feats: she got herself committed to an insane asylum to report on the terrible conditions there, also had herself arrested so that she could report on the conditions in the women's prison. She was so well respected as a reporter that she was the only woman reporting back from the front in WWI.

Helpless females? I don't think so.

Countdown to New Books

I'm getting excited:
One week from today, February 5, will see the publication of my new Molly Murphy E-story called The Face In The Mirror.

It's a tense story about a woman who thinks her house may be haunted or she may be going mad.

Also Lent is approaching and if you plan to give up candy bars, let me suggest a sinless alternative. This e-story is only 99 cents and it lasts a lot longer than a Hershey's.

And it's now just over a month to the publication of THE FAMILY WAY, the next Molly book.
Molly is pregnant and bored with enforced idleness until a strange letter from Ireland and a kidnapped baby lead her on a dangerous path that puts her own life and that of her baby in jeopardy.
Already great early reviews including ****1/2 stars from RT Magazine.

And in case you are new to the series and want to start at the beginning, Macmillan is reissuing Agatha winner Murphy's Law as a trade paperback--pretty cover and so much easier to read. The whole series will now come out in trade paperback including the latest Hush Now, Don't You Cry later this month. AND the whole series will be coming out in audio form on Audible.

A busy spring for Molly Murphy! You can pre-order now!

Celebrating a new Murphy's Law

Celebrating the launch of a new version of Murphy's Law. This twelve year old book is like the Energizer Bunny. It keeps on going! Now Minotaur has re-released it in trade paperback format, perfect for book clubs. Take a look at the cover:

 

What do you think?

This will be followed in a couple of weeks by the trade paperback version of Hush Now, Don't You Cry

 

AND the new e-story The Face in the Mirror

 

ALL leading up to the publication of the new Molly book:

THE FAMILY WAY on March 5th.

 

AND the audio version of all the Molly books.

 

Stay tuned to this blog as I begin a new feature shortly: a series of blogs on gutsy women of the early Twentieth century.

The Many Faces of Molly

This spring it's all about Molly Murphy--my feisty Irishwoman from the early 1900s in New York City. Her first appearance will be on February 6th when she'll star in an e-story called The Face in the Mirror. It's a long short story or a short novella in which she is asked to find out if a woman is going mad or her house is really haunted. It's good stuff and priced at only 99 cents. Cheaper than a candy bar and doesn't put pounds on the hips. If you have friends who haven't tried Molly yet, recommend this sample to them.

Then on March 5 comes the main event-- THE FAMILY WAY, the new hardcover book. Molly, expecting her own first child, is horrifed by a rash of kidnappings in the Lower East Side. She's promised she'll give up sleuthing but asking a few questions can't hurt. The story also brings her in contact with one of her own family, putting both their lives in danger.

Both of the above are available now for pre-order on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

But wait, there's more. Minotaur will be releasing Hush Now, Don't You Cry and Murphy's Law as trade paperbcks (you know--the bigger kind that are great for book clubs and traveling)
and
the whole series will be coming out in audio form on AUDIBLE. I can't wait to hear who is doing the reading as my reader for the Royal Spyness series, Katy Kellgren, is so absolutely brilliant.

So get out your shamrocks, your green sweaters and have a lovely Irish spring with Molly.

Looking Back on Left Coast Crime

What will I remember about this year's Left Coast Crime in Sacramento, I wonder? Chicken garlic soup. Cheerleaders. Special moments with Jackie Winspear. The Armani Jacket disaster.
Oh, and it was a great convention, extremely well run by Cindy Sample and Robin Burcell. Everyone loved the panels and the hotel with its big bar area. They thought the food in the restaurant was good. I wouldn't know. There was an hour's wait any time I wanted to eat.
I arrived in Sacramento with a nasty cold--the type in which my head and chest felt stuffed and heavy. Then I discovered the Hungarian/Romanian/Greek restaurant across the street and a bowl of their chicken garlic soup opened all those blocked sinuses and led the way to feeling better.
On Saturday I had to interview Guest of Honor Jacqueline Winspear. The interesting thing for the audience was how much we have in common: lived in the same county in England, studied in London, came to America, married a man called John and now live FIVE MILES APART. We also write about strong young women in the 1930s. We've won the same awards. Our work habits and approach to writing is identical and we even look quite similar. One woman said we sound so alike that if she closed her eyes she couldn't tell who was speaking. (I'm thinking clone)
Jackie was an absolute trooper at the interview and the whole convention as her father in UK has major health problems and she was worried about him.

There was a cheerleader competition going on across the street. Little girls with HUGE bows in their hair and too sexy outfits were looking really stressed.  Their mothers were fussing around looking way too involved. Can somebody tell me why little girls have to look provocate and sexy in order to compete? Surely cheerleading is all about the athletiticism?

Oh, and the story of the Armani jacket. I found a fabulous Armani jacket in a designer resale store. Pale blue. Gorgeous. And being the creator of Lady Georgie (just a little clumsy by nature), I managed to drop a piece of salmon in a gooey sauce down my front. On my way to the dry-cleaner.

Now it's back to work trying to finish my new Molly book to deadline.

Inspiration from an elephant.

 We writers are always being asked where we get our ideas from. My answer will be forever more simple. FROM AN ELEPHANT.

This is my advisory elephant. He was given to me for Christmas by my daughter Clare who said, "he is supposed to sit by your computer and give you inspiration when you get stuck in a book."
.
My other kids picked up on this immediately.
"He'd say 'how about if she was murdered by being sat on by ane elephant?'
How about if an elephnat tailed him through the city?
How about if it was a trunk call?
How about if it's part of a Mammoth Book of mysteries?

Okay they were all silly, but you know, I am finding that he is very wise in his suggestions. Mostly he says 'if it's not working now, go and take a walk. Or go shopping. It will come to you on the way back.' And you know, it does.

I am definitely a seat-of-the-panter when it comes to writing. No outline for me. Not even a story line to follow. I really don't know what is going to happen to my heroine next. I know a little, mostly about the environment she will enter. For example in the new Molly book, HUSH NOW DON'T YOU CRY, I knew that Molly would uncover some dark secret about a family at one of the Newport 'cottages'. I also had an image in my mind of a child's face in a tower window, laughing demonicly in a thunderstorm  So I start with that and stumble ahead.

So it's very comforting now to know there is an elephant sitting nearby who will come to my aid. Only one thing wrong--I haven't managed to name him yet. Any suggestions? Actually I've been waiting for him to tell me but he is inclined to be shy.....
What's that ? No, elephant, they are not going to hide the body in a trunk.

10 Fun Things to Do for St. Paddy's Day

1. Dye your hair green.

2. Do Riverdance while waiting for the bus or around the supermarket

3. Sing Oh Danny Boy at the metro station, and put a hat in front of you. It will pay for the green beer.

4. Change your name to O'Rosenblum, O'Garcia or O'Demetriov.

5. Read Finnegan's Wake out loud. Try to make sense of it.

6. Visit every Irish pub in town and order a Perrier.

7.Go to every Irish pub in town wearing orange and then claim you're a Giant's supporter when they try to knock you to a pulp.

8: Go up to the most attractive man/woman you meet and say "Kiss me, I'm Irish." See if they believe you.

9: Go to confession for the stupid numbers 1-8

10. And if none of the above appeal to you, then order a copy of the new Molly Murphy book, HUSH NOW, DON'T YOU CRY. It's a better way to spend your time than any of the others and far less dangerous!

Aiding Downton WithdrawaL

If you're suffering from Downton withdrawal, (like me) then a couple of things showed up on the web today to ease your pangs.

First from the bookbitch blog:For those of you going through Downton Abbey withdrawal, you may want to take a look at my blog today where you can win a copy of the book that inspired the Downton Abbey series, TO MARRY AN ENGLISH LORD by Gail MacColl and Carol McD. Wallace.: http://bookbitch.blogspot.com/2012/03/ive-got-cure-for-downton-abbey.html Cheers, Stacy Alesi I am the BookBitch: http://www.bookbitch.com

and then this delicious quiz to see which Downton Abbey character you are: Here is a link, although it's on several sites today.
http://www.weta.org/tv/picks/downtonabbey/quiz
And guess who I turned out to be? Robert, Earl of Grantham! Well I guess I am aristocratic by nature but with a social conscience, but I'm not going to start eyeing the maids any time soon!

And if you'd like a quick dose of an upper class American mansion--my new Molly Murphy book takes place in one of the famous cottages in Newport R.I.

Two Days to Molly

I'm in final countdown mode to the publication of my eleventh Molly Murphy novel, HUSH NOW, D ON'T YOU CRY. It is scheduled for release on Tuesday March 13th and I'm excited about it as I think it's a particularly suspenseful gothic type of plot and it has a great cover.

Spoiler coming if you are not up to date with the Molly books.


It is also the first book since Molly got married at the end of Bless the Bride. Since she promised Daniel that she would give up her detective business when she married, it will be a challenge from now on to find reasons for her to solve crimes without sneaking behind her husband's back (which she'd never do, of course).  Another thing that's different about this book is that most of the stories take place in the gritty atmosphere of New York City, but this one takes Molly and Daniel to the famous "cottages" in Newport R.I. For those who don't know about these cottages, they were really extravagant mansions built as summer homes by the very rich--Vanderbilts and Rockerfellers and Astors. Molly and Daniel are there out of season and expect to have the place to themselves... but it seems the whole family of a New York alderman has been invited and none of them has any idea why.
 

I'm doing a mini-tour this time with my good friend Cara Black who is celebrating her new Aimee Leduc novel, Murder at the Lanterne Rouge. We'll be signing in Scottsdale on Monday 12th, and then at six stores in Southern California on the weekend of the 23rd of March, then a couple of events in the Bay Area and appearing at the Left Coast Crime convention in Sacramento at the end of March. My schedule is on my website.

Between Two Worlds (or is it three?)

If you wonder if writers get caught up in their fictional world I can tell you categorically that yes--we live our characters' lives. And their emotions. When Daniel Sullivan is behaving badly, I find I am snapping at my husband.

This has been brought home very strongly to me this week. I am in the middle of writing a new Molly Murphy novel. In fact I am two hundred pages into it. Molly is trying to trace a missing Irish girl and her quest has led her to a strange and creepy convent. So I am in New York, in 1904. I am with Molly and her friends, battling the garbage strewn streets of the Lower East Side, then having to take a horse and buggy between towns in Westchester County, visiting impressive mansions that might rival Downton Abbey.

And in my head I have Molly's Irish voice and her feisty character. However, my other publisher had asked me if I would write an e-story to whip up enthusiasm for my next Lady Georgie book. It is scheduled to come out in time for Halloween, in fact they wanted a Halloween story. I agreed. But then I found that they wanted it NOW. Not next fall, as I had thought. So I had to abandon Molly, about to be locked into an enclosed order of nuns, and suddenly leap to royal circles in England in the 1930s. 

It reminded me of the way I felt when I was summoned to Australia when my mother was dying. It was the day before Christmas and I was preparing for the whole family to arrive. It was cold and rainy and Christmas music was playing everywhere. I got on a plane and 14 hours later I landed in Australia where it was mid-summer. All around me people were going to the beach carrying surf boards. It was so surreal I had a hard time handling it.

So I've been going through the same thing for the past few days. I've had to push Greenwich Village and the Lower East Side out of my mind and instead hear the well-bred tones of Lady Georgie as she goes to a reception at Buckingham Palace. I've had to make my mind come up with clever 1930s repartee and introduce Mrs. Simpson to Georgie.  I find it helps to speak the words out loud and it's funny--when I'm with Georgie I am so frightfully upper class, in my attitudes as well as my speech.

Now I've finished it and tomorrow I go back to Molly again. No more caviar and champagne for a while. No servants to dress me. Now it's back to the neat little house on Patchin Place, and Molly's friends Sid and Gus.... I wonder what will happen to her?

And next week I celebrate the release of Hush Now, Don't You Cry.

Dishing on Downton, Final Week

WARNING: If you haven't seen last night's episode, do not read this.



The last episode of the season was a doozy, wasn't it? All leading up to the moment when Matthew decks the horrid Sir Richard, who stalks off saying he'll never come back, and Maggie Smith says sweetly, "Promise?"

And we've left enough cliff hangers to keep us wondering: Bates still in jail for life and no hint yet as to who the real murderer was. (I'm still thinking it was Sir Richard. If it had been O'Brien we might have seen more emotion from her in the witness box)
The despicable Thomas hiding the master's dog and being rewarded for it. He will have to get his comeuppance by the end of season 3 or I'm not renewing my support of public television!
Lady Edith making overtures to her old suitor and being rejected.

So what do you think will happen next season? Obviously Bates freed at the last moment (which was something I predicted before he was arrested). Thomas and O'Brien getting what's coming to them. Daisy becoming the cook (or going to live at the farm with her father-in-law. I like the way she is growing up as a character, don't you? In fact I like the staff interactions more as the series goes along.

Will Mary and Matthew finally marry?  I bet Sibyl's husband becomes a big noise in Irish politics OR is killed in one of the final struggles before independence.
Will the imposter Patrick appear again at the last moment with proof of who he is? He went away far too quickly and easily.
Will Sir Richard really publish Mary's sordid story? It will only make him look foolish, I should think, for choosing a bride who was tarnished. And when one thinks of how the men in those days behaved, leaping into bed with the housemaid. Yet Mary is punished for one foolish encounter, in which, as I remember, she resisted his advances for a long time... in fact it was a semi-rape.

An interesting fact to me is that I'm handling this very subject in the Molly Murphy book I'm currently writing: a young woman cast out by her family because of an illegitimate child and the inequality between the sexes. Young men were supposed to sow their wild oats. Young girls were ruined. We've come a long way, baby!

So your predictions for next year, please: And thank you for all your comments. I've enjoyed dishing with you.

Rhys

Where do I Go From Here?

I'm about to start a new book and as usual I'm in full panic mode. If I were a sensible author I'd start with the outline, plot out every scene and then feel confident that I could deliver a sound, enjoyable story. But I can't work this way. I wish I could, but I can't. If I wrote an outline I'd immediately lose interest in the story. And frankly I work best with the element of surprise. I start off knowing very little--usually a setting. For example: how about if I send Molly Murphy to one of the "cottages" in Newport R.I or how about if Georgie goes to winter on the Riviera with the wealthy Brits.
And then I start, plunging blindly ahead until she meets someone--in Naughty in Nice it's an encounter with a handsome Frenchman on the boat and then Coco Chanel on the train, and then the whole future of the story hangs on these encounters.
In the upcoming Hush Now, Don't You Cry--the next Molly Murphy book, due out in March, it is the character of the house and the family that owns it that creates the story--much more a story created through atmosphere than many of the Molly books. I also had to make sure that Molly, now married, still has a good reason to be a sleuth.

So the first 100 pages are, as I said, full panic mode. I'm taking baby steps, not quite knowing where plot twists might lead. And then I find a body, a character I didn't expect shows up and things liven up. I begin to see where we're going and the whole thing picks up steam. By page 200 I'm charging along, enjoying myself.
This is probably a stupid way to work, but it works for me. You see, I don't really know where my heroine is going. I'm following her, just watching and waiting, and thus I'm as surprised as she is when something happens to her. I'm not the puppet master, pushing her into a situation and I think this makes it more fun for the reader too.
In every book I've been surprised at what my heroine does, what she uncovers, whom she meets. Plots always go in directions I haven't expected, and remarkably, after 27 mystery novels, they all seem to come to a satisfying conclusion and there has never yet been a story where I've gotten myelf horribly stuck or written myself into a corner.

So now I start Molly book 12. And what do I know? Molly is pregnant and someone in New York is kidnapping babies. Sounds good, huh? I think there must be a good story there, waiting to be uncovered.  More about my methods in a couple of days.

Who am I writing for?

I'm about to start thinking about a new Molly Murphy mystery and also to come up proposals for the next three Lady Georgie books and I realize this is becoming harder than it was before. Not because I'm running out of ideas--far from it. I keep coming up with fun little twists and interesting plotlines for both series. The problem is that I am now so engaged in social media that I am in constant contact with several thousand fans. And they tell me what they like. I heard a lot of griping because Darcy did not figure prominently in Naughty in Nice. Of course there was the dashing and sexy Jean Paul de Ronchard instead but for keen fans of the series it just wasn't the same.

When I started writing mysteries I literally wrote for myself. I didn't think what might sell, what might make the NYT bestseller list or what might win an award. I knew what story I wanted to read and I couldn't find it on the shelf, so I wrote it. Now I feel all kinds of pressures--good reviews, bestseller lists, and above all pleasing my readers. It's got to be fun and sexy and dramatic and a good story but most readers want the story to be a personal one for Molly and Georgie. They want romance and heartbreak. They want their emotions involved.

This is now mmore of a challenge with the next Molly book because if you read Bless the Bride you'd know that Molly is now married. No more of that lovely romantic tension or the will they, won't they. So I have to think long and hard about where I want to go with that series. Children of her own to worry about, I'm sure. Daniel in danger. Cases that involve her personal life. So.... any suggestions as to what you'd want Molly to do next?

This raises an interesting point: should a writer keep her readership in mind when she writes, especially in a popular series. If the publishers had their way, we'd write the same book, over and over. Find a popular concept and stick with it. Look at Patricia Cornwell--that's exactly what she's done. Until now I've gone where I want to with my heroines, tried new things (like Molly meeting Houdini) and different tones for the books. But now I'm increasingly aware that my readers expect a certain kind of book when they see my name. Added pressure to perform and to please.

So, dear readers, what do you think? Should a writer write to please her readers? Should a series be consistent in tone and darkness so that the reader knows what to expect?  Do you get bored and lose interest if the stories are too similar or annoyed if they are too different? I guess I'm trying to please everyone and in the end the only person I can please is myself.

Historical Goofs

A Facebook friend sent me a very interesting link today to an article about Downton Abbey--remember the TV series about the stately home in the 1930s?

The second series is now airing in the UK and all sorts of complaints are coming in about the anachronistic language that jerks viewers out of the period. Apparently characters say thinks like "get knotted" which really come from the Sixties. 

Here's the link: http://www.aoltv.com/2011/10/21/downton-abbey-criticized-for-historically-incorrect-language/?ncid=webmail2

Correct language for the period is always a high priority for me when I'm writing both my series of historical mysteries. I want the reader to feel he or she is in New York in 1903, or having fun with Lady Georgie in 1930s England. If a word sounds too modern, I have broken the spell. The funny thing is that some slang I know was in use in 1900 I simply can't use because readers would find it too modern. Phrases like "far out" for example were in use then.

So how do I make sure that I keep my readers in the period, when obviously I wasn't alive at either time? Well, for Molly I try to remember how my great-aunts spoke. They were born in the late 1800s and several things were different about their language:
They were horribly formal. Only close family was addressed by our first names. Other friends were Mrs. this and Miss that.
They had huge vocabularies as a result of all that reading as young women. They'd never use filler words like "you know".
They didn't use any kind of swear word, or any word that might seem delicate--a body part, the bathroom etc.
A lady really remained quiet in the presence of gentlemen.
So I channel them when I'm in Edwardian times--although I can't keep Molly quiet too often!

For Georgie--well, I knew older people who were young in the Thirties. I remember their slang. I had friends who called each other "Old Bean" or "Old Fruit." I also adore P.G Wodehouse and channel Bertie Wooster for my young male characters. I watch Thirties movies. And for the grandfather in the series, who is an old Cockney, I only have to remember the way my father spoke. Actually the grandfather is a re-creation of my father.  Because my family background spanned the classes--father self-educated to become a research engineer, mother from a professional and artistic family--her father was an orchestra conductor. Then I married into a family in which Georgie would have been right at home with the cousins with silly nicknames and butlers and stately homes. So I get Georgie right because I have been an observer in all these worlds.  I'm only surprised that Julian Fellowes, writer of Downton Abbey and also part of that upper crust, has slipped up in his efforts to get it right.

So watch the new series then tell me what you think.

Rainy Monday Blues

A rainy Monday in California and I'm feeling lost. My friends from England have gone home. I've worked like crazy to do the copy edits on my next Molly book called Hush Now, Don't You Cry, and I've sent off my next Georgie book to my editor and agent. Now suddenly I have nothing to do except for a large mound of laundry (we had eight people staying over last weekend). And did I mention that it's raining?

If it had been a lovely clear sunny day I could have escaped to the great outdoors to refresh and rejuvenate myself. But frankly when it is dark and rainy all I want to do is to curl up in bed and nap. Maybe I was another species in my past life and I need to hibernate, or at least fly south. My thoughts have definitely turned to Arizona, where we have a condo to which we will be heading at the end of October.

One of the main reasons I bought the condo in the first place was that I don't do winters. I don't mind a big roaring fire and crisp snow outside the door, but dark skies and dreary rain seem to sap all my energy. At the condo I wake early to morning sunlight streaming in through tall arched windows and I'm up and ready to go.
This is necessary because I write two books a year and the Molly book has to be written during the winter months. So pretty soon I'll be tossing around story ideas and then after the holidays I'll settle down to writing Molly book 12.

Writing two books a year is a pretty hectic schedule, especially since they both involve quite a bit of research. I keep thinking of slowing down and doing only one book a year, but frankly I have to admit that I'm one of those writers who has to write. I feel lost if I'm not working on something in my head. I'm simply not good at doing nothing. As for retirement,,, I can't even picture what I'd do if I wasn't writing. I'm not one of those people who can play bridge three times a week or potter around my garden all day.  Luckily it's a career that can go on until I'm ninety (I believe P.D. James is over ninety now, isn't she?)

So maybe tomorrow I'll finish that laundry and then start toying with new story ideas--what should Molly do next? How can she go on detecting after her marriage? Any suggestions?

Prequel takes Kindle by Storm!

More good news! The Amersham Rubies, which is a prequel story to the Molly Murphy books, is now available for pre-order on Kindle. And the best news is that it's free, free, free.

What's more, it's currently #2 on Mystery and Thrillers free on Kindle and #5 on all the free stuff on Kindle. How cool is that? And it has a gorgeous cover, doesn't it?  My publisher conceived the whole thing and did the cover

, hoping, of course to bring more readers to Molly. We'll see if that works.

I should warn you that it's just a story, not a whole book, but it gives readers a glimpse of Molly's detective powers and life in Ireland before she gets to New York. So tell your friends and reserve your copy.