Good Morning Monday!
That means it's time for some more #Monday Meanders. Today, I welcome back my lovely author friend Alice Castle who is going to tell us about her favourite places. Having read her wonderful writing, I can see why she chooses to base her novels where she does. I'm getting to know the locations quite well indeed, and should I ever be in the vicinity I'll definitely be looking over both shoulders and sideways as well, but I'll let her tell you where it is and why.
Welcome again Alice!
(An early p.s. of sorts - I'm so glad the hunky policeman Harry York gets a look-in again! )
Thanks so much, Nancy , for
having me on your blog today for a Monday Meander and giving me a chance to
explain why I set my books in south east London
 |
| Alice Castle |
There’s a simple explanation. I was walking through Dulwich Village
(Oh, Alice- how true! I went looking for a lovely image of Dulwich and I found the perfect one which I've tagged on at the end)
This isn’t a confession to a crime. It’s a declaration of my
intent to commit a whole series of shocking killings. But, before you dial 999,
I’m just a writer. While I hope you’ll be on the edge of your seat, you’ll
definitely live to tell the tale.
In Dulwich, you have the closed circle of suspects, the
affluent lifestyle and the beautiful surroundings that made Agatha Christie’s
St Mary Mead such a promising hotbed of turbulent emotions. A murder in an
apparently tranquil setting is a seismic shock, a blow against the natural
order of things that cries out to be solved by a gifted amateur sleuth. The
twist is that Dulwich, for all its village feel, is also firmly part of
contemporary London
 |
| Dulwich College - Wikimedia Commons |
Once I’d had the idea of updating Golden Age crime for a new
audience, writing Death in Dulwich and its sequel, The Girl in the Gallery, has
been pure pleasure. The books reflect my love for the area, thanks to years
living in Dulwich, with my children at schools rather like the ones which play
such a large part in the stories. The books are stuffed with characters that I
hope fellow Dulwich devotees will recognise affectionately, and either wish
they could share a cappuccino with in Gail’s, or would swerve to avoid outside
Tomlinson’s.
My single mum detective, Beth Haldane, is the sort of person
you might well see at the gates of a school like, say, the Dulwich Hamlet. But,
though at first sight Beth seems a typical Dulwich yummy mummy, it’s not just
her precarious financial situation that keeps her aloof from the pack. Her love
of puzzles, insatiable curiosity and a fair dash of reckless bravery lead her
into situations from which I would certainly hang back. Luckily, she has
Metropolitan Police Detective Inspector Harry York dogging her footsteps,
keeping her safe and failing to act on the developing spark between them.
My first book, Death in Dulwich, centres on Beth’s new job
as archivist at Wyatt’s, the most prestigious of the (fictitious) Endowment
Schools set up by the swashbuckling Sir Thomas Wyatt in the seventeenth century
and still going from strength to glossy strength today.
The second instalment, The Girl in the Gallery, is inspired
by the extraordinary Dulwich Picture Gallery, one of my favourite places in the
world. As well as the wonderful art collection, I’ve always found the building
itself fascinating. It was Sir John Soane’s favourite creation, and it doesn’t
take much to see why. The mausoleum at the centre of the Gallery has always
exerted a morbid fascination for me, seeming to cry out for a starring role in
a whodunit, and I’ve been happy to oblige.
My third mystery, Calamity in Camberwell, features Beth
battling against the world again. One of her friends has disappeared. Why does
no one else take her absence seriously? It’s down to Beth to sort the situation
out. If you want a job done, ask a single mother with a million things on her
plate. Though the book ventures over to the magnificent Georgian terraces of
Camberwell Grove, Dulwich, as ever,
remains at the heart of the book. For her fourth outing, Beth will be venturing
down Half Moon Lane
It’s been a joy to plot these books and to weave in the
local landmarks I know and love so well. I hope Dulwich residents will forgive
the mounting body count, kick off their shoes, get snuggly on their sofas and
have fun too, reading about the sort of things that couldn’t possibly happen in
Dulwich, darling.
You can BUY Death in Dulwich and The Girl in the Gallery
from Village Books, Dulwich Books, Herne Hill Books, Clapham Books and Amazon,
via www.MyBook.to/1DeathinDulwich
and www.MyBook.to/GirlintheGallery
Alice - Dulwich is indeed a place of inestimable history and for many residents it was mostly a happy one. However, there was one poor guy who loved living there...but... (it's easy to google his story.)
err...my excuse is that I've been fascinated recently by all sorts of historical engravings.
Thank you for popping in today, Alice. I do have The Girl in the Gallery in my Kindle queue and I'm truly looking forward to reading it. It's looking like I'll have to get my skates on (or maybe a new pair of reading glasses and more hours in the day) if number 3 is in the offing. Best wishes with your future writing.
Slainthe!
Hi Nancy, thanks so much for having me here today and I absolutely love that engraving! I'd read about poor old Matthew the hermit before but the illustration definitely adds an extra frisson to the tale :)
ReplyDelete