Ask the Author: Helen Smith
Answered Questions (5)
Helen Smith
Carl, thanks for the question.
I have set up my blog to feed into my author profile automatically. I check in here from time to time to add books I am reading, and occasionally leave reviews for them. I try to get the most out of the site without neglecting my writing.
Helen
I have set up my blog to feed into my author profile automatically. I check in here from time to time to add books I am reading, and occasionally leave reviews for them. I try to get the most out of the site without neglecting my writing.
Helen
Helen Smith
Thanks for the question. I love the new Ask the Author feature on Goodreads! I'm just finishing up the third novel in my Emily Castles mystery series. There are two novels and two novellas already available in the series - the most recent is BEYOND BELIEF, a traditional mystery set in Torquay, featuring my twenty-six-year-old amateur sleuth Emily.
In the book I'm currently working on, STAGE FRIGHT, Emily is helping out on an innovative stage show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She's in peril in this one. One of the performers disappears, and then Emily herself becomes a target. She has to solve the case and save the day.
These mysteries are great fun to write. They're humorous and light-hearted in tone. If you like Midsomer Murders or M C Beaton's Agatha Raisin or Hamish MacBeth books, the Emily Castles mysteries are likely to appeal to you.
I am also plotting the next book in the series. This will take place on a cruise ship. Emily is invited to accompany her friend, the eccentric philosophy professor Dr. Muriel, on a trip that is supposed to allow her to recover from her ordeal in Edinburgh. But when the bodies start dropping, the two friends team up to solve the case. I recently traveled on a cruise ship from Southampton to San Diego. It took me two and a half months and I had plenty of opportunity to take notes for this book! I wrote some updates and posted photos on my blog (which you can see on Goodreads) using the searchable tag "All at Sea."
In the book I'm currently working on, STAGE FRIGHT, Emily is helping out on an innovative stage show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She's in peril in this one. One of the performers disappears, and then Emily herself becomes a target. She has to solve the case and save the day.
These mysteries are great fun to write. They're humorous and light-hearted in tone. If you like Midsomer Murders or M C Beaton's Agatha Raisin or Hamish MacBeth books, the Emily Castles mysteries are likely to appeal to you.
I am also plotting the next book in the series. This will take place on a cruise ship. Emily is invited to accompany her friend, the eccentric philosophy professor Dr. Muriel, on a trip that is supposed to allow her to recover from her ordeal in Edinburgh. But when the bodies start dropping, the two friends team up to solve the case. I recently traveled on a cruise ship from Southampton to San Diego. It took me two and a half months and I had plenty of opportunity to take notes for this book! I wrote some updates and posted photos on my blog (which you can see on Goodreads) using the searchable tag "All at Sea."
Helen Smith
Donna, thanks for reading The Miracle Inspector. I'm so glad you enjoyed it. I'm really proud of that book. It's my only attempt at writing dystopian fiction and, although there are some funny lines in it, it's bleaker than my other books.
I had been volunteering in London as a writing mentor with exiled writers who were survivors of torture. Obviously the experience affected me. I wondered what I would do if I had to flee my home. Where would I go, who would help me, who could I trust? I decided to set a book in the near-future in an England that had been partitioned. London is an oppressive place where women aren't free to work outside the home. A young married couple, Lucas and Angela, decide to escape from the city... with disastrous consequences. I hoped that after reading the book, readers might ask themselves similar questions to the ones I had started with.
There is very little information in the book about what brought England to this sorry state. I wanted readers to speculate, based on their own fears about the worst that might happen to their country in the space of a generation. I mention a revolution that Lucas's father was involved in. I was thinking that readers might draw comparisons to the revolution in Iran when the Shah was deposed. The people involved in that revolution obviously hoped that the situation in their country would improve, but it got worse.
A few readers have asked if I have considered write a prequel to The Miracle Inspector. Actually, I would love to do that. I have the book plotted. The story follows three main characters - Lucas's father, his mother and a poet called Jesmond who appears in The Miracle Inspector - and their involvement in the revolution in England.
I hope I will get the chance to write this. I have two other standalone books that I would also like to write. I just need to pick which project I should work on next.
Thanks for asking the question. I appreciate it. Knowing that you liked my book means a lot to me, too. Thank you!
I had been volunteering in London as a writing mentor with exiled writers who were survivors of torture. Obviously the experience affected me. I wondered what I would do if I had to flee my home. Where would I go, who would help me, who could I trust? I decided to set a book in the near-future in an England that had been partitioned. London is an oppressive place where women aren't free to work outside the home. A young married couple, Lucas and Angela, decide to escape from the city... with disastrous consequences. I hoped that after reading the book, readers might ask themselves similar questions to the ones I had started with.
There is very little information in the book about what brought England to this sorry state. I wanted readers to speculate, based on their own fears about the worst that might happen to their country in the space of a generation. I mention a revolution that Lucas's father was involved in. I was thinking that readers might draw comparisons to the revolution in Iran when the Shah was deposed. The people involved in that revolution obviously hoped that the situation in their country would improve, but it got worse.
A few readers have asked if I have considered write a prequel to The Miracle Inspector. Actually, I would love to do that. I have the book plotted. The story follows three main characters - Lucas's father, his mother and a poet called Jesmond who appears in The Miracle Inspector - and their involvement in the revolution in England.
I hope I will get the chance to write this. I have two other standalone books that I would also like to write. I just need to pick which project I should work on next.
Thanks for asking the question. I appreciate it. Knowing that you liked my book means a lot to me, too. Thank you!
Helen Smith
Jayne, thanks for the question. Some days go better than others, but I never feel like giving up. If a project isn't moving along as quickly as I would like, I go and do something else - either working on another project, or doing something else entirely. If I can't work out how to fix something, sleeping on it usually helps. Most of the time I feel happy. I know I'm lucky to be able to spend my days writing.
Helen Smith
Oh Simon! You're adorable. Can't wait to see you again at Bouchercon. I'm counting the days...
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