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Julie Highmore

Goodreads Author

Born

London, The United Kingdom

Twitter

@JulieHighmore

Genre

Mystery, Humour and Comedy, Contemporary

Member Since

May 2017

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After having her three children, Julie became a mature student at first Westminster College, then Oxford Brookes University, where she gained a degree in English. As part of the course, she studied creative writing with Philip Pullman, who encouraged her to continue with her writing after graduation. This she did, and her published work includes nine rom-com novels, and more recently, a crime fiction series for The Book Folks. The Missing American - the first in the series - features the somewhat flawed, Oxford-based private investigator, Edie Fox; a single mother and very young grandmother who inadvertently gets her precious family caught up in her first big case. Although her recent novels have ventured into some dark places, Julie manage ...more

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Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Julie Highmore The American’s Cousin

A couple of years back, I had the crazy idea of a detective who was also a grandmother as my central character. I imagined her as…moreThe American’s Cousin

A couple of years back, I had the crazy idea of a detective who was also a grandmother as my central character. I imagined her as single, mid to late forties, attractive, with few domestic skills and one or two dodgy habits. I saw her car-chasing criminals with a toddler strapped into a seat behind her, or doing surveillance whilst pushing a buggy and passing as a doting grandmother – which, obviously, she would also be.

Here in the UK, we had an excellent TV series called Last Tango in Halifax, featuring a forty-something woman, Gillian, who was left to run a Yorkshire farm single-handedly after (sort of accidentally, or maybe not) bumping off her abusive husband. When her teenage son got his girlfriend pregnant, Gillian found herself still running the farm but now with a baby on her hip. She was funny, spoke her mind, liked a drink, and had enough residual energy to jump into bed with most of the men, young and not so, who came through the farm gate. Gillian was beautifully played by Nicola Walker (whose face I saw throughout the writing of The American’s Cousin!)

Another hugely popular and pretty gritty TV series was Happy Valley, starring Sarah Lancashire as a tough uniformed cop who was also a hands-on grandma. It was when Sarah Lund in the final season of The (Danish) Killing also became a grandmother, that I realised I hadn’t had that original an idea, after all - I’d just tuned into the zeitgeist!
Julie (doting gran)
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How do you deal with writer’s block?

Julie Highmore I tend to get writer's block only when I'm trying to decide what book to write next - characters, setting, storyline. Then, once I begin the novel, I …moreI tend to get writer's block only when I'm trying to decide what book to write next - characters, setting, storyline. Then, once I begin the novel, I become quite absorbed and rarely stop until it's finished. My new book is (almost) the exception. The American's Cousin took me three years, on and off, to complete - perhaps because I was writing in a different genre, while also trying to keep some aspects of the previous books that I knew my readers liked, such as family dynamics and humour. Even then, I wasn't exactly blocked - just slow! The second in the series is definitely coming more easily.(less)

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Julie Highmore’s books

Average rating: 3.55 · 1,333 ratings · 161 reviews · 20 distinct works • Similar authors

	The American’s Cousin 3.99 avg rating — 286 ratings — published 2017 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Missing American: Absolutely Hilarious Mystery Fiction 4.01 avg rating — 191 ratings — published 2023 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	La biblioteca dei miei sogni by Julie Highmore (Goodreads Author), Roberta Bovaia (Translator) 2.83 avg rating — 227 ratings — published 2003 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Message 3.48 avg rating — 103 ratings — published 2009 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Birthday 3.54 avg rating — 92 ratings — published 2010 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Ghostwriter's Study: a private investigator goes undercover 4.11 avg rating — 53 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sleeping Around 3.30 avg rating — 61 ratings — published 2005 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Your Place or Mine? 3.09 avg rating — 54 ratings — published 2007 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Beautiful Strangers 3.23 avg rating — 48 ratings — published 2008 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Country Loving 2.96 avg rating — 49 ratings — published 2002 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Julie Highmore's Blog

The Runaway Husband

http://geni.us/RunawayHusband

Catch up with what Edie did next, following book one - The Missing American.

Hope you enjoy it! I'm currently writing the third book in the series... Julie Read more of this blog post »

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Published on June 10, 2023 01:34

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Julie is Currently Reading

Julie Highmore is currently reading

High Hand (The Edinburgh Murders #2)

by Traude Ailinger (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Feb 06, 2024 01:28AM

Quotes by Julie Highmore (?)

“Once more, he was immersing himself in books, reaching the end of long articles, even going back over paragraphs to make sure he'd grasped things. How much more satisfying it was than all that skimming, all that jumping around. At present, he was working his way, deliciously, through a book on Mendel, the father of genetics. A man who might not have spend seven years watching peas, if he'd had the internet.”
― Julie Highmore, The Message

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