Jan Edwards's Blog

Sweeping up in the conservatory I noticed a scattering of soil.

Odd, thinks I. I know the hen blackbird has a habit of digging around in the tops of pots out in the courtyard  but not noticed her in here!

Closer inspection revealed the culprits.

Ants had taken up residence in the smaller of my jade plant’s. No option but to take the Jade outside, re-pot it and discard the ant-rich soil.

Not the prettiest of pots I have to say but the only suitable one handy as it needed to have some heft.  Jade plants tend to be somewhat top heavy.

Nothing against ants as such – I just don’t want them setting up house in my conservatory!

Going Upriver is a forthcoming DCI William Wright Mystery
In the title story, “Going Upriver”, when twelve- year-old Chloe Portmann is kidnapped at gunpoint, DCI William Wright is pulled out of an investigation to join the hunt. There is far more than money being demanded from her father – a major in Military Intelligence – and the stakes have never been higher. Wright enters into a race against the tide to rescue the girl from ruthless criminals who will have no qualms in killing her to avoid capture. Also included is the short story “The Duke’s Head” (originally “Down to the Sea”) and an extract from the novel Deadly Plot.

Available HERE on pre-order in Kindle format for 22nd May publication
paper edition will also be available in May.

Your invitation has arrived!

23rd April is A Party to Murder launch day

Kindle and paper formats – or PM me if a signed copy floats your boat!

“When Rose Courtney’s father asks her to act as the hostess for a party at their London house he hopes it might distract her from the dangers of sleuthing and launch her back into society. He couldn’t be more wrong.  A Wren Officer is murdered that night. A valuable Faberge egg is stolen. And our erstwhile lady detective dives straight back into the fray, joining her old sparring partner DCI William Wright to find a missing witness before the murderer can silence her for good.”

in Paper and Kindle formats – or PM me for a signed copy!

 

 

Watching the TV recently I had one of those ‘yelling at the TV moments when a main character in a UK crime show told another than she ‘had her Private Detective licence’. “Wrong!” I screamed. “She would  not have needed one!”

It would be more accurate to say she still wouldn’t. To be fair I suspect most people have seen Philip Marlowe and assume that a licence to spy is needed everywhere. It’s another of those questions about amateur sleuths that does come up in lit fest Q&As so let me explain.

There are a zillion amateur sleuths In the annals of golden age crime. Many were amateur in the strictest sense of being unpaid while some appeared to earn a living at the craft. A few, like Lord Peter Wimsey, are dilettantes who solve crimes purely as a hobby and Lord Peter, with his high connections, often slide into the murky depths of spies and national security.

I gave Bunch a mandate as a wink to Sherlock Holmes never dreaming there would be more than one book. It was some while later that I discovered that she didn’t even need that much.

It is true that the Association of British Investigators  has existed since 1913 and that most reputable private agents belong to it. In the US, Australia and many countries in the EU agents are required to be licensed and insured but not here in the UK. Not in Bunch’s era or now.

I gather the ABI are trying to rectify that and I have some sympathy. I was a qualified member of the Master Locksmiths Association – one of the first women to gain admittance. When I got my ticker I was required to undergo a lengthy apprenticeship, City & Guilds training plus and MLA written and verbal exam.  But as with private eyes, it not a legal requirement to be a master locksmith to open a locksmith shop on any high street, though like the ABI they have been lobbying for years to get the government to include locksmiths in the Security Industry Authority. Not an issue for me now as I retired from the profession some years ago.

Another more modern myth is that gun licences have only required relatively recently but not so.  Firearms certs have been needed in the UK since 1920 in the aftermath of WW1.

But I digress…

There I was shouting at the TV  because its another of those questions I am asked about Rose Bunch Courtney and this time round it really matters – but you will need to read the book to know why!

 

A Party to Murder will be available tomorrow!

Food, drink and rationing.

Being set during WW2 its hardly surprising that most of the references to food and/or drink quite naturally revolved around rationing. Extravagant dinner parties rapidly became a thing of the past, even among the relatively wealthy and the emphasis on food that could be grown or foraged/hunted became more common as the war ground on.

There is a misconception held by many that stringent rationing began from the moment war was declared in late 1939 but the only item in ration in ’39 was fuel.

To give you a  rough timeline:

Sept 1939:Petrol rationing begins.Jan 8, 1940:Food rationing introduced (bacon, butter, sugar).March 1940:Meat, tea, and margarine.June 1941:Clothing coupons issued.Feb 1942:Soap rationing (for both clothes and people).March 1942: petrol coupons restricted to essential use only – none for private cars.July 1942:Sweets and chocolate rationing (my mother and aunt worked on munitions, making fuses, in what had been the Paynes chocolate factory).Aug 1942:Most food items (excluding bread and vegetables) placed on ration.

Other things such as paper were rationed as was fuel such as coal and/or paraffin

There were items that I have TV dramas claim were rationed but were never were.

Things such as fish: never rationed but the dangers of putting to sea with U-Boats lurking at every wave made it a scarce commodity.

Alcohol famously never rationed – one suspects because the very thought was an anathema to Churchill. Beer was easily made but with barley in short supply was not as plentiful as it once was – rumours of supplies being watered down probably depended on the landlord…

Most wines and spirits were imported and naturally became scarce – black market spirits were expensive, variable in quality and sometimes hazardous to the health! Bunch is partial to Whisky or sherry when it could be got and on several occasions she casts aspersions on Martini cocktails that lacked Vermouth or on one occasion had much of the gin quota substituted with locally made vodka of dubious provenance. (The danger of black market hooch containing methanol was very real!)

Bread was not rationed until 1946 but white flour was phased out in 1942 and only wholemeal available – giving rise to the ‘national loaf’. This was – my parents assured me – essentially what we would now see as healthy wholemeal loaves. But the populace at all levels had been raised to believe that white bread was king and that all brown varieties were only fit for peasants  – naturally it was highly unpopular.

The main issues in Winter Downs revolve around the matter of hording – which was made a criminal offence – and also livestock rustling (though meat was not on ration until march of 1940 there was a great deal of panic buying of all comestibles).

There are references though out  the series of the trials of eating out. Though restaurants did not have the same level of rationing of domestic kitchens there were still shortages to contend with. In A Party to Murder, set in 1942, Bunch and Wright meet at one of the famous  J Lyons Corner Cafés,  where Bunch laments the fact that salmon is only served on a Friday and suspects the game pie consists not of traditional game but pigeon and/or rabbit. Worth noting here that in cities where bombing frequently fractured mains pipes, other means of cooking had to be sought, and was reflected in 1940 by the emergence of British Restaurants – government-funded communal kitchens established both to combat food shortages, rationing and to feed people bombed out of their homes.

Of course the Perringham estate owned by the Courtney family was able to supply eggs and dairy items off ration, and kept the London town house supplied at need. Technically illegal  but something almost all country dwellers did. The advent of Victory gardens, which figure large in Deadly Plot  were an important part of subsidising rations. Bunch’s grandmother, the redoubtable Beatrice, turned much of the gardens at the dower house to vegetable and growing and even the Tower of London moat was partially given over to growing of cabbages.

Ration cards were essential for life and get a mention when Bunch books in under cover at a guest house in the suburbs and when asked to surrender her ration book hands in a document under a false name provided by Wright at Scotland Yard.

For all of the reasons above I don’t go into menus a great deal because normal eating habits, even among the more privileged had rapidly became a thing of the past. That being the case food and drink references usually revolved around availability –i.e. mainly boiled down to complaints – but those issues provide essential background material and I made sure that I researched the details around  whats and whens of rationing  as correctly as possible.

A Party to Murder is available on23rd April

 

Food, drink and rationing.

Being set during WW2 its hardly surprising that most of the references to food and/or drink quite naturally revolved around rationing. Extravagant dinner parties rapidly became a thing of the past, even among the relatively wealthy and the emphasis on food that could be grown or foraged/hunted became more common as the war ground on.

There is a misconception held by many that stringent rationing began from the moment war was declared in late 1939 but the only item in ration in ’39 was fuel.

To give you a  rough timeline:

Sept 1939:Petrol rationing begins.Jan 8, 1940:Food rationing introduced (bacon, butter, sugar).March 1940:Meat, tea, and margarine.June 1941:Clothing coupons issued.Feb 1942:Soap rationing (for both clothes and people).March 1942: petrol coupons restricted to essential use only – none for private cars.July 1942:Sweets and chocolate rationing (my mother and aunt worked on munitions, making fuses, in what had been the Paynes chocolate factory).Aug 1942:Most food items (excluding bread and vegetables) placed on ration.

Other things such as paper were rationed as was fuel such as coal and/or paraffin

There were items that I have TV dramas claim were rationed but were never were, such as fish; never rationed but the dangers of putting to sea with U-Boats lurking at every wave made it a scarce commodity. Alcohol was also famously never rationed at all – one suspects because the very thought was an anathema to Churchill. Beer was easily made but with barley in short supply was not as plentiful as it once was – rumours of supplies being watered down probably depended on the landlord…

Most wines and spirits were imported and naturally became scarce – black market spirits were expensive, variable in quality and sometimes hazardous to the health! Bunch is partial to Whisky or sherry when it could be got and on several occasions she casts aspersions on Martini cocktails that lacked Vermouth or on one occasion had much of the gin quota substituted with locally made vodka of dubious provenance. (The danger of black market hooch containing methanol was very real!)

Bread was not rationed until 1946 but white flour phased out in 1942 and only wholemeal available – giving rise to the ‘national loaf’. This was – my parents assured me – essentially what we would now see as healthy wholemeal loaves. But the populace at all levels had been raised to believe that white bread was king and that all brown varieties were only fit for peasants  – naturally it was highly unpopular.

The main issues in Winter Downs revolve around the matter hording – which was made a criminal offence – and also livestock rustling (though meat was not on ration until march of 1940 there was a great deal of panic buying of all comestibles).

There are references though out  the series of the trials of eating out. Though restaurants did not have the same level of rationing of domestic kitchens there were still shortages to contend with. In A Party to Murder, set in 1942, Bunch and Wright meet at one of the famous  J Lyons Corner Cafés,  where Bunch laments the fact that salmon is only served on a Friday and suspects the game pie consists not of traditional game but pigeon and/or rabbit. Worth noting here that in cities where bombing frequently fractured mains pipes, other means of cooking had to be sought, and was reflected in 1940 by the emergence of British Restaurants – government-funded communal kitchens established both to combat food shortages, rationing and to feed people bombed out of their homes.

Of course the Perringham estate owned by the Courtney family was able to supply eggs and dairy items off ration, and kept the London town house supplied at need. Technically illegal  but something almost all country dwellers did. The advent of Victory gardens, which figure large in Deadly Plot  were an important part of subsidising rations. Bunch’s grandmother, the redoubtable Beatrice, turned much of the gardens at the dower house to vegetable and growing and even the Tower of London moat was partially given over to growing of cabbages.

Ration cards were essential for life and get a mention when Bunch books in under cover at a guest house in the suburbs and when asked to surrender her ration book hands in a document under a false name provided by Wright at Scotland Yard.

For all of the reasons above I don’t go into menus a great deal because normal eating habits, even among the more privileged had rapidly became a thing of the past. That being the case food and drink references usually revolved around availability –i.e. mainly boiled down to complaints – but those issues provide essential background material and I made sure that I researched the details around  whats and whens of rationing  as correctly as possible.

A Party to Murder is available on23rd April

 

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Another question frequently asked at events concerns the thorny issue of themes and the subjects utilised when writing this series. I will put my hand up and say that themes are not something I dwell upon but that’s not to say that themes are absent from the Bunch Courtney Investigations (BCI).  I am a great believer in a light touch and most often it is the story as it unfolds before my own eyes that dictates any lurking undercurrents, and it goes without saying that answering the question of themes the BCI series without giving spoilers is a challenge, but here goes…

Winter Downs: BCI #1 is all about loyalty and justice. Not merely the justice metered out to a criminal when the law has caught up with them but a heartfelt mission by the main protagonist. Jonathan Frampton has been murdered yet the general consensus among officialdom is a tragic suicide and in the UK at that time suicide was not only a criminal act, but could prevent him being laid to rest in the parish churchyard. Rose Bunch Courtney is not a religious person but sees that as a final insult to his memory. Her entire reason for embarking on her first investigation, therefore, is to gain justice for her old friend and one-time lover; catching his murderer was always going to be an added bonus.

In Her Defence : BCI#2  begins as Cecile Benoir flees France and asks for Bunch’s help to investigate the death by poisoning of her father Prof. Benoir. Again it is friendship that is the catalyst but this changed almost by default via racism and prejudice  prevalent at the time. The massed interments of enemy aliens had roused a patriotic zeal in the general public so strong that anyone with ‘funny accent’ was subjects of fear and loathing through such incidents as Polish and Dutch pilots being mistaken for enemy spies and violently attacked. For Bunch, then, to take Cecile on as estate secretary was a huge risk.

Listed Dead : BCI#3  touched yet again on friendships but this time among members of a supper club, meeting at the Café de Paris in London. As one by one the members of the supper club are picked off the theme of friendship sours to reveal  a simmering cauldron of jealousy and hatred beneath its well-heeled surface.

In Cases of Murder : BCI#4 it is family ties that are tested to breaking point. Laura Jarman is brutally murdered and her body crammed into a clothes trunk. It is not the first such murder but the victims who went before were on the edges of the criminal underworld while Laura’s father is a wealthy industrialist in the armaments industry. The investigations are hampered as the Jarman family close ranks in their grief, looking to protect Laura’s memory. Testing of family loyalties echoed in Bunch’s own family as her terminally ill mother enters a nursing home.

Deadly Plot : BCI#5 is possibly the least obvious when it comes to a specific theme  but probably leans most heavily on broken trust. An escaped Italian POW is found buried in a Victory Garden and  has been there for at least six months. The deeper Bunch investigates the more she wonders who she can trust. None of the witnesses are who they appear to be and almost all have links to organised crime.

A Party to  Murder : BC1#6  looks at deception from a different angle and affects Bunch far more deeply when it is apparently coming from within her own household. Once again she is looking into treachery on a different level. A Wren officer is murdered at a party in the Courtney’s London house. Is it linked to the presence of Churchill and his wife? To a document missing from the study of Bunch’s father? Or the theft of a valuable piece of Faberge that Bunch had never realised her family possessed? The events are testing her own loyalty and  pushing her to consider the previously unthinkable in the midst of war as her sense of betrayal tempts her to abandon her deeply ingrained sense of duty.

Doubtless other would see other themes within each novel and because this is crime its no real surprise that loyalty, justice, deception and guilt are top of the list. Crimes by their very nature are deceitful and a sense of betrayal by the victims almost goes without saying. War will almost inevitably raise the issues of grief and loyalties. Once you have families and partnerships in the mix then love will out. Have I answered the question? I think so far as I can without diving into deeper analyses. I would be interested to hear what readers see within the BCI pages.

A Party to Murder available from 23rd April

Points of view.

Unlike A Party to Murder, Winter Downs flip-flopped between first and third tense for a variety of reasons not least because it was originally meant to follow the sisters as a team. Rose Bunch Courtney and her widowed sister Daphne “Dodo” Tinsley and had a more distinctly comic feel as “Bunch and Dodo” went into business as investigators.

In my innocence I imagined multiple first person narratives sounded ideal because it would give the opportunity to have them investigate both as a pair and individually so that their very different personalities brought different perspectives into the mix.

Turns out I was wrong as it never quite jelled. So I switched to third person omniscient, which still allowed me to write through multiple viewpoints without the need to cover the same ground with fewer section breaks.

Around then Detective William Wright walked into frame and refused to leave, becoming a far stronger foil for Bunch’s spiky persona than her sister. In order to stop him taking over I slipped back into first person singular. I rather like first person because it provides so much scope to explore the central character’s thought processes. It does have its limitations however, which I soon ran into when Bunch and Wright interviewed witnesses together.

And  yes, you guessed it, back to third person objective, pulling back to observe the pair working through the case – and still didn’t feel right.

So for rewrite number five I tried third person omniscient. It felt instantly better as it became clear to me that neither Daphne nor William Wright were a match for Bunch as lead character. Apart from anything else it was Bunch’s private and frequently acerbic asides that insisted on percolating through the narrative and whichever method used would elbow her way to the front.

Something still felt of kilter and so I embarked on draft six in third person limited which allowed Bunch to observe what people around her said and did, and to privately vent those acid opinions internally, and thus avoid raising the collective hackles of just about everyone in ear shot. In A Party to Murder emotions in her private life are running especially high and those inner thoughts occasionally burst forth like alien from John Hurt’s ribs – but that’s our Rose-bunch for you. Never knowingly toeing the line.

The one viewpoint I never entertained using was second person. It’s a very limiting method and for me at is frequently makes the cast of a novel rather two dimensional to match.

You may (or may not) be pleased to hear that I kept to that third person limited format throughout Bunch’s Investigations. I know it’s saved myself a good few hours of trial and error.

A Party to Murder is out on 23rd April

Influences.

This question is one I know many writers dread because its so hard to pin down. Over a lifetime of reading pointing at X or Y, or even both, is next to impossible without linking it to a dozen more, added to which the genre I am writing in also has a bearing on influences that have most traction.

When it comes to crime I slid into it from a horror/fantasy base via a Steampunk Sherlock Holmes project that I was asked to participate in. The series stumbled and fell in its infancy, as these things often do, but it did lead me to writing a half dozen Sherlock Holmes short stories for more mainstream anthologies – and thus my crime habit had taken seed.

When it comes to direct influences on the Bunch Courtney Investigations there are a plethora of titles and authors that could be mentioned. Quite obviously the inimitable Holmes was the catalyst but like all writers of murder mysteries and crime fiction I cannot possibly avoid naming Agatha Christie. She is written into the DNA of every crime author’s work and probably goes without saying. I would also point toward Dorothy L Sayers’ detective, Lord Peter Wimsey, and perhaps more importantly to his associate and later spouse, Harriet Vane, as a more direct influence among the golden age titles.

Coming into the 21st century it is harder to name names because I read so many. Easier perhaps to mention TV influences such as the adventures of Phryne Fisher from the books by Kerry Greenwood, Anthony Horowitz’s Foyle’s War and more Christie adaptations than I have space for here.

A Party to Murder is available from 23rd April.