From Whimsy to Worldwide: TE Kinsey on Cozy Crimes, Writing Joy, and the Power of Persistence

Bestselling author TE Kinsey joins Eleanor Ray for a delightful deep dive into the world of historical cozy crime fiction, the art of writing for joy, and the serendipitous journey from self-publishing to millions of readers. Discover the origins of Lady Hardcastle, the secrets behind crafting memorable characters, and why embracing whimsy (and a bit of luck) can lead to literary success. Tim shares candid insights on research, balancing writing with life, and finding happiness both on and off the page—including the unexpected pleasures of making music. Whether you’re an aspiring writer, a devoted reader, or simply in need of a little inspiration, this episode is packed with warmth, wisdom, and plenty of laughs.

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Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Hello and welcome to Ray of Light, a new podcast all about writing, reading, and happiness, with myself, Eleanor Ray.
I write uplifting book club fiction, and I'd love my readers to feel better for having read one of my books.
I want this podcast to have the same effect. 4 00:00:25,15.926411207 --> 00:00:32,545.926411207 This episode, I'm delighted to welcome TE Kinsey, the multimillion selling author of Historical Cozy Crimes. 5 00:00:32,905.926411207 --> 00:00:42,445.926411207 He has published 13 Lady Hardcastle Mysteries, two Dizzy Heights Mysteries, and has won over readers across the world with his whimsical charms. 6 00:00:44,515.926411207 --> 00:00:47,755.926411207 Tim, thank you so much for coming on to speak with me today. 7 00:00:47,805.926411207 --> 00:00:49,515.926411207 I was just mouthing the word whimsy. 8 00:00:51,45.926411207 --> 00:00:52,900.926411207 Whimsy is a very good word for you, I think. 9 00:00:53,180.926411207 --> 00:00:53,740.926411207 I love whimsy. 10 00:00:53,740.926411207 --> 00:00:54,140.926411207 Can you tell. 11 00:00:55,200.926411207 --> 00:00:55,890.926411207 I love it too. 12 00:00:55,890.926411207 --> 00:01:14,610.926411207 Can you tell us a little bit more about Lady Hardcastle and how she goes about solving crimes? Lady Hardcastle, when we first meet her in the first book, which is set in 1908, she is 40 years old and she's a widow and she is incredibly wealthy. 13 00:01:14,610.926411207 --> 00:01:19,230.926411207 We never find out just how wealthy she is, but she's wealthy enough that she doesn't have to worry about money. 14 00:01:20,190.926411207 --> 00:01:32,914.554411207 What we find out as the series goes on, perhaps you would probably find out during the first book, but, she used to be a spy, for the British government and together with her redoubtable ladies maid Florence Armstrong. 15 00:01:33,724.554411207 --> 00:01:42,574.55441121 They averted all sorts of international crises a round Europe and originally in China and then through India and then, back home in Europe. 16 00:01:43,184.55441121 --> 00:01:49,514.55441121 but by 1908 they've decided that they're going to retire for a quiet life in the country, hence the title of the first book. 17 00:01:50,24.55441121 --> 00:02:00,864.55441121 And, but obviously 'cause it's a murder mystery, they get tied up in solving a murder, uh, which they do because in initially the police inspector they meet seems to be cutting corners. 18 00:02:00,984.55441121 --> 00:02:03,144.55441121 He's not, as it turns out, but he seems to be. 19 00:02:03,144.55441121 --> 00:02:07,514.55441121 So they decide to investigate on their own, off their own bat. 20 00:02:07,574.55441121 --> 00:02:09,264.55441121 And, it carries on from there. 21 00:02:09,264.55441121 --> 00:02:16,194.55441121 The series carries on from there with these two women who are unlikely, best friends because they're from different social classes. 22 00:02:16,194.55441121 --> 00:02:18,174.55441121 One is an employer and one is her servant. 23 00:02:19,34.55441121 --> 00:02:23,434.55441121 but they are best friends and that causes some, some social confusion. 24 00:02:23,564.55441121 --> 00:02:32,274.55441121 But also gives them, uh, brilliant ability to get into places where either one of them couldn't get in, perhaps on her own. 25 00:02:32,274.55441121 --> 00:02:36,124.55441121 So, Flo can, can go down and talk to the servants. 26 00:02:36,794.55441121 --> 00:02:42,594.55441121 Emily can talk to the, to the, the upper class people upstairs, and it all works out. 27 00:02:42,924.55441121 --> 00:02:47,524.55441121 But they, they solve crimes by, oh, do you know what I mean? Let's be honest about it. 28 00:02:47,524.55441121 --> 00:02:50,74.55441121 More by luck than by good skill and judgment. 29 00:02:50,194.55441121 --> 00:03:01,654.55441121 I mean, they, they figure stuff out, but they there's an awful lot of coincidences and helpful happenstance that leads them in the right direction, but eventually they solve the crime and, uh, Flo. 30 00:03:01,674.55441121 --> 00:03:01,734.55441121 Um. 31 00:03:02,859.55441121 --> 00:03:13,469.55441121 Flo is she's a martial arts expert, which is one of the reasons I changed their backstory at some point so that they could travel through China and, uh, and Flo could learn martial arts. 32 00:03:13,589.55441121 --> 00:03:21,959.55441121 And so there's all sorts of fisticuffs and she's also which she wasn't originally, but she's also the, uh, the daughter of a circus knife thrower. 33 00:03:22,499.55441121 --> 00:03:25,529.55441121 So she has extraordinary knife skills as well. 34 00:03:25,619.55441121 --> 00:03:36,509.55441121 But yes, they, is that interesting? Well, I mean, well yeah, there is a tale attached to how that came to be, but, uh, well maybe we can touch on that later if, if when we get to some other stuff. 35 00:03:36,509.55441121 --> 00:03:37,949.55441121 But yeah, that, so that's who they are. 36 00:03:38,159.55441121 --> 00:03:45,219.55441121 They originally created for something else entirely but I added the whimsy and there they are solving crimes and having great fun. 37 00:03:45,219.55441121 --> 00:03:45,279.55441121 I. 38 00:03:47,679.55441121 --> 00:03:49,659.55441121 I love it and I love with cozy crimes. 39 00:03:49,709.55441121 --> 00:03:57,719.55441121 When you have people solving mysteries who aren't the police, it's always good to have a reason why they have these special skills and why they're so good at solving what they do. 40 00:03:57,719.55441121 --> 00:04:02,909.55441121 And I think you've crafted their backstory really cleverly there to make it actually all make perfect sense. 41 00:04:03,139.55441121 --> 00:04:08,539.55441121 And your readers think so too because how many books have you sold now, Tim? I think it's about two and a quarter million. 42 00:04:09,274.55441121 --> 00:04:09,784.55441121 Wow. 43 00:04:10,154.55441121 --> 00:04:32,64.55441121 Now, and I know you started off, you've alluded to them having a slightly different past, but you started off self-publishing and I find your journey really inspirational for anyone who's thinking of self-publishing or has, or has already done so because you did it I think to get 20 readers and now you've ended up with two and a quarter million. 44 00:04:32,454.55441121 --> 00:04:41,844.55441121 Can you tell us a little bit more about that writing journey and how you came to this incredibly successful place that you've now arrived? I think it's all down to luck. 45 00:04:41,934.55441121 --> 00:04:42,564.55441121 Genuinely. 46 00:04:42,564.55441121 --> 00:04:48,614.55441121 I think it's all down to luck because I'm not a better writer than all of the other people who are out there writing. 47 00:04:49,184.55441121 --> 00:04:52,544.55441121 I haven't got better ideas than all of the other people who are out there writing. 48 00:04:52,604.55441121 --> 00:04:58,754.55441121 All that happened was that I written the thing that people wanted on the day that they decided to buy a book. 49 00:04:59,164.55441121 --> 00:05:05,904.55441121 That first one, it kind of dribbled along much like, self-published books do a few a day. 50 00:05:06,24.55441121 --> 00:05:09,684.55441121 And it hit 20 copies within about 11 days, I think. 51 00:05:10,434.55441121 --> 00:05:10,734.55441121 Very good. 52 00:05:10,784.55441121 --> 00:05:14,774.55441121 And the second book was finished the middle of the following year, 2015. 53 00:05:15,674.55441121 --> 00:05:30,824.55441121 And what hap, I dunno if it still happens, but in those days when you self-publish something on Kindle Direct, which is what the platform I was using, when you released a new book, it would go into the new releases bucket and they would promote it as a new release. 54 00:05:31,664.55441121 --> 00:05:34,544.55441121 And because there was a first book. 55 00:05:34,694.55441121 --> 00:05:42,794.55441121 People would look at the second book and go, what? Who's this? What's going on here? And they'd look at the first book and it had some good reviews and they started buying both books. 56 00:05:43,424.55441121 --> 00:05:52,894.55441121 And there was a period In the middle of 2015 where I was earning more each month from the self-published books than I was earning from my monthly salary. 57 00:05:53,794.55441121 --> 00:05:54,229.55441121 And I, wow. 58 00:05:54,454.55441121 --> 00:05:56,234.55441121 I suddenly thought, well, this could be a thing. 59 00:05:56,234.55441121 --> 00:05:59,864.55441121 I could, yeah, I, this could, but I haven't done, this is the problem. 60 00:05:59,864.55441121 --> 00:06:04,964.55441121 You see, I can't, I can't be anyone's mentor or, or a, guide to future success. 61 00:06:04,964.55441121 --> 00:06:06,854.55441121 'cause I haven't, I didn't do anything. 62 00:06:07,34.55441121 --> 00:06:09,14.55441121 I just wrote two books and put them out. 63 00:06:09,374.55441121 --> 00:06:10,734.55441121 You didn't do, you didn't do any marketing? Nope. 64 00:06:10,914.55441121 --> 00:06:12,54.55441121 The power of the books. 65 00:06:12,144.55441121 --> 00:06:12,804.55441121 The power of books. 66 00:06:12,989.55441121 --> 00:06:16,109.55441121 I did a couple of giveaways, which was how I got the first review. 67 00:06:16,979.55441121 --> 00:06:25,529.55441121 I gave away something like 150 copies and I got a review out of that, which fortunately was a five star, and they started to come in after that. 68 00:06:25,799.55441121 --> 00:06:29,939.55441121 Once there was one review from a stranger, I allowed my friends to review it. 69 00:06:30,579.55441121 --> 00:06:34,494.55441121 I never, ever I never solicit reviews, you know? Mm-hmm. 70 00:06:34,574.55441121 --> 00:06:35,389.55441121 You review or you don't. 71 00:06:35,449.55441121 --> 00:06:36,199.55441121 That's fine. 72 00:06:36,259.55441121 --> 00:06:36,529.55441121 Yeah. 73 00:06:36,529.55441121 --> 00:06:37,339.55441121 I don't mind. 74 00:06:37,759.55441121 --> 00:06:45,769.55441121 But the rule back then was that friends weren't allowed to review the book until it had a, an organic review from a stranger. 75 00:06:46,189.55441121 --> 00:06:49,729.55441121 'cause I didn't want it to look like my friends were just reviewing my books. 76 00:06:49,779.55441121 --> 00:06:49,780.55441121 Yes. 77 00:06:50,79.55441121 --> 00:06:50,829.55441121 I didn't want that. 78 00:06:51,189.55441121 --> 00:06:56,9.55441121 So, anyway, so I had these reviews and that sort of that they kind of fueled the whole thing. 79 00:06:56,9.55441121 --> 00:06:58,549.55441121 And once, it's the, it's this awful thing. 80 00:06:59,69.55441121 --> 00:07:00,919.55441121 Once a book is in the charts. 81 00:07:01,939.55441121 --> 00:07:04,769.55441121 People notice it and it stays in the cha rts and people buy it. 82 00:07:04,769.55441121 --> 00:07:08,724.55441121 You get into a, a flywheel of success because it's, oh, if you read this, you might also like this. 83 00:07:08,724.55441121 --> 00:07:14,914.55441121 So once you're selling it's easy to carry on selling in a way, but if you never get to that first rung, that's when it's difficult. 84 00:07:15,94.55441121 --> 00:07:20,614.55441121 And I understand you, you self-published originally and then Amazon saw how well you were doing and approached you. 85 00:07:20,734.55441121 --> 00:07:22,24.55441121 Is that correct? Yes, yes. 86 00:07:22,24.55441121 --> 00:07:30,424.55441121 November, 2015, I was sitting at work and I got this, I just picked up my phone 'cause I was, I dunno, I must have been bored maybe. 87 00:07:30,814.55441121 --> 00:07:39,344.55441121 And I picked up my phone and saw that there was an email and it was from someone who said they were an editor at Amazon Publishing and they were reading my books and really enjoying them. 88 00:07:39,404.55441121 --> 00:07:40,564.55441121 And, could we talk. 89 00:07:41,569.55441121 --> 00:07:45,139.55441121 And I thought, this is either a scam or it's one of my mates messing about. 90 00:07:45,589.55441121 --> 00:08:04,59.55441121 But, I worked for IMDB and, IMDB is owned by Amazon, so I was able to look up this person who was Jane Snellgrove, I was able to look her up in the internal phone book and she's a real person, so I replied and we talked And the idea was that, yeah, we might buy your books, but we don't wanna get your hopes up. 91 00:08:04,639.55441121 --> 00:08:08,449.55441121 she liked the first two, which were collections of four short stories each. 92 00:08:08,939.55441121 --> 00:08:12,639.55441121 and she said, are you writing, have you thought of writing a third one? And I said, well, I'm writing it now. 93 00:08:12,639.55441121 --> 00:08:18,99.55441121 She said, can I see it? Can I see it now? And I, and with a synopsis and I thought, well, no, not really. 94 00:08:18,99.55441121 --> 00:08:19,359.55441121 'cause I haven't got a synopsis. 95 00:08:19,359.55441121 --> 00:08:20,139.55441121 It's all in my head. 96 00:08:20,739.55441121 --> 00:08:22,539.55441121 So I was late for work the following day. 97 00:08:22,629.55441121 --> 00:08:25,539.55441121 'cause I wrote a synopsis and posted it off to, I emailed it off to her. 98 00:08:26,319.55441121 --> 00:08:35,289.55441121 And a week later she came back to me with, an offer and said, we will buy the first two if you rewrite them both into novel form. 99 00:08:35,979.55441121 --> 00:08:36,339.55441121 Okay. 100 00:08:36,339.55441121 --> 00:08:40,259.55441121 And we'll buy the third one if just finish it, is brilliant. 101 00:08:40,259.55441121 --> 00:08:40,889.55441121 Just finish it. 102 00:08:41,579.55441121 --> 00:08:45,269.55441121 She said, can you do that? And I said, yeah, of course I can. 103 00:08:45,269.55441121 --> 00:08:46,409.55441121 Don't be daft. 104 00:08:46,769.55441121 --> 00:08:48,749.55441121 I had absolutely no idea how I was gonna do this. 105 00:08:48,749.55441121 --> 00:08:58,79.55441121 'cause these were four stories each, in these two books that were completely unrelated, apart from the fact they had the same detectives and they were set in the same village. 106 00:08:58,809.55441121 --> 00:09:09,409.55441121 I had no idea how to do that, And so I was paired up with this freelance, development editor and we took two of the stories from the first book and we meshed them together. 107 00:09:09,409.55441121 --> 00:09:14,569.55441121 We took one as the spine of the story and we dropped another one in as, a country house murder. 108 00:09:14,569.55441121 --> 00:09:17,719.55441121 We dropped it in as a set piece in the middle, and that kind of worked. 109 00:09:17,719.55441121 --> 00:09:21,529.55441121 So they were released at the end of 2016 and. 110 00:09:22,129.55441121 --> 00:09:25,724.55441121 They went off to a really slow start and then something happened. 111 00:09:25,754.55441121 --> 00:09:29,654.55441121 And to this day, they, they haven't ever told me what, but they did something. 112 00:09:29,654.55441121 --> 00:09:33,314.55441121 They pulled some lever, sent out some marketing email, did something. 113 00:09:33,894.55441121 --> 00:09:38,424.55441121 and in January, 2017, they just went bonkers. 114 00:09:38,484.55441121 --> 00:09:39,524.55441121 And I've not looked back. 115 00:09:39,554.55441121 --> 00:09:49,804.55441121 I think you've written some wonderful books that really connect with people and I think it's the relationships in those books and the way the characters leap off the page that's really made people love them and want to buy them. 116 00:09:50,279.55441121 --> 00:09:53,759.55441121 now I wanted to talk to you about the process of writing. 117 00:09:54,89.55441121 --> 00:10:01,679.55441121 George Orwell said writing a novel was like a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout with some painful illness. 118 00:10:02,219.55441121 --> 00:10:09,599.55441121 Now I have to say, I sometimes felt like that in the past, and then I had a long, painful for illness last year. 119 00:10:09,989.55441121 --> 00:10:16,529.55441121 And going through that process, going through chemotherapy reminded me that actually writing makes me feel better. 120 00:10:16,559.55441121 --> 00:10:18,259.55441121 And I write books because I love it. 121 00:10:18,639.55441121 --> 00:10:23,819.55441121 And yes, you get a high when you finish a novel, which is amazing, but that's a moment. 122 00:10:23,819.55441121 --> 00:10:27,509.55441121 And then you start worrying about edits and feedbacks and reviews and sales and things. 123 00:10:27,689.55441121 --> 00:10:33,179.55441121 What you want to do is enjoy the whole process of writing from start to finish as much as you can. 124 00:10:33,449.55441121 --> 00:10:36,179.55441121 And that's part of my motivation for starting this podcast. 125 00:10:36,179.55441121 --> 00:10:41,789.55441121 It's making sure that people enjoy the creative process rather than just enjoying the end result. 126 00:10:42,269.55441121 --> 00:10:47,669.55441121 And you, are someone who loves every element of it, is it something that brings you complete joy. 127 00:10:47,729.55441121 --> 00:11:08,9.55441121 Can you tell me about it? absolutely every part of it from coming up with the ideas, from planning the story to writing the story, I complain as every author does about structural edits, development, edit, but only because it's hard, not because it's unpleasant, but it's a complex process that can be very tricky to do. 128 00:11:08,779.55441121 --> 00:11:10,249.55441121 But I still enjoy doing it. 129 00:11:10,309.55441121 --> 00:11:16,929.55441121 I've been writing since I was 11 and it's what I did for fun, mm-hmm. 130 00:11:17,109.55441121 --> 00:11:24,159.55441121 Where back in the, back in the days when I had a day job and, my wife and I would, I. 131 00:11:24,159.55441121 --> 00:11:37,769.55441121 obviously we would do holidays and stuff together, but we worked different places, so we had different annual leave allowances, and if I had any more left over towards the end of the accounting year, I would just take some time off and sit at home and write something. 132 00:11:37,769.55441121 --> 00:11:51,89.55441121 I feel I have a similar experience because I started writing novels while I was working full time and I'd get home from work and I'd put a little hour in my Outlook calendar I'd come home and I'd write for an hour, it wasn't because I wanted to get published. 133 00:11:51,89.55441121 --> 00:11:54,59.55441121 I didn't think it would ever be possible, but I did it because I loved it. 134 00:11:54,479.55441121 --> 00:11:58,619.55441121 And I think when you're doing it professionally, it's important to try and reconnect to that. 135 00:11:58,619.55441121 --> 00:11:59,969.55441121 You're doing this because you love it. 136 00:12:00,29.55441121 --> 00:12:04,559.55441121 And now I feel so lucky that I get to do what I love all day, every day. 137 00:12:05,29.55441121 --> 00:12:06,239.55441121 Until I have to pick the kids up from school. 138 00:12:06,909.55441121 --> 00:12:13,299.55441121 Absolutelythat, When I decided that I was gonna self-publish the first book, I had as little free time as anybody has. 139 00:12:13,299.55441121 --> 00:12:25,909.55441121 But when you analyze what you do with your day, you find that obviously there's never a point where you are not doing anything, but there's some stuff that you can jettison if you wanted to do something else. 140 00:12:26,389.55441121 --> 00:12:37,919.55441121 So I worked out that, the way that the routine worked out in the morning, it was just youngest son was still at home and I would drop him off at school on my way to work. 141 00:12:38,819.55441121 --> 00:12:49,379.55441121 I couldn't leave for work until he was ready to go to school, which gave me about half an hour, three quarters of an hour between me being up and dressed and eating my breakfast to leaving the house. 142 00:12:50,159.55441121 --> 00:12:52,89.55441121 So I said, I'll write for three quarters of an hour. 143 00:12:52,119.55441121 --> 00:12:57,489.55441121 And there was half an hour in the evening when I had exactly that same thing, and I didn't, it didn't get in the way of anything else. 144 00:12:57,489.55441121 --> 00:12:59,259.55441121 I was able to just fit it in. 145 00:12:59,859.55441121 --> 00:13:10,349.55441121 But yeah, I would not, I genuinely, I mean, I'm in the lucky position now that if I stopped writing, it wouldn't be a bad thing financially, but bad thing for your readers. 146 00:13:10,664.55441121 --> 00:13:19,204.55441121 I like to think, I like to imagine so, but, if I stop liking doing it, I'm going to stop doing it. 147 00:13:19,609.55441121 --> 00:13:23,269.55441121 I only do it because it's fun and I've only ever done it because it's fun. 148 00:13:23,269.55441121 --> 00:13:28,59.55441121 I can't, it really frustrates me when I see social media full of writers. 149 00:13:29,499.55441121 --> 00:13:31,719.55441121 Saying how awful it is to be a writer. 150 00:13:32,529.55441121 --> 00:13:38,74.55441121 I mean, I get that you have a bad day and we all have bad days, but on those bad days, I don't post on social media about it. 151 00:13:38,74.55441121 --> 00:13:39,244.55441121 I just stop doing it. 152 00:13:39,364.55441121 --> 00:13:46,314.55441121 I go and do something else and I come back to it when I feel like it, I do get that it, there is that thing that, oh, this is hard. 153 00:13:46,314.55441121 --> 00:13:51,24.55441121 Oh, and it's such a struggle and that whole George Orwell thing that, oh, it's just so awful. 154 00:13:51,24.55441121 --> 00:13:51,804.55441121 Well then don't do it. 155 00:13:51,804.55441121 --> 00:13:52,614.55441121 Do something else. 156 00:13:52,854.55441121 --> 00:13:53,514.55441121 Yeah, do something you like. 157 00:13:53,514.55441121 --> 00:13:53,664.55441121 Yeah. 158 00:13:53,929.55441121 --> 00:13:57,289.55441121 I think George Orwell could learn something from the Ray of Light podcast perhaps. 159 00:13:57,295.55441121 --> 00:13:57,684.55441121 I hope so. 160 00:13:58,464.55441121 --> 00:14:00,349.55441121 But yeah, I think it's very important. 161 00:14:00,719.55441121 --> 00:14:02,759.55441121 someone once told to me, you vote with your time. 162 00:14:03,179.55441121 --> 00:14:07,289.55441121 And that's what I started saying, you know, what I'd like to do is I'd like to write a book. 163 00:14:07,499.55441121 --> 00:14:09,359.55441121 And I put aside that chunk of time. 164 00:14:09,359.55441121 --> 00:14:14,519.55441121 It wasn't a long time, but it was some time that I had that I would've been watching telly or doing something that didn't matter. 165 00:14:14,789.55441121 --> 00:14:20,279.55441121 And I know you say you're not full of tips for aspiring authors, but I think what we are discussing here is very important. 166 00:14:20,279.55441121 --> 00:14:21,899.55441121 It's like, just take that little bit of time. 167 00:14:22,169.55441121 --> 00:14:35,649.55441121 It doesn't have to be when you feel super inspired and you are at your creative peak, just some time to sit and write and it little by little you'll build something up that maybe one day could, sell two and a quarter million copies. 168 00:14:35,699.55441121 --> 00:14:36,449.55441121 Absolutely. 169 00:14:36,449.55441121 --> 00:14:37,79.55441121 I mean, it's. 170 00:14:37,694.55441121 --> 00:14:40,34.55441121 a habit, you know, it's like practicing a musical instrument. 171 00:14:40,84.55441121 --> 00:14:41,74.55441121 or going to the gym. 172 00:14:41,74.55441121 --> 00:14:48,334.55441121 If it's a habit that you do and you will do it every day, then it's not a chore. 173 00:14:48,424.55441121 --> 00:14:49,834.55441121 It's that thing that you do. 174 00:14:49,834.55441121 --> 00:15:03,694.55441121 even if you are not at your sparkly inspired, best, if you've written a couple of hundred words today, you've written a couple of hundred words today and you are 200 words closer to your 80,000 word book and Exactly, exactly. 175 00:15:03,744.55441121 --> 00:15:07,554.55441121 It might take you a year to do that, but. 176 00:15:08,709.55441121 --> 00:15:12,759.55441121 what else were you gonna do with that half an hour? you're not stealing that half an hour. 177 00:15:12,759.55441121 --> 00:15:15,159.55441121 You know? I didn't steal that half an hour from my family. 178 00:15:15,159.55441121 --> 00:15:17,619.55441121 I didn't steal it from important work. 179 00:15:17,619.55441121 --> 00:15:20,559.55441121 I didn't steal it from other stuff that I absolutely had to do. 180 00:15:21,39.55441121 --> 00:15:21,549.55441121 Yes. 181 00:15:21,549.55441121 --> 00:15:23,889.55441121 And I think it's not stealing, it's giving yourself a gift. 182 00:15:24,519.55441121 --> 00:15:24,639.55441121 Yes. 183 00:15:25,879.55441121 --> 00:15:26,304.55441121 And I love that. 184 00:15:27,654.55441121 --> 00:15:31,269.55441121 It's, I think, I think the, uh, I think the legal profession might yeah. 185 00:15:31,274.55441121 --> 00:15:34,299.55441121 I I, I didn't steal that car, your Honor. 186 00:15:34,299.55441121 --> 00:15:36,789.55441121 I gave myself the gift of a car. 187 00:15:37,179.55441121 --> 00:15:38,439.55441121 Yes, exactly. 188 00:15:38,859.55441121 --> 00:15:47,179.55441121 Um, so, talking of chores, how do you feel about research? You write historical crime and you write it very well. 189 00:15:47,179.55441121 --> 00:15:48,499.55441121 It feels very authentic. 190 00:15:48,739.55441121 --> 00:15:55,609.55441121 How do you go about your research? Is it a part of the process that you enjoy? Is it something that feels a chore? I absolutely love it. 191 00:15:55,609.55441121 --> 00:16:00,379.55441121 My degree, although it was thousands of years ago now, was history. 192 00:16:01,69.55441121 --> 00:16:07,609.55441121 And so I still love to read, historical texts and textbooks and original sources. 193 00:16:07,609.55441121 --> 00:16:09,529.55441121 I love old newspapers and stuff. 194 00:16:10,159.55441121 --> 00:16:12,724.55441121 So I don't have any problem doing the research. 195 00:16:13,459.55441121 --> 00:16:22,579.55441121 The advantage I have now 12 books into the series is that the bulk of the major background research is already done. 196 00:16:22,729.55441121 --> 00:16:38,709.55441121 I know enough about Edwardian life that I can get the facts in and what I don't know and what I do or what I make up is at least authentic I've created, it's very obvious that if you're doing what I do, which is whimsy and fun times that, it's not, I'm not telling history. 197 00:16:38,759.55441121 --> 00:16:41,249.5544112 I'm not telling you the history of Edwardian life. 198 00:16:41,249.5544112 --> 00:16:46,364.5544112 I have very obviously created my own version of Edwardian life. 199 00:16:46,514.5544112 --> 00:16:48,314.5544112 But I do that based on facts. 200 00:16:48,314.5544112 --> 00:16:51,944.5544112 And if you can back it up with facts, you know, if someone says, oh yes, well that didn't happen. 201 00:16:51,944.5544112 --> 00:16:56,744.5544112 And you say, well, actually yes, the general election in 1910 did last four weeks. 202 00:16:56,834.5544112 --> 00:16:58,454.5544112 It wasn't one day like we have now. 203 00:16:58,454.5544112 --> 00:16:59,564.5544112 It was a four week event. 204 00:17:00,244.5544112 --> 00:17:07,884.5544112 And they go, oh, was it really? Or there was, what was the one? It's the one I always, I always quote this one 'cause it really bugged me at the time. 205 00:17:08,484.5544112 --> 00:17:11,244.5544112 I got marked down in a review back when I read reviews. 206 00:17:11,604.5544112 --> 00:17:16,804.5544112 I got marked down in a review because my characters wore wristwatches, in 1909. 207 00:17:17,449.5544112 --> 00:17:28,339.5544112 And, they said, oh, everybody knows that people didn't wear wristwatches until the first World War, when army officers began strapping their pocket watches to their wrists. 208 00:17:29,89.5544112 --> 00:17:44,89.5544112 And I thought, oh my God, how did I get that so wrong? And I Googled it, and it turns out that Patek Philippe made a wristwatch for a Russian Countess in 1860 something, and they, that must have been very satisfying. 209 00:17:44,654.5544112 --> 00:17:45,999.5544112 it was brilliant. 210 00:17:46,289.5544112 --> 00:17:50,219.5544112 the beginnings of each story come from an aspect of Edwardian life. 211 00:17:50,949.5544112 --> 00:17:59,439.5544112 do you do your research at the beginning of a book? Because I do it partway through, I come up with the idea and then I think, oh no, I don't know very much about this. 212 00:17:59,439.5544112 --> 00:18:07,34.5544112 So for See the Stars, for example, it was about, an astrophysicist, right? and that's ambitious and I'm not an astrophysicist at all. 213 00:18:07,324.5544112 --> 00:18:08,614.5544112 but I didn't want the research. 214 00:18:08,614.5544112 --> 00:18:10,354.5544112 The research bogs me down too early on. 215 00:18:10,354.5544112 --> 00:18:12,664.5544112 I want to write the gist of the story. 216 00:18:12,874.5544112 --> 00:18:18,604.5544112 And then when I'm maybe a third, two thirds through, I go in and I fill in the gaps and I do my research. 217 00:18:18,634.5544112 --> 00:18:23,594.5544112 And luckily my son, he's only seven, but he's very into space and the stars. 218 00:18:23,624.5544112 --> 00:18:26,904.5544112 So we went and visited Planetariums together. 219 00:18:27,24.5544112 --> 00:18:28,674.5544112 We went to Greenwich Observatory. 220 00:18:28,894.5544112 --> 00:18:34,654.5544112 I discovered that my husband has a friend who's an astrophysicist, for the European Space Agency. 221 00:18:34,774.5544112 --> 00:18:38,684.5544112 So I got her to read the book and give me all these amazing facts I never would've known. 222 00:18:38,894.5544112 --> 00:18:42,254.5544112 But I can't do it at the beginning because I don't know enough about what I need to know. 223 00:18:42,654.5544112 --> 00:18:45,84.5544112 I like to do it partway through and then fix everything. 224 00:18:45,444.5544112 --> 00:18:46,884.5544112 But you sound like you do it the other way. 225 00:18:46,884.5544112 --> 00:18:49,424.5544112 You start from the research and that will make the story flow. 226 00:18:49,479.5544112 --> 00:18:51,729.5544112 it's the research that tells me what the story can be. 227 00:18:52,504.5544112 --> 00:18:53,344.5544112 So, you know, interesting. 228 00:18:53,349.5544112 --> 00:18:56,579.5544112 It's researching Edwardian film industry. 229 00:18:56,779.5544112 --> 00:19:00,339.5544112 So a friend of mine did his PhD on Edwardian film. 230 00:19:01,109.5544112 --> 00:19:06,239.5544112 And so I, just took him to lunch one day and plied him with really gormless questions about it. 231 00:19:06,239.5544112 --> 00:19:10,729.5544112 But it was that research, that's that conversation which is research. 232 00:19:10,819.5544112 --> 00:19:14,179.5544112 I mean, it cost me the price of a burger, but it was that. 233 00:19:14,499.5544112 --> 00:19:18,879.5544112 Research that, that shaped the story that told me what the story could be. 234 00:19:19,179.5544112 --> 00:19:23,109.5544112 I had a vague idea of what it would be like, but it was the research that shaped it. 235 00:19:23,109.5544112 --> 00:19:39,689.5544112 Similarly with the theater or with as I say with the aviation thing, it's the research that turns that tells me all the things that could happen and all the people who were involved and all of the, you know, all of the events and the inventions and stuff that, that would shape what we were doing. 236 00:19:39,689.5544112 --> 00:19:41,949.5544112 And, and so, yes, I do it around the other way. 237 00:19:42,249.5544112 --> 00:19:43,59.5544112 I do it around the other way. 238 00:19:43,64.5544112 --> 00:19:43,714.5544112 Okay, brilliant. 239 00:19:43,719.5544112 --> 00:19:49,559.5544112 I do, I do come up with So though, because I have to come up with the idea that I want to talk about movies. 240 00:19:50,549.5544112 --> 00:19:50,939.5544112 Yes. 241 00:19:50,939.5544112 --> 00:19:50,940.5544112 Yes. 242 00:19:50,954.5544112 --> 00:19:52,154.5544112 Before, before you come up the idea. 243 00:19:52,154.5544112 --> 00:19:52,354.5544112 Before. 244 00:19:52,374.5544112 --> 00:19:52,594.5544112 Yes. 245 00:19:52,594.5544112 --> 00:19:55,79.5544112 Because lead that will lead you down a particular route. 246 00:19:55,379.5544112 --> 00:19:56,9.5544112 Exactly. 247 00:19:56,9.5544112 --> 00:20:04,149.5544112 Before I know that I have to contact Swedish Pete and ask him if, if he'll tell me the secrets of his research for the price of a burger. 248 00:20:05,634.5544112 --> 00:20:06,54.5544112 Brilliant. 249 00:20:06,54.5544112 --> 00:20:13,464.5544112 And with your research you told, you told me a little bit about how you, you kind of, you get your ideas from the research, your books that you've written. 250 00:20:13,554.5544112 --> 00:20:24,659.5544112 Do you have a favorite? Which one do you love the most? I think the one I actually do like most is called An Assassination on the Agenda, which. 251 00:20:26,24.5544112 --> 00:20:29,294.5544112 I like, it's the one I enjoyed writing the most. 252 00:20:29,294.5544112 --> 00:20:30,644.5544112 I think that's what it was. 253 00:20:31,44.5544112 --> 00:20:38,693.5544112 And so I'd said that these two were spies and as the series progresses, they get sucked back into being spies again. 254 00:20:39,113.5544112 --> 00:20:43,33.5544112 Because by 1909, the Secret Service Bureau had been established. 255 00:20:43,273.5544112 --> 00:20:44,983.5544112 And it was just two blokes. 256 00:20:45,43.5544112 --> 00:20:56,903.5544112 It was, Smith Cummings and Kel, I think his name was, who eventually became MI five for home stuff and MI six for foreign stuff by the time we get to the second World War. 257 00:20:57,113.5544112 --> 00:21:00,23.5544112 Anyway, the SSBs founded in 1909. 258 00:21:00,23.5544112 --> 00:21:01,943.5544112 So I've got, lady Hard Castle's brother. 259 00:21:02,318.5544112 --> 00:21:10,198.5544112 Harry, involved in the foundations of the SSB, which is completely untrue because, it was just these two guys. 260 00:21:10,198.5544112 --> 00:21:14,288.5544112 But, I've got him involved in it and he brings his sister back into the fold. 261 00:21:14,678.5544112 --> 00:21:16,958.5544112 So they're starting to work as spies again. 262 00:21:16,958.5544112 --> 00:21:19,768.5544112 And they go off and they do spy stuff, but we never know what it is. 263 00:21:19,768.5544112 --> 00:21:23,938.5544112 They just come back, you know, in the next book they'll have come back from some spy thing they've done. 264 00:21:24,658.5544112 --> 00:21:40,323.5544112 But because the readers knew that they'd been spies, and I vaguely told the story of how Lady Hardcastle's husband was murdered and they escaped in China and made their way across Overland, across China, into Burma, and then down to India. 265 00:21:41,73.5544112 --> 00:21:48,33.5544112 The readers want these prequel stories and they want that story, and they want the stories of how they were spies in Europe. 266 00:21:48,83.5544112 --> 00:21:54,83.5544112 So they, there's all the, these stories that are untold and they keep going, oh, you should do the prequels, you should do the prequels. 267 00:21:54,83.5544112 --> 00:21:56,3.5544112 And my editor once said, you should do the prequels. 268 00:21:56,33.5544112 --> 00:21:58,313.5544112 And I said, yeah, but think of the research. 269 00:21:58,343.5544112 --> 00:22:01,133.5544112 I mean, I don't mind research, but that's just nightmarish. 270 00:22:01,933.5544112 --> 00:22:08,473.5544112 And also, there's a lot of fuss made in the very first book about the fact that it's their first murder investigation. 271 00:22:09,283.5544112 --> 00:22:12,523.5544112 So if we do prequels, They can't solve murder. 272 00:22:12,523.5544112 --> 00:22:12,843.5544112 Oh, of course. 273 00:22:13,73.5544112 --> 00:22:17,603.5544112 They can't solve murders otherwise the whole, I have to recon the whole series to make that work. 274 00:22:17,663.5544112 --> 00:22:17,783.5544112 Yes. 275 00:22:18,953.5544112 --> 00:22:21,503.5544112 So I said, people aren't gonna like it. 276 00:22:22,433.5544112 --> 00:22:32,193.5544112 So I said, why don't we test the waters with a book that is an espionage story, and see if people go for it. 277 00:22:32,463.5544112 --> 00:22:33,843.5544112 I just loved doing that. 278 00:22:33,843.5544112 --> 00:22:36,753.5544112 I set it in London, which I had never done before. 279 00:22:36,753.5544112 --> 00:22:49,653.5544112 I usually set them either in the fictitious village where they live or they've been to Bristol, they've been to Western Super Mare and they've been to a made up place in Rutland, but they'd never been to London. 280 00:22:49,653.5544112 --> 00:22:59,803.5544112 And so I was able to do all this stuff with, they're around Docklands, and they're around the Berman Sea Suffolk area on the south of the river again, around the docks and stuff around there. 281 00:22:59,803.5544112 --> 00:23:05,668.5544112 And I got maps and I got all this research And I bet it was very colorful time in London back then. 282 00:23:05,668.5544112 --> 00:23:05,998.5544112 Oh my. 283 00:23:06,148.5544112 --> 00:23:07,408.5544112 God, it was brilliant. 284 00:23:07,408.5544112 --> 00:23:10,78.5544112 I absolutely, I was, I loved writing it. 285 00:23:10,78.5544112 --> 00:23:12,778.5544112 And there's probably far too much historical stuff in it. 286 00:23:12,778.5544112 --> 00:23:15,658.5544112 Far too much detail about the exact route that you would take. 287 00:23:16,48.5544112 --> 00:23:17,398.5544112 'cause I was just so into it. 288 00:23:17,398.5544112 --> 00:23:18,748.5544112 So that's my favorite. 289 00:23:18,748.5544112 --> 00:23:21,978.5544112 That's the one that I like the most because I enjoyed writing it so much. 290 00:23:21,978.5544112 --> 00:23:22,848.5544112 I think that's the one. 291 00:23:23,738.5544112 --> 00:23:24,38.5544112 Wonderful. 292 00:23:24,38.5544112 --> 00:23:25,118.5544112 That's brilliant to hear. 293 00:23:25,388.5544112 --> 00:23:46,408.5544112 So talking about favorites, can you tell me about a book you've read, not one of your own that you absolutely love? And what I wanted from this is one that maybe our listeners might not be familiar with, so something that's not necessarily a bestseller yet, but you think is a hidden gem, something that's brought you some joy, some happiness, or you think is just a real treat to read that you would suggest. 294 00:23:47,488.5544112 --> 00:23:48,388.5544112 Yeah, absolutely. 295 00:23:48,388.5544112 --> 00:23:54,548.5544112 So I am asked very often to, read a book, to comment on it, to blurb it so they can have a comment for the cover. 296 00:23:54,548.5544112 --> 00:23:57,598.5544112 And I've done it for a few people, and you know, they've been some brilliant books. 297 00:23:57,658.5544112 --> 00:24:00,858.5544112 Anthony Johnston's, Dog-sitter Detective book I loved. 298 00:24:00,858.5544112 --> 00:24:02,258.5544112 And there's a few others that I've loved. 299 00:24:02,678.5544112 --> 00:24:07,88.5544112 But sometimes you read them and you think, I'm not sure that this is for me. 300 00:24:07,118.5544112 --> 00:24:11,848.5544112 But I got this one by Sally Smith, and it's called A Case of Mice and Murder. 301 00:24:12,538.5544112 --> 00:24:20,188.5544112 And it's set around the same sort of time as my own books, but it's set in London, in the temple, where the barristers live. 302 00:24:20,488.5544112 --> 00:24:25,788.5544112 And it stars a barrister, and he has to solve a murder. 303 00:24:26,168.5544112 --> 00:24:30,378.5544112 a weird case of, finding out who the author of a book is about. 304 00:24:30,428.5544112 --> 00:24:32,458.5544112 The church mice from the Temple Church. 305 00:24:32,848.5544112 --> 00:24:47,168.5544112 And there's something about Sally Smith is, she's a former KC, I think she's retired now as KC, but she was, so, she's a barrister and she'd worked in the temple and her voice was just perfect. 306 00:24:47,218.5544112 --> 00:24:52,378.5544112 it was one of the best, if not the best, cozy crime I had read up to that point. 307 00:24:52,378.5544112 --> 00:24:53,548.5544112 It was just brilliant. 308 00:24:54,78.5544112 --> 00:24:56,988.5544112 And I wish more people were aware of it. 309 00:24:56,988.5544112 --> 00:24:59,58.5544112 I wish more people could read it and enjoy it. 310 00:24:59,108.5544112 --> 00:25:06,18.5544112 it's, again, because it's my period, I'm appalled by how much more authentic it is, period wise than mine. 311 00:25:06,378.5544112 --> 00:25:07,758.5544112 'cause I have to add whimsy. 312 00:25:07,908.5544112 --> 00:25:08,713.5544112 But no, it is brilliant. 313 00:25:08,713.5544112 --> 00:25:08,913.5544112 Yes. 314 00:25:09,318.5544112 --> 00:25:10,698.5544112 A Case of Mice and Murder. 315 00:25:11,448.5544112 --> 00:25:13,38.5544112 A Case of Mice and Murder. 316 00:25:13,98.5544112 --> 00:25:13,518.5544112 Brilliant. 317 00:25:13,518.5544112 --> 00:25:14,898.5544112 Thank you very much for that, Tim. 318 00:25:15,678.5544112 --> 00:25:26,718.5544112 Now moving away from writing for a moment, where else do you find happiness in life? I think some of our listeners will be, will be writers, some aspiring writers, some will be readers. 319 00:25:26,848.5544112 --> 00:25:30,158.5544112 What would you suggest as a means to happiness? Something to bring you joy. 320 00:25:30,608.5544112 --> 00:25:40,448.5544112 So over in the corner of my office, there are a bunch of guitars and a drum kit, and you don't have to have a bunch of guitars and a drum kit to get the fun out of there. 321 00:25:40,448.5544112 --> 00:25:47,418.5544112 But I've been making music for about the same amount of time as I've been writing, with the same amount of training and skill. 322 00:25:47,418.5544112 --> 00:25:50,118.5544112 I But yes, now, if I am fed up of. 323 00:25:50,598.5544112 --> 00:26:02,748.5544112 If I'm stuck on a scene, I can either go out for a walk, which is probably healthier and more productive, but if not, I will go and sit at the drum kit or pick up one of the guitars and just noodle around for half an hour. 324 00:26:02,803.5544112 --> 00:26:04,218.5544112 And, and that does bring me joy. 325 00:26:04,248.5544112 --> 00:26:10,218.5544112 I've been playing drums in a band for, oh God, I don't know, since 2007. 326 00:26:10,558.5544112 --> 00:26:11,668.5544112 It's 18 years. 327 00:26:11,768.5544112 --> 00:26:15,638.5544112 one of the most joyous things for me is making music with other people. 328 00:26:16,638.5544112 --> 00:26:22,308.5544112 I think it's interesting that you've chosen something, something else creative, but something physically very different. 329 00:26:22,308.5544112 --> 00:26:29,518.5544112 Because one thing I never liked when I first started writing, as I said, I'd work during the day and then I'd come home and open up my laptop and carry on writing. 330 00:26:29,758.5544112 --> 00:26:33,388.5544112 And it was physically so similar to what I'd been doing during the day. 331 00:26:33,388.5544112 --> 00:26:36,118.5544112 So I used to trick myself to make it seem a little bit different. 332 00:26:36,358.5544112 --> 00:26:39,873.5544112 So I'd lie on the sofa with my laptop on my lap instead of sitting at a desk. 333 00:26:39,873.5544112 --> 00:26:41,433.5544112 And that's still how I write to this day. 334 00:26:41,433.5544112 --> 00:26:45,453.5544112 If I'm sitting upright, I can't, it's too much like being in the office, I don't enjoy it. 335 00:26:45,933.5544112 --> 00:26:55,983.5544112 But things like playing an instrument, or painting or walking or cooking even, it's just physically a little bit different to that kind of sitting down and writing. 336 00:26:56,253.5544112 --> 00:27:03,963.5544112 And so, one thing, I wrote my first couple of books while I was working and then I wrote a book while I was on maternity leave. 337 00:27:04,343.5544112 --> 00:27:17,133.5544112 And I found that the physical difference between kind of pushing a baby along in a pram and carrying a baby around and then sit down, get my laptop out right, that physical difference was really refreshing. 338 00:27:17,133.5544112 --> 00:27:20,983.5544112 And I think it's really important that you don't spend all your time in the same position. 339 00:27:21,343.5544112 --> 00:27:23,113.5544112 Things like that just gives you a nice break. 340 00:27:23,413.5544112 --> 00:27:29,968.5544112 how did lying on the sofa with a laptop work while you were pregnant? I actually, it was a challenge. 341 00:27:29,968.5544112 --> 00:27:33,748.5544112 I had to build up some pillows around it 'cause the laptop got really hot on the bump. 342 00:27:33,748.5544112 --> 00:27:33,808.5544112 Yeah. 343 00:27:33,868.5544112 --> 00:27:35,878.5544112 So you had to make sure you didn't overheat. 344 00:27:36,188.5544112 --> 00:27:46,298.5544112 And then later on, once I've had the baby, I kind of used another kind of collection of cushions to sort of balance the baby on my shoulder or, or wherever so I could carry on typing at the same time. 345 00:27:46,298.5544112 --> 00:27:51,918.5544112 And then when they got a bit a bit bigger, they started joining in on the typing and just the book suddenly got a lot more literary. 346 00:27:52,218.5544112 --> 00:27:54,673.5544112 When you have a baby brilliant. 347 00:27:54,713.5544112 --> 00:27:55,698.5544112 A baby contributing. 348 00:27:55,698.5544112 --> 00:27:57,318.5544112 So then I just write in nap times. 349 00:27:57,318.5544112 --> 00:28:03,338.5544112 But again, it's that kind of physical difference and that kind of difference in motion and position that I found really helpful. 350 00:28:03,338.5544112 --> 00:28:04,928.5544112 But it's doing it with other people. 351 00:28:04,928.5544112 --> 00:28:07,248.5544112 I think it's the social aspect of it as well. 352 00:28:07,268.5544112 --> 00:28:07,388.5544112 Very. 353 00:28:07,388.5544112 --> 00:28:13,208.5544112 So, I mean, I can no longer sing, but, I would join a choir if I could. 354 00:28:13,508.5544112 --> 00:28:21,988.5544112 Because again, I was in school choirs, and I just love that thing where, you know, a collection of voices, harmonies and stuff. 355 00:28:21,988.5544112 --> 00:28:25,408.5544112 I've, I've always been a sucker for harmony, but especially vocal harmony. 356 00:28:25,408.5544112 --> 00:28:30,208.5544112 But, yeah, doing it, making music with other people I think is my proper pleasure. 357 00:28:30,448.5544112 --> 00:28:33,878.5544112 But even just noodling around on your own is very satisfying. 358 00:28:34,68.5544112 --> 00:28:37,248.5544112 And, I broke my wrist, 2011, I think. 359 00:28:37,248.5544112 --> 00:28:39,558.5544112 I broke my wrist and, and the orthopedic surgeon said, duh. 360 00:28:39,618.5544112 --> 00:28:43,578.5544112 Oh yeah, you'll never get full motion back in that wrist, and you'll get arthritis in it as well. 361 00:28:44,398.5544112 --> 00:28:48,858.5544112 ha It was the, they were one of those supportive, one of those special surgeons. 362 00:28:49,278.5544112 --> 00:28:57,238.5544112 And, um, uh, because I play the drums, I do have full range of motion in my left wrist, which I shouldn't have apparently. 363 00:28:57,958.5544112 --> 00:29:00,268.5544112 but I'm convinced it's drumming that's done it. 364 00:29:00,268.5544112 --> 00:29:02,428.5544112 So again, it's good physical exercise as well. 365 00:29:03,358.5544112 --> 00:29:10,618.5544112 Yes, and I think you make an important point about doing something with other people, because writing can be quite, it's quite a lonely thing. 366 00:29:10,618.5544112 --> 00:29:14,108.5544112 You're sitting there writing, which I enjoy a lot of that. 367 00:29:14,108.5544112 --> 00:29:16,568.5544112 I like not having to be around people all the time. 368 00:29:16,958.5544112 --> 00:29:19,448.5544112 But it's nice to have a social aspect to it as well. 369 00:29:19,448.5544112 --> 00:29:23,78.5544112 So I started writing my first books as part of a writing group. 370 00:29:23,288.5544112 --> 00:29:26,558.5544112 So we'd write and then we'd come together every six weeks or something. 371 00:29:26,558.5544112 --> 00:29:30,888.5544112 We'd share what we wrote, we'd get feedback, and then we'd kind of go back to it on our own. 372 00:29:31,198.5544112 --> 00:29:35,568.5544112 I mean, again, that's one of those things that I'd have to rely on other people to recommend. 373 00:29:35,568.5544112 --> 00:29:43,698.5544112 I can't think of anything that I would hate more than trying to share a work in progress with strangers. 374 00:29:43,728.5544112 --> 00:29:47,178.5544112 even if they were strangers who had become great friends, I just couldn't do it. 375 00:29:47,383.5544112 --> 00:29:48,733.5544112 it has to be perfectly run. 376 00:29:48,733.5544112 --> 00:29:59,783.5544112 So I'm very lucky that the person who runs my writing group, who might come on the podcast one day, Philippa Pride, she's Stephen King's UK editor, And she takes, creates this amazing safe space where you feel you can share what you've written. 377 00:29:59,783.5544112 --> 00:30:09,223.5544112 'cause it sounded terrible to me as well at the beginning, but actually, I love it and I find it really motivating and it gives me deadlines and it makes it social in a way that, that writing isn't always. 378 00:30:09,223.5544112 --> 00:30:09,283.5544112 Yeah. 379 00:30:09,973.5544112 --> 00:30:18,463.5544112 So can you tell me a little bit more about what's coming up next? You've just published, lady Hardcastle book 13, I believe. 380 00:30:18,463.5544112 --> 00:30:18,853.5544112 Officially. 381 00:30:18,853.5544112 --> 00:30:19,723.5544112 It's book 12. 382 00:30:19,723.5544112 --> 00:30:22,173.5544112 Because The Christmas story is a short Yes. 383 00:30:22,623.5544112 --> 00:30:28,183.5544112 The Christmas story of 2017 is a short, so what's next I'm working on the 13th one. 384 00:30:28,733.5544112 --> 00:30:36,33.5544112 I'm due to submit that by the end of this month, for publication next May sneak peak. 385 00:30:37,293.5544112 --> 00:30:41,983.5544112 It's, I haven't done a country house since book three in Oh wow. 386 00:30:42,323.5544112 --> 00:30:43,433.5544112 2017. 387 00:30:44,573.5544112 --> 00:30:56,8.5544112 And, so I wanted to do a country house, but I also, I'd been to Holy Island, last year? So we'd been to Holy Island and we'd been to Lindisfarne Castle. 388 00:30:56,878.5544112 --> 00:30:59,488.5544112 So you can only get to Holy Island at low tide. 389 00:30:59,608.5544112 --> 00:31:02,368.5544112 So you got two opportunities a day to get onto the island. 390 00:31:03,538.5544112 --> 00:31:13,663.5544112 And, Lindisfarne Castle was built reign of Henry viii, as a protection against the Scots, and, fell disuse, blah, blah, blah. 391 00:31:13,663.5544112 --> 00:31:21,223.5544112 And was bought by the editor of Country Life Magazine, in, sometime in the early 19 hundreds. 392 00:31:21,253.5544112 --> 00:31:28,393.5544112 And with, ned Lukins as the architect, he turned it into a country retreat and it became his country house. 393 00:31:28,393.5544112 --> 00:31:30,403.5544112 And it would, it was, he would take his friends there. 394 00:31:31,93.5544112 --> 00:31:39,853.5544112 Um, and there was one guy, Litten Stre, I think, who mostly just complained about how awful it was to get to, which I thought was hilarious. 395 00:31:39,903.5544112 --> 00:31:41,943.5544112 And they just drank and stuff. 396 00:31:41,943.5544112 --> 00:31:45,663.5544112 And there was, um, there was a famous cellist at the time that used to go there as well. 397 00:31:45,673.5544112 --> 00:31:55,873.5544112 And I just loved the idea of this, this converted fort that was now a country house where everybody lived, uh, where, you know, where they just went for their country weekends. 398 00:31:56,293.5544112 --> 00:31:58,63.5544112 So I wanted to do something like that. 399 00:31:58,63.5544112 --> 00:32:02,383.5544112 So I moved the fort to the Devonia coast. 400 00:32:02,833.5544112 --> 00:32:08,563.5544112 I removed the causeway so that you could only get there by boat, so that I could strand them there. 401 00:32:09,463.5544112 --> 00:32:10,903.5544112 And they're stuck. 402 00:32:10,933.5544112 --> 00:32:24,353.5544112 They're stuck in this fort and there's a murder and and thefts and stuff, and oh, it's just, I, it's a real challenge because my usual thing is is loads of characters and loads of people. 403 00:32:24,383.5544112 --> 00:32:33,533.5544112 And if I get the feeling that the story is getting a bit flat, I would just take everybody off and they'll go, just go and do something else for a chapter. 404 00:32:33,533.5544112 --> 00:32:34,913.5544112 And they'll chat and they'll have fun. 405 00:32:34,913.5544112 --> 00:32:38,453.5544112 And, but I can't do that here because there's, there's a limited cast of characters. 406 00:32:38,453.5544112 --> 00:32:54,693.5544112 There's a limited number of rooms where they can be, and it's just one of those claustrophobic, country house murders, but which also has a locked room element in it because it's, at the moment, it's not entirely clear how the murder could possibly have been committed. 407 00:32:55,463.5544112 --> 00:33:00,143.5544112 So yes, I'm really quite excited by this one, just because it's a challenge to write something slightly different. 408 00:33:00,143.5544112 --> 00:33:06,633.5544112 Same characters, you know, same central characters and same relationship and the same, bickering and comedy remarks between them. 409 00:33:06,693.5544112 --> 00:33:11,673.5544112 But this new setting on this island, I think that's, I think that's really interesting. 410 00:33:11,673.5544112 --> 00:33:28,143.5544112 And I agree that when you've, when you are a few books in, I've only got, I've only got three, but when you are a few books in, you start to want to think, how can I keep it fresh? How can I keep it different? How can I not write exactly the same book over and over again? And so with my fourth book, I'm bringing in an element of magic. 411 00:33:28,513.5544112 --> 00:33:35,63.5544112 So I'm still about halfway through, but it's still the kind of uplifting, character driven, book with a little bit of mystery. 412 00:33:35,183.5544112 --> 00:33:38,743.5544112 But I've got a little, Real magic or imagined magic. 413 00:33:39,718.5544112 --> 00:33:40,348.5544112 Real magic. 414 00:33:40,828.5544112 --> 00:33:40,918.5544112 Oh yeah. 415 00:33:41,33.5544112 --> 00:33:41,963.5544112 it's not a metaphor. 416 00:33:41,963.5544112 --> 00:33:43,43.5544112 It's some real magic in there. 417 00:33:43,43.5544112 --> 00:33:45,133.5544112 So I'm excited to just write something different. 418 00:33:45,133.5544112 --> 00:33:45,403.5544112 Fantastic. 419 00:33:45,403.5544112 --> 00:33:47,263.5544112 It feels like a new, a new challenge. 420 00:33:47,413.5544112 --> 00:33:50,683.5544112 How that works so busy with that at the moment. 421 00:33:50,893.5544112 --> 00:33:51,673.5544112 Fantastic. 422 00:33:51,733.5544112 --> 00:33:55,108.5544112 'cause I did some spiritualism ghost stuff in the second book. 423 00:33:55,708.5544112 --> 00:33:59,338.5544112 But only so that they could debunk it. 424 00:33:59,398.5544112 --> 00:34:00,538.5544112 It wasn't real. 425 00:34:00,778.5544112 --> 00:34:01,948.5544112 But yeah, no, that sounds brilliant. 426 00:34:01,978.5544112 --> 00:34:07,58.5544112 I do keep, I occasionally say to my editor, how'd you feel about science fiction? She said, absolutely hate it. 427 00:34:07,583.5544112 --> 00:34:08,513.5544112 Don't do that. 428 00:34:09,203.5544112 --> 00:34:11,253.5544112 So, yeah, we are not gonna have any time travel. 429 00:34:11,253.5544112 --> 00:34:13,268.5544112 That would be a laugh, wouldn't it? Have your That would be fun. 430 00:34:13,268.5544112 --> 00:34:14,943.5544112 Historical characters, time traveling. 431 00:34:15,213.5544112 --> 00:34:16,893.5544112 Oh, that would be amazing. 432 00:34:16,893.5544112 --> 00:34:21,183.5544112 maybe a special one time, one time special short story where they traveled through time. 433 00:34:21,273.5544112 --> 00:34:22,473.5544112 Self-published special. 434 00:34:22,473.5544112 --> 00:34:23,73.5544112 Yeah, that would be great. 435 00:34:23,73.5544112 --> 00:34:23,403.5544112 Yes. 436 00:34:24,303.5544112 --> 00:34:24,813.5544112 Brilliant. 437 00:34:24,813.5544112 --> 00:34:28,773.5544112 Well, thank you so much Tim, and thank you to everyone for listening. 438 00:34:29,193.5544112 --> 00:34:33,903.5544112 Tim's latest book, the Beast of Littleton Woods, is available now on Amazon. 439 00:34:34,593.5544112 --> 00:34:37,253.5544112 So I hope you've enjoyed Ray of Light. 440 00:34:37,473.5544112 --> 00:34:40,163.5544112 If you have, please do subscribe for more. 441 00:34:40,493.5544112 --> 00:34:45,473.5544112 You can find me @EleanorRayBooks across Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. 442 00:34:45,773.5544112 --> 00:34:48,473.5544112 And please do reach out to me there to let me know your thoughts. 443 00:34:48,473.5544112 --> 00:34:49,853.5544112 I'd really love to hear from you. 444 00:34:50,468.5544112 --> 00:34:54,308.5544112 And if you've like what you've heard today, then perhaps you might like what I write too. 445 00:34:54,578.5544112 --> 00:34:56,408.5544112 It's uplifting book club fiction. 446 00:34:56,558.5544112 --> 00:35:03,98.5544112 My newest book is called See the Stars, about a woman who finds solace in the stars when her life doesn't go to plan. 447 00:35:04,58.5544112 --> 00:35:08,768.5544112 So see you next time for more tips on writing, reading, and happiness.