Tuesday, January 7, 2020

The Game is Once Again Afoot and We’re Off to London by Vicki Delany



 Jenn McKinlay: Look who is visiting us from the chilly north! Canadian Vicki Delany! One of my fave mystery authors of both traditional and police procedural, she's here to tell us all about her latest release THERE'S A MURDER AFOOT, which is out today! 

Vicki Delany: The protagonist of the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series is Gemma Doyle, an Englishwoman who has come to the town of West London Massachusetts, on Cape Cod, to help her great uncle Arthur Doyle run the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium.

For the fifth book in the series, I thought it would be fun to take Gemma and the gang to London, to tread the streets as walked by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and, fictionally speaking, The Great Detective himself. 
London is Gemma’s natural environment.  Hailing black cabs, leaping on and off tube trains, dodging CCTV cameras and Scotland Yard detectives, slipping out the back door of Harrods.   Eating steak and kidney pies and prawn sandwiches and drinking copious cups of properly-prepared tea.
London might be Gemma’s environment, but it isn’t mine. 
So off I had to go to London.
In that, I seem to have a lot in common with the Jungle Reds gang. I know Deborah has learned the city intimately, it’s close to where Rhys is from, and Jenn has set a series there.
I don’t know it well at all.  But I had enormous fun finding out and I hope that’s reflected in There’s a Murder Afoot, the fifth in the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series from Crooked Lane Books
I took five days one November to travel to London with one of my daughters, and used so much of what I learned in the book. 

Cocktails at the Bentley Hotel.
Gemma and friends stay in the hotel we stayed at (Bentley’s in South Kensington) they eat at the restaurants we ate at (the Hereford Arms, where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a regular when he was president of the College of Psychic Studies, located nearby;


Sign at the Hereford Arms

 Garfunkel’s at South Kensington station, The Crutched Friar near Tower Hill) and pick up croissants from Paul’s Boulangerie (to die for). I tracked Gemma’s progress on the tube as she travelled across the city, although I didn’t need to leap on and off trains as the doors closed, time my progress, or watch for people showing too much interest in me.   I scouted out the streets of South Kensington and located the street Gemma’s parents live on (Stanhope Gardens, but I don’t actually specify the house). 


The street where Gemma's parents live.
I studied the courtyard outside of the Tate Modern and the Millennium footbridge over the Thames trying to estimate how one would escape pursuit (by running faster than your pursuers, I concluded).  I went to the sculpture hall in the Victoria and Albert and decided that would be Gemma’s favourite place in the city, the one place in particular she wants to show Ryan Ashburton, if they ever manage to have some time alone together.  
I even had afternoon tea at the restaurant in the National Portrait Gallery, so Gemma could recommend it to Jayne.
Afternoon tea at the National Portrait Gallery

Yes, my dedication to research is impressive, if I do say so myself. 
You might be surprised to hear where I didn’t go: Baker Street, the Sherlock Holmes Museum, the Sherlock Holmes Pub, on a Sherlock Holmes walking tour. 
Because Gemma isn’t interested in those things. Instead she sends Jayne, Ryan, Grant Thompson, and Donald Morris around the tourist traps of London, to keep them (Ryan in particular) from finding out what’s she’s up to, and wanting to “help”. As her sister Pippa (a minor functionary in the British government) tells her, “Ditch the entourage.” 
The big problem with doing this sort of research, I’ve found, is trying to decide what to keep OUT of the book. I’m not writing a tour guide to London here, but I do want to bring the city alive to my readers. 
London on a winter's night

I hope I found a happy medium. Tell me, dear Jungle Reds reader, do you enjoy real-life settings in your books, or do you prefer the truly fictional?

Vicki Delany is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers and a national bestseller in the U.S. She has written more than thirty-five books: clever cozies to Gothic thrillers to gritty police procedurals, to historical fiction and novellas for adult literacy. She is currently writing four cozy mystery series: the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series for Crooked Lane Books, the Year Round Christmas mysteries for Penguin Random House, the Lighthouse Library series (as Eva Gates) for Crooked Lane, and the forthcoming Tea by the Sea mysteries for Kensington.
Vicki is a past president of the Crime Writers of Canada and co-founder and organizer of the Women Killing It crime writing festival. She is the 2019 recipient of the Derrick Murdoch award for contributions to Canadian crime writing. Vicki lives in Prince Edward County, Ontario. 

43 comments:

  1. Happy Book Birthday, Vicki . . . a new Sherlock Holmes Bookshop story is always a treat! I’m looking forward to reading about Gemma’s London visit.

    Yes, I do like real-life settings unless the author changes everything about it and then asks me to believe it’s still the same real place . . . .

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    1. Good point. If you're setting a book in a real place, keep it real. otherwise, don't bother.

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  2. Congrats on the new book.

    And if you are remembering to keep research out of your book, then you are definitely on the right track when it comes to how much you put in.

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  3. Yikes, just lost my long reply. I'll try again with a shorter one. Vicki, I'm so excited about your new book. Congratulations and Happy Book Birthday! I'm behind on this series, which I really enjoy, and with There's a Murder Afoot being set in London and me wanting to take a trip to London hopefully this year, I am determined to catch up as soon as I can. To do so, I have just ordered A Scandal in Scarlet for my Kindle and the hardback of There's a Murder Afoot. Thank you for this great post with all its London info and the pics.

    Yes, I definitely like real-life settings. I like to follow in the footsteps of characters when I can and it's a special thrill for me to recognize someplace I've been in a book. I always love reading about Key West in Lucy's Haley Snow books because I've been so many of the places she mentions. It makes visualizing the setting so wonderfully easy. Of course, I'm also enchanted with settings that I haven't actually visited but want to, hence the excitement about the London setting, which was already encouraged by Debs' books. I love a Scotland setting, too, because I want to go there, and Cathy Ace has me loving on Wales now.

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  4. Congratulations on the new book, Vicki!

    I'm not particular about whether a setting is 100% real or partly or totally fictionalized as long as they're vivid and take me someplace memorable.

    Can't wait to read this one. And, Vicki, I'm quite certain it won't feel like a travel guide!

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  5. Congrats on the new book Vicki and welcome to the Reds! This is fascinating--do you characters stay in London the same amount of time that you did? My Key West books are set in the real Key West, which I know pretty well by now. I'm wondering how I could possibly start over somewhere new!

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    1. They're only in London for a few days. I loved taking them someplace new. They challenge with a cozy series is you basically have to have the whole gang along. Thus the idea of a Sherlock Holmes convention worked for me. I'd love to take them to Paris next (Hello, Jenn) but can't figure out how to work that.

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  6. What a great trip! I have a book coming out in June set in Santa Barbara, and you can bet I did the same kind of tour there last February. It's so important to get the smell and feel of the real place.

    Vicki, do you spend time on Cape Cod? Generally what part of the Cape do you set your fictional town? (I have a Cape series, too, also with a fictional town!)

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    1. I'm embarrassed to say I've been to Cape Cod once. It just hasn't worked out for me to go back. West London is near Chatham and my new Tea by the Sea series is set in North Augusta (near North Truro).

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    2. We could have our characters meet up! My fictional town is somewhere near Falmouth. ;^)

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  7. Congrats on the new book Vicki. I'm really looking forward to it. And in a couple days, my library's Mystery Book Club is talking about Elementary, She Read since we read it (or in my case, re-read) for this month's selection.

    I loved reading about your research trip. And I learned something new! I didn't know there was a Sherlock Holmes Pub. I've wanted to visit the Sherlock Holmes Museum since I first learned it existed but now I want to visit the pub too. It may be touristy of me but it's not like I'd be going to London for a research trip or anything, so I want to do stuff that I would consider fun for ME. Visiting bookstores and record shops would be great too.

    I don't think I have a preference for real setting versus fictional ones. I think in most cozy type mysteries, fictional settings probably work better given the higher body counts.

    But I do remember reading one book that I was reviewing and it was set in a town 20 minutes from me. And I was mildly familiar with the time period of 1984 when it was set as well. So everything that was described, I had quite literally stood in some of the places the characters were in. And listened to the music they were listening to. So I guess it is all a matter of just how well the author makes the setting come alive to the reader.

    And since The Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mysteries are primarily set on the Cape, I must once again ask: Any chance that you'll be doing a signing here on the Cape for this book?

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    1. I'd love to. But... timing isn't working out right for me. I think I'd have to go in June, at the start of the tourist season. The new Tea by the Sea book, Tea and Treachery, is being released late July, which is a disappointment, as I was hoping to go to the Cape to promote it. And I've got things booked other places for August

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  8. Congrats on the book, Vicki!

    I like both fiction and real, as long as they are well drawn. Sounds like you've done your job there with this one!

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  9. Sounds like so much fun! What a joy. (And you know, you don’t have to run faster than your pursuers, you just have to run faster than the other guy they’re chasing.) I am so enjoying picturing you gallivanting around… Cannot wait to read this. And I don’t mind fictional and nonfiction all places… Though it is really fun to read about places that I know exist. Congratulations!

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  10. Congrats on the new book! I have somehow missed your series, and I will soon remedy that. It sounds exactly up my alley.

    I have nothing against fictional settings, but I do get special pleasure from books set in places I've been and in visiting places I've only read about. My husband and I are planning our first ever trip to London later this year, and I will definitely be reviewing some key locales from Deb's and other books I have enjoyed to help focus our visit.

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  11. Congrats on the new book—can’t wait to read it. If the setting seems vivid and real, I don’t care if it’s actually real or all imaginary. Too much detail can be a problem and I’ve been known to skim over long descriptions of settings. I do enjoy reading about a familiar place.

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  12. Congratulations on your latest release! I base much of what I write in a fictionalized version of a small Ohio town where I once lived, which gives me the freedom to shift geographical features around and re-name streets. I've also written stories about "Beach Haven" on the Cape and New Orleans, where I've spent enough time to absorb the smells, gardens, and regional accents and speech mannerisms.

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  13. Vicki--new year and new series to read! Congrats on the new book. And I think you've got it--enough research to make the setting real to the readers, but not so much that it distracts from the story. And real or imagined--if the writing brings it alive, I'm all in!

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  14. Congratulations on your new book Vicki ! Just reading your post makes me want to read There's a Murder Afoot.
    I like both real and fictional settings. With a well described real place, I'll want to visit. And, when I read about places I already visited, it is always a thrill to compare memories with the setting in the book. Love London so much .

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  15. I really need to set one of my books in London. Or Hawai'i. Or Spain. Or any one of a dozen places I'd love to visit that's NOT economically depressed towns in upstate NY!

    Vickie, congrats on THERE'S A MURDER AFOOT - it sounds irresistible.

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    1. I once set a novella in South Sudan. Not many people could correct any mistakes I made! (It's called Juba Good and is a novella for adult literacy). I also did research for other adult literary novellas in Turks and Caicos.

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  16. Vicki, I haven't read any of your cozies (Rest Ye Murdered Gentlemen awaits on my Kindle though) but am a big fan of your Molly Smith books. I love the setting of those and it makes me want to visit British Columbia. I don't mind fictional settings but am more fond of real places, especially if I'm familiar with the areas as I get to revisit them in my head. Any chance we will see Molly again?

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    1. Thanks for asking about Molly. I loved those books and I still visit the area (Nelson BC) often as my daughter lives there. But, as for now, no there won't be any more. I simply don't have time with all my other obligations. But - never say never.

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  17. I really enjoy real settings in books. I usually want to go visit what I read about. We took our granddaughter to London this fall and saw some of the same sights. The Sherlock Holmes pub was just down the street from our hotel. We crossed the Millineum Bridge coming back from the Tate Modern. The latter was a huge disappointment to the grandkid. We never could find the “good stuff” just the weird stuff. Looking forward to reading the London adventures!

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  18. This sounds like so much fun! The travel AND the book. Ah, London. I've been but I've never set a book there. A few years ago I went to Beaufort SC on a research trip for YOU'LL NEVER KNOW DEAR. SO different from going as a tourist which I'd done years earlier. To research, I took pictures of the most quotidian elements of the place(sidewalk! trees street signs storefronts traffic bridges boats marinas houses swamps ... ) and recorded sounds and took copious notes. Thank goodness I waited until I had a smart phone to travel for research. It was indispensable. For that book I also visited a doll hospital in a woman's home and took pictures of EVERYTHING.

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  19. Vicki, congratulations on your new book. I am adding your books to my TBR list and moving you up to the top. All of your series sound great. I love British Columbia as a setting, too. I think if you use a real location, then you have to have some real points of reference, even if some parts of your story happen in made up or indistinct spots.
    (Julia, Hawaii will be a nice change from upstate NY. Br-r-r. You should at least take yourself there, even if you can't bring your characters with you. Go between November and March so you can see the whales playing in all of the bays!)

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  20. Hello there, Vicki
    Yes to fictional locations, yes to real locations. I know creative license happens with real locations but sometimes creative license can go too far, so real locations with limited creative changes if at all possible .... I just channeled Dragnet's opening (or was it closing) lines.... Names are changed to protect the innocent. Sorry.

    I now need to meet Gemma and the gang. I just met yours Christmas town series last month and enjoyed. I found your lighthouse series a couple years back and been enjoying the eastern southern coast for a couple years now. I may have to stop working to keep up with all the authors and series I'm getting introduced to by the JRW. Actually off to work now. I'm looking forward to meeting Gemma.

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    1. The women at Jungle Red do a GREAT job of introducing readers to new authors and books, don't they. They are all so generous and a real credit to the crime writing community.

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  21. Thanks so much for visiting today, Vicki! I love all things Sherlock and your series is fantastic! Sorry to only be able to pop in - am writing the last scene in a book that was due Nov 1st - hahahahahahahahahahahna - that's me, sinking into writer madness!

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    1. Happy writing! And thanks for inviting me. Always a pleasure to drop into JRW

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  22. Hi Vicki! I absolutely LOVE the idea of this book! I know all the places you mentioned--I usually stay at the edge of South Ken and Earl's Court--so can't wait to read Gemma's adventures!

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  23. The book sounds fantastic! All the best with it, and thank you for taking us on a tour of London!

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  24. Delighted to learn of your series and will begin with book 1 and proceed from there!
    My first novel recently published has the murder taking place during “ElvisWeek” in Memphis when thousands of people come to visit all the Elvis sites and attend the famous candlelight vigil (where the murder occurs.)
    Since I live in Memphis I had fun traipsing around to all the places in town associated with The King and incorporating them into my book.

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  25. I enjoy real locations, although if the author makes changes, I appreciate a note at the end saying so. I can understand why it might be easier to give a place a fictional name or use a composite of towns. Looking forward to the Sherlock book and the new tea series.

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  26. I thought I had preordered your book, so I have bought it and it is at the top of my TBR list now. When I visit London I usually stay in Bayswater close enough to walk to Kensington Palace. I love reading about real locations, especially in the British Isles and Europe. Reading about afternoon teas again is really going to do damage to my diet!😉

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  27. Vicki, welcome to Jungle Reds and I am so excited about your new Sherlock Holmes Bookshop book taking place in Merrye olde Englande! I fell in love with your Christmastown series at my first Malice Domestic conference. And I think I also discovered your Lighthouse library series there or later at my local library.

    Celebrating my birthday today, which is why I am writing so late in the day!

    Diana

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    1. Happy birthday! I hope you got some good books.

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    2. Vicki, thank you. And yes, I got some good books. And I am celebrating my birthday all month long so I probably will get more good books, including your book :-)

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    3. My family knows that I love your books.

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