Rhys is Juggling

 RHYS BOWEN: To say I've been busy is an understatement. I know Jenn has probably written three more books over the Christmas holiday but normal people take time off. Instead I have been working frantically with Clare to finish the next Molly book, called  SILENT AS THE GRAVE when I was actually in the middle of the next Royal Spyness book called WE THREE QUEENS. And then, right before the holiday, I got the copy edits for THE ROSE ARBOR (my next big historical stand alone) and a note to say they wanted them back by January 2.

January 2? Does nobody at that publishing house take the holidays off? Did they expect me to work on copy edits as I wrapped the presents, made beds for visiting family, and cooked the turkey? I left them until everyone had gone home and peace reigned again and just finished in time. Phew. Deep breath.

So now all I have to do is final polish on Silent as the Grave before it goes to publisher and then finish the Royal Spyness book by March 1 when I start on next big stand-alone.  Time to relax? What is that? Sometimes it feels like juggling three balls in the air all the time.  If I'm in the middle of one story, one environment, it's really hard to switch my mind to copy edits for another.

Sorry. I don't have any covers to share yet. We're working on a final cover for the Rose Arbor. More soon.

So I wasn't sure which of my current endeavors to share with you today, but decided on the new Molly story, because it's so interesting. It takes place in the world of silent movies. Clare has done so much brilliant research so that everything we write about is authentic for the time. We're seeing the birth of real motion pictures with a story and special effects. One thing we learned was the amount of risks they took to get realism--like filming scenes on real train tracks, not having warned real locomotive engineers what they were doing. And yes, quite a few people got killed during these risky scenes.

Here is one from our story:

Ryan and Bridie acted out a scene in front of the backdrop. Bridie ran away and Ryan followed. As he grabbed her arm she fainted, he dragged her across the tracks and tied her down tightly. She woke up and cried out in horror.

                “Make sure you get her face, Billy. Sweetheart, you have to look more scared. O’Hare tighten those ropes” DW kept up a running commentary.

                “If I can’t have you, no one will,” Ryan twirled his mustache as he gazed down at Bridie. “But I will inherit all you own.” He threw back his head with an evil laugh.

                “Train!” I heard the far-off cry. Ryan looked up and laughed again. My heart started to thump loudly. “Train,” I heard the cry nearer this time. The train was coming, and Bridie was tied to the tracks!

 “Bridie!” I screamed. I set Liam down and leapt up ready to run and untie her, but before I could take a step Bridie raised both arms, two crew members leaped from behind the backdrop, each took a hand and pulled her clear. The ropes that looked so tightly bound had been just draped around her body and released her instantly.  I scooped up Liam and sat back down, my heart beating out of my chest. As soon as Bridie had cleared the track one crew member helped her down the embankment while the other was putting the identically dressed mannequin onto it. He ducked back under the canvas backdrop.

                A Pacific engine came around a bend, puffing out steam. This train was not coming slowly like the one before it. It thundered down the track. The engineer must not have been told that a dummy would be on the track because suddenly the train whistle sounded again and again. The shrieking sound of brakes filled the air. What’s more, Billy was now lying on the track itself behind the mannequin with the camera pointing at the oncoming train. Was he mad? I wanted to stand up again and shout for them to stop this right now.

“Flag,” DW called, and the red flag went up. The police wagon now came thundering toward the train at full speed. The train slowed but it seemed impossible that it would not run over the mannequin or Billy. At the last moment Johnny darted up to the track and grabbed the mannequin by the arms. He dove out of the way of the train, pulling the mannequin with him. Billy rolled off the track, holding his camera, as the train missed him by inches. It took about twenty more yards for the train to stop. Passengers in the front car were screaming. The engineer peered out amid the smoke. He flung open the door of the cab and jumped out, white-faced, running back to where he expected to find a body.

“What the hell are you playing at?” he yelled at Billy who was checking his camera for damage.

It seems we were lucky that time, but what if they had to re-shoot that scene? Or one in a water tank? And the studio's main rival, Thomas Edison, was not happy... you'll have wait over a year to read the rest!

In the meantime the next Molly book, IN SUNSHINE OR IN SHADOW, comes out in March. It's set in the Catskills and does have a fabulous cover:

Who has family memories of the Catskills? So many people have shared with us.

And a reminder to join our Facebook group if you haven't already done so: Reds and Readers! Come on over and join now. I'm having a little contest.... See you there.

Oh and many congrats to our own Grace Koshida who has been named fan guest of honor at Left Coast Crime 2025!

What We're Writing: Rhys Down the Rabbit Hole

RHYS BOWEN: It’s interesting that Hallie has just written on research and how you discover weird and amazing things. When I wrote Murphy’s Law, (the first of the Molly Murphy books, over twenty years ago now!!! ) Molly is accused of a murder on Ellis Island and at the end of the book steps ashore in Manhattan a free woman. And I realized this was to be a series and that I knew nothing about Manhattan in 1901. I realized I was doomed to research on every single page. 

 This has turned out to be true, but you know what? The research has turned out to be the fun and surprising part of my writing. In the early days I went to New York and walked every street that Molly had walked. Browsed photographs at the New York historical society and amassed a collection of books, menus, timetables etc etc. The one trouble with research is knowing when to stop. I find a fascinating fact that leads to another fascinating fact and before I know it I’m off somewhere quite different and a whole morning gone. 

 When I write the Molly Murphy books (and now Clare writes with me) I always check the NY Times to see what really happened on those dates. If there was an event, a catastrophe, an election at that time, Molly would know about it, react to it. Sometimes what I find becomes an important part of the story: when I was writing THE EDGE OF DREAMS I discovered that there had been a horrific crash of the elevated railroad. A train had been routed onto the wrong track, come around a bend too quickly and plunged into the street below, killing 42 people. So I thought that Molly should mention this. Then I thought…. What if Molly was on that train? And it became an important development in the story. In my book it wasn’t an accident. 

 These days it’s Clare who does all the early research reading and comes across wonderful things. For our upcoming ALL THAT IS HIDDEN she got all the facts on William Randolph Hearst and his run for mayor of New York. Also on the corruption at the docks at that time. Our current book is set in the Catskills, at a fledgling bungalow community. Thanks to Clare I can tell you the railroad and steamship timetables, all the most popular Yiddish songs of the time, The history of the Jews in Poland. So the story is a murder at a small resort in the Catskills. Thus the suspects are all staying in the resort. However… Clare discovered that there was a bluestone mine right there–open pit mining with loud blasts disturbing the tranquility of the mountains. Not good if you want to build a hotel nearby. Also there was a brand new state park next to the mine and a clash between environmentalists and miners when they wanted to transport stone from the quarry to the boats down the Hudson through state park land. So we now have outsiders and more complex motives for murder. 

Here is part of a scene of the protest against the mine, using our serendipitous research:

Almost an hour had passed when we heard two horses cantering back along the road. They rode past the mine carts and drew themselves up in front of our protest. Two men swung down from the saddle. One was dressed in denim pants and a blue denim shirt. The other wore a brown suit and a derby hat. He spoke first.

                “Hello little ladies,” he took off his hat and gave a little bow. He sounded like a Scottsman. “I hear we have a bit of a misunderstanding, so I have come to clear it up. “I’m Ronnie Fitch and this is my foreman, Mitch Doherty.”

                “ And I’m Alice Haskin,” Miss Haskin said stepping forward. “You have illegally felled trees to create this road on state land. We are here to protest your actions.”

                “Now Mrs.,” he said with what he thought was a charming smile. “These matters are best decided by the business men. I suggest you let your husbands handle the political matters. You are all far too lovely to trouble yourselves.”

                “Do you see these chestnut trees that your men felled to make this road?” Miss Haskin continued. “You have cut right through a grove, destroying the infrastructure and spreading the blight. You must know that chestnut trees up and down the east coast are being destroyed by this blight. Do you wish a world with no more chestnut trees? Everywhere your men’s axes cut you will spread it more.”

                Doherty stepped forward. “I think we know a bit more about trees than you, little lady. Who do you think you are anyway, come out of the city with your do-gooding?”

                “I’m a researcher at Department of Agriculture studying plant pathogens,” Miss Haskins said coldly. “And I’m including your illegal behavior in our report to Congress.”

               

               

Whodunit? You’ll have to wait until March to find out. So who has a serendipitous research story? 

 And sharing a tidbit of good news. My new stand alone WHERE THE SKY BEGINS was #7 on the Wall Street Journal bestseller list of ebooks last week!

Are we Like Our Characters? A Jungle Red Survey

>> AND THE WINNERS of BLUFF  from Saturday are: Lynn from TX, and Mary C. email your address to Hryan@whdh.com ! YAY! <<


RHYS BOWEN: Whenever I am interviewed I'm always asked if my protagonists are based on anyone--especially me. I'm sure the rest of the Reds have experienced the same thing. And I always answer that I wanted Molly Murphy to have my strong sense of justice, inability to shut up when she should stay silent. She's not always wise when she barges forward. A little like me, I have to confess. For example: I was in a supermarket parking lot before Christmas when a man came toward me. He was skinny with long stringy hair and he was holding a Big Gulp in one hand. "Can you give me some money for food?" he asked.  "No, I'm sorry. I can't," I replied. "Then I'll just take your purse," he said. I was holding my keys in my right hand. I stepped up, in his face, and pointed my keys at him. "I'd like to see you try," I said in my menacing voice.
He backed away. "I could," he said. "I could take your purse." And then he ran.  I was so pleased with myself. I knew now that if I was in real danger I could go for a man's eyes.  But was I wise?  It was daylight. And it was a store parking lot.  Molly Murphy is a lot like that.

This was the first sketch of Lady Georgie, by the artist who does all my covers. She looks a lot more poised and glamorous than me, doesn't she? And other thing. She's a twenty-something royal. When I started the series I just wanted a naive, innocent character who is trying to  survive on her own in a difficult world. She is royal, but penniless, with nowhere really to call home. Then I discovered that she has a tendency to become clumsy when she's under stress. And embarrassing things happen to her. Who could that be like? Uh--me? Remember that scene in the first book when she is modeling an outfit for a rich client and she puts two legs into one half of a culotte? Yes. That happened to me. It ended my very brief modeling career.
So since then poor Georgie has had to suffer more and more with embarrassing incidents that her creator has actually endured. She's terrified of knocking something over at Buckingham Palace. When I did a tour of the palace a few years ago I kept looking at priceless antiques and thinking, "Do not go anywhere near that!"

You'd think that confident, successful older woman would never have embarrassing moments, wouldn't you? Well, I was writing at my desk when I looked at the time and realized I was running late for an ortho appointment on my knee. And I was wearing jeans. I rushed upstairs, grabbed a dress from the closet and put it on. Then I drove to the ortho office. I was standing in line, in a crowded office, when I felt a tap on my shoulder. "I don't know if I should mention this," the woman behind me whispered, "but you have your dress on inside out."
Oh, the mortification!
The trouble is that things like this happen to me on a regular basis. In a hotel room, washing my hair before a car comes for me to take me to a signing, AND I put the body lotion on my hair instead of the conditioner. Do you know how long it takes to get body lotion out of your hair?
So poor Georgie. Any time one of these things happens to me I think, AHA. Now she's going to suffer too.
But at least it makes her real and identifiable. One of the nicest things ever said to me was a fan who wrote, "I've just seen your picture and until then I thought you were the same age as Georgie!"
Of course I wanted to write back saying, "What do you mean? We're almost the same age. I've just been out in the sun more than she has."
But all the same, I was pleased.

So dear Reds: have your characters acquired any of your traits? Did you model any of them on you? Confession time.

LUCY BURDETTE: I've had three main protagonists, Cassie the golfer, Rebecca the psychologist, and Hayley Snow, food critic. Cassie, of course, had the athletic talent that I yearned for. The psychologist and I had lots in common--our therapy practices in New Haven, good girlfriends, love of good food, interest in what makes people tick. Hayley and I both adore Key West, though I'm not inclined to live on a houseboat (I get easily seasick!) She loves to eat as I do, and has surrounded herself with good friends and pets. However, two ways in which I'm different from all three--if I stumbled over a clue or a body, I'd turn it over to the police instantly. I'm a chicken. (And wow, kudos to you Rhys for scaring that guy off!) And I have a much happier relationship/marriage--though hopefully Hayley is headed that way too...

JENN MCKINLAY: Yikes! If I'm ever in another bar fight, I want you to have my back, Rhys! As to your question, with seven series in various genres, I can honestly say I don't think any of my characters are much like me. They may have bits and pieces. My temper crops up in my sidekicks, my love of  pastries pops up in most every book, and the book lover in me oozes out in several of the series but overall my characters walk fully formed into my head, their own unique beings. Rather like my children, actually, I'm just the birth giver.

HALLIE EPHRON: I DO think most of my characters are like me. From the 90-year-old woman in THERE WAS AN OLD WOMAN to the pregnant 30-something in NEVER TELL A LIE. Just at different points in my life, and imagining different circumstances. My new book CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR is about a professional organizer--something which I could never be. Never never never in a million years. I organized my sock drawer and then gave up. But I SO get why someone would.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Yikes, Rhys! Superhero. (How did you feel afterward?) Anyway, I've spent years denying that Charlotte McNally is me--of course she is. Kind of.  But she's not only a better driver--because she's younger, and grew up at a different time than I did, she's more confident.  Jane Ryland--no,  She's a reporter like I am, but she's 33 now, and I was 33 long ago, and that's a different 33. Mercer Hennessey? Not me at all, except for the analytical thinking.  Ashlyn Bryant? Sure--the part that can see a different side of every story. And Rachel North in the upcoming The Murder List? I'll adore to hear what you all think.
But bottom line I think there's got to be some of each of us in every character. Because  they come from us.

RHYS: That is such an astute comment, Hank. Of course our characters often react as we would because they come from our heads.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Rhys! You are always so poised! I never would think of you as clumsy or awkward, but I love hearing how Georgie has evolved. Isn't it interesting how our protagonists--and our perception of our protagonists--changes over time? I know in the very beginning I thought that Duncan was like me in many ways. He's a little introspective but has good people skills. He likes to think before he acts,  he's not quick to form opinions or pass judgement. Gemma, on the other hand, I set out to make very different from me in personality. She's more confident, has no trouble speaking up for herself. She's very outgoing, less analytical, and is very quick to connect with people but also to pass judgement, perhaps prematurely. Over the series, however, I think they both have just become themselves, with their own very distinct histories and backgrounds that help form who they are. I certainly never think about either Melody or Doug being anything like me, although I'm sure they are in some ways. As Hank so wisely says, all of our characters (even the bad ones) have something of us in them or we couldn't write them.

So, fellow writers out there: are your characters like you? Have they taken on your traits as you write? And readers--as you read our books do you find yourself thinking, "Yes, I can see Hank saying that."