I Have An Idea! by Vicki Delany

Jenn McKinlay: As a huge fan of the Sherlock Homes Bookshop mysteries, I am just thrilled to welcome Jungle Reds friend and fellow author Vicki Delany. And today, she is letting us glimpse behind the curtain. 

Vicki Delany: “Where do you get your ideas?”

As writers we’re often asked that.  I’d love to get my ideas from the Idea Factory, or maybe Ideas-R-Us. But so far I haven’t found such a convenient place.

What is an idea anyway when it comes to a novel? What does that even mean?

The idea is the spark from which all else flows. Coming up with an idea is pretty easy.  I can give you the ‘idea’ behind one of my books in one sentence. That’s idea is the spark, the germ of the story.

The task now is to turn that one sentence, even one word, into 80,000 words. And that is not so easy.

What has me pondering the origin of an idea at the moment, is my current work-in-progress. I’m writing the fifth in the Tea by the Sea cozy mystery series.  I was in Italy in October with my good friend, the Canadian writer Barbara Fradkin. We were, as one is in Italy, overwhelmed with great art. We’d been to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and were walking through the streets heading for either more art or more food when I told Barbara I was having some trouble coming up with an idea for the next Tea by the Sea book.  One of the paintings we’d most admired at the Uffizi was Judith Slaying Holofernes by Artemisia Gentileschi (1593 – 1656).  

(Incidentally, the story behind the famous painting is a mystery writers’ idea in itself.) Barbara laughed and said, “How about a beheading? The main character finds a headless body in a bed at the B&B.”

As I write cozy novels, that wouldn’t quite suit.  Barbara thought some more and said, “a headless doll then. A gift, given anonymously at a bridal shower.”

Bingo! I had my idea. A headless doll is rather creepy, but not out and out gory or repulsive.

What the idea does, in this case the decapitated Raggedy Ann doll given as a shower gift, is provide the inciting incident. The point from which all else that happens in the novel flows.  It also sets the scene for character revelations: obviously not all is well between the bride and her friends and family.

How not well?  Someone is murdered later on. Is the shower gift pertinent to the murder? It might not be, but it sets the scene, starts the action, and gives our amateur sleuth character a reason to ask questions.

And, most importantly, it gives me, the author, a jumping off point.

In the Sherlock Holmes bookshop series, the idea is even less than a sentence. It’s a word. In the latest book, The Game is a Footnote, the word is “haunted house”. Okay two words. In next years book, as yet untiled, the word is “séance.” In last year’s novel, A Three Book Problem it’s “country house weekend.”

The idea is the germ from which all else flows.

Another thing most writers can relate to is the experience of someone offering to tell them their great idea, and then suggesting the writer use that idea and they can split the profits from the subsequent bestselling book. Uh, sorry.  If someone provides one word or one sentence, and I provide the other 79,999 words I’m not sharing anything.

Because it’s not the idea, it’s all that flows from the idea.  And that’s the hard part.  Lay down the clues, build the plot, create the characters, put them in an attractive (or otherwise) setting, have a believable sub-climax when the protagonist is threatened or all seems lost. Build it all to a climax and the grand reveal.  Then wrap it all up. 

I have over fifty published books now, and I’ll admit, an idea for something vaguely original is getting harder to come by.  One of the things I’m most struggling with is a way of having the protagonist catch or trick the killer.  You can only have your character eavesdrop on conversations so many times and leap out from behind the curtains to say, “J’Accuse” with pointed finger.  She can only wrestle so much with a deranged killer at the edge of a cliff in a storm at night.

But I’ll get it, eventually, because I started with ‘an idea’.

I’d love to know how the Reds (who have so many fabulous ideas!) generate their own ideas for such amazing and original plots. And readers, any ideas you’d like to share with us?

Gemma Doyle and Jayne Wilson are back on the case when a body is discovered in a haunted museum in bestselling author Vicki Delany's eighth Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mystery.

Scarlet House, now a historical re-enactment museum, is the oldest building in West London, Massachusetts. When things start moving around on their own, board members suggest that Gemma Doyle, owner of the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium, might be able to get to the bottom of it.  Gemma doesn’t believe in ghosts, but she agrees to ‘eliminate the impossible’. But when Gemma and Jayne stumble across a dead body on the property, they’re forced to consider an all too physical threat.  
 
Gemma and Jayne suspect foul play as they start to uncover more secrets about the museum. With the museum being a revolving door for potential killers, they have plenty of options for who might be the actual culprit.
 
Despite Gemma's determination not to get further involved, it would appear that once again, and much to the displeasure of Detective Ryan Ashburton, the game is afoot.
 
Will Gemma and Jayne be able to solve the mystery behind the haunted museum, or will they be the next to haunt it?

 

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 fifty: clever cozies to Gothic thrillers to gritty police procedurals, to historical fiction and novellas for adult literacy.  She is currently writing the Tea by the Sea mysteries, the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series, the Year-Round Christmas mysteries, and the Lighthouse Library series (as Eva Gates).

 

Vicki is a past chair of the Crime Writers of Canada and co-founder and organizer of the Women Killing It Crime Writing Festival.  Her work has been nominated for the Derringer, the Bony Blithe, the Ontario Library Association Golden Oak, and the Arthur Ellis Awards. Vicki is the recipient of the 2019 Derrick Murdoch Award for contributions to Canadian crime writing. She lives in Prince Edward County, Ontario. 

Making It Your Own by Vicki Delany

Jenn McKinlay: Confession time. I am a Sherlockian or a Holmesian, depending upon your preference. Either way, I'm a huge fan of all things Sherlock Holmes so it's unsurprising that I'm delighted to see Vicki Delany's latest Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery is hitting the shelves on Jan 11th!!! Just look at that cover! Fabulous!

 

BUY NOW!

 Vicki Delany: There’s no such thing as an original idea. It’s all been done before. Some people say there are 32 basic plots. Some say there are two – a person goes on a journey; a stranger comes to town. 

I say it doesn’t matter. You might not be able to come up with a truly original idea, but the trick to writing is to take what’s been done before, and make it your own. 

Say you have an idea for a great tale: A fatherless boy is secretly watched over by a wise older man of unspecified power, and the boy eventually takes his rightful position as a person of great importance. 

Harry Potter, King Arthur, Luke Skywalker, Frodo Baggins. They all follow the same basic outline, but each story is individualized when the teller makes it their own. (Why the standard trope always features a boy and a man, is an article for another day). 

Think of Sherlock Holmes. It would probably be impossible to count the number of Sherlock Holmes pastiche characters out there. Sherlock first appeared in 1887 and over the years since he not only continues to be relevant but has grown and spread immeasurably. 

What is it about Sherlock Holmes that has captured the popular imagination arguably more than any other figure in fiction? Is it his incredible intellect that has us all enthralled? Is it the gaslight streets, the long dresses, frock coats and top hats? Maybe it’s the sometimes-stiff, formal language. Is it Dr. John Watson himself, ever confused but always loyal, or the simple friendship between two such different men? 

Regardless of the reason, there’s no doubting the continuing popularity of the Great Detective and the attempts to imitate or recreate him. 

As I have done, with Gemma Doyle and the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium. Gemma owns the shop, but she is also the Sherlock character. She’s my attempt to reimagine the Great Detective as a modern young woman. At her side is Jayne Wilson, ever confused but always loyal. 

Running a bookstore, keeping up with friends, and trying to have a love life doesn’t make it easy to be a consulting detective. But, as Gemma constantly says, she isn’t actually a consulting detective. In true cozy fashion however, she seems to just fall into situations. 

I took an old idea, a non-original character, and changed and adapted it to make it my own. 

The situations Gemma and Jayne find themselves in don’t have to be original ideas either. In the latest in the series, A Three Book Problem, they’re hired to feed and entertain guests at a recreation of a Victorian English Country House Weekend. 

In the manner of Agatha Christie or Naigo Marsh, the guests gather at the secretive mansion, the servants move silently and efficiently around the house, guests tour the expansive grounds, tensions explode, secrets are revealed. And someone is murdered! There is a limited circle of suspects – the killer can only be a guest or servant who was in the house for the special weekend. The detective searches for clues and studies the suspects. She reaches the conclusion through an intense study of personalities and actions. No need for forensic analyses, record checks, tracing cell phone signals here. 

Once I had the bones of the story (the unoriginal idea, if you will) I made it my own. I created the characters and set the plot in motion. I gave them all secrets and reasons to be in that house. It is certainly my intention that no one will be able to figure out the killer or the motive because they’re read it someplace else! 

The stories we love the most, whether of the fatherless boy or the Great Detective, continue to inspire writers to adapt, to improvise, to create new and more modern versions for new generations of readers to enjoy. 

Make it your own. 

I’d love to know -- what recreated plots or characters you love? Or hate. Because yes, some don’t deserve to be resurrected!

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 forty 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 Catskill Summer Resort mysteries for Penguin Random House, the Tea by the Sea mysteries for Kensington, the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series for Crooked Lane Books,  and the Lighthouse Library series (as Eva Gates) for Crooked Lane. 

Vicki is a past president of the Crime Writers of Canada and co-founder and organizer of the Women Killing It Crime Writing Festival. Her work has been nominated for the Derringer, the Bony Blithe, the Ontario Library Association Golden Oak, and the Arthur Ellis Awards. Vicki is the recipient of the 2019 Derrick Murdoch Award for contributions to Canadian crime writing. She lives in Prince Edward County, Ontario.  

The latest in Vicki’s Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series is A Three Book Problem(Crooked Lane Books, January 2022) 

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.