Welcome, Alice!
What
prompted you to first start writing? What was the first thing you wrote?
I had a
very kind teacher when I was really small, who pointed out something I’d
written for a school project. She said she really liked it, and asked me very
seriously where I’d got the idea from. The fact that she gave my writing such
attention made me realise it was something I could do and has really inspired
everything I’ve written since. Teachers have such power to encourage. I’m very
grateful to her.
I fully understand. I've had some wonderful teachers and also some pretty useless ones!
Can you
summarise your latest work in just a few words?
The Body in Belair Park is the sixty cozy crime novel in my series. I'd sum it up like this: 'A dead Bridge player. A determined mother. A new case for single mum amateur sleuth Beth Haldane.'
OOH, sounds intriguing. What was
the inspiration for this book?
There were two inspirations, really. One is Belair House, the very beautiful real-life Georgian mansion at the centre of the story. It stands on the edge of Belair Park and is the home of the fictional bridge club that causes so much trouble for Beth Haldane and DI Harry York. It's a really stunning place and I felt it would be an excellent spot for a nice bit of skulduggery. The other inspiration was my newfound interest in the card game, bridge. Bridge has featured in two whodunits which I particularly love: Agatha Christie's Cards On The Table and Georgette Heyer's Duplicate Death. I wanted to see if I could write my own that would stand against these two classics - I hope I've succeeded.
Did you do
any research for the book?
I did tons
of research, in that I have now taken up bridge in quite a big way! I had
played it as a child but started going to a club once a week to polish my
skills for the book. Now I’m hopelessly hooked and am going to keep going. I
also visited Belair Park and Belair House quite a few times to try and get all
the details right for various key bits of the book.
What does
a typical writing day involve for you?
I write
best in the morning and have a rule that I write at least 1,000 words on my
work-in-progress a day. I chose this figure because Graham Greene used to write
500 a day, so I can tell myself I’m doing twice as much (though the words may not
be quite the same!).
How do you
decide on the names for your characters?
Naming
characters is such a bizarre part of being a writer. I’ve heard of people
plucking names from telephone directories. My chief problem at the moment, now
I’m writing the seventh London Murder Mystery, is trying not to repeat the same,
or very similar, names. I have a horrible habit of picking names beginning with
the same letter, then have to change things around at the end.
AAAGH! Two or more characters having similar-sounding names, or names beginning with the same letter, is one of my pet hates (as any author who has worked with me will confirm). It can be horribly confusing for the reader. I've often wondered how Emily Bronte got away with it...
Do you
plot your novels in advance, or allow them to develop as you write?
Every book
seems to write itself differently, but I do find that I am gradually plotting
more, partly because whodunits can be very complex and you need to be sure what
people are up to all the time! I don’t like to tie the plot down too much,
though, or the characters seem stifled. You should be free to make the great
leaps of inspiration that appear from who-knows-where and make writing such
fun.
Which
writers have influenced your own writing?
I love so
many crime writers that, if I had to list all my influences, we’d be here forever.
But probably the most important to me are the women writers of the Golden Age: Agatha Christie, Dorothy L Sayers, Margery Allingham and Ngaio Marsh, to name but a
few. And then there are some key writers who grew up, or went to school in,
Dulwich itself… Raymond Chandler, PG Wodehouse and Simon Brett.
What has
been the best part of the writing process…and the worst?
The best
part has been being lucky enough to find a wonderful publisher for my stories,
so that something that was a tiny germ of a story, in my imagination alone, has
been made real and has been brought out into the world. That really is a
wonderful feeling. The worst part is editing my own work, it’s like pulling
teeth.
I feel your pain...
What can
we expect from you in the future?
I’m excited
to say I have a new book coming out this autumn in the rather different genre of
domestic suspense. I can’t say much more about it at the moment, except to
promise you more news soon! And I am working on the seventh book in the London
Murder Mystery series, The Slayings in Sydenham, which stars my single
mum amateur sleuth Beth Haldane, and will be published in the New Year.
Beth Haldane is on the verge of having everything she’s ever
wanted. Her son is starting secondary school, her personal life seems to have
settled down – even her pets are getting on. But then the phone rings.
It’s Beth’s high-maintenance mother, Wendy, with terrible
news. Her bridge partner, Alfie Pole, has died suddenly. While Beth, and most
of Dulwich, is convinced that Alfie has pegged out from exhaustion, thanks to partnering
Wendy for years, Beth’s mother is certain that there is foul play afoot.
Before she knows it, Beth is plunged into her most
complicated mystery yet, involving the Dulwich Bridge Club, allotment holders,
the Dulwich Open Garden set and, of course, her long-suffering boyfriend,
Metropolitan Police Detective Inspector Harry York. The case stirs up old
wounds which are much closer to home than Beth would like. Can she come up
trumps in time to stop the culprit striking again – or does the murderer hold
the winning hand this time?
MORE ABOUT ALICE:
Before turning to
crime, Alice Castle was a UK newspaper journalist for The Daily Express, The
Times and The Daily Telegraph. Her first book, Hot Chocolate, set in Brussels and London, was a European hit and
sold out in two weeks.
Death in Dulwich was published in September 2017 and has been a
number one best-seller in the UK, US, France, Spain and Germany. A sequel, The Girl in the Gallery, was published
in December 2017 to critical acclaim and also hit the number one spot. Calamity in Camberwell, the third book
in the London Murder Mystery series, was published in August 2018, with Homicide in Herne Hill following in
October 2018. Revenge on the Rye came
out in December 2018. The Body in Belair
Park is published on 25th June 2019.
Alice is currently
working on the seventh London Murder Mystery adventure, The Slayings in Sydenham. Once again, it will feature Beth Haldane
and DI Harry York.
Alice is also a mummy
blogger and book reviewer via her website: https://www.alicecastleauthor.com
Death in Dulwich is now also out
as an audiobook.
Alice lives in south
London and is married with two children, two step-children and two cats.
Thanks so much for making me so welcome on your lovely blog today, Sue, it's always such a pleasure chatting about mayhem and murder :)
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