Tracy Grant has been writing Regencies for over twenty years, first with her mother (as Anthea Malcolm) and then on her own. She lives in northern California, where she is on the board of the Merola Opera Program, a training program for professional opera singers, coaches, and stage directors, and is managing director of h e l p : human elemental laboratory of performance. Her latest book, Secrets Of A Lady, is out July 31. All pertinent comments on her interview will be entered to win a copy of her brand new book! The winner will be announced Monday evening.
Secrets Of A Lady, your latest book, is actually a reissue; can you give us the book’s history?
Secrets Of A Lady was originally published as Daughter Of The Game in hardcover in 2002 and then in mass market the next year. I’m thrilled that Morrow/Avon is now bringing it out in trade. For the reissue they decided to give the book a new title and a new cover (which I love!). I was very fond of Daughter Of The Game as a title, but I also quite like Secrets Of A Lady (which we settled on after endless lists of titles went back and forth). Secrets Of A Lady definitely sums up Mélanie Fraser’s story, and it has echoes of the nineteenth-century novels which so influenced me in writing the book. For the reissue I wrote a new epilogue (a letter from Charles to Mélanie). Secrets Of A Lady also includes about fifteen pages of what Avon calls A+–a really fun section that’s sort of like DVD extras. Different authors do different things with the A+ section. I did mine as a series of letters between Charles and Mélanie and other characters that flesh out the back story. They were a lot of fun to write (and hopefully to read :-).
What made you think of this story?
I first got the idea for Secrets Of A Lady almost twenty years ago, when I was still in college. I was co-writing Regency romances with my mom. Our second book, which was never published, had a secondary romance between two characters named Charles and Mélanie. The Charles and Mélanie in that book almost ended up getting married. At one point, I thought, “you know if these two people actually did get married, it would be very interesting to see what happened to them in seven years or so, when some of the secrets behind their marriage came out.” I knew it was a story that would never work as a traditional romance, so I filed the idea away at the back of my mind. My mom and I went on to write a total of seven Regencies (as Anthea Malcolm) and then one Regency-set historical romance (as Anna Grant). After my mom died in 1995, I wrote three Regency-set historical romances as Tracy Grant. But I kept putting more and more history and intrigue in my books. I finally realized that what I really wanted to write was an historical suspense novel. When I started mulling over plots, I went back to the Charles and Mélanie characters from the unpublished Regency and I realized this was the perfect way to tell that story. I changed the characters and the back story quite a bit, but I did keep their names.
And so Charles and Mélanie Fraser were born. Charles, a duke’s grandson connected to half the British peerage, has been a diplomat and an intelligence agent during the Peninsular War. Now he’s a reform-minded politician, resigned to often being one of a few voices arguing against the suspension of habeas corpus or in favor of the reform of debt laws. Mélanie is a half-Spanish, half-French refugee who Charles met and married during the war. She’s now known as one of the beau monde’s most charming political hostesses, equally at home writing a pamphlet on women’s education, taking her children to Gunter’s for ices, or entertaining the Duke of Wellington at dinner. They have two young children, a beautiful house in Berkeley Square, and a remarkably happy marriage. But Mélanie is not what she seems on the surface. Nor, in many ways, is Charles. It’s the unraveling of the secrets at the heart of their marriage that drives the story.
Do you have plans to continue the series?
I’ve already written the third book in the series, The Mask Of Night, and I have a fairly detailed outline for the fourth and lots of ideas for future books. If Secrets Of A Lady does well, hopefully the subsequent books in the series will be published. Avon Trade is reissuing Beneath A Silent Moon (the prequel to Secrets Of A Lady) next summer. Charles and Mélanie are complicated characters with a complicated marriage and a penchant for landing in the midst of intrigue and adventure. I have lots of stories to tell about them and their friends and family and world.
Can you talk a little bit about your background, and how it helps or doesn’t in your writing?
I was a history major in college, which is a huge help in writing historical fiction. I focused on late fifteenth-century England (largely because at the time I was writing a series set in an alternate history late-fifteenth century Britain that I never sold), but what I learned about research, about evaluating data, about sifting through primary sources is invaluable. I also studied theatre and did a fair amount of acting through college (I was an apprentice at the Berkeley Shakespeare Festival–now the California Shakespeare Theater–one summer), which is probably why Mélanie and Charles quote Shakespeare all the time. I love using the theatre in my books–I have theatre sequences in both Secrets Of A Lady and Beneath A Silent Moon. There’s an ongoing character in the series, Simon Tanner, a friend of Charles and Mélanie’s, who’s a playwright. I also love opera–a lot of my non-writing time is spent working on the Board of the Merola Opera Program, a professional training program for opera singers, coaches, and stage directors (in fact, I just finished working on a nonfiction book about the first fifty years of the Merola Opera Program). It’s great for working in musical references, and I find both both plays and operas a wonderful inspiration. On my most recent research trip to England, I saw Rossini’s “La Cenerentola” at Covent Garden and learned that the English premiere of the opera was in January, 1820, when The Mask of Night is set. I wanted to have a sequence at the theatre in the book, so I was able to work in the “La Cenerentola” premiere. The Covent Garden program even lists the original cast.
Which of your books is your favorite?
That’s like having favorite children :-). But Charles and Mélanie, and my books about them, are particularly close to my heart.
Was Secrets Of A Lady an easy or difficult book to write?
I don’t think I’ve ever written a book I would call “easy to write ” :-). Secrets Of A Lady was a particular challenge because I was trying something a bit different. It has a more complicated plot than any of my prior books (though in general, I have a weakness for complicated plots) and Mélanie and Charles both have quite complex character arcs. And because the majority of the book is essentially a chase round London, I had to have very detailed information about a lot of different locations as well as doing a lot of research about the Peninsular War for the backstory and the extended flashback sequence set in Spain. So it was a challenge–but I like challenges, and I had a lot of fun writing it.
How do you do your research?
After years of writing Regency-set books, I have a fairly extensive library, but I always need new information for each book. I spend hours scouring the stacks at the Stanford and U.C. Berkeley libraries. Sometimes my writer friend Monica McCarty goes with me–we each disappear into the stacks for our respective time periods (she writes about early seventeenth-century Scotland), then compare notes over lunch. I love reading primary sources, such as diaries and journals of the period. U.C. Berkeley has the “Morning Chronicle” on microfilm, which is great resource–you can learn which play was performed at a given theatre on a given night, read about Parliamentary debates, news from abroad, fashion notes. Speaking of fashion, another writer friend, Candice Hern, has been incredibly generous sharing her wonderful collection of Regency fashion magazines and prints. And more and more is available online these days as well. For my last couple of books, I’ve been able to take trips to Britain. My friend and fellow writer Penny Williamson and I traced most of the path of Secrets Of A Lady through London and picked out a house in Berkeley Square that’s the model for Charles and Mélanie’s house (pictures in the Gallery section on my website (http://tracygrant.wordpress.com/gallery/)
What are you working on now?
The fourth Charles and Mélanie book and an historical novel set in the French empire in 1811.
In your writing, do you feel as if you are taking risks? How?
I think anyone who writes a book (not to mention sending that book out into the world) takes risks. But as I said above, I like challenges, so I think perhaps taking risks particularly appeals to me as a writer. I’m happiest and most excited about my writing when I feel I’m pushing myself. A friend who saw the early pages of Secrets Of A Lady said she didn’t see how the story could have a happy ending. I liked that challenge–creating a happy ending out a seemingly impossible conflict (how well I succeeded is something readers will have to judge for themselves :-). I think Mélanie is perhaps a particularly risky heroine in that she makes choices that are decidedly morally ambiguous (as do a number of characters in the book). One of the reasons I love writing about Mélanie is that I’m never quite sure what she’ll do in a given situation or how far she’ll go. It’s fascinating for me to explore as a writer.
I think also the books I write now take risks in that they combine elements of different types of fiction–historical fiction, mystery/suspense, adventure, romance. Balancing the different elements can be a challenge, but it also lets me explore all my favorite elements in a book.
Did you run across anything new and unusual while researching this book?
A lot of Secrets Of A Lady takes place in the darker, underworld side of Regency London. So I wrote scenes in settings I’d never used before–the Marshalsea Debtors’ Prison, a brothel, a gaming hell. I learned about aspects of Regency society I hadn’t touched on in my earlier books, which revolved more around the world of Mayfair. For instance, I learned about posturers or posture molls, women who would perform erotic poses, either scantily dressed or completely naked. Charles and Mélanie encounter a posture moll at the Gilded Lily, a coffeehouse that doubles as a brothel. Charles is more shocked than Mélanie.
Is there anything you wanted to include in the book that you (or your CPs or editor) felt was too controversial and left out?I
I wasn’t trying to be non-controversial:-), and my editor (Lucia Macro) and agent (Nancy Yost) and my critique partner (my friend Penny) were all very supportive of the story as I wanted to tell it (in fact, one of the darkest scenes in the book is there because Penny told me I had to include it). I did cut some things in the revision stage, but that was a question of pacing (the book was even longer and Lucia felt–rightly–that some of the Charles and Mélanie scenes should be expanded). In the original version, Helen Trevennen had a daughter who she’d fostered out at birth who was working as a seamstress at a dressmaker’s. It showed another aspect of Regency society (and another fate that could befall young women), but Charles and Mélanie didn’t really learn anything vital in their scene with her. There was also a chase through Covent Garden Market which I loved (and which I spent ages researching and choreographing). But Lucia very sensibly pointed out that it didn’t actually move the story forward. So I cut it. But then I built the chase (with some slight modifications) into Beneath A Silent Moon where I managed to make it much more integral to the story :-).
Is there anything else you’ d like the Risky Regencies readers to know about you?
I find the Regency era endlessly fascinating and I love books that take risks, so naturally I adore this site! Thank you for being such a fabulous place for readers and writers to discuss books and the Regency!
Thank you, Tracy!
Secrets of a Lady sounds wonderful, Charles and Melanie are such interesting characters. You can tell you’ve put alot of research into the story.
Theresa N.
Hi, Tracy,
I am truly looking forward to receiving my copy of Secrets of a Lady. I usually reread it and Beneath a Silent Moon at least once a year. I pray that a right-thinking publisher will see the light and publish the further adventures of Charles & Melanie.
I continue to enjoy keeping up with the Fraser Correspondence and the Dear Reader messages and videos on your redesigned Web site. I urge all the Risky fans to visit you there as well.
Kay
Theresa. thanks so much! Yes, I did do a lot of research (it’s amazing, even though I’ve been writing about the Regency era for twenty years there are still so many many things to learn ;-). I’m glad the research comes through.
Kay, your kind words totally made my day! You’re so wonderful visiting my site and leaving comments (it’s so great to get comments, be able to talk readers, and know people are enjoying the site). I’ve found I love updating the site. The video clips (which I was rather nervsous about) were a lot of fun to shoot. The Fraser Correspondence (this is a section of the site that’s letters between Charles and Mélánie and other characters) lets me to dip into the characters minds and explore their relationships and bits of the back story. The Dear Reader updates let me talk about about books and writing (and for a writer, what could be more fun? :-). The last couple of weeks I’ve talked about a couple of books that had a big influence on me and my own books, “The Scarlet Pimpernel’ and “Pride and Prejudice”. I carried the “Pride and Prejudice” discussion over into the Fraser Correspondence by having Mélánie and Simon Tanner exchange letters about “Pride and Prejudice” and parallels they saw between some of the characters and people they are close to themselves.
Thanks to both of you for posting!
Charles and Melanie sound very intriguing. Is there a mystery involved?
Tracy,
We definitely need to return to the library soon! 🙂 What a great interview–even though we are such good friends there are so many things I didn’t know. I don’t think I’ve ever heard about this 15th Century project. That is one of my favorite time periods, don’t be surprised if I start bugging you to write it. 🙂
Hi Maureen,
Yes, there’s definitely a mystery inolved (I didn’t say too much about the plot as I was trying to avoid reveavling plot twists, of which there are a number). Without giving too much away, the mystery invovles the truth of what really happened when Charles and Mélanie met in the Cantabrian Moutnain in Spain seven years before, during the Peninsular War. The plot is set in motion when their six-year-old son disappears. The price of his ransom is the Carevalo Ring, the heirloom of powerful Spanish family, surrounded by legend and power (and sought after by a number of factions in both England and Spain). The search for the ring and the truth behind its disappearance seven years ago pulls Charles and Mélanie into a desperate chase through the Regency underworld and forces old secrets into the open. For, as the jacket copy says, “just as the elegant façade of Regency London hides a dark side, Mélanie is not what she seems.” Not to anyone, and certainly not to her husband.
Hi Monica,
We definitely are due for a trip to the library! :-). It’s funny sometimes the things interviews like this bring out. I haven’t thought much about the fifteenth-century series in years. I actually wrote drafts of the first three books and I had notes for the next two (and then ideas for subsequent series in that world). I worked on the idea from when I was twelve through college. I can definitely see bits of those characters in some of the characters I’m writing about now (I even stole a quote about the hero that I really liked and used it for Charles because it seemed so applicable–“Charles decided years ago that the world was his responsibility,” Mélanie remembers Charles’s brother telling her. “Every so often it proves a bit much even for him. He takes these lapses very hard.”
Hi! Ah well, this is my first introduction to the book, even though it’s a reprint, but it sounds mighty good! 🙂
And since it would be appropriate to ask you, there’s something I always wondered. . .how do you write a book with someone else? How tough is it, how do you decide who writes what, do you have to have similiar writing styles. . . I guess I’m not entirely sure what to ask that I’m asking practically that pops to mind. LOL 🙂
Lois
Hi Lois,
That’s a great question and one that often comes up when I talk about writing with my mom. I think every pair of co-authors handles it a bit differently. My mom and I plotted the book together before we started writing. Then we’d block out two-four chapters in great detail and sit down to write. We’d either write alternate chapters or alternate blocks of chatpers (for instance she might write 1 & 3 and I’d write 2 & 4 or she might write 1 & 2 and I’d write 3 & 4). When we had a completed draft, we’d do a read-through and make general comments (need more emotion here, this bit of exposition isn’t clear, etc…) and do another draft where we re-wrote our own stuff. Then we did about two more drafts where we both did small, fine-tuning type stuff on the whole book. We’d often go out to a café to go over our notes–because we got stir crazy and because it was harder to argue in public :-). Actually we got along amazingly well collaborating, though we argue more about writing stuff than we ever did about mother-daughter issues.
I think you definitely need to have similar writng styles to collaborate (unless it was a book deliberately written in two very different styles). I think it helped that we started writing together (I’d been writing since I was a child but I hadn’t been published; Mom had written non-fiction) so our writing styles developed together. And we had very similar reading tastes–Mom introduced me to Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer and Dorothy Sayers, I introduced her to Dorothy Dunnett. I can’t imagine writing with anyone else, but I’m so glad she and I had the chance to collaborate.
How neat to include an extra section ie: the letter between Charles and Melanie; very intriquing.
Hi Robyn,
Yes, it was very fun to be able to add the letter from Charles to Mélanie. And that I found out A+ section which gave me the chance to write a whole series of letters between the characters (which in turn gave me the idea for the Fraser Correspondence on my website). I’ve always loved letters in books–they give one a chance to look at events from so many different perspectives and to really capture the character’s voice.
We have to get “Mask of Night” published! What can we do to help? And – can you give us a line or two about the plot? Beth T.
Hi Beth,
Thanks so much! The better “Secrets of a Lady” does, the more chance there is “Mask of Night” will be published. Also, word of mouth is great, so posting about the books on message boards and blogs like this one is a wonderful way to help!
“Mask of Night” takes place in Jaunary, 1820, a couple of months after the end of “Secrets of a Lady”. It begins with a man found stabbed to death floating in a fountain at a masquerade ball. No one seems to know who he is or how he came to be there. But the Foreign Secretary and Charles’s former spymaster recognize him and ask Charles (who wants nothing more than to stay away from anything remotely connected to international intrigue) to investigate. It gets even more complicated when it turns out Mélanie isn’t a stranger to the victim either. Simon and David, who are mentioned in “Secrets” and play an imporant role in “Beneath a Silent Moon” are important characters as are Isobel and Oliver Lydgate, who’ve been mentioned in both books but haven’t appeared. In some ways, I think it as a book about three couples and the deceptions and issues of trust in all relationships.
Dear Tracy,
The story sounds delicious! I will spread the word to my bookclub about the upcoming book – I have both your Charles and Melanie books in hardcover – I’m a fan. An Iowa Reader
Thanks for being here, Tracy! I love to hear how your own interests (opera, for instance) influence your writing — I always think that’s one thing that makes some books just great reads — the genuine interest (and knowledge) the author has about the subject.
And I will now blushingly admit that I’d never realized that you were half of Anthea Malcolm!
Cara
Anonymous from Iowa, I’m thrilled to know you have the books in hardcover and enjoyed them–thank you!
Cara, I think my interest in theatre and opera leads to lots references in my books. When I wrote Charles and Melanie’s first scene Melanie referred to Othello and from then on then both just naturally quoted Shakespeare. And I love referencing opera pieces. I was actually never quite satisfied to the reference to Melanie’s favorite piece of music in “Daughter”. After the book was published, I realized the aria “Dove Sono” from “Marriage of Figaro” was perfect, so one of the things I changed for “Secrets” was that.
Welcome, Tracy! What a great interview. These books sound so fun and original – and a friend of mine was recently lamenting that there aren’t more books that explore married relationships, so I love that angle! It’s great that you’re crossing genres as well – what are some of the books that have influenced your writing?
Welcome, Tracy!
I look forward to discovering the world of Charles and Melanie. And hopefully to getting to meet you someday as I live in the Bay Area as well, and am a member of SFA-RWA.
How fabulous to get the chance to go back and change a niggling detail like the perfect piece of music. Best of Luck with Secrets of a Lady, may its success guarantee more titles!
I’ve had quite a few ‘aha’ moments reading your post. I had no idea about your history and the books you have written over the years! More reading for me. I just love when that happens.
Does your site list the books connected to Secrets of a Lady? It’s also exciting that they will be in future books.
I can’t wait to get to your backlist!
Tracy, I still have a couple of Anthea Malcolm books (The Widow’s Gambit and Frivolous Pretense) among my keepers. I think you and your mom were writing risky regencies even in those early days. Your books were longer and often more sensual than the norm, and you used gender role reversal in An Improper Proposal. I am not generally a fan of thrillers, but I was persuaded to try Name of the Game when it was first published because I trusted your characterization. I was not disappointed. Charles and Melanie are wonderful characters with rich contexts.
My question is a “writerly” one. What advice do you have for creating characters of such depth?
Janga
Thanks, Lindsey! I’ve always loved exploring the complexities of a marriage (one of my mom’s and my early Regencies, “Frivolous Pretence”–Megan showed the cover, which is cool–is about a married couple). There’s just so much richness to explore with a couple who’s been together and has a history. As to authors who’ve influenced me–I mentioned blogging recently about the influence of Jane Austen and the Baroness Orczy (“The Scarlet Pimpernel”). Definitely Dorothy Sayers (about whom I think I’m going to blog this week). Some of my favorite books as a teenager were British “Golden Age” mysteries, particularly those with an ongoing, evolving love story that intersected with the mysteries–Sayers, and also Marjorie Allingham and Ngaoi Marsh. I also loved Georgette Heyer and Rafaeil Sabatini. And then I discovered Dorothy Dunnett the summer between high school and college and devoured the Lymond Chronicles, and her books have been a huge influence on me. Len Deighton, Elizabeth George, and Laurie King for mysteries/spy stories. And then I also think I owe a debt to Chris Carter (The X-Files), Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly), and J.J. Abrams (Alias):-).
Hi Jane,
Hope you enjoy Charles and Mélánie and their world. And hopefully we’ll get a chance to meet soon as I plan to attend the next SFA-RWA meeting. Yes, it was wonderful to have a chance to go bac and tweak small details. I actually had some trepidation sitting down to read through the book, as I knew there was a limit to how much I could change, and I was afraid I’d be depressed and think “oh, I’d do that so differently now.” But actually on the whole I was quite happy with it and there wasn’t that much I wanted to change (so I could focus on the few thins that bugged me, like Mélanie’s favorite piece of music).
Hi Santa,
My website lists all my backlist. The only book really connected to “Secrets of a Lady’ which has been published so far is “Beneath a Silent Moon”. But there is one character from one of the Anthea Malcolm Regencies who makes a cameo appearance in one of the two Charles and Mélanie books. If anyone can name the character, I’d be happy to give away another signed copy of “Secrets of a Lady” (in additin to the one that will go to someone who comments today).
Tracy, ahhhh, British classic crime. You mention many names that number in my favorites: Dorothy Sayers, Ngaoi Marsh, and Elizabeth George. I love, love, love PD James and also Jill McGown.
As a writer, how do you maintain the chemistry between your main characters, while evolving their separate character arcs across all the books, and yet provide a satisfyingly complex mystery in every book? And while all of this is going on, how do you hook the reader who starts not at the begining of the series, but at any random book in the middle?
Do you think Lynley and Havers are going to get a HEA? 🙂
Janga, I’m so thrilled to know you still have copies of two of the Anthea Malcolm books and my mom would be as well! We always did seem to push boudaries and take risks with our books–often not intentionally. We just tend to think in somewhat unusual, genre-crossing ways. I have to say, I never quite thought of “An Improper Proposal” as gender reversal (which doesn’t mean it isn’t there, just that sometimes the author is the last person to see). Because Rachel’s the one who proposes to Guy? Because she seduces him? Because he’s the one torn between two lovers?
I’m so glad you tried “Daughter of the Game” and liked it. Thank you for your lovely comment on my characterization! As to what it takes to create chaaracters of depth and complexity…I’m sure different writers go about it in a zillion different ways all of which can be effective. I think aboput my characters all the time. They’re like friends and constant companions. I spend a lot of time developing them as I develop my plot. I’ll imagine scenes from their past (this is one reason I so love writing the Fraser Correspondence), think about their tastes in reading matter, fashion, where they live, what drives them. I went to a fabulous workshop on characterization by Elizabeth George where she talked about developing character profiles and identifying the core need that drives a character. I try to step back and see the story from the different character’s points of view, both as I’m plotting and later as I’m writing. I still remember a conversation with my psychologist father about how on earth I was supposed to get inside the heads of two of the villains from “Secrets of a Lady”. But in the end I did manage to see things from their perspective, and I think the book is stronger for it. I also mentally cast my books with actors, which is a great help not just with physical appearance but with manner, tone, and the whole general presence of the character. Sometimes I can’t really write the character until I settle on the right actor. I was having a lot of trouble with Gisèle, Charles’s sister, from “Beneath a Silent Moon” until I started imaging a different actress in the part and suddenly she clicked into place for me.
I also love P.D. Jame, Keira. Haven’t read Jill McGowan–obiviously I have to try her books–thanks!
As to maintaining chemistry between the characters while developing their character arcs and still providing a self-contained mystery– I think ideally the three elements reinforce each other. If the character arcs are interesting, if the characters have issues to work out in their own lives and in relationship to each other, to me there’s inherent chemistry. No relationship is static, it’s always growing and evolving , hopefully for the better but not always in a direct line. That’s why I love writing about the development of an ongoing relationship. Meanwhile, the challenges of solving the mystery can bring the issues between the characters to the fore, thorw light on an unexplored element from the past of one or both of them, thematically echo the issues between them (Dororty Sayers does this brilliantly in “Gaudy Night”, the actual mystery isn’t my favorite but it’s a stunning love story and the theme is beautifully interwoven). And I think the fact that the mystery has a solution (which may also echo a solution to specific problems the characters were having) in a given book helps give that book a shape and an arc.
As to readers who start in the middel of a series–I’m always doing that (I started Laurie King’s Mary Russell series with “The Moor” and didn’t have a problem). I work hard to make all of my books work if be read alone, while at the same time adding depth to the other stories. One of the things I liked about “Beneath a Silent Moon” being a prequel was that I could keep it a separate story that didn’t spoil the revelatoins of “Secrets of a Lady.” But I was actually surprised with the “Mask of Night”–I didn’t have to do nearly as much exposition as I thought I would. I think if the story arc of the immediate book and the problems the characters are grappling with in that book are clear and vivid enough, a reader will be drawn into the story and will be able to enjoy it on its own terms. Then hopefully they’ll seek out the author’s backlist (whch is just what I did with Laurie King).
As to Lynley and Havers–too funny, I was thinking about them this evening (while driving to a very good production of “West Side Story’ with Monica McCarty and her family). I’ve actually always thought they would have an HEA, back to the first book. I’ve doubted my own thoughts quite a bit along the way, but now I’m more inclined to think I may be right. I am very curious to read the next book. What do you think?
This sounds like a Regency right up my alley! Did you have any authors or books you referred to while writing Secrets of A Lady(since it was a type of novel you’d never done before)?
I can’t wait to read Secrets of a Lady. I’m definately adding it to my pile of books. You make the characters so interesting and the story so mysterious.
Hi Camilla,
One of the challenges (and I guess risks) of writing “Secrets of a Lady” is that there weren’t other books I could think of that were similar. When I was writing the book, I variously described it to friends as “Jane Austen mixed with Bernard Cornwell” or “Jane Austen mixed with Len Deighton” (which is why I was absolutley thrilled by the “If Jane Austen and Len Deighton could have collaborted” review which Megan quoted above the interview. It’s a great review and the reviewer seemed to understand exactly what I was trying to do. I definitely thought about mystery series with lots of rich atmosphere and ongoing relationships and challenges between the hero and heroine–everything from Dorothy Sayers to Anne Perry to Laurie King. And I often find myself rereading scenes in Dorothy Dunnett books for her amazing action sequences and ability to seemlessly integrate the fictional and the historical. Another book that influenced me and that I often find myself rereading bits of is “Freedom & Necessity” by Steven Brust and Emma Bull. It has a fantasy element, but it has history, mystery, adventure, and romance combined in a quite wonderful way. ((It’s also told in letters, which now I think of it may have something to do with my fascination with letters…)
Hi Kimberley,
I’m so glad! I do love my characters, so it’s wonderful when other people find them interesting and it’s a treat to get to talk about them, Hope you enjoy the book!
Secrets of a Lady sounds great. I am intrigued by its plot. Enjoyed the informative interview.
Thanks so much, Cherie! Glad you enjoyed the interview. I always find it a challenge to describe the plot of one of my books, so I’m glad it sounded intriguing!
Hi Tracy! I too was a big fan of your Anthea Malcolm books and count Beneath a Silent Moon as one of my favorites of all time. I love mystery and I love romance and you blend both wonderfully. There are not many authors who can blend history, mystery and romance with as much skill as you do. So glad you’re getting back in print:)
Hi Manda,
It’s so great to know people who read my Anthea Malcolm books are still finding and enjoying my books (it’s also cool that people like Cara are just realizing I was half of Anthea Malcolm). I too love books that combine history, mystery, and romance, so it’s wonderful to hear that you think the balance works well in my books. And wonderful to hear “Beneath a Silent Moon” is one of your all time favorites. I think the last scene in that book is my favorite I’ve ever written. I’m so glad it’s getting re-issued next summer (I’m already pondering what sort of letter epilogue I can do for it…)
Dear Tracy,
Thanks for leaving such wonderful, detailed answers to everyone’s posts. It’s been great!
Jane
Tracy, thanks for your detailed explanations.
I now see how a good writer approaches the series-in-order v. standalone-in-the-middle. I’ve seen it done badly a few times, where as a reader I’ve gone, “Uh-oh, now here comes the backstory dump. Skip two pages ahead.”
But with a good writer, it’s so difficult to know when and how I knew x and y and z about a particular character. While there’s some old information cleverly snuck in, there’s new information in every book, too. But then that new info from book #3 may be old for readers of #1-#5 but new for those starting out with #5.
As to Lynley and Havers, the “is it” and “isn’t it” is what has kept me so well hooked. Of course, George backs it up with fabulous settings, complex secondary characters (with pasts), and an Escher-like relationships between the characters.
I’ll have you know, I held out hope for a L & H HEA till Helen got pregnant. Then all bets were off. Then came that last shocker (in many ways) of a book, and now, I’m hopeful again. But such insurmountable odds of class and background. Can’t wait to find out how she’s going to do it.
George’s book on writing is one of my favorites.
Jane, thanks so much! It’s a total treat to get to talk about my books and characters. I’ll continue to check this page over the next several days and answer further questions. I want to thank Megan and the all of the Riskies for hosting me. It’s so much fun!
Keira, that’s a great explanation of weaving information through a series, so the new things about the characters are revealed in each book to keep things fresh and interesting for readers who’ve read the series from the start but also to let readers start in the middle. That’s what I *try* very hard to do in my own series (readers will have to judge for themselves how well I pull it off :-).
Once Lynley and Helen got married I wasn’t really expecting Lynley and Havers ever to get together. I both both shocked and intriguedby the last book. Tragic but it defintiely took the story in a new direction and I’m very intrigued to see what happens next. I love the world Elizabeth George builds and the fascinating interplay between her characters with their rich backstory (part of what keeps me turning the pages is wanting to learn more about them and their pasts). I love having a whole group of characters who continue through the series instead of just a one or two investigators.
p.s.
Meant to add that the seemingly insurmountable differences of class and background are precisely what makes the the Lynley/Havers relationship so intriguing. And why I hope George gets them together (that and the fact that there’s been something intangible between them from the first book).
I am so excited to have won a copy of Secrets of a Lady. The timing is perfect too since today is my birthday. Thanks so much!
Happy birthday, Janga!
And thanks for the wonderful interview, Tracy. I was up to my ears in my oldest’s birthday party this weekend and am just now catching up on the discussion. And adding to my growing TBR list–occupational hazard of this blog, I guess! 🙂
Happy Birthday, Janga! Hope you have a wonderful day! I should get my box of author copies later this week and an autographed copy will be on its way to you.
Thanks again to Megan and the Riskies for inviting me and to everyone who posted and asked such great questions. I’ll continue to check back over the next few days in case anyone has follow-up questoins. And you can also always ask me questions by leaving comments on my website.
Thanks so the nice words, Elena! Hope the birthday party went well and you’ve had a chance to recover (I’ve helped out at more than a few birthday parties of friends’ kids and I know just how exhausting they can be). Hope you enjoy “Secrets of a Lady” (and yes, I can completely see the TBR hazards of running a fabulous site like this one :-).