You might have read the two book reviews I’ve posted this month, both of books by author Anna Sayburn Lane. If you haven’t, check them out here and here, because these books are fantastic!
I know that I’ve posted mostly book reviews recently.
I’m planning to get back to writing about the 1920s soon. In the meantime, I’ll let a few fellow writers who write stories set in the 1920s (and thereabout) do the talking 😜
If you’ve been around this blog for some time, you may recall that years ago, I used to host fellow writers on this blog, featuring their books and articles.
Some of those articles are still among the most read on this blog, which tells me that you appreciate this content. Besides, I love having fellow writers as guests because they bring a different perspective than mine to the era.
So I thought, why not start to host them again?
Prepare to discover some interesting books on this blog this summer, accompanied by interviews and guest posts from the authors.
Most of these ebooks will be cosy mysteries, but believe me, each author has a very personal and different take on the genre and the era.
Anna Sayburn Lane is the first summer guest.
She’s the author of a 6 (+1) book series set in 1920s London, with a young protagonist who’s a very determined former nurse (from WWI) and her employer, Mrs Jameson, who’s a very mysterious American heiress.
Her stories have a very strong Golden Age flair (you won’t help but sense Agatha Christie’s influence here), and a very vivid historical setting. I seriously felt I was right there!
Anna is celebrating the conclusion of her series with the publication of the sixth and final volume, and she was kind enough to agree to be a guest on this blog for an interview that delves into her stories and the research behind them. It’s an opportunity to get to know her if you’ve never read her books or know her better if you’ve already enjoyed Marjorie’s adventures.
What I love about Anna’s books is the cleverness with which she builds her mysteries, sure. But also the well-rounded characters who feel like real people. And the setting feels extremely authentic to me.
Let me know in the comments if you’ve read any of Anna’s books and loved them as much as I did!
Hi Anna! I read the first and the last of your 1920s mysteries, and I loved them. It is quite clear that you are very familiar with this period. How did you decide to write about this specific era?
It’s a fascinating era. Everything is changing socially, especially for women. It has a glamorous veneer, and of course it’s when the Golden Age of detective fiction really got going. I was interested in the clash between the women who’d been moving into new roles because of the first world war – doing war work and living more independent lives – and the men who’d been through hell in the trenches and wanted to return to the familiar world they’d left behind. A dangerous combination!
I can’t imagine the amount of research you did. A historical fiction author once told me that to have a strong grasp of the era, you have to read at least 50 books about it. I’d venture you’ve read more than that!
I have no idea how many books I read for research, but a lot! I read quite a bit of history but also a lot of fiction written during the period. That’s so useful to get a feel for people’s attitudes and preoccupations, as well as language, slang and so on. I also like to research on the ground, visiting the places I write about, and watch early movies.
Am I mistaken in seeing a strong influence of the Golden Age of Mystery authors? Though Murder at the Ritz made me think of Sherlock Holmes, actually.
Yes, I’m very influenced by the Golden Age writers. Dorothy L Sayers and Agatha Christie are my favourites. But of course in the early 1920s people would think back to Sherlock Holmes, before characters like Miss Marple and Poirot were popular.
In Murder on the White Cliffs, a mystery that has been overarching the entire series comes to a solution. You like to make things harder for yourself, don’t you? 😂
I loved bringing the over-arching mystery to a conclusion in White Cliffs. I’ve enjoyed teasing readers with clues and snippets of information during the series and it was satisfying to tie up all the loose ends with the big revelation at the end.
Tell me more about your three main ladies, Marjory, Mrs Jameson and Frankie. I almost feel they are different incarnations of the New Woman.
Marjorie Swallow is a young lower middle class woman from south London who’s had a good grammar school education and a taste of independence during the war. She’s determined to live life to the full and loves to eat, dance and listen to jazz. She’s the character closest to my own family background. Her father runs a draper’s shop, while my grandfather ran a toy shop and I sent Marjorie to the same school my mother attended.
Mrs Iris Jameson, her employer, is a wealthy American widow in her 50s, who has lived in Europe most of her adult life. She’s set up a detective agency partly to ward off boredom, partly because she’s got something to atone for in her past! When I began writing the series I had in my mind Henry James’ character Isabel Archer in Portrait of a Lady.
Frankie O’Grady was intended to be a minor character in book one, but I loved her so much I had to bring her back! She is a working class girl aged 20, who trained as a motor mechanic during the war and has a dream of running her own garage. She wears masculine clothes and is gay – she’s partly inspired by my reading about a famous 1920s women’s football team and Lily Carr, the fearsome young striker who swore like a trooper and smoked Woodbine cigarettes. To my surprise, Frankie has become a real favourite among my readers, too.
When I read Murder on the White Cliffs I admit I had a soft spot for the characters who were WWI veterans. When writing about 1920s Europe, it’s almost impossible to ignore the Great War. But this means you have to research at least two decades (100 books?).
I read a lot about war veterans and the effect their experiences had on them. I didn’t research the war, unless I needed a specific fact (I’m not big on battles). But I remembered seeing an exhibition at the Wellcome Collection, a medical museum, about shell shock and that stayed with me. I also read memoirs written in the interwar period, and about the work done at Craiglockhart hospital with shell-shocked veterans.
I know it’s not always easy to answer this question, but why the mystery genre? And why Historical fiction?
I began my author career by writing crime thrillers which were set in the present day but had a strong historical back-story. I knew I wanted to write historical fiction, and I realised one way of doing that while staying in an adjacent genre was to write mysteries set in the past. I wanted a popular genre and there are quite a few fans of 1920s mysteries out there!
I read in the afterword of Murder on the White Cliffs, the last book in this series, that you may consider coming back to these characters in a new series of stories. I’ll be honest, I really hope so. It feels like a crime to abandon such a fantastic cast of characters.
I think I will at some point, but I haven’t decided how to do it. I might take a jump in time to see what they’re doing in the 1930s, for example, or see what happens when Frankie finally gets her motor garage. I am very fond of them and I don’t think I’m done with them yet. Also, I probably ought to sort out Marjorie’s love life, as she hasn’t had much luck with men so far!
What is your next project?
I’m taking a short break before deciding on my next fiction project, which is both scary and exciting! Meantime, I’m writing a Substack called The Stories Behind The Story, in which I share some of the research behind my books. You can find it here.
When you are not researching, what books do you like to read? Do you have any reading recommendations for readers who loved your series?
Like a lot of authors, I read very widely across a range of genres. I’ve enjoyed the Mick Herron spy thrillers in the Slow Horses series, and in historical fiction I recently loved Benjamin Myers’ Cuddy, which tells the story of Durham Cathedral through people associated with it down the centuries. If people have enjoyed my 1920s mysteries, I’d recommend Kerry Greenwood’s Phryne Fisher detective novels, which were a big inspiration for me. They’re a lot of fun. Also, check out authors Verity Bright, Lynn Morrison, Benedict Brown, Magda Alexander and Rosie Hunt. Like me, they’re independent authors writing engaging historical mysteries.
About Anna
Anna is inspired by literature, London and long walks. She has published award-winning short stories and was picked as a “Crime in the Spotlight” new author at the 2019 Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival. Her 2018 debut novel Unlawful Things was shortlisted for the Virago/The Pool New Crime Writer award.
She lives between London and the Kent coast. Anna also works as a journalist, mainly in the medical and health arena.
