September’s
Author of the Month is Scottish mystery author CA Asbrey (the pen name for
Christine Lyden). CA is becoming rapidly known throughout Facebook’s
mystery-reading and -writing indie community with her new Innocents
mystery series
set in 1860’s Wyoming.
15)
OK, you’re Scottish by birth and presently live in England. How on earth does a
Scottish author come to write a western mystery series set in the American West
of the 1860’s? What was your inspiration for doing so?
I first
became interested in early women in law enforcement when I joined the police in
Scotland. Going further and further back meant going to the place where the
first professional female detectives actually worked – The Pinkertons between
1856 until 1884. When Allan Pinkerton died his son Robert got rid of them. It’s
alleged that Robert got rid of them due to complaints from wives about their
husbands working with women. It’s likely that this was a motivation, and that
his own mother might have been one of them, as Allan Pinkerton’s relationship
with the first female Pinkerton, Kate Warne, was so close that she was actually
buried in the Pinkerton family grave. Mrs. Pinkerton’s view on that matter is
not recorded. The answer is simple; in order to write about these women I had
to go where they actually worked. The books are not all in the Old West. They
go all over the country, coast to coast, just like the Pinkertons did. They
even go to Europe and Canada later in the series. British Columbia was actually
The Pinkerton’s biggest contract outside of the USA, but they had many of them
14)
Even though Abigail is Scottish, how difficult was it for you to strain out all
the Britishisms in your dialogue and narrative? Did you have to go back during
the revision process and remove any stray ones?
I have worked in the USA
and been a regular visitor for years. I have many American friends. Outside of
the USA, American television is everywhere. I think that people in the USA have
less experience of us than we do of them.
Getting into a ‘US’ headspace
is as simple as tuning to a TV show and paying attention to the dialogue. I can
imagine that doing it the other way around would be far more difficult. In fact
I know it is. There are thousands of posts on the internet made by Scots
insisting that we don’t say ‘verra’, despite it featuring in an international
best seller.
Even with all that I
absolutely did have to go back and find the idioms which slipped through. Lots
of people helped and I’m very grateful to them. It’s more than just spelling. Some
words mean a completely different thing to us than they do in the USA. Don’t
even get me started on ‘fanny’! Just don’t say it over here. That’s all I’m
saying.
13)
Abigail MacKay is portrayed as a tough, intrepid, scientific-minded Pinkerton
detective. For those who haven’t had the pleasure to peruse your Lady Pinkertons
page
on your official site, what was your inspiration for her?
Real women who enforce the
law. I know plenty of them. They are strong, clever, brave, and human. The real
women who were ground-breakers and who were bold enough to step outside the box
society built for them and forge through resistance to force change. I didn’t
want her to be a damsel in distress, and I certainly didn’t want her to be a
sidekick.
I was most particular in what
I didn’t want her to be. When she faces discrimination, she isn’t a victim. She
stands up and gives as good as she gets. She isn’t perfect or superhuman. She
makes mistakes, and just like real life, some can be fortuitous and others can
be disastrous. She doesn’t turn to men and say, “What are we going to do?” No women
worth their salt ever does that yet it’s all over fiction and movies. I wanted
her to be a fully-fledged, properly-skilled investigator because that’s what
these women were. They were extremely good at their jobs and commanded great
respect at a time when women couldn’t vote and they’d only had the right to own
property since 1838.
I don’t think strength is
a male or female quality, it’s a human quality. Strong men and women have
always been around. People never change, only times change, so it’s really a
case of placing the characters in the time and place in which the story unfolds
and watching them react to the situations they are in.
12)
Writing western mysteries from the UK can be daunting from a hands-on research
standpoint. When you research for an Innocents novel, to what places do you
usually go?
As I said, I used to work
over there and have visited countless times. I’ve been coast to coast and north
to south. I may mention a state in the book, but I invent the smaller towns and
make them generic. The exception to that would be the large cities like San
Francisco or Boston. Apart from knowing the places very well, I also use
historic maps and research the internet and books to ensure that the places I
mention are not just correct, they are accurate to the period in which they are
placed.
There have been plenty of Western
writers who never lived there. Owen Wister was born from Pennsylvania and Zane
Grey grew up in Ohio, played baseball in Pennsylvania, and practiced dentistry
in New York before reading The Virginian
and deciding to write frontier-tales of his own.
11)
Mystery readers demand authenticity and accuracy perhaps more than anything
else. How difficult is it for you to research what forensic advances had been
made no later than the 1860’s?
That’s actually one of the
easiest parts for me as forensics have always fascinated me and I have a
scientific bent. There are plenty of books and documents which detail the
actual processes used back in the 19th century, not to mention court
transcripts which can be a fund of little gems as to how doctors tested for
poisons or noted wounds.
You do have to be careful
about the dates of discovery and usage, as well as looking at when the
processes were superseded by a new one.
I also have skilled
friends I can ask when in doubt.
10)
1868 Wyoming was a surprisingly progressive place in at least one respect- That
year it became the first state to give women the right to vote. Even though you
never mentioned that in THE INNOCENTS, what was it about Wyoming that attracted
you to the point of launching your series there?
That’s an easy one.
There’s no statute of limitations in Wyoming and that is important to the plot.
9)
How would you like to see latter day mystery fiction evolve?
For me it’s all about the
plot. People a whole lot cleverer than me are taking ideas and running with
them – stretching us psychologically, mentally, and sometimes foxing us
completely.
I don’t really have a view
on how it should evolve. I think readers will always be ready for anything
writers throw at them.
8)
Imagine THE INNOCENTS greenlighted for a movie version and you had the final
say on casting. Who would you tap to play Abigail and the other characters?
You’re going to hate this
answer but I have no idea. I haven’t cast my characters from favorite actors.
They exist organically in my head as their own thing. Abigail would have to be
more than just attractive; she’d have to show strength and intelligence – so
any actress would need to have those qualities herself.
Nat would need to have one
of those faces with expressive eyes. He’d be good-looking, but not boyish or
too pretty.
The actors would probably
be not very well-known, or come out from left field.
Just as an aside I made
Abigail so dark as it’s a very Celtic characteristic, but the stereotype in the
USA tends to be red hair and blue eyes, which is actually a minority. Think
Catherine Zeta Jones, Sean Connery, Aidan Turner, and Colin Farrell. They are
very Celtic.
I gave Nat dimples purely
because it’s another way to describe emotions and reactions and to make his
stand out.
7)
Aside from mystery fiction, what other genres, if any, would you like to try or
what others have you tried?
The Innocents is my first
book and the first three are already written. I honestly haven’t tried any
other genre. They say write what you know and I’ve always read mystery. I love
the game of playing along and trying to guess whodunit. I hate it when it’s too
easy.
6)
We’re historical novelists, not historians writing novels. However, having said
that, do you think those writing in our genre have the right to reinvent
established history instead of merely reimagining it?
If we reinvent it, we must
be honest with the reader. We have a duty not to spread falsehoods about
important events. It can be very interesting to put a different point of view,
or tell a story from a lesser-known perspective though. It can make us see
events through new eyes.
I don’t think it matters
too much if we stick in a train (for example) and don’t make it stop at every
station, or describe the exact route across town with every turn identified. We
are invoking a sense of place, not making a documentary. Sometimes research
shows things which were invented far earlier than people think, or actual
events don’t match the popular version of a tale. In those cases it’s great to
confound expectations. I love doing those.
In a way my female
Pinkerton does exactly that for many people who don’t realize that they existed
or how skilled they were.
5)
In TATTERDEMALION, I’d used real life people such as Buffalo Bill, Annie
Oakley, Sitting Bull, Fred Abberline, Queen Victoria and so forth. Why don’t
more historical figures pop up in your Innocents series and how do you resist
the urge to use them?
They
actually do pop up, but in dialogue about their scientific and forensic
skills and their contributions to their fields. When I name chiefs of police in
a specific place, governors, or the like, they are the correct ones for the
date and their characters have been researched.
At the end of the day, how
often do you meet a queen or famous person in out of the way places? My characters
don’t really mix in glamorous circles.
If I need a famous person to drive forward a plot I’d have no
hesitation in putting one in.
4)
Plotter or pantser?
A bit of
both. I start with a general idea of who did it and why. I then research all
the ways to support the evidence and what was possible at the time. I then look
at how to plant red herrings.
When a
character starts to act up and make their part grow, I’ll go with it. Even the
end can change if the story goes a different way. In that case the original
story will be converted into a red herring. And, yes. I’ve done that.
3)
Describe your drafting process. Do you use notebooks, your laptop or a
combination of both? What time of the day or night do you most often write?
I’m a night owl and do my
best writing at night or in the evening. I’ve never been a lark. I use a laptop
and a nest of cushions on the couch despite having a desk. I’ll start with
research, a series of notes and start at the beginning and write the book right
through. Then I’ll re-write at least twice. I then give it to trusted people to
read and comment on before a thorough editing.
2)
How difficult is it to juggle and balance the romantic angle with the serious
crimes that take place, especially with a pair of bank robbers who are more
lovable rogues than bad guys?
That’s
actually well-researched. There were many criminals who were either humane or
who saw it as a great way to ensure cooperation to treat ordinary people well.
There is also a long history of people who had a special grudge against the
rich and powerful – and that’s really who my criminals are. Their back story
unfolds throughout the trilogy.
I wrote a
whole blog post about men like them and you can find it here.
I didn’t
really want it to get as romantic as it got. It just sort of went that way.
1)
What’s next for Abigail and when will the next installment of THE INNOCENTS
series launch?
Part 2 is
already out and more of the men’s back story unfolds and you understand more of
their motivations. In it Nat’s uncle is concerned when Abi is working with a
bounty hunter who never brings in anyone alive, and fears that she is trying to
trap Nat. The book features irritable heart, the 19th century term
for PTSD, and also shows discrimination and violence towards immigrants, the
beginning of the early nativist parties who feared that Catholic immigrants
where changing the face of the country, and the consequences of immigrant
children ripped away from families. Abigail also gets to showcase her
scientific skills in this one.
It might
seem opportunistic timing, but this book was actually written about four years
ago and has been doing the rounds being turned down by multiple publishers
because ‘westerns aren’t selling’ (it’s not a
western. It’s 19th century Americana) or ‘it’s not western
enough’ (it’s 19th century USA from the perspective of a female immigrant)
or there’s not enough character development (code for it’s not romantic enough
and they don’t get their rocks off by chapter three of the first book)
Part 3 is
a howdunit. Abigail’s sister has run away to marry someone of whom her family
disapproves. The biggest problem is that when Abigail investigates she finds he
has multiple identities and that each of his wives died mysteriously. They know
he is killing but don’t know how, but need to find out fast. We also find out a
lot more of Abigail’s back story in this one.
Part
three will be released in November this year.
Blog - C.A Asbrey - all things obscure and strange in the Victorian period
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