Since I've got a new book out this week [the second in a series of mostly stand-alone novels], I thought I'd give everybody a run down on the two that I've written so far:
Murder at the End of the WorldWhen the wife of a politician is murdered in the isolated port-city of Illdara, junior detective Allison Newberry is sent in to keep the case from growing cold. It's the assignment that no one else wants to deal with.
The case is immediately complicated by the nature of the city. Everyone is cold and unfriendly, unwilling to answer even the most basic questions from an outsider. Even the chief inspector is more concerned with Allison's eventual departure than with the actual outcome of the case.
To make matters worse, clues are scarce and little about the murder makes sense. No attempt was made to hide the woman's body, nor was her money or jewelry taken. The initial investigation turns up nothing but dead ends. Then a second victim appears: a homeless man killed in exactly the same manner. A single clue is left behind, the petal of a flower, which leads Allison to the darkest corners of the city.
The suspicion and paranoia, the empty buildings and empty streets, the whispers of strange happenings in the night, it's clear that something is wrong in Illdara. Somehow it all ties back to the murders, somehow everything makes sense, but Allison constantly struggles against the very nature of the city to try to find some clue, some shred of evidence that will bring the killer to light. Something is wrong in Illdara, something very wrong, and it may put Allison's life in danger.
Even so, murder has been committed and there's still a murderer out there who needs to be brought to justice.
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Eyes of Diamond, Hair of GoldHaving finally returned from her first case, Detective Allison Newberry is immediately sent on to her next: the murder of a famed inventor. But she won't be solving this one alone. Another detective, the opinionated and unlikable Alistair Mooney, has been sent along as her assistant.
The murdered inventor, Gregory Williams, had surrounded himself with a technological world filled with his own creations, even going so far as to build a fake town to act as the outward expression of his personal obsessions. The few who live in the town full-time were utterly devoted to him, even as they despised each other, making it difficult to determine who might have committed the crime.
However, it is not the people or the town that make this case so bizarre. Living within the walls of the house are dozens of automatons, mechanical servants who will never grow tired and will never complain about any orders they're given. One automaton in particular, Maximilian, is far more advanced than any of the others, and even possesses the ability to speak in the voice of his creator.
Allison is suspicious of him, Alistair despises him, but it is not Maximilian that poses the greatest threat to all those gather for the funeral, but rather it is Gregory Williams himself...
Amazon Kindle versionCreate Space paperback versionWhat is this series about?When I decided to start writing a mystery [before that I had written science fiction and fantasy almost exclusively], I wanted to write about murders that were a bit different from the norm. The idea was to set up situations and cases that other detectives didn't necessarily want to deal with, either because of their sensitive nature or because of their perceived complexity.
So, the case would fall to one detective in particular: Allison Newberry, a junior detective who is given the case in the first novel because no one else wanted it. And rather than just a standard investigation into a case, finding clues, piecing together clues, and then making an arrest, I wanted to have the investigation uncover something even more sinister and dangerous than the original murder.
Who is Allison Newberry?My two biggest inspirations for writing in the mystery genre are Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot and Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. Having said that, I don't really consider Allison to fit in the mold of the neurotic detective who notices little details or makes connections that no one else notices. She's also not an action hero who goes in with two guns blazing. I wanted to build a character who isn't necessarily the greatest detective in the world, but makes up for a lack of experience with a deep-seated tenacity that makes her willing to see any case through to its end, regardless of how dangerous her situation becomes.
With all my characters, I've striven to keep them gray, rather than strictly black and white. There are no great heroes, there are no happy endings with all the loose ends neatly tied up into a bow. I've always kind of disliked the ending where all the good guys win and all the bad guys lose, everyone goes home happy. That thinking permeates my writing. So, to tie back into Allison Newberry, she's not a hero who returns from her cases to bask in glory, but rather someone who strongly believes those who perpetrate the crime of murder should be brought in to answer for their actions.
What's the world like?Having been inspired by Poirot and Holmes, I wanted to use a similar setting [late-Victorian England]. However, as I mentioned earlier, I come from a background of fantasy and science fiction, so I decided to build my stories around a custom-made world.
Using a "fantasy" world, however, is a double-edge sword. On the one hand, I'm not constricted by reality, I can build my world however I want to and do whatever I want with it. On the other hand, it loses that connection to the real world and some people might be put off by that. Nevertheless, this is how I'd like to write my stories, since I can do things that a historical setting wouldn't allow me to do.
The world is heavily inspired by Victorian England, all the way down to many of the terms used. The level of technology is roughly somewhere between late-19 century and early-20th century, with the industrial revolution kicking into full swing, the prevalence of flint-lock weapons, and a continued reliance on horses that is slowly giving way to steam-powered transportation. It does contain a few elements of steampunk, but they're definitely not steampunk stories. I've drawn a few ideas from that subgenre and used them in my stories, but they're not about cramming in every steampunk element I could find and then hoping that it somehow results in an interesting story. I've tried to use them judiciously and in ways that make sense for each story.
And now I'm rambling...Okay, it's more than clear that I'm going on way too much about these stories. There's more I could go into, but perhaps that would be better suited for subsequent posts where people actually start asking about it. Anyway, I'm open to discuss any of this in more depth, if that's what you guys want, and I can posts some excepts, too. Just ask me.
