Rebecca Tope
The Windermere Witness and The Ambleside Alibi are the first two titles of my new crime series. The central character is Persimmon (Brown), who has recently moved to Troutbeck, and opened a florist business in Windermere. Her parents run a B&B in Windermere, and when her marriage broke down, she decided to move near to them. The murders in both stories drag Simmy into dangerous investigations that she would far rather avoid. She has an assistant, Melanie, who is doing a Hotel Management course, and only works part-time in the shop. As the story unfolds, a new character – Ben Harkness – is introduced. He is a 17-year-old schoolboy, highly intelligent and fascinated by police procedure. Both youngsters feel protective towards Simmy, despite her being twenty years older than they are.
What attracts you to the Lake District for the setting of your books?
It has the same combination of gorgeous landscape, small communities and high tourist presence as does the Cotswolds (the setting for my other mystery series). I have chosen the ‘softer’ end of the region, because I’m not planning to set very much of the action out on the windswept fells. I’m more interested in the little villages and towns. Having said that, quite a lot of the third book – The Coniston Case – takes place out in the open air.
The books have been compared to M C Beaton, so how does that make you feel?
I have only read one of her books, and enjoyed it very much. She is a very respected author, and I’m delighted by the comparison. People who read us both actually say we have very little in common, and I think our strengths are rather different.
Your books have been praised for being rich in psychological insight, so how much has your background with Relate helped towards this?
Difficult to say. I suspect it’s more a matter of life experience, perhaps given an added dimension by being a trained counsellor. It’s probably truer of my earlier books, such as The Sting of Death.
Please tell us a bit about the character of Simmy.
She’s in her late 30s, and was married to Tony for a long time. When their first baby was stillborn, the strain pushed them apart, until the marriage collapsed. She is an only child. Starting a new business on her own proved to be a serious challenge, and she is surprised at her own talent and success. She is not especially confident, and lacks the burning sense of curiosity that often motivates my heroine Thea Osborne in the Cotswold mystery series. She is honest, trusting, and generally likes everyone she meets. She is still raw from the loss of the baby; and very unsure about her future as far as relationships are concerned. When it comes to acting as an amateur detective, she is mostly driven by a need to try to keep everybody happy, and not allow the police to harry innocent suspects.
Which other Lake District authors do you admire?
William Wordsworth, Martin Edwards. There aren’t very many, are there?
What is your writing process?
Start with the setting and central handful of characters, and set the ball rolling, with very little idea of what’s going to happen. I visit the place (they’re all real places), and let the atmosphere spark off the story. The plot seems to work itself out with surprisingly little conscious effort.
Have you invited the Lake District in order to gain insights into the characters surroundings in the book?
I have visited several times, more for the landscape and town layout than characters. I came to the conclusion that there is something uncompromising about the people there, as well as the architecture and farming practices. But as with the Cotswolds, there are a lot of ‘incomers’ who dilute the original character of the residents.
What is next for you?
Revenge in the Cotswolds – number 13 in that series. The Coniston Case – Number 3 in the new series, followed by The Troutbeck Testimony. Also trying something different in the form of a trilogy based in the American west in the middle of the 19th century. Still working on the first one and unsure of its future….
The first two books in the Lake District mystery series, The Windermere Witness (paperback) and The Ambleside Alibi (hardback) are published by Allison & Busby.