Maybe it’s cliché for actors to aspire to play Hamlet. But it also seems especially aspirational when it comes to playing Sherlock Holmes. Numerous reboots sprout up in media these days, whether in plays, TV shows, and films. It seems there will always be more opportunities than ever to play the Man from Baker Street, … Read more
The London I write about in my mysteries is never the London you can see today. Not my Crispin Guest Medieval Noir London set in the fourteenth century. Nor my Tudor London set during the reign of Henry VIII in the early sixteenth century for my King’s Fool Mysteries. Structures and city walls are long … Read more
Sometimes, I really agonize over what name I will give a character. Two factors are involved, especially in my historicals but it also counts for contemporary stories regionally; Is the name appropriate to the era, and for the country (England) or region in any contemporary novel set in the United States I might be writing … Read more
I care. Perhaps I care too much. But I get invested in my characters. Why shouldn’t I? I mean, my readers get invested in them, so I owe my readers that. I care about the lives of my characters, all the details of their backstory and all their hopes and dreams, some of which only … Read more
The Bow Street Runners. We tend to think that there was always a police force in every country, but this just isn’t the case. Prior to this, in the Middle Ages, there would be a sheriff (a ‘shire reeve’, a man appointed by the king to serve for a year’s time, without pay, to keep … Read more
In 1903, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle inserted a certain style of fighting into the canon of Sherlock Holmes stories. Unfortunately, he spelled it wrong. It is Bartitsu, but he scribed it as “baritsu”. Bartitsu is a conglomeration of several martial art and self-defense disciplines, developed in England between 1898–1902. It combines the elements of boxing, … Read more
It was a Covid project. I kept seeing ads for these this bookshelf dioramas, and while still on Facebook in those days (don’t look for me on Fascistbook anymore! And why are YOU still on it?), I ordered one called “The Eternal Bookstore” but decided to modify it by making it into my An Irregular … Read more
Lorie and I have been friends for some years, though we seldom see each other in the wild because I live in southern California and she lives in the Central Valley. But the mystery writing world, being what it is, connects us in all sorts of ways. She is the creator and has been running … Read more
A uniquely Victorian pastime for the very rich; First, get yourself a several thousand-year-old dead guy, invite all your friends over to watch you unwrap him from his bindings, then grind him into a powder and everyone gets to go home with a powdered mummy souvenir. Fun times! Unwrapping a mummy. Well, that was the … Read more
Sherlock Holmes. Why did I choose to write about such a well-defined, well-loved, well-recognized character whom I didn’t create? A pastiche, if you will, but what is a pastiche after all but fan fiction? And I’m a fan. Well, that’s why I chose to write a Sherlock adjacent series. My series, An Irregular Detective Mystery, … Read more