I love history and enjoy the research I do to create the Countess of Harleigh mysteries. Similarly, I love writing mysteries—the hiding of clues, the twists, and putting it all together. But the most fun I have writing is the relationships between the characters. Putting opposites together to see how they’ll react is always entertaining, but even better is putting characters together who are very similar and watch how they identify their own flaws in the other character. It’s okay when I do it, but I hate it when you do.
These characters are not created from thin air, although at first, I thought they were. I didn’t model Frances after anyone I know or after a historical figure. She certainly isn’t me. But of course, her traits and character came from my experience, just like all my other characters. When I need a character to be overbearing or charming or sneaky, I can reach into the well of experiences I call my life and pull out a real person who personified those traits.
When it comes to writing the relationship between mothers and daughters, I have a wealth of experiences to turn to. When my mom was recovering from a mild stroke, my sister and I spent a lot of time with her. And we spent a lot of time worrying. At my sister’s request, my mom wrote out a recipe for her and where she meant to write, ‘simmer for thirty minutes’, she wrote, ‘simmer for thirty years’! My sister was choaking back her laughter as she showed it to me, and font of compassion that I was, I started laughing too. My mom joined in, and we kept it up until tears ran down our faces. It was a strange reaction, but exactly what we needed to break the tension. My mom wasn’t fully recovered yet, but that was the first time my sister and I believed she’d be okay.
Writing a Daughter’s Guide to Mothers and Murder allowed me to draw on those moments and it was the most fun I’ve ever had writing about relationships! Every mother/daughter relationship is unique, and I hope I did these characters justice. While the memories I have of all the mothers and daughters in my life didn’t go into this book literally, they definitely had some influence. These characters are fun, resilient, and fierce, very much like the mothers and daughters I know.