Nancy, please
tell us about yourself and your writing.
A ‘near empty nester’ I live in Aberdeenshire, a fantastically scenic part
of Scotland, with my husband of 39 years. All around me are hundreds of castles
and even older sites of historical interest.
Standing stones; Neolithic and Iron Age sites; Roman marching camps only
name a few of those on offer – a ruined 14th century castle and a
substantial Roman marching camp almost literally on my doorstep. All of that is
great since I’ve always loved history!
The ‘almost empty nester’ part is because I child mind my 18 month old
granddaughter at least two full days a week. On ‘granny days’ I don’t manage
any writing but have great fun doing lots of exciting things. Grandma is most
happy when she’s hanging onto the death slide in the park, or going down the
chutes, making more noise than the child. A very active and bright little girl,
a lot of stimuli are needed for her as she doesn’t sleep much during the day.
I’m very privileged to do the child minding since I gave up my teaching career
a bit early because of hearing problems.
On writing days I write in a mixture of genres and my publishing history
reflects this. To date I’ve had published two non-fiction historical projects:
a pack of teaching materials regarding local railway history; and a history of
my local primary school which dates back to the early 1500s. (Both done while
teaching at the local primary school) Since giving up teaching in the autumn of
2011 I’ve had 4 full-length novels published.
Take Me Now is an entertaining,
light hearted, sensual, corporate sabotage mystery which I had great fun
writing. Monogamy Twist is a sensual
ancestral mystery – both published by The Wild Rose Press.
Topaz Eyes is my second ancestral
mystery but is a ‘sweet’ romance-published by Crooked Cat Publishing.
My multi 5* reviewed, historical, adventure romance (Goodreads and
Amazon), The Beltane Choice, is set
in Celtic/ Roman Britain AD 71 – also published by Crooked Cat Publishing. (The Beltane Choice stemmed from my love
of teaching Celtic/Roman history to my primary classes.)
For early teens I’ve also written a full-length time-travel historical
adventure which goes back to Roman times in the Aberdeenshire of AD 210- Dabbling
With Time - though it’s, as yet, unpublished.
I’ve two current works at first draft stages. One is a sequel to my historical novel (The Beltane Choice). This is presently
sitting at approx. 80,000 words, and I hope to complete this first draft by the
end of March 2013. However, since I’m more ‘pantser’ than ‘plotter’ with this
work I’m not certain of the end date!
My second work in progress is a family saga starting in the 1850s, going
through to the 1950s. My saga is due to my love of ancestry- an intermittent
hobby when I make time for it. I’ve done a fair amount of research into my own
family background and saw great possibilities for a fictional story, yet, though
influenced by my background, it’s a work of fiction. This is sitting at around
14, 000 words but has a very detailed plan to work to!
I run a fairly active blog, which takes up a lot of that ‘marketing time’
we authors tend to spend, though much of my blog posts are author interviews
and promotion of other authors. As well as regularly guesting on other blogs, I
also write twice a month for a blog called ‘Writing Wranglers and Warriors’
which aims to post every single day.
What inspired your current book?
If by current book, you mean the one most recently published, then that’s
Topaz Eyes which was launched in
December 2012, published by Crooked Cat Publishing.
To explain the inspiration for it I need to go back to my first published
novel-Monogamy Twist- published by
The Wild Rose Press. Monogamy Twist
is a contemporary version of a weird Dickensian bequest of a dilapidated
English estate, the unknown benefactress only uncovered through delving into
ancestral trees. The idea for this came from watching a current BBC version of
a Charles Dickens novel (Great Expectations) while also doing my first Ancestry
researching of my own family background. For the Monogamy Twist mystery I had to create a family tree. That one was
fairly simple, but I enjoyed creating it so much I wanted to design another one
that was a lot more complex, with some really hidden surprises.
Topaz Eyes evolved. In Topaz Eyes I wanted a deeper mystery,
so I created a family tree to third and fourth generation levels. I then had to
think of something to bring together lots of third cousins who didn’t know each
other. The mystery centers on a treasure hunt for a fantastic collection of original
Mughal owned jewels which was scattered amongst family members back in 1910. The
next question I had to address was where did these cousins live?
Most of my novels have some sort of Scottish/British connection, or
include fabulous locations I’ve been fortunate to visit. In my second Wild Rose
Press novel (Take Me Now), based on
a Scottish Island castle, I included trips to London, Paris, Barcelona, Tallinn,
Oman and the Caribbean (with a hint of New York). Yes- it is a zipping around
the world kind of novel!
For Topaz Eyes I wanted to
include lots of European places and some in the US. So, Topaz
Eyes begins in the wonderful German city of Heidelberg, and then the hunt
(fraught with danger and even death) moves on to Duluth and Rochester
(Minnesota), New York, Vienna, Amsterdam and Edinburgh. All wonderful cities to
read about or visit!
My hero -Teun Zeger - in Topaz
Eyes is a Californian (born in Rochester, Minnesota) and the heroine -
Keira Drummond - is a lass from Edinburgh, Scotland. They find themselves
thrown together to solve the ultimate mystery in Topaz Eyes which is even more valuable that the scattered Mughal
jewels.
Again, I totally loved creating reasons for them being connected and had
tremendous fun working out the interweaving plot of the whereabouts of the
jewels, and working out what the ultimate precious ‘twist’ was.
A reader (a TWRP author) who gave Topaz
Eyes a great review says: “If you
enjoy treasure hunts, you'll love Topaz Eyes…. The romance between Teun and
Keira develops against a backdrop of forgotten wealth, family distrust, and
danger. A fun, engaging read that will have you calling your travel agent.”
Blurb:
A peculiar invitation to Heidelberg
embroils Keira Drummond in the search for a mysterious collection of
extraordinary jewels once owned by a Mughal Emperor; a hoard that was last
known to be in the possession of Amsterdam resident, Geertje Hoogeveen, in
1910.
Who among the progeny of Geertje –
hitherto unfamiliar third cousins brought together for the quest – can Keira
rely on? Distrust and suspicion among them is rife.
Which one is greedy, and
determined enough, to hire thugs to tail her… and worse… as she travels to Vienna
and Minnesota? Can Keira even trust Teun
Zeger - a Californian she is becoming very drawn to – as they pair up to
unearth the jewellery?
As they follow a trail of clues,
will they uncover the full collection before the hired gun kills them? Details
remain furtive and undisclosed until danger and death forces their exposure.
And who harbours the ultimate mystery item that is even more precious than the
Mughal jewels?
Greed, suspicion and murder are
balanced by growing family loyalty, trust, and love.
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