Today is Monday and with us we have author Charlie Cochrane who is here to give us some insight into her Cambridge Fellows series and its latest episode, Lessons for Survivors. (There's a blog tour giveaway too!)
What inspired this series?
The Cambridge Fellows started life when I couldn't find any classic age
mysteries which featured a pair of gay detectives, no matter how much I yearned
to read one. I’m a huge fan of Christie, Sayers, Innes and the like and would
have loved to plough through the equivalent of Lord Peter Wimsey and “Harry”
Vane. I had to take the extreme course of writing my own. That first book,
Lessons in Love, spawned a whole series of which Lessons for Survivors is the
ninth. The stories so far span 1905 to 1919; Jonty and Orlando have developed
quite a following, although I daren't tell them or they'll get big headed!
BTW I have subsequently discovered AA Milne’s (yes, the Winnie the Pooh
man) “The Red House Mystery” which features an incredibly slashy pair of
detectives, but alas that’s the only one he wrote.
What inspired this
particular episode?
Lessons for Survivors came out of my fascination with WWI, especially the
war poetry of Wilfred Owen and the recollections of servicemen; it's set in
1919 and reflects the readjustments returning soldiers had to make. The whole
series is inspired not just by my love of cosy mysteries, but by my interest in
puzzles, riddles and word games, which has fed into the mystery part.
And, of course, my muses for Jonty (Jamie Bamber) and Orlando (a cross
between Benedict Cumberbatch and a young Michael Kitchen) kept "nagging
me" until the story was written. It's funny how some characters really get
into their author's head and insist on having their adventures described. The
little so and so's are always trying to get me to write another tale about
them!
Do you write any other
mysteries?
I do, no matter how much my muses insist I only
write about them. Riptide published my first contemporary cosy, The Best Corpse
for the Job, last November – think Midsomer Murders with a dash of slash. It’s
a bit different from the Cambridge series, not just in terms of when and where
it’s set. Robin Bright is a professional policeman, who falls for one of the
witnesses (or is he a suspect?) in a murder case. All turns out happily in the
end, of course, and now I’m playing around with another Adam and Matthew story.
Just as soon as they tell me “whodunit” I can get on with the tale.
Lessons for Survivors
A more than professional interest . . .
a more than personal intrigue.
Orlando Coppersmith should be happy. WWI is
almost a year in the past, he’s back at St. Bride’s College in Cambridge, his
lover and best friend Jonty Stewart is at his side again, and—to top it
all—he’s about to be made Forster Professor of Applied Mathematics. And
although he and Jonty have precious little time for an investigative
commission, they can’t resist a suspected murder case that must be solved in a
month so a clergyman can claim his rightful inheritance.
But the courses of scholarship, true love,
and amateur detecting never did run smooth. Orlando’s inaugural lecture proves
almost impossible to write. A plagiarism case he’s adjudicating on turns nasty
with a threat of blackmail against him and Jonty. And the murder investigation
turns up too many leads and too little hard evidence.
Orlando and Jonty may be facing their first
failure as amateur detectives, and the ruin of their professional and private
reputations. Brains, brawn, the pleasures of the double bed—they’ll need them
all to lay their problems to rest.
About Charlie Cochrane
As Charlie Cochrane couldn't be trusted to
do any of her jobs of choice—like managing a rugby team—she writes, with titles
published by Carina, Samhain, Bold Strokes, MLR and Cheyenne.
Charlie's Cambridge Fellows Series of
Edwardian romantic mysteries was instrumental in her being named Author of the
Year 2009 by the review site Speak Its Name. She’s a member of the Romantic
Novelists’ Association, Mystery People, International Thriller Writers Inc and
is on the organising team for UK Meet for readers/writers of GLBT fiction. She
regularly appears with The Deadly Dames.
Connect with Charlie:
·Website: charliecochrane.co.uk/
·Twitter: @charliecochrane
·Facebook
profile page: facebook.com/charlie.cochrane.18
·Goodreads: goodreads.com/goodreadscomcharlie_cochrane
Giveaway
Every comment on this blog tour enters you
in a drawing for an e-book from Charlie Cochrane’s backlist
(excepting Lessons For Survivors). Entries close at midnight, Eastern
time, on January 31. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries.
Thanks for hosting me!
ReplyDeleteHi Charlie, Love all the Cambridge Fellows books and have them all! So excited to see another one coming out later in the year.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Shirley. It's going to be a busy year for the lads.
DeleteThanks for the interview and contest! The new book sounds great and love the cover.
ReplyDeletejen.f {at} mac {dot} com
I love the cover, too. 'Jonty' passes the 'looks like a scrum half' test. :)
DeleteI love the premise!
ReplyDeleteTrix, vitajex(at)Aol(Dot)com
Thanks, Trix.
DeleteThanks for the interview and the giveaway! Antonia amaquilante(at)gmail(dot)com
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure, Antonia.
Deletenice interview
ReplyDeletebn100candg at hotmail dot com
Thank you!
DeleteI'm so glad there is another fellows book. I'm fast developing a collection.
ReplyDeletebikemudd(at)yahoo(dot)co(dot)uk
Thanks! I have to point out that this is a revised rerelease of number 9, but 9 through to 12 will be out this year.
DeleteI'm so glad there is another fellows book. I'm fast developing a collection.
ReplyDeletebikemudd(at)yahoo(dot)co(dot)uk
Sounds very interesting. Thanks for the chance to win.
ReplyDeleteWaxapplelover (at) gmail (dot) com
My pleasure!
DeleteA way long time ago I won some swag from Charlie and I still have a Lessons In Love magnet on the fridge. I've loved these guys from the beginning. :-)
ReplyDeleteaelnova@aol.com
Oh, I remember those! How fabby it's still there.
DeleteOh my word, I have to add The Red House Mystery to my to-read list. Wonderful!
ReplyDeleteashley.vanburen[at]gmail[dot]com
It was on free kindle download recently I hope it still is!
DeleteOh, Peter Wimsey! Love that stuff.
ReplyDeleteHe's so wonderfully classy. :)
Delete