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I Wanted To Write About A “Real” Heroine
Death in Paris follows a school teacher that sets off for a new job in Istanbul and while on the way gets entangled in a murder mystery. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
This is a Cozy, which follows all the Cozy conventions and the complex 15-point Cozy plotline.
Many Cozies feature women who unexpectedly become business owners or have exotic jobs.
I wanted to write about a “real” heroine who had a normal job. I wanted her to be a salt-of-the-earth type that anyone could relate to.
To use talents that she really had in order to solve crazy mysteries in a real way. Not to always know better than the police or to stumble on answers. To be a real sleuth, because she needed to be. “Cometh the hour, cometh the (wo)man.”
I wanted her to be a person, someone that people could feel for, and feel with.
The most relatable place and time for me is Glasgow in the 1970s. It was a time and place full of real-life heroines.
I wanted the reader to meet the women Màiri loves and understand why she loves them, maybe even to love them too.
Màiri Maguire struggles at the start of the novel with her situation and becomes a strong character as the novel progresses. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
Màiri is a real person to me. She wrote herself. She is a strong person with a strong voice but she is also soft and gentle, loving and caring, kind and compassionate. And she’s nobody’s fool, despite always seeing the best in people to the point, sometimes, of seeming gullibility.
Put a person like that into a situation like the one in Death in Paris and she cannot help but become even stronger.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
The massive global change in attitudes that began in the 1970s. In Britain, the 1970s were a period when almost all thinking people thought that almost all the world’s problems could be solved by education. Give the working classes a university education, a degree, and they’ll become just like us, thought the upper class intelligentsia. Get the upper classes down the mines for a day, and they’ll soon learn what it means to be a worker, thought the thinking workers.
And everyone loved The Beatles and Carnaby Street; and we really truly believed that we ourselves could be agents of massive global change for the common good.
The meeting of polar opposites on common ground and finding friendship inspired the introduction of Major Peverel, who has been a popular character.
The courage under fire of the Brits living through what was effectively an undeclared war, their everyday lives a battlefield.
I myself lived in frequently-bombed London, I was within seconds of gory death twice. Once if I had arrived at the tubestation 20 seconds earlier. Once if I had walked down The Strand 30 seconds later.
Many people did die. Many were horribly maimed. But we still lived our everyday lives in an everyday way and had a lot of fun.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
Death on the Istanbul Express
Book 2 in the series. It will be available at the end of May 2022.
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8:10 a.m. on 15th August 1970. They’ve been in Paris only 12 hours. Lianna, Màiri’s closest friend, is locked up in jail, charged with murder. Màiri is being hunted by murderous criminals. She never dreamt that travelling outside Scotland would be so dangerous. Will Màiri ever again see her comfy home in Merrylea, her loving sisters Morag and Katriona, her schoolboy nephew Niall?
Major Ellis Peverel seldom leaves Màiri’s side. Respected by the Paris police, shrouded in secrets, who is this man? Is he a true friend to Màiri, or does he have an agenda of his own?
Who really killed the corrupt taxman for whose death Lianna has been framed? Màiri has only 6 days to find the murderer. Can she free Lianna in time? Or must she choose between her friend’s freedom and her own livelihood… if she’s still alive.
Death in Paris
Death in Paris by Kate Darroch, (Màiri Maguire Cozy Murder Mysteries Book One) follows a school teacher, Màiri Maguire. She starts the summer holiday with her boyfriend of twelve years, breaking up with her when he returns to Glasgow with a new girlfriend he met while working overseas. Màiri takes a job as the Head of English Studies at the Nautical High School in Istanbul to escape the embarrassment and convinces her friend Lianna to travel with her to work as her assistant. During the train trip across Europe, they book a City Break (a package holiday tour) in Paris. When Lianna becomes the chief suspect in a murder, the school teacher turned amateur detective begins her own investigation to clear her friend’s name.
This book starts slowly, methodically introducing the characters and the background to why Màiri is traveling to Istanbul. However, the story picks up the pace once Màiri and Lianna set off on their journey. I especially enjoyed it once the intrigue element was introduced after they arrived in Paris.
With so many characters making an appearance on the train to Paris, it might have been difficult for readers to keep them all straight. However, the author included portions of Màiri’s notebook as she worked on figuring out the clues; which helps readers remember all the details and keep track of who is who. It also makes readers feel like part of the story, working to solve the mystery alongside Màiri.
There were a lot of threads connecting various characters, and I enjoyed trying to figure out how everything fits together. I had an idea of who I thought was the killer, but the story gives so many red herrings that I was not certain, and it kept me guessing until the end of the story. There were a few unexpected surprises revealed when the mystery was finally solved. I liked that the story ended with a new mystery to solve, leading to the next book of the Màiri Maguire Cozy Murder Mysteries series, Death on the Istanbul Express.
Death in Paris is the first in a new cozy murder series that will put mystery readers on the hunt for a killer. This international crime story is reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s novels and is filled with details about Paris that will allow readers to fully immerse themselves in the mystery.
Pages: 189 | ASIN : B09PMP4J6Y
LITERARY TITAN 