Tell us about your latest book, The Killing Time?
Time-travel is banned for the Frozen People but Ali can’t resist going back a week to rescue her beloved cat, Terry. Instead she finds herself in 1851 and embroiled in a plot that involves The Great Exhibition and a dangerous mesmerist.
Your psychic medium Barry Power reminds me of magician Max Mephisto, who features in your Brighton Mysteries series as the former wartime comrade of DI Edgar Stephens. What is the fascination?
I’m very interested in magicians and how they persuade us not to believe the evidence of our own eyes. In a way, a magic trick is like a crime novel; lots of misdirection before the final reveal.
The Brighton series is set in the 1950s, with you the author time-travelling. Was that a stepping stone to writing about the Victorian era? Are you fascinated by the past?
I love history and, particularly, the 19th century. My favourite writers are Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins. The Victorian era was a time of great social and economic change, which makes it a fascinating world to visit.
Your previous novel, The Frozen People, also featured Ali Dawson in the ultimate cold case. Your time-travelling detective returns to the Victorian era to unmask a serial killer. What were your inspirations?
Ali definitely owes something to Alyson, the Wife of Bath, even down to the gap between her teeth. I think you can also see the influence of children’s books like Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce and Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer.
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‘Crime fiction has always done kick-ass older women really well.’ Tell us more
Crime fiction has given us some great older women. Just think of Vera Stanhope, Jane Tennison and, of course, Miss Marple.
Archaeologists are also fascinated by the past. Tell us about your Dr Ruth Galloway series, which ran for 15 books from 2009 to 2023?
Dr Ruth Galloway is a forensic archaeologist living alone on the desolate, but beautiful, north Norfolk coast. When she asked by the police to investigate bones found on nearby marshland, she’s drawn into the case and into a very complicated relationship with the police officer, DCI Harry Nelson. I never thought that it would be such a long series and I’m very grateful for the chance to tell Ruth and Nelson’s story. I might well go back to the characters one day.
You’ve also written four novels featuring DS Harbinder Kaur
DS Harbinder Kaur lives in Shoreham, near Brighton. She’s from a Punjabi Sikh family, she’s gay and she’s very opinionated. Her circle of friends includes an ex-monk, an 85-year-old sleuth and a Ukrainian carer turned private detective.
You were editorial director for children’s books at HarperCollins. Did that inform your children’s mystery series, Justice, and your adult works too?
Publishing has changed a lot since my day but I think my career taught me that producing a book is a team effort. I felt as proud of books I edited as I do of books I’ve written.
You’ve won a host of crime-writing awards. Does one stand out?
I think The Dagger in the Library because librarians vote for the winner.
Your first four books were published under your real name, Domenica de Rosa. Were they very different?
They look very different but I think they have similar ingredients to the Elly books: a sense of place, the lure of the past and lots of strong, intelligent women.
Which projects are you working on?
I’m writing the third Ali book, The Hangman, in which she travels to 1940 just in time for the London Blitz.
Have you ever made a literary pilgrimage?
Many! I particularly love the Dickens Museum in Doughty Street, London.
What is the best writing advice you have heard?
You can fix a bad page but you can’t fix a blank page.
Who do you admire the most?
Doctors and other medical personnel who work in war zones.
You are supreme ruler for a day. Which law do you pass or abolish?
Comprehensive education for all and libraries in every school.
Which current book, film and podcast would you recommend?
Book: The Drowning Place by Sarah Hilary
Podcast: Oh God, what now?
I can’t remember when I last saw a film!
The most remarkable place you have visited?
The Valley of the Kings in Egypt.
Your most treasured possession?
I don’t really have any treasured possessions but I’d hate to lose my 50 years’ worth of diaries.
What is the most beautiful book that you own?
A copy of Alice in Wonderland passed down by my older sisters (complete with their drawings).
Which writers, living or dead, would you invite to your dream dinner party?
Wilkie Collins, Stella Gibbons and Jilly Cooper.
The best and worst things about where you live?
The best thing is that I’m near the sea. I can’t think of a bad thing.
What is your favourite quotation?
“Nothing in the world is hidden for ever.” Wilkie Collins, No Name.
Who is your favourite fictional character?
Marian Halcombe in The Woman in White.
A book to make me laugh?
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons.
A book that might move me to tears?
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid.
The Killing Times is published by Quercus on February 12th
