Jennifer Ashley is the author of the new novel Murder in Blackfriars, the ninth in her Below Stairs mystery series. She also writes under the name Allyson James.
Q: What inspired the plot of your new Below Stairs mystery, Murder in Blackfriars?
A: The plot in Murder in Blackfriars (Book 9 of the series) is part of the ongoing character arc that started in Book 1—who is Daniel and what are his origins?
I always planned to explore Daniel’s past and decided it was time. When a man comes forward who says he might recall what happened to Daniel years ago, Daniel can’t resist discovering what he knows. And he, of course, asks Kat to help him. Things go wrong from there.
Q: How do you think your characters Kat and Daniel have changed over the course of the series?
A: Kat has become much more trusting of Daniel and new friends she’d made along the way. She’s also deepened friendships with Joanna, who takes care of Kat’s daughter, and is watching her daughter grow up.
Kat has become more resilient, less willing to rely on securing a good “place” as a cook, and more focused on becoming an independent entrepreneur.
Daniel, likewise, is now freer to pursue his own ambitions, having worked off his debt to Scotland Yard (though he enjoys investigating so won’t put those days completely behind him).
Kat and Daniel’s relationship has flowered from hesitation to a shared desire to remain together as long as they can, hopefully the rest of their lives.
Q: How did you research the novel, and what did you learn that especially surprised you?
A: I research constantly. Even when I don’t have a novel in progress (which is rare!), I’m reading the latest books or websites about Victorian England, looking for new discoveries about the past, or going through maps to find interesting places for Kat and Daniel to explore during their investigation.
For this book, I learned more about the Crimean War, which occurred 20 or so years before the setting of Murder in Blackfriars, as one of the characters is a veteran of that war. I researched the medals these men, who survived an awful war, were given and used them in the plot. I found that very interesting and also quite sad.
Q: Do you usually know how your novels will end before you start writing them, or do you make many changes along the way?
A: I start each novel with a somewhat vague idea (“this book will explore Daniel’s past,” or “this book will focus on Sam and Joanna, who are fostering Kat’s daughter”). The situations, characters, mystery, and whodunit reveal themselves to me as I go.
I usually know what scenes I’m going to start the book with, and once I write those, I brainstorm the next three or four scenes. I find that the act of typing out what’s going on in my head stimulates more ideas. Those situations logically lead to the next ones and the ones after that.
I have a very hard time planning the book before I start. It grows organically. This means I have to go back and revise extensively, but I’m not bothered by that.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’m writing more mysteries in different series and also working on another Below Stairs mystery novella that I will self-publish later in the fall. And then on to the next Below Stairs mystery!
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: I love writing about Kat Holloway, Daniel, Grace, Cynthia, Mr. Thanos, the staff she works with in Mayfair, and all the others. These have been nine books of my heart, and I’m grateful so many readers love Kat too.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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