This week it’s myself, explaining one of the great perils for the historical crime writer and why it takes us longer to write our novels. There’s a case for you to puzzle over as well...
The major peril of being a writer of historic fiction for me, is distraction. You get to love the period and the research so much that almost anything will take you away from the prime purpose of writing your novel. For instance, purely by accident, I came across an incident that took place in the closing years of the 19th century.
A well-dressed couple from London are on an extended weekend break in Littlehampton. They hire an apartment in a respectable building. They are clearly very affectionate towards each other. They have been married for 14 years and have one teenage child. The 39-year-old husband has a doctorate in physics, is a lecturer in chemistry at the Crystal Palace, and works as an examiner of gas for London Council. In theory he should have been in work on the Monday, having already used up his holiday leave. He has no criminal record and is not known to own a firearm. He went out in the evening to post some letters and on his return retired to bed with his wife.
The next morning shots are heard. A tenant from one of the other apartments finds the wife covered in blood. She has crawled down the stairs and is still alive, having been shot twice in the neck, once in the mouth and once in the eye.
In the bedroom, the husband, in his nightclothes (as is his wife), is discovered dead on the floor. There was a bullet in his temple, a bullet in the ceiling, and a bullet-hole in the sleeve of his nightshirt. A new revolver was in his hand. In hospital, the wife survived long enough to declare that they hadn’t argued and that she wasn’t going to say what happened.
The verdict on the husband’s death was suicide whilst insane.
That on the face of it, is that. A very sad tale. The problem is that we authors have very vivid imaginations. Rather than just leave it as it stands the mind starts to ponder.
What was the reason for the suicide?
Why was there no tension between the couple the night before?
Why wait until in the morning and in their nightclothes?
Why wouldn’t the wife give the full details?
How did the bullet-hole in the shirtsleeve occur?
There are probably straightforward answers to all of these, but before you know it, you find yourself running away with all sorts of scenarios, devising plots that you’ll never use in your novels. I mean, what do you think happened?
Leslie Scase is the Shropshire-based author of the Inspector Chard Mysteries, crime thrillers set in the heyday of Victorian Britain. The first novel Fortuna’s Deadly Shadow was published in 2020. The second, Fatal Solution, was published in May 2021. Sabrina’s Teardrop, a thriller set mainly in Shropshire and Birmingham was published on 10th October 2022. An advocate of the ‘classic’ murder mystery genre, Leslie is also a keen historian, which is reflected in the authenticity of his novels.
Born and educated in South Wales, Leslie worked in local industry before travelling widely across the UK during a career in the Civil Service. His first novel was inspired in part by his Italian and English ancestors having settled in South Wales in the late nineteenth century. A keen fly fisherman and real ale enthusiast, he lives close to the Welsh border, in the county town of Shrewsbury.
Read more about Leslie Scase at Seren Books
https://www.serenbooks.com/author/leslie-scase
and on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/InspectorChard
Twitter @InspectorChard
Crime Cymru 