Preorder link here! Well, if you're reading this first thing on Monday morning British Summer Time, give it a few hours, but some of us have to go to work and let the wheels of Amazon grind slowly while we're out selling books to students.
In the mean time, some of you have been asking -
Why Vikings?
A fair question! Bear with me, particularly if you're really into 19th century crime. It may not be as bad as you think!
As with any decision, it’s complicated, and starts in April 2017. I was helping my mother move house, and an old neighbour, whom I had not met since childhood, popped in to say goodbye. Talk went round to writing historical crime fiction, and he said ‘Oh, have you written anything to do with Vikings? I love Vikings!’ I explained gently that I did nice decorous early 19th century stuff, not hairy raiders for whom the art of crime solving might have been a bit of a luxury. But the idea lingered …
As with any decision, it’s complicated, and starts in April 2017. I was helping my mother move house, and an old neighbour, whom I had not met since childhood, popped in to say goodbye. Talk went round to writing historical crime fiction, and he said ‘Oh, have you written anything to do with Vikings? I love Vikings!’ I explained gently that I did nice decorous early 19th century stuff, not hairy raiders for whom the art of crime solving might have been a bit of a luxury. But the idea lingered …
Summer holiday, heading down to Yorkshire. Though I’d
visited York many times, my main interests had been Roman and mediaeval, and
I’d never been to Jorvik. In the course
of looking at things to do, I found that the Viking centre had been badly damaged
in floods at the same time as Ballater had been struck, but had just reopened.
I decided to take a look, though already the idea of a Norse / Viking crime
novel was growing in my mind. Jorvik was terrific, and on the train journey
home I began reading about Vikings. A Viking crime novel set in York? Well,
maybe: or Norway, which I also enjoy visiting? I carried on writing the third
Hippolyta, and pondered.
I’m a devotee of the Out
of Doors programme on BBC Radio Scotland at half six on a Saturday morning.
One Saturday the presenters were following the newly-laid-out St. Magnus
pilgrim route in Orkney. I’d been to Kirkwall a few times, but didn’t know that
much about St. Magnus, or had forgotten about it. A Viking crime novel set on
Orkney?
So the work began. I started with the Orkneyinga Saga, and Richard Hall’s Exploring the World of the Vikings, simple books to help me see if
the idea was feasible. I tried my hand at nalbinding and tablet-weaving, and
knew I would have a wool-worker in the book – I could already see her. I added
Judith Jesch’s Women in the Viking Age
to find out a bit more about what my wool-worker would be like. I did a trawl
on Pinterest, trying to distinguish over-enthusiastic ‘reconstructions’ from
actual museum pieces and carefully researched models: clothing, buildings,
weapons, tools, gaming pieces. I went to the National Museums in Edinburgh and made
a close study of the Galloway Horde and some Viking silver. I contacted Fran
Hollinrake, custodian of St. Magnus’ Cathedral and, fortuitously, a friend from
university, and began to plan a research trip. On her recommendation I borrowed
The World of the Orkneyinga Saga, a
fine collection of scholarly papers on Orkney and Norse rule, which expanded my
reading list no end.
At Christmas I was given a stern-looking bear, now named
Magnus, to remind me to get on with my work. No need: I was hooked. I had not
done such an intensive study for years. I began to ‘audit’ (sit in on) a first
year History course at the university on Vikings, sitting eagerly in the front
row with plot ideas bubbling as I took notes – probably scaring the lecturers.
And gradually, the book – or will it be a trilogy? or a series? - began to take
shape.
Fran reminded me about Dorothy Dunnett’s King Hereafter, which I read when I was
still at school and which features Thorfinn Sigurdarson who is also a prominent
character in the series. To my shame I couldn’t remember too much about it and
I’ve been reluctant to reread it while I’m writing, so any similarities are
either coincidental or buried so deep in my memory that they are unconscious
copies! If they appear, I apologise, and will go back some day to sort it out!
Anyway, the first draft of the second one, A Wolf at the Gate, is now written, and I hope it might appear in the new year - in the mean time it's back to the 19th century for me!
Anyway, the first draft of the second one, A Wolf at the Gate, is now written, and I hope it might appear in the new year - in the mean time it's back to the 19th century for me!
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