FAVORITES, FAILURES & FRUSTRATIONS--GUEST AUTHOR MARNI GRAFF

Marni Graff is the award-winning author of The Nora Tierney Mysteries, set in England, and The Trudy Genova Manhattan Mysteries. She also co-authored Writing in a Changing World and writes crime book reviews. Learn more about Marni and her books at her website/blog. Marni joins us today to talk about one of her favorite things--stained glass. 

As a writer, I play the “what if?” game when devising action or plot points for my two mystery series. So when my husband and I tired of the crowded, hectic, traffic-laden environment that our lovely Long Island had become, we played the same game. What if we changed the way we ran our lives completely? What if we left LI for the nature-filled riverside property we’d bought for a vacation home “down the road?” Maybe we were ready to go down that road sooner than later.

Moving to coastal North Carolina meant building our own home, something I’d never done before. We rented a cottage nearby, excitedly moving from firming up our plans to hiring a builder while we cleared our land on the Intracoastal Waterway site. One thing we knew from early on: we wanted a stained glass window set into the wall of what would be the living room-library area that opened into the rest of the main floor.

Despite having different decorating styles, mine vintage and Edwardian, Doc’s more Art Deco veering toward Modern, we both adore vintage stained glass, and had been collecting pieces for the new house as we went through the run-up to actually breaking ground. We had a double French painted-on-glass beauty from our current home for our bedroom. We found two windows that would be hung by chains in our master bathroom windows and set about restoring their frames as the house framing commenced. One is from a local church, a large cathedral arch in hues of gold with WELCOME picked out across it in large black letters. At night we turn on the light over our tub, and that window, which faces our driveway, greets our company. But that tall ceiling, soaring to fifteen feet in height in the main room, could handle a much larger piece than we’d come across--yet.

One Sunday we were riding around the small town of Chocowinity, a Tuscarora Indian name for “fish of many waters,” about an hour from our land. A friend had told us about an antique shop that was only open on the weekends. The owners visited the UK yearly and brought back a container of vintage furniture and doors, with the occasional piece of stained glass. It sounded right up our alley.

I saw her the moment we parked. The main window was filled with a large piece of Art Nouveau stained glass. Its center held a hand-painted medallion, a woman’s head with the flowing tresses of the era draped in grape vines. The four corners had Nouveau flowers in jeweled colors of cranberry, blue and green. It took my breath away, as did the price tag once we checked inside.

The owner was lovely and we ended up buying an 1880s English armoire and blanket chest that day. I kept returning to the window and drooling. We’d learned she was from Scotland, and yes, we were spot on. She was from the Art Nouveau period, 1890-1910, and Gerald said he was told she was from a Scottish estate that had been built in 1898. By now we were on a first name basis with Gerald and on subsequent visits, bought a vintage drafting table from the 1940s whose top Gerald had inlaid with marble. It doubles as our kitchen island and pastry roll-out station. But I kept eyeing The Scottish Lady, as we called her.

A few months later our anniversary was approaching, and as Doc and I were discussing how we wanted to celebrate, he turned to me. “How would you feel about asking Gerald if we could put The Scottish Lady on layaway and pay her off?”

 

Building a house takes a while. So did paying off The Scottish Lady, but the two coincided enough that when the builder had scaffolding in place for the beams that stretch across our room and hold the house up, we were able to set The Scottish Lady right into the end wall of the house. She’s fronted on the outside by a plain glass window for protection.

At the golden hours before sunset, sunlight streams through those colors and is reflected on the walls and the books in my library. We’ve lived in The Briary now for thirteen years and The Scottish Lady is still one of my favorite things.

The Scarlet Wench

In the third Nora Tierney Mystery, The Scarlet Wench, American writer Nora awaits the arrival of a traveling theatre troupe, who will stage Noel Coward’s farce, Blithe Spirit at Ramsey Lodge. Her son now six months old, Nora must juggle parenting with helping her friend Simon Ramsey at the lodge. She’s also hoping to further her relationship with the only guest not in the cast: DI Declan Barnes, ostensibly there for a hiking trip. When a series of pranks and accidents escalate to murder, Nora realizes her child is in jeopardy and is determined to help Declan unmask a killer.

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GUEST AUTHOR MARNI GRAFF ON MANHATTAN'S HIDDEN DELIGHTS

Broadway

Marni Graff is the award-wining author of The Nora Tierney Mysteries, set in England. Her new series debuts with Death Unscripted, a Trudy Genova Manhattan Mystery. Graff also writes the crime review blog Auntie M Writes. Today she joins us to talk about little gems hidden away in The Big Apple. Learn more about Marni and her books at her website. 

Manhattan         

When people hear the name “Manhattan” they often think of the dazzling lights of Broadway and Times Square, the gaudy shops along Fifth Avenue, The Plaza Hotel and Central Park.

Growing up on Long Island, Manhattan was all that to me and so much more, only a train ride away. It’s also a place where there are smaller jewels to be discovered that most tourists miss.

The Morgan Library

One of my favorite places to stop is TheMorgan Library and Museum at 225 Madison Avenue and 36^th Street, which began as the private library of financier J. Pierpont Morgan. Designed by Charles Kim of the renowned architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White, the Italian Renaissance-style structure holds three soaring elegant rooms in their original condition. A modern annex holds more of Morgan’s collections, and there’s a tea room and gift shop, too, but the original library was donated by son J.P. Morgan to the public in 1924 to allow them access to his father’s treasures.

And what treasures these are, from Medieval and Renaissance illustrated manuscripts, early books and historical manuscripts, to Old Master drawings and prints, including a massive Rembrandt etching collection and things like a journal written by Thoreau. These reside alongside ancient artifacts, and scholars can apply for access to the volumes. There are also special events, such as this summer’s Alice: 150 Years in Wonderland, through October 11^th. For the first time outside London’s British Library visitors can see the original Carroll manuscript, as well as original illustrations and drawings, rare editions, and vintage photographs. It’s a place I can visit over and over.

Another unusual stop is the Paley Center for Media (paleycenter.org), formerly the Museum for Television and Radio, renamed in 2007 for founder William Paley. The center’s collection features over 150,000 clips from television shows, radio programs and podcasts. Introduce children to vintage TV or watch a clip from a show you enjoyed. There are public events in their auditorium, too, like an upcoming discussion August 16^th of the show Homicide between its creators, Tom Fontana and Barry Levinson. Or stop by September 28^th for a talk by journalist Christiane Amanpour. 

Lincoln Center

The bustling energy and international flavor of Manhattan has always been attractive to me, one reason I decided to set my new mystery series there. Based on my medical consulting days working for a movie studio, most of my time was spent at the ABC Studio that taped “One Life to Live,” right down the street from Lincoln Center. I’d walk there at lunchtime to see what was on at the Met or the Ballet, or simply watch the play of its fountains. It’s a great plaza for people watching and collecting characters. Living in North Carolina now, I still yearn for the special vibe that is Manhattan’s own, and visit whenever I can.

Death Unscripted

Trudy Genova has the best job any nurse could want, working onset as a medical consultant for a movie studio. No more uniforms, bedpans or emergencies, until the actor whose overtures she’s refused dies suddenly while taping a hospital scene--but not before pointing his finger accusingly at Trudy. When detectives view Trudy as a suspect, she interferes with their investigation to clear her name. Then a second death occurs, and Trudy realizes she’s put herself in jeopardy.

Based on the author’s real life work experience, Death Unscripted takes readers behind the scenes of a Manhattan soap opera.

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TRAVEL TO THE LAKE DISTRICT WITH GUEST AUTHOR MARNI GRAFF

Windermere Quay

Marni Graff, who writes the UK-set Nora Tierney Mystery series, makes a return appearance today to talk about the Lake District and murder. Learn more about Marni and her books at her website. 

The Lake District and Murder

There are many places in Great Britain I enjoy, but one I adore is Cumbria. Land of Wordsworth, Coleridge, Ruskin and the inimitable Beatrix Potter, it comprises almost nine hundred square miles of national park, the largest such area in England and Wales, all lying within the county in an area commonly called the Lake District.

Wordsworth thought his town of Grasmere as “the loveliest spot that man hath ever found,” a place picturesque with the bluest skies, fluffiest clouds, and more shades of green in the woods and shores than I’ve seen elsewhere. Cumbria contains England’s highest mountain, Scafell Pike, and its largest lake, Windermere. There are shallow tarns, rising fells, sparkling ghylls and every species of tree found in Britain in its woodlands. The area’s unparalleled beatify beckons lovers of nature: hikers and campers, fisherman and boaters, artists and writers. Tourists are international and visit at all times of the year, for there are many ancient sites, author’s homes and castles to see in addition to attracting nature lovers.

A haven for backpackers and hikers, walking trails traverse high and low pathways, and are often maintained by local farmers as well as National Trust workers and volunteers. At Grasmere, Dove Cottage still stands, home to Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy, from 1799 to 1808. It was here the poet wrote some of his greatest poetry and spent what he deemed the happiest years of his life. The stone, plaster and whitewashed cottage and its gardens have been carefully preserved largely as it was in his day and are open for visits.

The area I’m most familiar with is the village of Bowness-on-Windermere, on the east coast of Windermere, and its neighboring town of Windermere. “Mere” means “lake”, so it’s redundant to say “Lake Windermere” but with the town of the same name, many times it’s written that way to distinguish the two. Windermere (the town) features the Windermere Steamboat Museum, with its collection of early steam craft, including the oldest mechanically propelled boat in the world, the Dolly, built in 1850. Windermere and Coniston Water inspired the Lake in Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons series.

Bowness holds the ferry dock that takes riders and cars across the lake at its narrowest point to the opposite shore, toward Hawkshead and Sawrey. Potter’s home, Hill Top, is near Sawrey, with her house and gardens another popular site for visitors. Potter bought up huge tracts of land in her lifetime and donated it to the National Trust for preservation. There is also a steamer that takes visitors on rides up to northern edge of the lake to and from Ambleside, site of the ancient Roman fort of Galava. Bowness has a lively quay, lit with colored lights at night, with dozens of watercraft of all types on the lake, and a revitalized town center.

St. Martin's Church

Also in Bowness is the ancient St. Martin’s church, its exterior sandstone, with an unusual tin roof. A church has been on this site from the 1200’s, with some parts still in existence from medieval times, which contrast nicely with the etched glass modern inner doors installed during the change to the new century. Of note is a stained glass window featuring the coat of arms of John Wessington, ancestor to George Washington, which was later used in the American Stars and Stripe flag.

It was an easy decision when I was writing The Blue Virgin, which is set in Oxford, to picture Nora moving to the Lake District. I devised a way for that to happen, and she’s seen packing up for this move as the first book in the series opens.

In the second book, The Green Remains, Nora is settled into Ramsey Lodge at Bowness for at least the next year, working alongside the illustrator of her children’s books, awaiting the birth of her first child. Her stories of a band of fairies are set on Belle Isle, an island in the center of Windermere, so it’s a natural place for her to stay. Of course, she becomes involved in a murder investigation when, during a morning lakeside stroll, she stumbles over the dead body of the heir to Clarendon Hall.

The cover for The Green Remains features a photograph I took during a Windermere boat ride on my last trip to the area; the stone dock and folly are where the climactic action of this book takes place. The mysteries are a mix of cozy and police procedural, as Nora manages to ruffle the feathers of the investigating officers on each case. Nora stays in the Lake District for Book Three, May’s newest volume, The Scarlet Wench.  This time a theatre troupe arrives at Ramsey Lodge to put on Noel Coward’s play “Blithe Spirit.” Chapter epigrams are lines from the play where a series of pranks and accidents escalate to murder at the lodge.

Despite its natural beauty, or perhaps because of it, I’m not the only mystery writer to find the lure of the area lends itself well as a stark contrast to more sinister deeds. Martin Edwards’ Lake District Mysteries feature DCI Hannah Scarlett and Oxford historial Daniel Kind. Rebecca Tope’s series revolves around Simmy Brown, a florist with a Windermere shop who works in Troutbeck. The illustrious Reginald Hill set the majority of his last stand-alone, The Woodcutter, in Cumbria.

With its great wealth of natural beauty, the Lake District is a difficult place to leave. Despite it nature-filled setting, in Nora Tierney’s world, murder still finds its way there.

The Scarlet Wench

In the third Nora Tierney Mystery, American writer Nora awaits the arrival of a traveling theatre troupe that will put on Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit at Ramsey Lodge in England's Lake District. Her son now six months old, Nora must juggle parenting with helping her friend Simon Ramsey run the lodge. She's also hoping to further her relationship wit the only lodge guest not in the cast: Detective Inspector Declan Barnes ostensibly there for a hiking trip. When a series of pranks and accidents escalate to murder, Nora realizes her child is in jeopardy and determines to help Declan unmask a killer.

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THIS WEEK'S BOOK WINNER

Thanks to everyone who stopped by Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers this week and special thanks to our Book Club Friday guest, author Marni Graff. Marni offered copies of The Blue Virgin and The Green Remains to one lucky reader who posted a comment this week. The winner is NoraA. Please email your mailing address to anastasiapollack@gmail.com. I'll forward it to Marni, and she'll send you your books.

BOOK CLUB FRIDAY -- GUEST AUTHOR MARNI GRAFF

Our guest today is Marni Graff, author of the Nora Tierney mystery series. The Blue Virgin, set in Oxford, introduced American writer Nora Tierney who becomes involved in a murder investigation when her best friend is wrongfully accused of murder. The Green Remains follows Nora to the Lake District where she’s awaiting two firsts: the publication of her children’s book and the birth of her child. When she stumbles across a dead body, Nora sets into motion a series of events that will have consequences for herself and those she’s come to love. Learn more about Marni and her books at www.auntiemwrites.wordpress.com. and www.bridlepathpress.com.

Marni is offering copies of both The Blue Virgin and The Green Remains to two of our readers who leave comments this week. -- AP

           

KEEPING A SERIES FRESH

As an avid mystery reader, I enjoy reading a series where I can watch the growth and changes of the recurring characters. That’s why I decided to do a series when I was developing Nora Tierney and the band of fellows who would reappear as the books progressed.

Developing the main characters meant looking ahead, especially for my gal Nora, to keep the series fresh for readers and the challenges she would face. Giving her complications, of course, would be standard for each novel. But to have a story arc that progresses over several novels, I also had to decide on several larger plot points that would carry over for several years of Nora’s life.

Being an American living in England starts her off immediately with a different background and cultural issues she’s had to learn, including Brit slang she’s still incorporating into her language. But first I started with her “bible,” the back-story of her life that would impact on who she had grown to be, and how threads from that story could be used down the road. I do a bible on my main characters, in more depth for those who reappear, making decisions about each character’s life that may or may not appear on the page, but which will influence the way he or she acts and reacts.

Nora’s father died in her teens, drowned while sailing one night after Nora had turned down his invitation to accompany him in favor of a date. That’s what any teenager would do; yet Nora carries the unreasonable idea that if she’d been with him, she could have saved him.

That guilt affects her future relationships with men in different ways in each book. In the opener, The Blue Virgin, Nora had been engaged to a man working for the Ministry of Defense. Their relationship had soured and she was on the verge of breaking the engagement when Paul’s plane went missing and he and the pilot were declared dead. When she finds out a few weeks later that she’s pregnant, she has to examine her feelings about raising a child alone without a father in the picture.

In the new book, The Green Remains, Nora stumbles upon the corpse of the heir to Clarendon Hall. His ghastly appearance after drowning in his rowing scull can’t help but bring back momentary flashes of the night her father died. Throughout the book, which takes place in her last weeks of pregnancy, Nora struggles with the anxiety she won’t be a fit parent, whatever that definition might be.

Having saddled Nora with a child she will raise alone has given me many challenges that will continue. It kept Nora from being physically active in the second book, and it was a great relief to me to know I could move her around more in the third book I’m working on, The Scarlet Wench. Nora’s mother and stepfather from Connecticut will make an appearance this time around. I’ve also given Nora a stepsister who has been mentioned but who hasn’t  shown up—yet.

Keeping the series fresh also means that Nora will be affected by the modern world and things that occur in it. Although I don’t specify a year, reference to events such as Princess Diana’s death show we are firmly in the twenty-first century. In The Green Remains, Nora uses computer technology to pirate information from a victim’s computer that eventually gives her a clue and leads to a killer. Other characters rely on cell phones, called mobiles in the UK, for communication. As events occur in real time, I will have to decide on whether to incorporate mentioning those in a book or not.

Down the road I see Nora continuing to grow and take different pathways in the roadmap of the life I’m designing for her. I hope my readers will continue to follow her and her choices, as she manages to get herself into and out of trouble.

Thanks for joining us today, Marni! Readers, if you’d like a chance to win copies of both of Marni’s books, post a comment. -- AP

BOOK CLUB FRIDAY -- GUEST AUTHOR MARNI GRAFF

Today’s guest blogger is writer Marni Graff, author of two mystery series and co-author of Writing in a Changing World. A former writer with “Mystery Review” magazine, Graff has interviewed Ian Rankin, Deborah Crombie, Val McDermid, and her mentor P. D. James. A member of Sisters in Crime, she runs the Writers Read program in North Carolina, and is also a founding member of the Screw Iowa Writers Group. Her English series features American children’s book writer Nora Tierney; The Blue Virgin is set in Oxford.

Read more about Marni at her blog: http://auntiemwrites.wordpress.com/ and also at www.screwiowa.com and www.bridlepathpress.com.

Marni is offering a copy of The Blue Virgin to one lucky reader who posts a comment to the blog this week. -- AP

WHY OXFORD?

Believing that setting often functions as a character in itself, I’m very careful when choosing where my stories will unfold. Having a lifelong affinity for England and its environs, I originally choose Cumbria as the setting for the opening of the Nora Tierney series. My visits to the land of Wordsworth and Beatrix Potter hold a fascination for me. It is one of the most lovely natural areas I’ve ever seen, and the book seemed to belong there.

Then life intervened with an opportunity to study at Oxford, and I found myself in the hallowed halls of Exeter College, studying Wilkie Collins and Daphne Du Maurier. Sworn in as a reader at the Bodleian Library, I was able to read the original broadsheet reviews of The Woman in White.

Oxford is a jewel of a town encircled by the lush green countryside of the Thames Valley. Its mellow limestone “dreaming spires,” as described by 19th C. poet Matthew Arnold, change color with the light and weather. Magnificently preserved architecture reflects every age from Saxon to present, all exhibited somewhere amongst the federation of forty-odd independent colleges which make up the University of Oxford.

This mix of “town and gown” is noticed at once when visiting: The university has its dons lecturing in sub fusc, scouts bringing students morning tea, an historic tutorial system, and those forbidden grassy quads, while the town has its own muddle of traffic-choked streets, packed with bicycles and pedestrians, pubs and shops. Both exist alongside green meadows with grazing cattle, and rivers teaming with punters and canal boats.

Small wonder then that I fell in love with the place. I could picture Nora here, too, and suddenly the idea for a new mystery, one that had Oxford at its heart, took over. I set aside the original Lake District manuscript and started writing The Blue Virgin, a combination of cozy and police procedural. Trying to clear her best friend, Val Rogan, of the suspicion she has murdered her partner, Bryn Wallace, Nora quickly becomes embroiled in the murder investigation, to the dismay of DI Declan Barnes, the senior investigating officer. And did I mention Nora’s four months pregnant with her dead fiance’s baby?

I took great care to be accurate in describing Oxford’s history and the colleges, as well as the various locations and sites my characters visit. After all, this is the town that gave the world Lewis Carroll, penicillin, two William Morrises, and graduates spread across the centuries whose influences are still felt. A very short list includes: Shelley, Tolkien, Browning, Auden, Waugh, C. S. Lewis, Oscar Wilde, Robert Graves, T. S. Eliot, and Christopher Wren. More modern grads you will recognize include Dorothy Sayers, Stephen Hawkings, Richard Burton, Indira Gandhi, Benazir Bhutto, Hugh Grant and Val McDermid.

And Oxford exudes mystery, as any Inspector Morse fan can tell you.

The next Nora Tierney mystery, The Green Remains, is set on the shore of Lake Windermere in Cumbria.

Well, now I’m itching for a trip to Oxford. Too bad Dead Louse of a Spouse left me up the wazoo in debt. What about you, readers? Let’s hear from you. Post a comment to enter the drawing for a copy of The Blue Virgin. And don’t forget to check back Sunday to see if you’re the winner. -- AP