Cozy mysteries of England

Hi everyone, I’m Marilyn Leach, and it’s so great to be here with you.  I truly enjoy Seekerville, it’s a fun place to learn, dream and grow.  That might just be a good way to describe what I have for you today, a bit of what inspires me in writing my Berdie Elliott British cozy mystery series, with book number three, Into the Clouds: A Berdie Elliott AscensionMystery, just released. My wish is that the following pictures and musings may lift and rouse your own imaginings. 

News Flash!! A copy of Into the Clouds will go to a special Seekerville friend! Leave a comment and then check the Weekend Edition on Saturday to see if it's you!

The main character in the series, Berdie, is not only the sleuth extraordinaire, but also a vicar’s wife in a small English village, and village life is at the heart of the story.  Many of my aspirations began when visiting villages sprinkled all cross England.  Like the one below.

   

This is the view from the harbor’s fish and chips shop in the south coastal village of Lyme Regis, in Dorset, England.  My English friends and I went to the village to visit a chum who had just moved there from the city, and we took lunch at the local shop.  If the coast couldn’t inspire a story or two, what could?  This harbor played in my mind as I wrote a scene that takes place at a marina in Into the Clouds. Though it’s an action scene, it was drenched in memory of Lyme Regis.

So many different parishes stimulated my creation of Aidan Kirkwood, my mythical-village-based-on-real-places.  Bovey-Tracey in Devon was the first place I heard the term blow-ins, or village newcomers.  Whinchcombe in Glouchester had the sweetest tea shop and a vibrant High Street, which is Main Street in U.S. small towns, and Alnsmouth in Northumbria was quintessentially everyone-knows-everyone.  They all played a stimulating part.  Another special spot is Turville, Buckinghamshire.  Cast your eye upon this pedestrian lane, one of many that wind throughout the homes in this rural spot.

Below is the Bull and Butcher pub where we had lunch in Turville.  How could you forget a welcoming fire and ambience when it is so relaxing, and atmospheric?  It played a part in configuring the Upland Arms Pub in mythical Aidan Kirkwood.  Say, by the way, if you ever watched The Vicar of Dilby on PBS or BBC, you may recognize these spaces since the series was shot in scenic Turville.

There’s a Tea Shoppe in my stories, just like most respectable English villages.  The Copper Kettle is a shop on Aidan Kirkwood’s High Street, pulsating with the latest rumor and innuendo.  The tea shop below added its charms to my imagination when we indulged in steaming tea and cheese toasties on a blustery day of touring.  It is in Corfe, Dorset, just at the entrance to Corfe Castle.  A cuppa anyone?

I have to include the almost mystic Lindesfarne Castle, one of my favorite places.  It’s perched on the outer edge of Holy Island, the birthplace of Christian faith in the North of England.  I found the entire island personally uplifting.  It touched my soul.  In its physical attributes, this island has a causeway.  That means you actually cross from the mainland to the island on the sea bottom, when the tide is out.

My friends and I explored the isle and became so engrossed in the whole of it, including the priory remains, local church, museum, shops, and of course tea at the hotel/pub, that we nearly missed the departure time zone.  We were the last vehicle to be off, and the waves were literally lapping at our car’s tires when we reached the mainland.  The Berdie Elliott mystery I’m currently working on takes place in Northumberland and includes the breathtaking beauty of Holy Island.

And, certainly, since Berdie is a vicar’s wife, her husband being the parish pastor, there is a village church.  I’ve viewed so many ancient places of worship where, with a sense of awe, I bowed the knee and found myself joining the thousands that have lifted their voice in prayer to a sovereign God.  With this in mind, I chose for my stories, an edifice built in the twelfth century and still in use, as are so very many Christian sanctuaries throughout the UK.  In many towns, the church sits in the center of it all.  In my Berdie series, St. Aidan of the Woods Church is the heartbeat of the community.  This house of worship pictured below sits in the area of Three Choirs Vineyard near Herefordshire.  It could be, in style and architecture, St. Aidan of the Woods Parish Church.

In a different vein, but still inspiring, I found English food fun and delicious, unlike the complaints I’ve heard of stodgy fare.  Even pub grub is often locally sourced giving it fresh and vibrant flavor.  My first meat pie, a staple across England, was astonishingly moorish, a term that means you want more of the yummy treat.  So, it just seemed natural that Berdie, my heroine, is masterful at making meat pies.  My English friends, Andy and Lillie, make a steak and ale pie that’s mouth-watering.  Andy often watched his grandmother make it, and now I have that same recipe.  Does it catch your fancy?

Grandmother’s Steak and Ale Pie

Filling:

1& ½ large par-boiled potatoes, sliced

1 # chuck steak

1 Tb oil

1 large onion, diced

6 oz sliced mushrooms

1 & ½ carrots, thinly sliced

½ c of beef stock

2/3 c of red wine or ale

½ Tb Worshteshire sauce

1 Tb flour

Salt and pepper to taste

Cube steak and brown in oil on stove top.  Add onion, mushroom, and stir in flour and carrots.  Add stock, wine, sauce, salt and pepper.  Bring to the boil.  Put it in a slow oven (275 degrees) for 1 & ½ hours.  Remove from oven.  In a casserole/pie dish, fit a bottom crust, then layer potatoes and meat mixture.  Remove the meat from the oven dish with a slotted spoon to reserve liquid for a gravy topping.  Add the top crust and bake 45 minutes in a 400 degree oven.

Pastry:

2 c. flour

1 c. butter, cut in pats

Pinch of salt

Cold water

Sift flour, and salt, blend in the butter to form a soft dough.  Refrigerate at least 30 minutes.  Cut in two parts.  Roll out 2/3 of one of the parts.  Dampen the edges of a casserole/pie dish with water, place the crust in the dish.  Add filling.  Roll out the rest of that part and place as the top crust, using a fork to pinch the edges, sealing the pie all round.

To make the gravy, simply heat the meat mixture liquid, add some cornstarch, and stir until slightly thickened.  Pour over individual pieces of the meat pie.

It’s a meal all to itself, but you can always add a fresh veg and pudding, the word commonly used the way we would use the word dessert.

There are so many other scenes, architecture, people, victuals and landscapes that have originated and shaped so much of the thought that flows from my pen.  But it would take a year and 365 blogs to even crack the surface, so we’ll stop here.  If you’d like to see more photos like these, you can visit my website at marilynleachteaandbooks.com and peruse the page Snaps of England.  I hope my notions and scenery give you some new ideas, or illuminates some older ones.  And tell me, what inspires your stories?  Leave a comment, and tell us a bit about your birthplace of ideas.  Let’s dream!

Amazon Link

Ascension Sunday balloons are not the only things disappearing in the English village of Aidan Kirkwood.  When the villagers celebrate the first Ascension Sunday Processional in fifty years, someone goes missing.  A well off widow that was amongst the crowd has vanished into thin air.  And, she’s not the only one who’s nowhere to be found. 

Berdie Elliott, the local vicar’s wife, goes into sleuth mode as eccentric cat lovers, a secretive informant, Portuguese holidays, an enigmatic “tree” house, and tangled family dynamics all add to the perplexing affair.  Don’t let this mystery slip from your sight.

At the age of nine, Marilyn wrote her first play with a childhood neighbor, “The Ghost and Mr.Giltwallet.” It was a mystery.  And she’s been writing in one form or another, hobby or livelihood, since.  As well as teaching art, she’s had the opportunity to co-author several plays that have been performed on both church and secular stages, as well as two screenplays. Marilyn has had the good fortune of “discovering her roots” while visiting England where she developed lasting relationships with wonderful people there.  It has greatly impacted her writing.  A great fan of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple and David Cook’s Hetty Wainthropp series, Marilyn was inspired to write her most Berdie Elliott Mystery series, which takes place in a small English village where the vicar’s wife, Berdie, is the divine sleuth.  Marilyn lives lakeside in a cottage on the outskirts of Denver near the foothills. 

Welcome guest blogger, Marilyn Leach

Hi Everyone! Audra here.

Marilyn Leach is my guest today. Marilyn writes cozy mysteries for Harbourlight Books. I attended her booksigning in May where she was promoting her latest release, Up From The Grave, A Berdie Elliott Advent Mystery. Isn't that a catchy title? Not one to pass up a chance, I jumped on the opportunity to invite Marilyn to Seekerville to explain her method of creating a mystery.

 How to Write a Mystery

Welcome to my tutorial that compliments the graphic organizer How to Write a Mystery.  I was invited to teach a class on how to create a mystery.  This organizer and tutorial is a result of that opportunity.  I was pleasantly pleased at the outcome the students produced in response.  From Sherlock Holmes to Nancy Drew, these are the simple “bones” on which you can hang a mystery.

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The Basic Plot:  This is in the content in the center of the page.  I’ve chosen this plot on the graphic organizer because it’s direct and simple, a good start.  Also, it’s fabrication but based on an actual case that occurred.  You can choose any plot that may have been spinning in your head that contains how the crime occurs, the bottom line solution, and the perpetrator of it.  This is the seed bed of imagination.  But for the sake of the tutorial, we’ll stick with the one presented here.

Characters:  On the left upper corner is the word characters.  Create names for the person against whom the crime is committed, the person who committed the crime, and the person who solves the crime.  Write them in that space.  For the sake of following the story, Lucy Tucker will be the sheep herder whose wool was stolen.  Gridley Cain is the perpetrator.  Detective Fitz is the sleuth.  You’ll add to this list as you move along in your story.

Witnesses:  Go to the lower left corner of the organizer.  There are essentially three kinds of witnesses: true, false, or mistaken.  Let’s say a nearby rancher to Lucy saw a man who fit Gridley Cain’s physical appearance in a vehicle that fit the description of Gridley’s red truck.  He tells Lucy and Det. Fitz what he saw (true).  But another person from Gridley’s home town says he saw Gridley in town at the time of the crime (false).  This person’s story can often be added to the false alibi section which we cover later.  Now why would this person tell a lie?  Maybe he gets a cut of the stolen profit.  Maybe Gridley did her a great favor at one time and she feels indebted to lie on his behalf.  You create the motivation.  Then there’s the waitress from the Broken Spur 24 Hour Café who says she saw Gridley’s red truck in the café parking lot at the time of the crime (mistaken).  Later in the story, usually near the end, it’s discovered that the waitress had thought the crime was committed at 11:00 PM and discovers it was actually 11:00 AM and she’s mistaken about the truck being at the cafe.  Or perhaps she realizes the red truck she saw in the lot had a right side mirror and Gridley’s right side mirror had been busted off of his truck in an accident that occurred just the day before.  And no garage in this part of Colorado can get a replacement mirror that quickly.  This can be fun to play with.  Write your witnesses names and situation in this corner and add the names to your character list.

Red Herrings:  Find this in the lower right hand corner.  This, to my thinking, can create some of the greatest interest in the story and is truly fun.  Red herrings are the people who appear to be possible suspects in the crime.  Let’s say Lucy has a jealous sister, Lila, who has always resented the fact that Lucy inherited the sheep ranch from their father.  Lila inherited a pittance of cash and has said publicly that she will get the inheritance she deserves by hook or crook.  To make it even more convincing, Det. Fitz finds some items previously stolen from Lucy’s ranch, which her sister has taken, in Lila’s back shed.  Lila has lied and stolen.  What else has she taken and lied about?  Lucy’s sister makes a great red herring that takes the reader down a “possibility” garden path.  Perhaps Lucy has a suitor, Jake, whom she considers undesirable.  He’s done everything to try to win her but she constantly snubs him until he becomes vengeful.  One day, on main street, Jake confronts her and the whole town hears it.  “You think you’re so independent Miss High and Mighty, someday when you’re down and out, you’ll come groveling to me.  Just wait and see.”  What a set up.  You want at least three red herrings if not more in your story.  Write their situations in this corner and add their names to the character list.

Alibis:  Lastly, in the upper right hand corner is the word alibis.  There are true alibis, primarily for red herrings that surface along the way in the story, most near the end.  But, a red herring may have a false alibi that makes them look even guiltier.  For instance, Lucy’s suitor, Jake, says he was gardening at home at the time of the crime.   But on close inspection, Det. Fitz finds his three dried up rose bushes, his only landscaping, testify otherwise.  The dirt around them is hard and untouched.  So you’ve been lying to us boyfriend.  What’s up?  In the end, he admits to being at a poker party with unruly sorts where, to his embarrassment, he has lost his entire month’s income.  He’d rather tell a false alibi than have Lucy find out about the truth of where he was.  So Jake has both a false and true alibi.  And then we have the perpetrator.  Any alibi the perpetrator has is, of course, a false alibi.  And anyone who upholds it is a false witness.  Write true and false alibis in this area and by whom they’re told.

There we go.  You’ve got some good bones to launch into your mystery story.  Perhaps a bit oversimplified for some, but at the same time good ground.  Try writing this short mystery as a kind of trial attempt.  Or just launch into your own plot and fill in the organizer the way that suits you.  No matter what age or personality, writing a mystery story can be inventive, imaginative, intriguing, and best of all, fun.  Happy writing.

Audra here again : ) In the past, Marilyn has used the graphic organizer but taught the tutorial verbally.  So it was interactive.  She would introduce an area -- say Witnesses -- and give maybe 10 minutes for participants split into groups, to create their witnesses for the given scenario.  Then she'd move on to the next section and so on. Let's make today interactive, too. Ask Marilyn all the questions you'd like and let's see if we can make mysteries make sense, LOL!

Marilyn is offering to give away a copy of Up From The Grave, or the first book of the series, Candle For A Corpse. Winner's choice!!


Up From The Grave (A Berdie Elliott Mystery)

A Lenten sod turning ceremony for a new water feature in the back garden of St. Aidan of the Wood Parish Church goes utterly pear-shaped when the upturned soil reveals a human skeleton. With Berdie Elliott at the helm, the whole of Aidan Kirkwood digs into the mystery. When the bones held life, just who was this person? Who is the mysterious contessa who arrives on the garden scene? And what does the young and beautiful Robin Derbyshire's wedding have to do with the grave? Unearth the answers in this fun spring romp.

At the age of nine, Marilyn wrote her first play with a childhood neighbor, “The Ghost and Mr. Giltwallet”.  It was a mystery.  And she’s been writing, whether hobby or livelihood, since.  A graduate of Colorado State University, she has worked in domestic missions and taught both English acquisition and art in underserved populations.   She’s had the opportunity to co-author several plays that have been performed on both church and secular stages, as well as two screenplays, one of which was a semi-finalist in the John Templeton Screenwriting Competition.  Marilyn’s Advent of a Mystery, was released in September of 2010, Candle for a Corpse in 2012 and Up From the Grave in 2013.  She has written numerous Biblical meditations and essays printed in various publications including Guideposts, Big Dreams in Small Spaces, and Quiet Hour.   Marilyn is a dyed-in-the-wool British enthusiast and it colors her work.  She lives lakeside in a cottage on the outskirts of Denver near the foothills.  Stop by her website:  marilynleachteaandbooks.com.