A Chat with Elly Griffiths.

RHYS BOWEN: This is a fan-girl moment for me because Elly Griffith is a writer I admire. I blurbed her last year's The Stranger Diaries that won the Edgar best novel (deservedly so for once). And I was given this year's stand alone novel, The Postscript Murders, to read. Quite different in tone but still enchanting.

The book comes out this month so I had to have Elly as my guest.  We have only met once, at a loud boozy dinner at a Bouchercon, so I'm glad to reconnect by interviewing her today.  Welcome Elly:

 RHYS:  This book follows the incredibly successful The Stranger Diaries which won the Edgar award last year. It features some of the same characters, yet the tone is quite different. The Stranger Diaries had a brooding, gothic feel to it but this is more traditional cozy. Had you had enough of darkness for a while? 

ELLY: It's funny the way each book is different, isn’t it? I didn’t set out to write a lighter book but I suppose the subject matter – books, literary clues, writing festivals – did lend itself to a cozier, more traditional tone. As soon as I’d finished the book, the UK was locked down and everything became much grimmer. Certainly my next book, The Night Hawks, has a darker, more claustrophobic tone. I now look back to The Postscript Murders as a halcyon time of travel and adventure – even though it does include several murders!

 RHYS:  Your detective is again the young Sikh woman, Harbinder Kaur, whom we met in the Stranger Diaries. Are you intending this to be a long term relationship so that this may become another series for you? 

ELLY: I hadn’t originally intended Harbinder to be a series character but, after The Stranger Diaries, I kept thinking about her. So, when the characters in The Postscript Murders consulted a detective, I knew who it would be. I think there might be one more Harbinder book but not a long series.

RHYS:  What made you choose an Indian Sikh woman as your detective? Do you have connections and insight into the Sikh community? 

ELLY: Harbinder just suddenly appeared, the way characters do. I think it’s always a consideration, though, when you create a character whose cultural background is very different from your own. On one hand, I felt Harbinder deserved to be centre stage but I wanted to be sure that I was presenting her in an authentic way. I do have a good friend who is from a Punjabi Sikh background and she – and her mother – were invaluable advisors on the book.

RHYS:  This book features an ensemble casts with four points of view, each using their personal approach and experience to put together pieces of the puzzle. Was that something you wanted to try or did you find that you needed more than one person to tell the story? (And as an aside, it worked beautifully and I found it very refreshing) 

ELLY: Thank you! I have toyed with this structure before but this is the first time I have written each chapter from a different point of view. It was challenging, especially when I needed to drop in a clue that the narrator might not notice, but it was also a lot of fun. I liked describing the way the characters saw each other too – Edwin being irritated with Benedict’s slow eating, Natalka starting to see Benedict in a different light, Harbinder becoming increasingly irritated by the amateur sleuths. 

RHYS : Also you choose to use the present tense. Was that easy to do? Did you find limitations? 

ELLY: The Ruth books are also written in the present tense so I’ve had a bit of practice. I like the immediacy but it can sometimes feel a bit relentless – action following action without much respite. I did feel that it suited this book though, so that the reader could accompany the characters on their road trip.

RHYS: This is a story of the murder of an old woman who has made a career of helping writers to come up with brilliant, new ways to kill people. I loved it! Have you met such a person yourself? Have you used such a person? (Aside note: it may become my next career when I retire from writing!)

ELLY:  Hahaha. Peggy is based on my Auntie Marge (happily still with us) who often comes up with gruesome murder ideas for me. Like Peggy, Marge lives in a seaside apartment and seems to know everything that is going on around her. She even has a good friend who runs the nearby Coffee Shack…

RHYS: Brilliant!  You also write a successful series, featuring forensic archeologist Ruth Galloway. What did you find different about writing a stand-alone? Which do you now prefer? Are there more stand-alones in the works?

ELLY:  I find that the stand-alones help with the series and vice versa. I enjoy the freedom of creating a new world in each stand-alone book but I do miss the familiar world of Ruth or the Brighton Mysteries and go back to them with added vigour. I will certainly continue to mix the series with stand-alones.

RHYS : And lastly something more personal. How has the pandemic affected your writing? Have you found yourself more productive/less productive? 

ELLY: I consider myself very lucky. I have friends and family who are doctors, nurses and teachers and I have seen how tirelessly they have worked during the pandemic. Also, I’ve seen friends with young children struggling with home-schooling. I can work from home and my children are grown-up. All I have to do is walk a few yards to my garden shed and make stuff up! I’ve written three books in lockdown so I certainly haven’t been less productive. Having said that, I have struggled at times. I miss seeing friends and family. I miss Norfolk and Italy. I feel very lucky to be able to travel in my books. Th

RHYS: Oh travel to Italy! How I miss that too. And there have been times, cooped up with John, when I would love a garden shed, or as it is called these days A She Shack!  It was lovely having you come to visit, Elly. I'm sure the new book will be a great success

 and I have good news for our readers:

Elly's publisher will give a copy of the POSTSCRIPT MURDERS to a commenter Elly picks!