Interviewed by Mimi Bhalla
Julia Kelly is an international bestselling author of historical drama novels and the Evelyne Redfern historical mystery series. Besides her whodunit writing career, she’s an Emmy-nominated producer, journalist, and marketing professional. Julia Kelly now lives in London with her husband. Her upcoming novel Betrayal at Blackthorn Park, the second installment of the Evelyne Redfern series, comes out on October 1st, 2024. Preorder ASAP!
SM: Your upcoming novel, Betrayal at Blackthorn Park, is the second installment in your Evelyne Redfern mystery series. Can you give us a short description of what the series is about?
JK: The daughter of a Parisian socialite and a British explorer, Evelyne Redfern experienced early notoriety thanks to the press’s interest in her parents’ acrimonious custody battle in the French courts. Nicknamed “The Parisian Orphan” in international newspapers, years later Evelyne’s keen to make her own way in the world as World War II rages around her. After she’s spotted in the lobby of the Ritz by a family friend, she finds herself plunged into the world of the Special Investigations Unit, a secretive department investigating leaks and corruption in British intelligence. Putting her keen observational skills and a love of detective fiction to good use, she joins her partner David Poole in solving murders and catching moles that threaten to change the course of the war.
SM: Writing in the mystery genre and in the historical fiction genre each come with their own set of challenges. When you combine these genres, how do the challenges of writing a historical murder mystery differ from writing general historical fiction?
JK: Regardless of the genre, I always start with my characters because their decisions ultimately drive the book’s plot forward. However, how that manifests in the story can be different depending on the genre. While writing historical fiction, I’m usually focused on bringing my main character through a major transition during their life that will force them to grow and change. In a historical murder mystery, I have the added challenge of tackling the puzzle at the heart of the book: Who is the murderer, and how and why did they do it?
SM: What is your writing process like for your mystery series?
JK: When writing murder mysteries, I like to go in with a strong idea of who the murderer is and what their motive is. I also map out my major suspects and all of their potential motives and alibis, as well the lies they might tell my detective to cover up something they don’t want to come to light. With all of that information in hand, I plot out the book with a pretty detailed outline that I will keep next to me while writing. I make notes on my outline, tweaking the story as I write and realize that some of my plans won’t work out quite as I thought.
SM: What advice do you give to writers who want to explore historical fiction on researching their preferred setting/time period?
JK: One of the great joys of writing any genre of historical fiction is the research. It is a perfect chance to nerd out about something you find interesting! I usually start by trying to read some good surveys of whatever topic I’m researching to get an overview, and then I will delve into the details. As I write, I like to be able to describe little “slice of life” elements like which lipstick a character might have worn or how train traveling might have worked at that time. Those are the details that make historical novels sing.
SM: In Betrayal at Blackthorn Park, Evelyne graduates from a typist to a British spy, or field agent. What is the most interesting fact that you learned about the world of espionage while conducting your research for the novel?
JK: I read a fantastic book called The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare by Damien Lewis that laid out a lot of wonderful details about the Special Operations Executive (SOE). I became fascinated with the ways that the inventors developing weapons of sabotage for the SOE used commonplace items to solve problems. For instance, one man was working on perfecting a timing device for a mine’s fuse and was struggling to get the mines to explode at a predictable rate. His solution? Boiled sweets because they dissolved at a consistent rate, making the fuse predictable. I ended up borrowing that little detail for Betrayal at Blackthorn Park.
SM: Did you base Evelyne Redfern’s character on any specific person that you discovered during research, or is she a completely fictional entity?
JK: When writing Evelyne, I knew the people around her would underestimate her intelligence and capability because she is a young woman living in a time when young women were often overlooked. However, I also wanted her to be sharp and willing to stand up for herself. I looked to many of the whip-smart heroines of Hollywood’s Golden Age for inspiration, including Katharine Hepburn in A Philadelphia Story and Rosalind Russell in His Girl Friday.
SM:What inspires you to write novels set during World War II?
JK: I’m always looking for periods of major change or social disruption because the tension that causes can create great conflict for books. World War II caused huge social upheaval, with many women leaving their traditional roles at home and serving in the auxiliary forces and working on farms and in factories. Yet despite these huge changes, there are so many women’s stories that have yet to be told. I feel really privileged to be able to bring even some of those to light for readers.
SM: What are your tips and tricks on how to blend a dash of romance into a fast-paced crime novel? When you embed those character-focused moments into an action-filled plot, how do you find a balance between a light tone and a heavy tone?
JK: I think it all goes back to writing fleshed out characters who feel like real people. No person is just one thing—all light or all serious—and we have layers that reveal themselves the more people get to know us. Evelyne and David are thrown into a situation where they have to work together to solve a murder, and that makes them reveal more of themselves than perhaps they might have if they were just normal colleagues. They slowly come to respect one another and, because I’m a big fan of “will they, won’t they” romances, perhaps fancy each other too!
SM: When you begin a mystery series like this, do you have an end in sight, or are you just writing as you go?
JK: I have an idea of where I want the overall series to go, and I even have some plans. However, I’m leaving room for the story to evolve as I continue to write.
SM: What about Betrayal at Blackthorn Park are you most excited for readers to see this fall?
JK: I have always loved the tradition of English country house murder mysteries, and this book is my little nod to that. I hope readers will love all of the mystery and intrigue surrounding Blackthorn Park, and I also think they’ll be rooting for Evelyne to prove herself on her first official mission.
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