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Interviews

Quintette of Questions: Fin J Ross

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Today I’m asking Fin J Ross 5 questions about her new book!

1. What’s the name of your latest book – and how hard was it to pick a title?

My newly released novel is Billings Better Bookstore and Brasserie. I specifically wanted an alliterative title, so my bookstore name had to start with ‘B’. The title was originally Billings Better Bookstore and Cafeteria, but given that the story features alliterative verses heading each chapter, it was a no-brainer that it should become Brasserie.

2. If you could choose anyone from any time period, who would you cast as the leads in your latest book?

Given that my main character, Fidelia Knight, ages from nine-year-old to 19, that’s a tricky one as casting would necessitate a child actor and a late teenage actor. Mackenzie Thomas (currently appearing in the ABC’s Operation Buffalo) could fit the young Fidelia. Kiera Knightly or Emma Watson as older Fidelia. As for Jasper Godwin, I picture Terence Stamp, Jason Isaacs or Sam Neill.

3. What five words best describe your story?

Inspiring, Uplifting, Historical, Mystery, Logomaniacal

4. Who is your favourite fictional team/couple?

Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson – absolutely, without question!

5. What song reflects a theme, character, relationship or scene in your book?

I Gotta be Me

About Billings Better Bookstore and Brasserie

Young Fidelia Knight arrives in Melbourne in 1874, alone except for her treasured companion, Samuel Johnson; well, half of him. To escape servitude, Fidelia hides each night in Bourke-street’s renowned Cole’s Book Arcade. She loves words, you see, and wants to know them all.

What she overhears in Cole’s sets her on a path that will change the lives of everyone she meets, starting with Jasper Godwin, the hopelessly underqualified manager of the new Billings Better Bookstore.

Fidelia’s thirst for knowledge is contagious. She tutors two orphan boys and two illiterate women, inspiring them to unlock their creativity; and her exploration of colonial Melbourne takes her to some unusual places.

Nothing daunts this diminutive genius, except the mystery of what really happened to her parents on the voyage from England.

Buy Billings Better Bookstore and Brasserie

About Fin J Ross

Fin is a journalist and creative writing tutor, whose day job is running a boarding cattery in East Gippsland.

She is co-author (with her sister, Lindy Cameron) of the true crime anthologies Killer in the Family and Murder in the Family, and author of the fantasy novel A.K.A. Fudgepuddle.

She is a keen short-story writer and has won eight category prizes in the annual Sisters in Crime Scarlet Stiletto Awards, among other competition wins.

She has written an as yet unpublished crime novel, Switchback Road, and is working on a sequel, Open Season, but has diverted her writing attention to an historical novel about Ludwig Becker, a German artist and scientist; one of the five lesser-known men who also died on the Burke and Wills expedition.

Her love of cats extends to breeding British Shorthairs, and in her spare time, she compiles cryptic crosswords.

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Interviews

Quintette of Questions: GV Pearce

Today I’m asking GV Pearce 5 questions about their new book!

1. What’s the name of your latest book – and how hard was it to pick a title?

The book is called Ghost Story, which is also an accurate description for its contents. There were a few themes so it was a little difficult to choose, but sometimes it’s nice to get straight to the point. I’m sure John wishes Sherlock would do that more often too!

2. If you could choose anyone from any time period, who would you cast as the leads in your latest book?

Early 1980s Paul McGann and Richard E Grant. There are some photographs of the pair of them taken behind the scenes of a film that absolutely fits the aesthetic for this John and Sherlock. McGann’s overgrown hair is perfect for an ex-military man finding his new persona, and Grant has always looked a little spooky.

3. What five words best describe your story?

Eerie, melancholy, uncanny, sanguine, tactile.

4. Who is your favourite fictional team/couple?

Gomez & Morticia Addams have always been my touchstone for perfect relationships. They’re always there for one another, no matter how strange their lives become.

5. What song reflects a theme, character, relationship or scene in your book?

‘When You Don’t See Me’ by Sisters of Mercy could easily apply to both the central relationship and the central theme of the book (not to give too much away) 

About Ghost Story

John Watson loves his husband, but he’d like Sherlock Holmes to leave this case alone. They’re supposed to be taking a break from London. From work. But then again, when has Sherlock’s brain ever taken a holiday? And honestly, the strange disappearance of Gloria Evans bothers them both—though for very different reasons.

Buy Ghost Story

About GV Pearce

G.V. Pearce is a mysterious being said to haunt the North York Moors, but is otherwise as yet unclassified by science. Rumour has it that they can be summoned by leaving coffee in a faery circle at midnight.

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Read my review of Ghost Story.

Interviews

Quintette of Questions: Vikki Holstein

Today I’m asking Vikki Holstein 5 questions about her new book!

1. What’s the name of your latest book – and how hard was it to pick a title?

Breaking Storm went through a few name changes before my editor suggested the name should reflect one of the elements that weave throughout the book. As soon as she suggested Breaking Storm, I knew it was the perfect title.

2. If you could choose anyone from any time period, who would you cast as the leads in your latest book?

I’d pick Ryan Corr as Ethan, and Margo Robbie as Kelsey.

3. What five words best describe your story?

Emotional. Uplifting. Challenging. Tender. Intense

4. Who is your favourite fictional team/couple?

I’d have to say Eve Dallas and Roarke from J.D Robb’s “In Death” series. I love the growth between them throughout the series, and the way they each handle the challenging dynamics of their life together.

5. What song reflects a theme, character, relationship or scene in your book?

I had Yours by Russel Dickerson on repeat while writing a lot of Breaking Storm. It worked for both Ethan and Brian, but is mostly Brian’s theme song.

About Breaking Storm

Kelsey’s sole purpose in life is to keep four-year-old Pipa safe. Conceived in a violent, drug-induced rampage, Pipa is being hunted by the man responsible. He wants her dead, and no matter how far Kelsey and Pipa run, the brewing storm is never far behind.

Protection lies in Kelsey’s hometown of White Wattle Creek in the form of Ethan, the man who’d always been her safe place. The one she loved. And the one who broke her heart. But she not only has Ethan to face when she returns. The emotional abuse of her past and the truth surrounding Pipa’s existence both rain down on her from the clouds gathering overhead.

When Kelsey finally opens her heart to Ethan, her nightmares tip over into reality, and with Pipa’s future hanging in the balance, Kelsey must find the strength within to fight for their right to happiness… before the storm breaks.

Buy Breaking Storm

About Vikki Holstein

Vikki Holstein is the author of Breaking Storm, the first book in her romantic suspense series, ‘White Wattle Creek’. 

An avid reader from a young age, Vikki often escaped into other worlds and lives, and discovered romance novels at the age of fourteen. She devoured romance, fantasy, science fiction, horror, and anything else she could get her hands on until the year 2000, after her third child was born, and she decided to write what she hadn’t found in any book yet. A story like her own.

A survivor of childhood sexual abuse, her writing reflects the courage it takes to trust again, and the struggle to forgive ourselves on the journey to finding love, peace, and happiness. Her stories invariably feature horses as they were an integral part of her survival as a child and teenager.

Now a wife, mother, and storyteller, she lives in central Victoria, Australia, with her husband and herd of animals. When not writing, she spends time with her horses, helping her husband on his latest renovation project, reading, or gardening.

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So many book launches and author talks have had to be cancelled, I’ve decided to run as many Quintettes as I can to share some great upcoming work – and let you stock up on things to read while we’re all self-isolating.

Interviews

Quintette of Questions: Margaret Walsh

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Today I’m asking Margaret Walsh 5 questions about her latest book!

1. What’s the name of your latest book – and how hard was it to pick a title?

My latest book is Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Perplexed Politician.  It was very hard to pick a title, because everything else I came up with pretty much gave away the plot of the book.  In the end I polled several variations on Perplexed Politician (Puzzled Politician etc) amongst friends and Perplexed was the favourite.  So I went with that.

2. If you could choose anyone from any time period, who would you cast as the leads in your latest book?

David Tennant as Sherlock Holmes and Michael Sheen as John Watson.

3. What five words best describe your story?

Murder. Mayhem. Mystery. Sherlock Holmes.

4. Who is your favourite fictional team/couple?

Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, naturally.

5. What song reflects a theme, character, relationship or scene in your book?

“The Mummer’s Dance” by Loreena McKennitt.  I listened to it a lot when I was writing the book.  The song always makes me think of the otherworldly eeriness that is a hallmark of the English county of Wiltshire, which is where the book is set.

About The Case of the Perplexed Politician

When the fiancé of the sister of a Member of Parliament is found dead in mysterious circumstances, the man turns to Sherlock Holmes and John Watson to get an answer to the puzzle. Journeying to the small Wiltshire village of Barrow-upon-Kennet, Holmes and Watson are soon deep into a murder investigation. With few clues and a mounting death toll, Holmes and Watson realize that they are facing something much more sinister than a perplexed politician.

Buy The Case of the Perplexed Politician

About Margaret Walsh

Margaret Walsh was born Auckland, New Zealand and now lives in Melbourne, Australia. She is the author of Sherlock Holmes and the Molly-Boy Murders and Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Perplexed Politician, both published by MX Publishing. 

Margaret has been a devotee of Sherlock Holmes since childhood and has had several Holmesian related essays printed in anthologies and is a member of the online society Doyle’s Rotary Coffin.  She has an ongoing love affair with the city of London.  When she’s not working or planning trips to London. Margaret can be found frequenting the many and varied bookshops of Melbourne.

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