Anna Lee Huber‘s dark Gothic-themed Lady Darby mysteries have attracted a strong following and won awards, but she’s not one to rest on her laurels.

HI there I’m your host Jenny Wheeler, and today Anna talks about her new mystery hero, World War I spy Verity Kent; she explains why she’s also started Gothic Mist, a new romantic suspense series, and tells of the one thing, that more than any other, is the secret to her success.

Six things you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode:

Why she's attracted to Gothic mysteries

Unveiling the 'unknown' story of woman spies in WWI

Movie soundtracks - her 'secret sauce' for writing

Why 'breathe and let  be' is an important author skill

How she discovered her natural fit for historical fiction

The writers she admires most

Where to find Anna Lee Huber: 

Website: http://www.annaleehuber.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAnnaLeeHuber

 Twitter: https://twitter.com/AnnaLeeHuber

Instagram: https://twitter.com/AnnaLeeHuber

What follows is a "near as" transcript of our conversation, not word for word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions.

And now here's Anna. Hello there Anna and welcome to the show, it's great to have you with us.

Jenny:  From what I read on your website you’ve always loved to write.  But what got you started on historical mysteries?  Was that the first fiction you tried your hand at when you decided you wanted to be a writer?

Anna Lee Huber - author

Anna: Well actually, I started out writing straight historicals. I've always been fascinated with history, and so when I was an adult and went back to writing after some years, I realized it was definitely going to have to be an historical setting.

My first attempt at a book though, I kept having romance and all these other things sneak in and it ended up not being a very good book, because I didn't structure it correctly. Then I tried to write historical romance, but the mystery kept on overtaking the plot. So I realized, OK let's switch this. Let's try writing historical mystery, and having romance as the sub plot.

That's what I realized was the perfect fit for me; it's actually what I enjoyed reading the most, though I should have probably clued into that earlier! I also enjoy historical romance.

Jenny: That's great. Also just winding back a bit - why did you go straight to the historical?

Anna: I just like history so much. When I write, I feel like my voice is more of a historical fit. I'd love to try my hand at writing a contemporary, but I don't know. It just seems so natural to me. It interests me the most and most of my plot ideas would work better historically than contemporaries so I guess that's the reason.

Jenny: It's your natural fit.

Anna: Yes, it is.

Jenny: Your award-winning Lady Darby series is rather dark – would you almost call them Gothic – and set in 1830's Scotland.  What led you to that period and setting?

The Anatomist's Wife

Anna: Well I came up with the idea for Kiera the character first. I realized that I wanted to write an historical mystery with a female protagonist. But I wanted to give her some kind of skill she could bring to the investigations, and I wanted her to be kind of awkward socially- not being the natural social butterfly.

So how could she investigate these crimes, and what could she bring to it? That's when I stumbled across the idea of giving her knowledge of anatomy, which she gains by force from her first husband.

Then I started looking into history, and the 19th century has always been a big draw for me.