The 'Chieftain' series of Scottish historical romances have been best sellers and award winners for Frances Housden, but her latest work is a contemporary police procedural along the lines of 'Ian Rankin meets J D Robb.' Frances talks about why she enjoys a good serving of mystery with her romance.

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

What Frances loves about medieval Scotland

Why reading is the essential for good writing

The secret of successful romance

How helping her son with his English exam got her writing

The authors she likes to binge read

How the first in the Chieftain's series came to her in a dream

What follows is a "near as" transcript of the conversation in full with links to many of the key books and events discussed.

Where to find Frances Housden

Website: https://frances housden.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frances.housden.9

https://www.facebook.com/franceshousdenauthor1/

Twitter:  @HousdenFwriter

Jenny: Hello there, Frances and welcome to the show. It's great to have you with us.

Frances: So nice to be asked!

Frances Housden

Jenny: You've been a real light in the New Zealand romance writing community and it's a privilege to be able to talk to you.  Tell me, was there a "Once Upon A Time" moment when you realised you had to write fiction or your life would be incomplete?  If so what was the catalyst for that?

Frances: I'm afraid there was no real catalyst.  Ever since I was tiny - in nursery school - books and stories have always been a huge part of my life. It started off my grandfather reading stories, telling stories to me - I'd sneak under the blankets - he was a miner, and he'd be on the night shift. and he'd be there when I came home from school.  It was nice because during the winter when it was cold you could curl you toes under the blankets - they were tickley and scratchy and when you were little it was really cosy. He used to tell me fairy tales, he used to tell me stories that he'd made up, so to be honest I've always been into reading, but writing was only done at school.

Jenny:  Yes . . Obviously people will have picked up on the accent, a memory of Scotland, and although you started out writing contemporary romantic suspense, you've made you name with a medieval Scottish romance series.  You've returned to your Scottish roots.  How did that come about?

Frances: A lot of people think it's just a lot of rubbish that I've made up, But the first Chieftain book - The Chieftain's Curse  - came to me in a dream. I was waiting to get into the shower - my husband was in the there  - I was sitting up in bed, just dozing and suddenly there was this Highlander, and his fist was shaking and he was shouting "Will this curse never end?"   I had to work out "Who was he?"  "What was he doing there?" and "What was this curse?"

The Chieftain's Curse by Frances Housden

And that's what started that first book... I set in in an area that I was familiar with - some of it I was familiar with - other bits I'd been to when I was young and travelled there with my parents or grandparents - so that's how I ended up in the 11th century, because my grandfather used to tell me stories that would take me to the abbey and St Margaret's grave was one of the places we used to visit _- we'd always used to go and look at her grave.. Robert the Bruce was buried under the pulpit in the same abbey.

Jenny: Which abbey was that?

Frances: Dunfermline Abbey -  the place where the first Kings of Scotland used to live - it started off with Malcolm  - the one who killed Macbeth in the 'Scottish Play' - and it was an area I was familiar with.