Timothy Hallinan’s mysteries and thrillers have made numerous Top Ten Lists for their imaginative verve and humor – and his latest release Nighttown – No 7 in the Junior Bender series, is no exception.

Hi there I’m your host Jenny Wheeler and today Tim talks about he’s how an LA burglar came to star in a series which proves bad guys have the most fun, and why writing is better than the best job ever.

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

Why writing is more fun than working with Hollywood icon Katarine Hepburn

The amazing street kid behind the Poke Raffery series

How 'getting a heap of useless degrees' finally paid off

The new Golden Age of crime fiction is here now

The writers he admires most - and they're mostly women

What he'd do differently second time around

Where to find Timothy Hallinan:

Website: http://www.timothyhallinan.com

 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tim.hallinan.1

 Twitter: https://twitter.com/timhallinan

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

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

Timothy: Thanks, it's a real pleasure to be here.

Author Timothy Hallinan

Jenny: Now Tim, before we even dive into the questions, I know you've just had a week away at Joshua's Tree having a sort of personal style writing retreat. That seems to me totally romantic, I just love the idea of doing that. How did that week go?

Timothy: It went amazingly well. I live a fiction in which I will never complete the book I'm working on even though I've written 21 or 22 of them. When I get completely blocked, I go up there and I walk around in the desert for 2-3 days. Everything just melts, and there I am again with the story and the characters. And it worked this time yet again, for probably the twentieth time.

Jenny: That's just wonderful. Is there a certain point in a book where you get stuck every time, or is it different with each book?

Timothy: I get stuck over and over again, but usually the big crisis is about a third of the way in. I've actually thrown out half a dozen books because I just couldn't push past the block.

 Jenny: Wow that's interesting. To get ourselves launched here, how did you get started?  Was there a 'Once Upon a Time' moment when you thought I've just got to write fiction?  And if so, what was the catalyst for it?

Timothy: It was actually a "Twice Upon A Time" situation. We moved all the time when I was a kid. I'd lived in 22 houses by the time I was 18 years old. What that meant was I had no on-going friendships. I mean, you could move six blocks and you're in a different school. For a kid, it might as well be a different planet.

So what I did was, I read. I read all the time. When I was 11, I read The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. I understand how the story works - it's something secret, and somebody has to figure out how it works. Somebody has to restore order. About a year and a half after that, in my family's house in Tarzana,  on the old estate of Edgar Rice Burrough's, I read Gone With The Wind.

For the first time in my life, I read characters who were more real to me than the people with whom I lived. In fact, my mother said that she had to come up and call me sometimes, two or three times, and she had to literally put her hand over the page of the book before I could tune into her.

So by the time I was maybe 13, I understood that there was a kind of story I wanted to tell. And I understood that the most important part of any story were the characters. That was sort of the basis on which everything ...

H.Y. Hanna’s Oxford Tearoom Mysteries starring intrepid graduate Gemma Rose and her cheeky cat, are for fans of TV shows like Inspector Morse and Midsomer Murders, with twisty tales set in classic English villages.

Hi there I’m your host Jenny Wheeler and today H.Y.  - known to her friends as Hsin Yee - talks about her years as an Oxford student and why food and animals play such a big role in her stories.

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

How HY got started writing

The attraction of the Cotswolds 

Why she - and her readers love animals

The importance of food in the Tearoom Mysteries

The writers she admires most

What she'd do differently second time around

Where to find HY Hanna (Hsin Yee) (Pronounced Sin Yee) : 

Website: https://www.hyhanna.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hyhanna.books

 Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7232313.H_Y_Hanna

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

Jenny: But now, here’s Hsin Yee. .  Hello there Hsin Yee and welcome to the show, it’s great to have you with us.

 Hsin Yee: Thank you for having me, it's very exciting to be on my first podcast!

Jenny: That's lovely. I'd just like to mention to listeners- I'm in Auckland, New Zealand and you're in Perth, Western Australia. We've got a lot of ocean to cross between us, haven't we!

HY Hanna: (Sin Yee) Tearoom Mysteries Murder

Jenny:  Beginning at the beginning - was there a “Once Upon A Time” moment when you decided you wanted to write fiction?  And if there was a catalyst, what was it?

Hsin Yee: Well, I think all authors will tell you they wanted to write, so that's probably not a very original answer. But that's pretty much my luck. As a little girl, I was always making up stories and sitting in my room.

I had little plastic animals that my parents bought me- little farm animals- and I'd make little stories with them, going back and forth. So I guess I've always wanted to tell stories. And then as I got older, once I could start writing, I wrote these little stories in my diary usually featuring myself. You know, going to buy an ice-cream or something!

But they were all stories with a beginning, middle and end. And so I think as you grow up a bit more, you realize that's kind of what you want to be; a writer. And then of course reality intrudes, and as you get a little bit older you realize it's not as simple as that. Usually you get people saying, "do a "sensible" job, do a "normal" job". So I put that away for awhile - I went to university and did all the usual things. I did a selection of different jobs actually, because I was very much doing what was expected of me. And then I think you'd call it one of those "midlife crisis" moments - I was approaching my 40th birthday, and I started thinking- what am I doing with my life? Where is it going?

I guess you get that feeling of 'I better do what I really want to do now, otherwise life is just passing me by.' I was never really happy with any of the jobs I did. I tried various things; obviously you enjoy doing your work well, but it wasn't where my heart was. Creatively, I was always very frustrated.

So I don't think it was a particular triggering event, but I guess my looming 40th birthday where I just thought, if I don't do it now, it's never going to happen. I was actually quite lucky during the time I was moving into writing anyway, in the sense that I was working as a freelancer writer and journalist writing for various magazines. So I was already used to the whole idea of working with an editor and having a piece commissioned, writing to a certain word count... you know, all those kinds of things. So writing I guess for a living - I was already half way there. I just wasn't writing fiction, which is what I really wanted to do. It just went from there I suppose.

Oxford Tearoom Mysteries - HY Hanna

You think,

H.Y. Hanna’s Oxford Tearoom Mysteries starring intrepid graduate Gemma Rose and her cheeky cat, are for fans of TV shows like Inspector Morse and Midsomer Murders, with twisty tales set in classic English villages.

Hi there I’m your host Jenny Wheeler and today H.Y.  - known to her friends as Hsin Yee - talks about her years as an Oxford student and why food and animals play such a big role in her stories.

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

How HY got started writing

The attraction of the Cotswolds 

Why she - and her readers love animals

The importance of food in the Tearoom Mysteries

The writers she admires most

What she'd do differently second time around

Where to find HY Hanna (Hsin Yee) (Pronounced Sin Yee) : 

Website: https://www.hyhanna.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hyhanna.books

 Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7232313.H_Y_Hanna

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

Jenny: But now, here’s Hsin Yee. .  Hello there Hsin Yee and welcome to the show, it’s great to have you with us.

 Hsin Yee: Thank you for having me, it's very exciting to be on my first podcast!

Jenny: That's lovely. I'd just like to mention to listeners- I'm in Auckland, New Zealand and you're in Perth, Western Australia. We've got a lot of ocean to cross between us, haven't we!

HY Hanna: (Sin Yee) Tearoom Mysteries Murder

Jenny:  Beginning at the beginning - was there a “Once Upon A Time” moment when you decided you wanted to write fiction?  And if there was a catalyst, what was it?

Hsin Yee: Well, I think all authors will tell you they wanted to write, so that's probably not a very original answer. But that's pretty much my luck. As a little girl, I was always making up stories and sitting in my room.

I had little plastic animals that my parents bought me- little farm animals- and I'd make little stories with them, going back and forth. So I guess I've always wanted to tell stories. And then as I got older, once I could start writing, I wrote these little stories in my diary usually featuring myself. You know, going to buy an ice-cream or something!

But they were all stories with a beginning, middle and end. And so I think as you grow up a bit more, you realize that's kind of what you want to be; a writer. And then of course reality intrudes, and as you get a little bit older you realize it's not as simple as that. Usually you get people saying, "do a "sensible" job, do a "normal" job". So I put that away for awhile - I went to university and did all the usual things. I did a selection of different jobs actually, because I was very much doing what was expected of me. And then I think you'd call it one of those "midlife crisis" moments - I was approaching my 40th birthday, and I started thinking- what am I doing with my life? Where is it going?

I guess you get that feeling of 'I better do what I really want to do now, otherwise life is just passing me by.' I was never really happy with any of the jobs I did. I tried various things; obviously you enjoy doing your work well, but it wasn't where my heart was. Creatively, I was always very frustrated.

So I don't think it was a particular triggering event, but I guess my looming 40th birthday where I just thought, if I don't do it now, it's never going to happen. I was actually quite lucky during the time I was moving into writing anyway, in the sense that I was working as a freelancer writer and journalist writing for various magazines. So I was already used to the whole idea of working with an editor and having a piece commissioned,

Rennie Airth’s gentleman detective John Madden investigates serial killer cases long before the phrase ‘serial killer’ was ever coined, in a police procedural series that paints a riveting picture of a post war Britain in turmoil.

Hi there I’m your host Jenny Wheeler and today Rennie talks about having lunch with his hero Graham Greene and why he learnt more from writing a bad book than a good one.

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

How First World War family history influenced his work

Why  1914 - 18 was the hinge to the modern era

How he came to go to a baseball game with Fidel Castro

And to lunch with his hero Graham Greene

The writers he admires most

What he'd do differently second time around

Where to find Rennie Airth: 

Website: http://www.rennieairth.net/

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

Jenny: And now, here’s Rennie. .  Hello there Rennie and welcome to the show, it’s great to have you with us.

Rennie: It's very nice to be talking with you Jenny.

Jenny:  Beginning at the beginning - was there a “Once Upon A Time” moment when you decided you wanted to write fiction?  And if there was a catalyst, what was it?

Rennie Airth - Mystery author

Rennie: That's an interesting question. Well I actually always wanted to write fiction. When I was at school, I always thought of myself as one day being a writer, but I hadn't got anything to write about. So I went into journalism.

I had actually, a very interesting first career. I worked in various parts of the world, but it was when I got to Vietnam - I was working there for Reuters, and I'd done a stint there - it was a matter of either staying with Reuters, and going to some other possibly interesting place or looking for a job in a newspaper.

Or, doing what I actually wanted to do now for some years; write fiction. So I quit Reuters and went to Crete where I had some sort of connection, I thought I'd write a book there and see how it went. So that's how it started. The book I wrote there was no good; it was never actually published. I actually learnt a lot from writing a bad book I think, even more so than writing one that was successful. But that's what actually got me into writing.

Jenny: Was it anything to do with your post in Vietnam that made you think, I want to do this now?

Rennie: Not at all. You know, I'd had some very interesting stuff to cover. I'd been in Cuba and met Castro and all those sorts of things. Vietnam was a big story. I'd just wondered if I hadn't actually had that time, and done the best kinds of stories there were, did I want to hang on or was this a moment to break out and write fiction? But it wasn't anything that happened to me in Vietnam, no.

Jenny: And why choose historical crime thrillers - or as one critic has described them -  ‘meticulously detailed procedural mysteries’ – as your genre? Are you comfortable being described as a “genre” writer in fact?

Rennie: No, I don't mind being called a genre writer. I didn't actually sit down with the idea of saying "I'm going to be a genre writer". I got very interested in the First World War and read a lot about it. I just got the idea - it actually came as a two pronged idea. One: to actually write a story set around that time, involving a man who'd been in a war and come out of it. The other- you know serial killers have been very popular in fiction- I thought, how about doing a story about a serial killer before that term was actually coined? People didn't really understand it. So Madden and his superior Chief Inspector have to figure out what is going on. I thought it was a nice challenge to take on.

River of Darkness - Rennie Airth

Jenny:  On your website you mention that a scrapbook you saw about your uncle, a soldier killed in World War I, inspired River of Darkness . . .

Rennie Airth’s gentleman detective John Madden investigates serial killer cases long before the phrase ‘serial killer’ was ever coined, in a police procedural series that paints a riveting picture of a post war Britain in turmoil.

Hi there I’m your host Jenny Wheeler and today Rennie talks about having lunch with his hero Graham Greene and why he learnt more from writing a bad book than a good one.

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

How First World War family history influenced his work

Why  1914 - 18 was the hinge to the modern era

How he came to go to a baseball game with Fidel Castro

And to lunch with his hero Graham Greene

The writers he admires most

What he'd do differently second time around

Where to find Rennie Airth: 

Website: http://www.rennieairth.net/

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

Jenny: And now, here’s Rennie. .  Hello there Rennie and welcome to the show, it’s great to have you with us.

Rennie: It's very nice to be talking with you Jenny.

Jenny:  Beginning at the beginning - was there a “Once Upon A Time” moment when you decided you wanted to write fiction?  And if there was a catalyst, what was it?

Rennie Airth - Mystery author

Rennie: That's an interesting question. Well I actually always wanted to write fiction. When I was at school, I always thought of myself as one day being a writer, but I hadn't got anything to write about. So I went into journalism.

I had actually, a very interesting first career. I worked in various parts of the world, but it was when I got to Vietnam - I was working there for Reuters, and I'd done a stint there - it was a matter of either staying with Reuters, and going to some other possibly interesting place or looking for a job in a newspaper.

Or, doing what I actually wanted to do now for some years; write fiction. So I quit Reuters and went to Crete where I had some sort of connection, I thought I'd write a book there and see how it went. So that's how it started. The book I wrote there was no good; it was never actually published. I actually learnt a lot from writing a bad book I think, even more so than writing one that was successful. But that's what actually got me into writing.

Jenny: Was it anything to do with your post in Vietnam that made you think, I want to do this now?

Rennie: Not at all. You know, I'd had some very interesting stuff to cover. I'd been in Cuba and met Castro and all those sorts of things. Vietnam was a big story. I'd just wondered if I hadn't actually had that time, and done the best kinds of stories there were, did I want to hang on or was this a moment to break out and write fiction? But it wasn't anything that happened to me in Vietnam, no.

Jenny: And why choose historical crime thrillers - or as one critic has described them -  ‘meticulously detailed procedural mysteries’ – as your genre? Are you comfortable being described as a “genre” writer in fact?

Rennie: No, I don't mind being called a genre writer. I didn't actually sit down with the idea of saying "I'm going to be a genre writer". I got very interested in the First World War and read a lot about it. I just got the idea - it actually came as a two pronged idea. One: to actually write a story set around that time, involving a man who'd been in a war and come out of it. The other- you know serial killers have been very popular in fiction- I thought, how about doing a story about a serial killer before that term was actually coined? People didn't really understand it. So Madden and his superior Chief Inspector have to figure out what is going on.

Helen Brown’s captivating story telling has created an international phenomenon, a family life narrative on the healing power of cats which leavens grief with comedy.

Hi there, I’m your host Jenny Wheeler and today Helen talks about the journey which has seen her books published in 18 countries, and explains how a cat became a metaphor for life.

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

How Helen migrated from journalism to fiction

The tragedy that brought her close to her readers

What her readers have taught her

How a mini 'mid life crisis' led to an international best seller

Why her next project is a children's story

The part she'd like to see Chris Hemsworth play.

Where to find Helen Brown: 

Website: https://www.helenbrown.com.au/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Helen.Brown.International.Author

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/helenbrownauthor/

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

Jenny: But now, here’s Helen. .  Hello there Helen and welcome to the show, it’s great to have you with us.

Helen: It's a pleasure to be here Jenny.

Helen Brown international best selling author

Jenny: I usually start by asking the  “Once Upon A Time” question - how did you come to write fiction?  But I know in your case your work has always had a very strong element of personal memoir.   And you've developed these books into a unique series which marries story telling with memoir...  Can you tell us a little about of how that happened?

Helen: Well, I think it goes back to basic story telling. I started writing columns maybe forty years ago, and my readers always taught me actually what worked for them. If I wrote a column that touched them, they would write me letters back, and it was so often about something very trivial.

They guided me really towards stories they wanted to hear, and they were so often emotional stories about ordinary life that we all shared. I was writing those columns, and they were 750 words roughly for many years.

When we moved to Australia, I actually couldn't get a job over here. Nobody had heard of me, and nobody really wanted me and I didn't have the confidence or something. So I thought - well, I kind of know what touches readers; maybe I'll have a go at spinning out to a larger concept.

I knew from experience that talking about the loss of my son and the way that our cat had helped us; those stories really got big reactions from readers. So I thought - and it was actually at the same time- the cat that had helped us when Sam died - that cat died itself at the age of nearly 24. Phil, my second husband was burying the cat under the Daphne bush in the garden. And Rob, who was Sam's younger brother, and had seen him run over back in 1983, said "there goes the last connection with Sam". I thought - maybe the story hasn't finished being told. I need to tell the story in full.

It was a big exercise and I really wasn't sure if it was working. Every publisher that I sent the idea to assured me that is wasn't working! And then I tried several agents who were also not at all impressed. One of them said, "you know, nobody wants to read a book in which a child dies". So I thought; OK...who are these people who read books?

In real life, children die, and in real life when my child was run over in 1983, the best consolation I got was from other parents who had lost children. They wrote to me, and you know I didn't know anyone who had lost a child. But because of writing about it in my column, they approached me with these wonderful letters and cards which were the best grief counselling that was available in 1983.

Cleo - Helen Brown

They were basically saying you know, this happened to us; it was the worst thing that ever happened to us, but we survived. We're still here, and we want to tell you that we'll get through this.

Helen Brown’s captivating story telling has created an international phenomenon, a family life narrative on the healing power of cats which leavens grief with comedy.

Hi there, I’m your host Jenny Wheeler and today Helen talks about the journey which has seen her books published in 18 countries, and explains how a cat became a metaphor for life.

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

How Helen migrated from journalism to fiction

The tragedy that brought her close to her readers

What her readers have taught her

How a mini 'mid life crisis' led to an international best seller

Why her next project is a children's story

The part she'd like to see Chris Hemsworth play.

Where to find Helen Brown: 

Website: https://www.helenbrown.com.au/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Helen.Brown.International.Author

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/helenbrownauthor/

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

Jenny: But now, here’s Helen. .  Hello there Helen and welcome to the show, it’s great to have you with us.

Helen: It's a pleasure to be here Jenny.

Helen Brown international best selling author

Jenny: I usually start by asking the  “Once Upon A Time” question - how did you come to write fiction?  But I know in your case your work has always had a very strong element of personal memoir.   And you've developed these books into a unique series which marries story telling with memoir...  Can you tell us a little about of how that happened?

Helen: Well, I think it goes back to basic story telling. I started writing columns maybe forty years ago, and my readers always taught me actually what worked for them. If I wrote a column that touched them, they would write me letters back, and it was so often about something very trivial.

They guided me really towards stories they wanted to hear, and they were so often emotional stories about ordinary life that we all shared. I was writing those columns, and they were 750 words roughly for many years.

When we moved to Australia, I actually couldn't get a job over here. Nobody had heard of me, and nobody really wanted me and I didn't have the confidence or something. So I thought - well, I kind of know what touches readers; maybe I'll have a go at spinning out to a larger concept.

I knew from experience that talking about the loss of my son and the way that our cat had helped us; those stories really got big reactions from readers. So I thought - and it was actually at the same time- the cat that had helped us when Sam died - that cat died itself at the age of nearly 24. Phil, my second husband was burying the cat under the Daphne bush in the garden. And Rob, who was Sam's younger brother, and had seen him run over back in 1983, said "there goes the last connection with Sam". I thought - maybe the story hasn't finished being told. I need to tell the story in full.

It was a big exercise and I really wasn't sure if it was working. Every publisher that I sent the idea to assured me that is wasn't working! And then I tried several agents who were also not at all impressed. One of them said, "you know, nobody wants to read a book in which a child dies". So I thought; OK...who are these people who read books?

In real life, children die, and in real life when my child was run over in 1983, the best consolation I got was from other parents who had lost children. They wrote to me, and you know I didn't know anyone who had lost a child. But because of writing about it in my column, they approached me with these wonderful letters and cards which were the best grief counselling that was available in...

Sherry Thomas has won accolades for giving Sherlock Holmes a fresh look by taking the famous detective and turning him into Charlotte – a disgraced woman who stays in the shadows and can’t reveal herself.

Hi there I’m your host Jenny Wheeler and today Sherry talks about the day she got so mad with an author of a romance she was reading, she decided to write one herself, and about being a best selling USA today romance author.

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

How many years it took Sherry to find a publisher

Why she loves historical mystery

Falling in love with writing

The role Benjamin Cumberpatch played in launching Lady Sherlock

Where she got the idea of making Sherlock a woman

The fun she's having with her Mulan project

Where to find Sherry 

Website: http://www.sherrythomas.com/

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

 Twitter: https://twitter.com/sherrythomas

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/266470.Sherry_Thomas

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

Jenny: But now, here’s Sherry .  Hello there Sherry and welcome to the show, it’s great to have you with us.

Sherry: A pleasure to be here.

Jenny: Beginning at the beginning - was there a “Once Upon A Time" moment when you decided you wanted to write fiction?  And if there was a catalyst, what was it?

Sherry Thomas Historical romance author

Sherry: Mine was exactly like that, actually. But it's a bit of a funny story. At the time, I was a very young stay at home mother. I think I was maybe 23, and I had a one and a half year old and I was not very good at being a stay at home mother because I was too young, and too disorganized. I was always running behind, so I had very little time to myself.

One day, I went to the library with my son, and I got a romance- a historical romance by an author that I had enjoyed very much when I was in my teenage years. I bought it home, put my son down for a nap, and started reading.

That book disagreed with me on every possible level. I did not finish it. In fact, when I laid it aside I was very angry, which has never happened to me in a book before or since. I was very angry because I had so little time, and that book took all my free time that day, and didn't give me any pleasure.

Jenny: Oh really! We're not going to name this book!

Sherry: We're not going to name this book, because the author is still alive! And because she did give me a lot of pleasure when I was young, and she gave me a career! So this is the woman who has benefited me the most my whole life, after my mother.

Jenny: What was it that made you mad about the book?

Sherry: It was just the decisions the characters made. They were entirely incomprehensible. I think it was just one of those things where I read the wrong thing at the wrong time. Had I of read it at a different time, maybe I would have enjoyed it, or not have minded it so much. But I think it was just the wrong book at the wrong time. So that very day, I'm not sure if I can remember the epiphany, but between noonish and my husband came home that evening, I had made up my mind. I said "hey, guess what! I'm just sitting here at home anyway, I think I can write some historical romances and maybe make some money from it". In the back of my head, I was thinking I couldn't do any worse than this book! That was basically what I was thinking.

Lady Sherlock Mystery - Book 1

Jenny: Give me a little bit of a clue as to what decisions other people were making; was it that the women were too submissive or something like that?

Sherry: No, actually it was too riotous. She was acting in a way that I didn't think was at all possible for a genteelly raised young woman to act. Like in a way that I wouldn't even know if she's had governesses around her; where would she have learnt t...

Sherry Thomas has won accolades for giving Sherlock Holmes a fresh look by taking the famous detective and turning him into Charlotte – a disgraced woman who stays in the shadows and can’t reveal herself.

Hi there I’m your host Jenny Wheeler and today Sherry talks about the day she got so mad with an author of a romance she was reading, she decided to write one herself, and about being a best selling USA today romance author.

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

How many years it took Sherry to find a publisher

Why she loves historical mystery

Falling in love with writing

The role Benjamin Cumberpatch played in launching Lady Sherlock

Where she got the idea of making Sherlock a woman

The fun she's having with her Mulan project

Where to find Sherry 

Website: http://www.sherrythomas.com/

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

 Twitter: https://twitter.com/sherrythomas

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/266470.Sherry_Thomas

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

Jenny: But now, here’s Sherry .  Hello there Sherry and welcome to the show, it’s great to have you with us.

Sherry: A pleasure to be here.

Jenny: Beginning at the beginning - was there a “Once Upon A Time" moment when you decided you wanted to write fiction?  And if there was a catalyst, what was it?

Sherry Thomas Historical romance author

Sherry: Mine was exactly like that, actually. But it's a bit of a funny story. At the time, I was a very young stay at home mother. I think I was maybe 23, and I had a one and a half year old and I was not very good at being a stay at home mother because I was too young, and too disorganized. I was always running behind, so I had very little time to myself.

One day, I went to the library with my son, and I got a romance- a historical romance by an author that I had enjoyed very much when I was in my teenage years. I bought it home, put my son down for a nap, and started reading.

That book disagreed with me on every possible level. I did not finish it. In fact, when I laid it aside I was very angry, which has never happened to me in a book before or since. I was very angry because I had so little time, and that book took all my free time that day, and didn't give me any pleasure.

Jenny: Oh really! We're not going to name this book!

Sherry: We're not going to name this book, because the author is still alive! And because she did give me a lot of pleasure when I was young, and she gave me a career! So this is the woman who has benefited me the most my whole life, after my mother.

Jenny: What was it that made you mad about the book?

Sherry: It was just the decisions the characters made. They were entirely incomprehensible. I think it was just one of those things where I read the wrong thing at the wrong time. Had I of read it at a different time, maybe I would have enjoyed it, or not have minded it so much. But I think it was just the wrong book at the wrong time. So that very day, I'm not sure if I can remember the epiphany, but between noonish and my husband came home that evening, I had made up my mind. I said "hey, guess what! I'm just sitting here at home anyway, I think I can write some historical romances and maybe make some money from it". In the back of my head, I was thinking I couldn't do any worse than this book! That was basically what I was thinking.

Lady Sherlock Mystery - Book 1

Jenny: Give me a little bit of a clue as to what decisions other people were making; was i...

Sarah Barrie’s rural mysteries feature strong women who don’t need rescuing – women very much after Sarah’s own heart.

Hi there!  I’m your host Jenny Wheeler and today Sarah talks about why city women love reading romantic suspense set in rural Australia, and running a farm while also writing best sellers.

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

Why 'finding your man' isn't the whole answer

How 'writing what you know' worked for her

The place that most closely resembles "Hunter's Ridge" of her stories

Knowledge is power - what she'd do differently

The writers she admires most

Fitting writing into her schedule as farmer and mother

Where to find Sarah Barrie: 

Website: http://www.sarahbarrieauthor.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarah.barrie.969

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

Jenny: But now, here’s Sarah. .  Hello there Sarah and welcome to the show, it’s great to have you with us.

Sarah Barrie - popular romantic suspense

 Sarah: Thanks Jenny, it's great to be here.

Jenny:   Beginning at the beginning - was there a “Once Upon A Time” moment when you decided you wanted to write fiction?  And if there was a catalyst, what was it?

Sarah: Well I used to devour my grandmother's Mills & Boon  books as a kid, I really enjoyed them a lot. I loved the romance, and the exotic places, and all the wonderful stories. But I guess what was considered romantic  at the time was the women; they all needed rescuing. That was something I wasn't really a huge fan of. So I just didn't come to that. It didn't meet my ideals of strong women, and I 'd get frustrated, and come up with alternatives in my mind and start rewriting the story. So right back when I was a teenager, I started playing around with writing. Later as a journalist, I decided I wanted to give it a proper go, and wrote my first novel when I was in my early thirties.

Jenny: Great! What happened to that particular manuscript?

Sarah: The first one I wrote is never to be seen again. The second one, I actually wrote it as an entry for one of the Romance Writers of Australia competitions. I didn't expect it really to do much. It did pretty well points wise, and so I subbed it to Escape Publishing, and Kate Cuthbert who is absolutely lovely was very supportive, and managed to get it published for me.

Jenny: Was that The Secrets of Whitewater Creek?

Sarah: No, that was just a short, romantic, contemporary romance called Getting Wild. It's short, it's a little bit of a comedy, and it was published through Escape. Secrets of Whitewater Creek I actually played with writing before that.

Jenny: And you chose romantic suspense as your genre?  Have you always been drawn to include suspense?

Sarah: Absolutely. Like I said, I really like to write about strong heroines. There's a danger element in it, getting a chance to build on that ideal. Also, it's a more complex story arc for me. I find it very hard to write full length romance, and to see the hero and heroine'complement each other in times of danger, and working things out together rather than one being rescued. I just found that the suspense genre gave me the scope to do that.

Jenny: Yes, I think one of the things I like about romantic suspense is that you do get a story in addition to a relationship, and the feeling that a relationship is the be all and end all of everything in life is something that I find a bit hard to swallow. It's the idea that if you find the right man, and everything going to be hunky dory from there on in. If you've got the romantic suspense, you've got the reminder that it may not always turn out well, even if you have the great guy at your side!

Sarah: That's true; you can't spend your life thinking as soon as you find this right man, life is going to be happily ever after.