Fleur Hitchcock's Murder Mysteries


About Author
Fleur Hitchcock's latest murder mystery novel, Murder at Wintertide, is now available and is her most sinister yet.... Fleur began life as an author after graduating with a distinction from the Writing for Young People MA at Bath Spa. She now lives outside Bath and works with her husband, a toymaker, looks after other people's gardens and tries to grow vegetables. In her spare time, she is a bookseller at Waterstones Bath.
You can find out more on her website and on Twitter @FleurHitchcock
Interview
Murder at Wintertide (Nosy Crow)
October 2024
Read a Chapter from Murder at Wintertide
With Christmas lights twinkling and last-minute shopping for gifts, no-one expects a body to be washed up along the shoreline... Is this a murder? And how is it connected to the story of ancient treasure in the neighbourhood?
We asked master of murder-mystery writing Fleur Hitchcock to tell us more about her new book, Murder at Wintertide, and to share some of her writing secrets!
Review: "Murder at Wintertide is a brilliant murder mystery story and has plenty of page-turning tension and gripping festive thrills."
Q&A with Fleur Hitchcock with tips for writing great murder mystery stories!
"I write a short version of the whole murder mystery - about four thousand words - and then expand it. That way,
I can see the threads clearly before they get lost in the character and the landscape."
1. What first drew you to writing murder mystery stories, and what keeps you writing them?
Reading Murder mysteries probably started it. Not Agatha Christie, but American ones like Raymond Chandler - I guess they're thrillers really. Also, watching very dark Scandi crime dramas on TV. I wondered if it was possible to translate all that tension into something for young people? I know it's what I wanted to read when I was 11. And it seems it's what a lot of young people want. I suspect we all want to be scared - just a little.
I keep doing it because I keep on having ideas of fabulous places and people to play with. And murder.
2. What happens in your new murder mystery, Murder at Wintertide?
Murder at Wintertide is the story of George and Isla, misfit step cousins who while on holiday at the seaside, find themselves intrigued by a series of events, a man rolling in on the surf, a light falling from a cliff, a raided archaeological dig - and then, before they realise it, they're caught up in the mystery and couldn't back out if they wanted to.
3. What inspired you to base this story around ancient artifacts and buried treasure?
I've had a lifetime obsession with lost and buried artifacts. I grew up on the banks of the river Itchen, long before metal detectors were a thing and spent my summers combing the river bed for interesting objects. The best thing I ever found was a tiny blue bottle, its corked lid intact. Inside, the smell of peppermint. It was a direct connection to the past - the peppermint that I could smell was the same as the peppermint that the person who threw it in the river two hundred years earlier could smell.
For this story, I had been to see the Alfred Jewel in the Ashmolean Museum. It's small, but it was made for Alfred the Great and was dug up in a Somerset field four hundred years ago. It's one of the greatest treasures of the UK and I began to wonder; if this was just a jewel to go on the end of a wooden pointer - how amazing would Alfred's crown have been?
4. Why did you decide to set this novel in Lyme Regis? What are the advantages in using a real places as your setting?
I happened to visit Lyme Regis a few Christmasses ago and it struck me that it would be a brilliant place to set a story. The cosy little town and the big wild beaches. It also has boats, which play a part in the book. It's a place I've often visited, and is probably our go-to seaside resort because no matter what the weather, there's always something to do.
That was handy when it came to writing the book - it's Christmas, and the seaside can be a dismal place in winter, but Lyme Regis is excellent fun all the year round. Using a real place gives boundaries to a story; however, I am never one hundred percent reliable on the geography.
5. Why do the seasons play such an important part in your murder mystery stories, and how do you use the Christmas period in your latest book?
I live in the countryside, and the seasons dictate everything about the way we function here. I tend to use all of the daylight in the summer, and in the winter I long for howling winds to drive me to the fireside.
For this book, I have brought snow to the seaside, which feels pleasingly uncomfortable. The coast does easily get cut off, most seaside towns have only one, or at the best two, ways out. And there's nothing like being trapped to increase the sense of panic and claustrophobia
6. How do you plot your stories, to help make sure the red herrings, twists and all the threads come together at the end....?
I write a short version of the whole murder mystery - about four thousand words - and then expand it. That way, I can see the threads clearly before they get lost in the character and the landscape. However, I do change the stories A LOT. Quite often, and it was true of this one, the murderer has changed from one person to another - sometimes two or three times! That makes the herrings redder and smellier.
7. How do you keep the tension high in these stories, and what are your top tips for a great murder mystery adventure?
I think you have to make sure that you let the tension build, and drop. A little humour is good, it releases tension. If you can feel yourself holding your breath when you're writing it, you've probably got it right.
8. At the heart of this story is a boy, George, who is coming to terms with a new step sister. What would you like your readers to take from his experiences?
George is fundamentally kind, but he's very unsure of his place in his own tiny family. He could close down, refuse to co-operate, but by keeping an open mind, and hoping for the best, he gets through to the other side. In a way, by confessing that he's scared, and that he wants his dad, he makes it easier for his dad and stepmum to embrace him.
9. Do you have a special writing place, and what are you writing currently? Are there more murder-mystery stories planned?
I write all over the place, but mostly in a messy room overlooking some horses. I am currently writing a murder mystery set in a boutique hotel, it's a mix of missing person and murder and features Grace and her younger brother Billy. Oh, and snow.
10. Murder at Wintertide has left us firmly in the mood for Christmas - what are you looking forward to most about Christmas, and if you could have anything in the world, what would you love to find under the Christmas tree?
Christmas is all about the lights - I'm a sucker for shop windows and town Christmas lights and bushes wearing garlands of diodes. Oh and the food. I do love a roasted nut. And as a present - Anything in the world? A trip to see the Northern lights. Ideally without the need for my phone, and in a snowy, empty landscape.
Murder at Snowfall (Nosy Crow)
With the backdrop of a small town in the run-up to Christmas, Fleur Hitchcock's earlier book Murder at Snowfall is a perfect winter read. Here's the author to tell us more! Read a chapter from Murder at Snowfall