At school, were you good at English?
My parents encouraged me to read from an early age. In fact, one of my earliest memories is my father taking me to a local library and signing me up. I grew up with no siblings and read a huge amount as a child and a teen, so yes, I was pretty good at English. Luckily, I had a brilliant teacher in secondary school who brought the classics alive. She probably contributed to my being a writer now, even though I didn’t publish until I was 50.
Who are your favourite writers?
As a child, it was Enid Blyton; my favourites being The Secret Seven and Malory Towers. My father introduced me to Jane Austen, and a friend introduced me to Georgette Heyer. I still love their books to this day. Any writer can learn from Heyer – she was a genius at creating characters, but also her attention to period detail was incredible, and it is all served up with humour. Elizabeth Gaskell would be another influence, however, when it comes to crime I have devoured, Dorothy L Sayers, PD James, and Ruth Rendell. In the historical mystery genre, I am a fan of Anne Perry, MRC Kasasian, and Deanna Raybourn. So, between reading historical fiction and crime, I suppose it was inevitable I would end up writing historical crime and mystery.
What have you written to date?
My debut, The Bowes Inheritance, was primarily romantic suspense (Victorian) but it also included a mystery involving Fenian gun-running from Cumbria. The book was longlisted by the Historical Novel Society and shortlisted for the Carousel Award Prize. After the success of this book, I began a Victorian murder mystery series, The Lucy Lawrence Mysteries, which currently comprises three books, with a fourth on the way. My latest releases are Irish WW2 espionage thrillers, published by Avon Books UK, an imprint of Harper Collins. My next release is a murder mystery set during the Blitz, after which I’m going to try something new – a modern crime novel. Here is the full list:
The Bowes Inheritance
No Stone Unturned
Footprints in the Sand
The Art of Deception
Her Secret War
Her Last Betrayal
The Last Letter from London
What genre do you write?
At the moment, my books are historical crime, but I’d like to challenge myself and try a contemporary crime novel. I just haven’t decided whether it will be a police procedural or a thriller/domestic noir.
How long does it take you to write a book?
Generally, it takes 6 months to write a decent first draft. I find the first draft the slowest part of the process, trying to get the story out of my head and onto paper, not to mention fleshing out the characters, and coming up with a nice twist or too. The editing process I enjoy immensely and is usually fairly quick. I try to send my drafts for structural edit off to my editors as clean as I can get them.
How are you publishing your book? Indie, traditional or both?
I’m a hybrid author. I independently publish my Lucy Lawrence series as well as being traditionally published by Avon Books UK for my WW2 series.
How can readers discover more about you and your work?
You can find me lurking on social media; all my links are here: https://linktr.ee/pamlecky.
You can also find out about me on the Historical Novel Society, Crime Writers’ Association, Susanna Lea Associates London (my agents), Society of Authors, Avon Books UK and Harper Collins websites.
What book are you reading at the moment?
I have just finished reading Ciara Geraghty’s Queen Bee (excellent and entertaining) and just started an ARC of Deborah Swift’s next release, The Shadow Network, a WW2 thriller, which I am enjoying very much.
What is your latest release?
My latest release is The Last Letter from London, the third book in my WW2 espionage series, featuring an Irish woman who joins MI5. In this book, she is the handler of a mysterious French double-agent. The women do not like or trust each other, and it all comes to a head when they are sent on a mission together to Lisbon, the centre of espionage during WW2.
Is it a standalone or part of a series?
This book is the last in the WW2 series (for now at least).