INSPIRATION BEHIND THE SMART WOMAN’S MYSTERY SERIES WITH VICTORIA DOWD

INSPIRATION BEHIND THE SMART WOMAN’S MYSTERY SERIES

What was the inspiration behind the idea for the Smart Woman’s Mystery series?

I’m a huge fan of Golden Age detective novels and always wanted to write a whodunnit. I particularly like locked-room mysteries and impossible crimes so I wanted to try and incorporate that as well. I wasn’t keen on the idea of a regular kind of sleuth though. Because they are set in the present day, I needed to make them more modern and have characters who readers can relate to. I loved the idea of a family dynamic full of strong women. I’m from Yorkshire originally and a family of very big female characters. I’ve had a lot of role models! I wanted to really get beneath the bonds in a family and the ties that bind them together, both good and bad. The Smart Women are dysfunctional and will say things to each other that only family members can. However, the love is very deep. They may criticise and bicker endlessly, but they will protect each other to the ends of the Earth. Over the course of the series I’ve been able to expand on their relationships and incorporate all the subtle dynamics of a family that you only ever see behind closed doors. Many readers get in touch to say how similar the women are to their own families. Hopefully, with less murders! Part of it is also the dark comedy that exists in many close relationships. That’s really fun to write and is also a very useful way of hiding the clues. While the reader is laughing at their sometimes ridiculous antics, I’m seeding the little plot point that is the key. I’m not sure I can remember a time when the Smart Women weren’t in my head, which is both wonderful and worrying. I’m always thinking where life, and death, will take them next.

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