The
Rachel Markham Mystery Series
looks like a great mystery collection. Do you have additional books
planned in the series?
Thank
you and yes, absolutely! There’s plenty more where the first seven
came from. And it has been an incredible journey. My readers have
globe trotted with me all the way. In Murder at Rutherford Hall, we
sampled the beautiful English countryside. In the second mystery –
Murder at Ravenrock we headed down south to scenic Dartmouth. One of
our characters even took off to Aberdeen in Scotland in hot pursuit
of a clue. By the third book we were in a Royal palace in India,
hobnobbing with a terrifically handsome Maharajah. In the fourth –
The Santinelli case, we went to France, where we dined at the Ritz
and gloried in the sights and sounds of Paris. Then back to England
to experience a white winter wonderland in the fifth – The Marbury
Murders. The sixth - Death at Fernside took us exploring, up north,
to beautiful Cumbria, where we traipsed about, in the stunning Lake
District. In the seventh, we ended up in sunny Greece, on a
millionaire’s private island with white sandy beaches and a view to
literally die for, pun intended.
And
I don’t want to kill the surprise but the next stop is Africa. The
eighth book is set in the spectacular safari trails of Kenya.
What
do you think makes a great mystery story?
I’d
like to say something cliched like atmosphere and the buildup but the
truth is, that the best whodunnits are the ones that make you scratch
your head in the end and say – ‘Now, why didn’t I catch that
clue.’ The clues must be well hidden yet in retrospect, once the
mystery is solved, they must be clearly visible to all. I usually
hide the clues in the best possible place there is to hide anything –
in plain sight. Mystery writing is so much fun because it’s like
creating a clever crossword and a jigsaw puzzle in one. At its best,
it is an art form and at its worst it is – oh, please don’t tell
me, the butler who had two lines in the entire book, did it!
What
inspired you when writing The
Rachel Markham Mystery Series?
My
characters. Any mystery author worth their salt will tell you that
you must scheme, plot and plan carefully before you start a story. In
my case, the salt dissolved before I could say Gunga Din! I didn’t
even get to choose my characters. The characters chose me. They
simply floated into my head and gave me no peace until I started
writing about them.
This
is a question that a lot of your readers may be curious about. You
are not British but your characters are. Why did you choose to write
about British protagonists?
Interesting
question and I have an equally interesting answer. Apart from the
fact that I spent a part of my childhood in England, I still have a
British step-mother and family living in that part of the world, I
shall borrow Carl Sagan’s perspective of the pale blue dot. This is
where it gets interesting; our planet Earth is like a little blue
speck of dust spinning through the milky way, suspended in a vast
unending space. And isn’t it funny that on our little planet we’ve
managed to divide ourselves into hundreds of countries, cultures, and
numerous religions and races. As far as I am concerned, there is only
one land and that is our planet Earth; there is only one race and
that is our human race, to which we all belong. The rest is just a
distortion of man’s ego and aggression ever since we were cave
dwellers – “this is my land, that is your land and I am going to
invade your land.” Silly, really, when you think of all this going
on, on a pale blue dot. The reason I am glad that my protagonists are
British, is because not so far back in history, the British empire
was so large that the Sun never set on it. And while no one condones
the misery or degradation of colonization, the British did manage to
do something incredible. They managed to unite a vast majority of the
world under one umbrella and gave us all a familiarity with their
culture, their vast literature, even their sense of humor! But most
importantly they gave us the gift of uniformity through the English
language. From West Indies to India, from United States to Australia,
people from most parts of the erstwhile empire can relate to my
protagonists, the language they speak and their mannerisms in a way
which would have otherwise been hard to understand on such a
universal scale. The sheer versatility of understanding is what
magnetized me towards my protagonists in a language and culture that
most people across the globe can relate to and are already familiar
with. And that my friend, is half the battle won. The other half,
which is writing the books, is plain sailing from there on.
Do
you plan any additional books outside the Rachel Markham collection?
I
honestly don’t know. Rachel is such a fun person to work with, as
is Jeremy. Both my characters have a life and a mind of their own. If
they ever leave me and allow me to write about a new set of main
characters, I’ll keep you posted.
When
did you decide to become a writer?
I
had a very interesting international corporate career for two decades
and then I had my daughter. And suddenly, the corporate career went
from being interesting to tiring, to oh God, not another day away
from my baby. That’s when Rachel came to my rescue and allowed me
the luxury to work from home, play with my kids and simultaneously
keep my brain from completely atrophying.
When
writing The
Rachel Markham Mystery Series
did anything stand out as particularly challenging?
The
fact that I did not actually live through or witness that enigmatic
post WW 2 era. No one in our generation did. Apart from what one
reads in history, one can watch documentaries, see period films, go
sightseeing to war memorials, study the era in detail and still trip
over simple things that we take for granted these days but which were
unheard of back then. For example, did you know that only one in five
homes had indoor plumbing back in those days? Powdering one’s nose
must have been a terribly tricky affair.
How
do you create the 'mystery set ups' in each book?
I
don’t. The characters do it all. They are living and breathing
thought forms. And they continually surprise me, as I write. You
aren’t going to believe this but in most of the books, I have
absolutely no clue as to “whodunnit” until three fourths of the
manuscript is done.
What
do you like to do when not writing?
You
mean apart from the full-time job of taking care of my kids – my
daughter and three dogs, and driving my husband up the walls. Not
necessarily in that order, mind you.
Well,
at the risk of sounding deadly dull, I do have a rather well-stocked
and ever expanding personal library and I read quite a bit, socialize
very little and use what little quiet time I get for yogic
meditations. I also enjoy working with the earth and pottering about
with plants. Collecting earth minerals and crystals is another great
love. Over the years, I’ve managed to collect some lovely stones
and crystals from around the world. What else? I can’t cook to save
my life but I thoroughly enjoy a well-made gourmet meal. And my
darling husband, who is an industrialist by profession, indulges the
family once in a while, with his experimental yet delicious
mouthwatering fare. You know, I’ve just realized that I’ve
managed to come across exactly as I am – downright boring. My books
are far more interesting than I am. But just so you know; I did
travel the globe incessantly for the first thirty years of my life,
worked tirelessly and partied equally hard. Now I’m happier to
stand still, go within and grow roots. Yes, I suppose that would sum
it up.
I
must admit rather sheepishly that I do not have a mailing list, a
blog or even an author website for that matter. No twitter, no
snapchat. Before you conclude that I’m a lazy git and quite mad for
not keeping up with the times, hang on – there is a method to this
madness. The reason being, I know that it would take up a huge amount
of my time to simply maintain such platforms. Blogging high quality
articles, creating youtube videos, posting clever tweets on twitter,
snapchat and other websites takes an enormous amount of time; time
that I would rather spend on writing books. Any good blogger or
youtuber will tell you that blogging or posting videos can become a
full-time job and it’s a great one. But I believe that I can give
my readers far greater service by my single-minded focus in churning
out at least two mysteries a year. You see, writing is something that
comes naturally to me. I’d probably be rubbish at all the other
stuff. And quite frankly, if I had to maintain numerous author
platforms, I could not have written 7 full length murder mysteries in
three and a half years.
That
said, back in 2015, after having penned 5 bestsellers in 2 years, I
thought it was high time that I created a simple yet interactive
platform for my readers. The first thing that came to mind was
facebook. I created a very basic author page. And that is the only
platform I maintain, where I respond to each and every kind comment
or query. I am not terribly active but you will find sneak previews,
book excerpts and a few interesting nuggets about the post WW2 era at
www.facebook.com/pbkolleri.