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Dear Reader,
I'm on vacation this week and author Deryn Lake has offered to pen today's column.
What's better to a mystery writer than a real-life mystery to solve? Highly acclaimed British mystery writer Deryn Lake (today's guest author), tells us how she was given a mystery and ended up with the lead character in her highly acclaimed Rawlings Mysteries series.
Yes, indeed, please do email and say hello: [email protected]
Welcome to the book club author Deryn Lake...
To anyone out there who has read one of the detective novels I have written, featuring John Rawlings, apothecary, charmer, flirt, naughty boy and general all round good egg, you might be interested to know that he really lived.
Some years ago I was approached by Canada Dry--the drinks manufacturing company--to see if I could trace the origins of a drink they had inherited in a takeover. It was labelled 'H.D. Rawlings and Co. Manufacturers of spruce, ginger beer and mineral waters.' They also showed me some correspondence which dated from the Victorian era and was signed 'Henry Doo Rawlings, trading from these premises for over 100 years.' The address was 2, Nassau Street, Soho, London. A juicy clue indeed--but the only one I had.
I was given two weeks to find out all I could and, strangely, I found John on the first day but at that time didn't realise who he was and passed him by. He was in a street directory for 1757 and simply had his name, trading as an apothecary, and an address. As my research grew more complicated, I realised that in order to make carbonated water one would have to have had a certain amount of knowledge. In fact, it would have been helpful to have been an apothecary.
Day 12 saw me in first-class panic mode. I decided to have a look in the records of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries, so went to the Guildhall in London.
I found a most interesting entry. A John Rawlings had been made Free of the Worshipful Society on 13th March, 1755. No address given. With a kind of psychic certainty I knew that this was John, whom I was destined to get to know and love so well over so many years. But I had to prove it. The Guildhall was closing and all the records were being called in. I went back at ten the next morning (Day 14 itself!) and asked to see the records again. Up they came, on went the gloves, and I searched amongst the beautifully written pages. And then, suddenly, there it was. 'John Rawlings of Number 2, Nassau Street, Soho, applied to be made a Yeoman of the Society. After a fine (fee) and a contribution to the Garden (the Chelsea Physic Garden) he was admitted. Loudly I shouted, waking up all the other people who were researching, "Got the blighter."
The rest is history. I have written sixteen books in the series and those dear readers out there who have never read any of them might just like to get acquainted with a truly exuberant detective. But, anyway, happy reading and keep in touch.
--Deryn Lake
Please do email and say hello: [email protected]
About the author:
Deryn Lake is the pseudonym of a well-known historical novelist who joined the popular ranks of historical detective writers with her gripping John Rawlings Mysteries. Deryn Lake lives near Hastings, East Sussex.
* Tell a story, win some cash, buy some new shoes or a fishing pole, impress your friends and family. Sound like fun? It could happen to you, but first you need to enter my annual Write a DearReader Contest. You don't need to be a writer to enter. The contest is for writing fun. To read last year's winning entries and information about the rules and deadline, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/contest2016/index.html
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
AUTHORBUZZ: THE SOUL OF THE MATTER (Thriller) by Bruce Buff
How would you view the world, and yourself, if you knew that inside you were hidden all the secrets of the universe, including proof of how we got here and where we're headed? This question prompted me to write my new thriller. Little did I know just how much insight DNA and physics would provide into these questions.
Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on THE SOUL OF THE MATTER to read more and to email author Bruce Buff, you'll get a reply.
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