Hello Pat, welcome to BrandEducation and The RV Book Fair! How long have you been writing, what inspired you to write and when did you publish your first book?
I wrote and published my first book DAISY, during the Covid lockdown. I was alone, having been abandoned by my husband of 26 years and I wrote just to allay my boredom and frustration. In the five years since then, I have written and published 9 books, with another 4 coming out next year. Now I have started I can’t seem to stop!
I notice that all of your books are set mostly in England, although you also seem to throw America, Fiji and New Zealand into the mix. Can you tell us about this?
I was born in London and lived there for most of my life, with just a few years spent in Fiji and New Zealand. I then emigrated to New Zealand permanently when I was 59, but continued to travel the world whenever I could. The more books I write, the more I realise how much I draw on all these experiences for inspiration.
Your first book DAISY was historical fiction, as is your ANCESTORS series, but you have also published your personal memoirs, a travel book, a self-help book and now a crime book: a classic Whodunnit. Did you always plan to write in different genres?
No, absolutely not, my books have just been written from my heart!
I never intended to write one book, let alone nine,, but somehow the ideas come and I just run with them!
I have discovered that I love doing research, so writing historical fiction and the stories of my own ancestors has been a great joy.
Your latest book WAS HE A PERFECT GENTLEMAN? is quite different from all your others, what made you decide to write a crime novel?
I went to an author panel at my local library, where 4 crime writers were talking about their books. I had only gone along to support some fellow authors and afterwards one remarked that it was “a shame you don’t write crime Pat, you could be on one of these panels next year.” I laughed and said there was no way I could write about crime as I did not have the first idea how to do that.
I went home, went to bed and thought no more about it, but the next morning I woke up at 7am with the whole plot and most of the characters for this book in my head!
The cover of this book is very striking. Can you tell us about it?
As soon as I began writing the story I knew exactly how I wanted the cover to look.
The victim, the dead bank manager, always wore grey pin striped suits and red bow ties, so the cover reflects this.
How did you come up with all the characters? This book, like your others is very character driven, so obviously you enjoy writing about people. Do you base your characters on real people, people you have known over the course of your long life?
You are right, I love people and writing about them is such a joy. I find the words come easily, immediately I can visualise the people in my head, so it is really easy to write their stories.
I do not intentionally use real people as my inspiration, but of course ideas pop into my head and later, when I am editing (which I do daily, despite all the rules that say you shouldn’t)
I realise that people from my past, their mannerisms and characteristics have popped uninvited into my book!
Find out more about Pat at: https://www.patbackley.com/ and https://www.relatable-media.com/the-rv-book-fair