The Inside Scoop with Rhys Bowen
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Sleuths and Sidekicks is honored to host New York Times bestselling author Rhys Bowen on The Inside Scoop. Rhys has written more than 50 novels of historical fiction and mystery which have garnered multiple awards and nominations.
Lida: How did you become an author?
Rhys: I’ve been writing stories and living in pretend worlds all my life. I had a lonely childhood in a big house in the country and had to create my own amusement. I’m sure that helped. So I never became an author. I always was one. But as for being a professional, paid author… after college I worked in BBC drama on the production side. I’d be working on a play and think if that were me I’d have written a different ending. So I wrote a play, took it to the head of drama and a little later he called me into his office and said they liked it. They were going to produce it. I’ve been a professional author ever since, moving on to children’s books, young adult and then adult mysteries.
I was lured down to Australia to work for Australian Broadcasting and met my future husband there. He was headed for California, so I wound up with nothing like the BBC. I started writing children’s books, sold my first attempt and have never looked back. All in all, I’ve written over 50 mystery and historical novels to date, as well as numerous young adult titles.
Lida: Georgie is the favorite Sleuths & Sidekicks’ sleuth. What was the inspiration for her? How did she reach the page?
Rhys: My publisher was bugging me, saying they couldn’t really break me out until I wrote a big dark standalone novel. I kept toying with dark subjects: child molesters, terrorists, serial killers, and decided I didn’t want to spend time in a world of darkness. I wanted to laugh and enjoy what I wrote. So I found myself thinking who would be the most unlikely sleuth. What if she was royal? But penniless? And it was the 1930s, with Mrs. Simpson and lots of delicious characters. I came with good inspiration because my husband comes from an old, aristocratic British family where they have tales about butlers and ghosts.
Lida: Who do you consider to be Georgie’s sidekicks? Her mother? Grandfather? Her friend, Belinda? How did they come to be?
Rhys: One of the things I enjoy about writing this series is the ensemble cast of characters. Georgie has such great support in what she does: husband Darcy, of course but Belinda has been a great partner in crime. I wanted her to have a naughty friend as she was so naïve when the series started. I’ve enjoyed Belinda’s journey as well.
I wanted her to have a mother who was a bolter, unreliable, but I wanted her to have someone who loved her and she could rely on… therefore grandfather.
But you have to make your main character suffer, right? And so, I gave her the worst maid in the world, and the worst sister-in-law too. Fig. Who doesn’t love to hate Fig? They are all such fun, as is Mrs. Simpson. I’ll be so upset when she marries Edward and they leave the scene.
Lida: Tell us about your transition from writing young adult fiction to mystery writing? What surprised you? What did you learn about crafting gripping puzzles?
Rhys: I had been writing young adult books at a crazy pace, mainly because my husband had been laid off from his airline job and I had kids in college. When I could finally breathe again I decided to write what I wanted to. I had always been a huge mystery fan, growing up on the ladies of the golden age and had recently discovered Tony Hillerman. Wow. He blew me away. Not only a good puzzle but he took me somewhere, he gave me insights into another culture and made me feel I was in the Southwest. I decided that was what I wanted to do: write with a great sense of time and place. So my first series took place in Wales, where I’d spent many childhood summers with relatives.
What I had learned was how to work to a deadline, how to craft a good plot, create believable, sympathetic characters. As for the clever puzzle—all those years of reading Agatha and the others had taught me what worked and what didn’t. But the murder, the mystery, has never been the most important part of any of my mysteries. It’s always the characters and their lives that are more important to me, and to my readers.
Lida: Thank you so much, Rhys, for this fascinating view into your writing life and how your characters came about. We are eager to read your latest, #17, in the Royal Spytness Mystery Series: The Proof of the Pudding.
More About Rhys
Rhys Bowen is the New York Times bestselling author of more than forty novels, including The Victory Garden, The Tuscan Child, and the World War II-based In Farleigh Field, the winner of the Left Coast Crime Award for Best Historical Mystery Novel and the Agatha Award for Best Historical Novel. 2021’s The Venice Sketchbook was nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Novel of the Year. Bowen’s work has won over twenty honors to date, including multiple Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity awards. Her books have been translated into many languages, and she has fans around the world, including over 60,000 Facebook followers. A transplanted Brit, Bowen divides her time between California and Arizona.
Photo by Douglas Sonders