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Leggi qui l’intervista in italiano | Read the interview in Italian here
Anita Davison: an author who transports readers to the heart of early 20th-century London, where intrigue, mystery, and social struggles intertwine. Raised in London, a city that serves as an endless source of inspiration for her, Anita masterfully blends historical charm with the art of mystery. Her novel Murder in the Bookshop, the first in the Miss Merrill and Aunt Violet Mysteries series, is a perfect example of how she recreates vivid historical settings enriched by strong characters and a subtle sense of humour. In this interview, Anita shares insights into her creative process, her relationship with history, and the development of her beloved characters.
On Che Intervista! we have the pleasure of hosting Anita Davison, let’s get to know her better…
Welcome to Che Intervista! Anita, you grew up in London, a city that has clearly influenced your writing. What fascinates you most about London’s history, and how do you bring that fascination into your historical mysteries?
Thank you Intervista for inviting me for an author interview. I am both excited and honoured that Murder in the Bookshop, the first novel in the Miss Merrill and Aunt Violet Mysteries, has been translated into Italian.
Your novel Murder in the Bookshop, set in 1915, is situated in a complex period marked by war and the fight for women’s rights. What inspired you to choose this specific era as the backdrop for your story?
When I structured my first cosy mystery, the U.K. was spellbound by TV drama Downton Abbey which was set in this period, and at that time I was researching my family history on one of the online genealogy sites. I discovered that five of my great uncles, all London-born brothers, served in the British Army. I didn’t even know my grandfather had brothers until then. [He had five, but the youngest was only 9 years old in 1914 – he had six sisters too!].
This brought me to researching the war, and what it was like for my great-grandparents, who were in fact German immigrants, to live in London during those years.
The protagonists of your series, Hannah Merrill and her Aunt Violet, are independent and unconventional women. How did you develop these characters, and what aspects of their personalities are most important to you?
Hannah is a young woman raised by conventional parents who is forging her way in a world where it was considered improper for a single woman to work for a living. Her fiancé is killed in the first weeks of the war, making her realise her life could follow a different path other than that of a wife and mother if she had the courage to do so. Defying convention she goes to work in her aunt’s bookshop, which might seem a half-hearted rebellion to some, however Aunt Violet is a suffragette and acolyte of Emmeline Pankhurst and the Women’s Social and Political Union who shows Hannah women can live more exciting, independent and productive lives. The pair also join forces to solve a few mysteries along the way.
The historical setting in Murder in the Bookshop is rich with vivid and accurate details. How much time do you dedicate to historical research, and how do you balance factual accuracy with the narrative needs of a mystery?
I love the research part of the process; the quest to find an event or timeframe to base the story on. Before I begin the actual novel, I immerse myself in the atmosphere of the time. What was normal and acceptable in 1915 is very different to today, so I need to make their conversations, attitudes and reactions authentic. Small things can trip me up, for instance, a common phrase that doesn’t fit the era and brings the reader out of the story. To confirm that Hannah’s newly bobbed haircut might shock her mother, but women had begun cutting their hair at the time.
Your novel blends suspense, plot twists, and subtle humor. How do you maintain this balance between tension and lightness in your storytelling?
I’m a plotter, so I before beginning the actual writing, I put together a scene structure where the clues, misdirection and character insight is set out to keep the reader’s interest. There is nothing worse than writing a scene of scintillating, witty, insightful dialogue but doesn’t move the story forward, and therefore doesn’t make the final edit. [I’ve got several of these in a ‘Maybe use later’ folder on my laptop.]
In Murder in the Bookshop, you also explore themes related to women’s emancipation and the fight for their rights. How important is it for you, as an author, to highlight social issues through the mystery genre?
The Women’s Rights movement is usually portrayed in literature, films and TV by angry, militant, banner waving ‘unladylike’ Suffragettes who threw stones at windows, disrupted horse races and heckled politicians. The fact that Millicent Fawcett spent forty years collecting petitions and appealing to Parliament for a change in the law as virtually ignored.
I wanted to express both sides of the argument in that Hannah fully believes women deserve to be equal to men but regards damaging paintings in the National Gallery and firing post boxes as counterproductive.
Aunt Violet’s argument is that men have had it their way for too long and forty years of asking for emancipation has got them nowhere, so now they are going to demand it.
Early 20th-century London is often portrayed as a dark and dangerous place. Which aspects of the city did you want to emphasize in your book, and what makes it, in your opinion, a perfect setting for a mystery?
The1914-1918 conflict brought the reality of war into Britain for the first time since the 11th Century. It must have been an horrific and terrifying time to have homes and business destroyed and civilians killed in their own homes. I included the infamous ‘Theatre Raid’ of October 1915 where a Zeppelin airship caused massive damage in the Strand and hit the theatre right behind the bookshop, damaging it badly.
The recorded descriptions of that incident made quite an impression on me, and I had this imagine of people pouring out of theatres and restaurants frozen on the pavement staring up at this big silver balloon in the night sky watching buildings blow up in front of them. It must have been truly terrifying.
The relationship between Hannah and Aunt Violet is central to the plot. How would you describe the dynamic between them, and how does their relationship evolve throughout the story?
Aunt Violet is not your conventional aunt who spends her evenings reading, knitting and has lunch with her friends at Lyons Corner House cafe. She is just forty, tall, very attractive and sensual with a wicked sense of humour and a mischievous nature. Her childhood was affluent and as the younger daughter she was spoiled, but she has a good sense of right and wrong and is not afraid to stand up and be counted.
She also has a past, one which Violet is very private about, for instance how did a society girl who spent her evenings dancing in jazz nightclubs come to own a bookshop? Why has she never married when she captivates every man she meets? Why did she buy a house of her own and live there with another suffragette, ignoring all the gossip mongers in her own family?
The novel also tackles the theme of spies and family secrets, enriching the plot with international intrigue. How did you manage to weave these elements into a narrative that remains true to the mystery genre?
One of the things I learned about the era was the paranoia about the threat of foreign spies infiltrating the British way of life was endemic.. Foreign nationals were viewed with suspicion for being born on the other side of the Channel, and random people were reported for standing outside important buildings, carrying a camera, owning a telescope or for keeping pigeons.
There were real spies too, of course, several famous ones who were caught and executed. However, the information they were alleged to have sent back to the Kaiser was inaccurate or useless. The plot in ‘Bookshop’ to sabotage the guns on the Embankment was purely a figment of my imagination. Or maybe there was one and it was foiled by a chance discovery of a postcard?
Looking ahead to the future of the Miss Merrill and Aunt Violet Mysteries series, what can readers expect from the upcoming books? Are there new challenges or mysteries in store for Hannah and Violet?
I have been contracted for two more Miss Merrill and Aunt Violet novels, and talks are in the pipeline for two more which feature Aunt Violet as the main character in spin off stories to take place during the 1920s.
Thanks so much for this opportunity to talk about Hannah and her Aunt Violet. This has been fun.
Thanks Anita for the wonderful interview and for dedicating some of your time to us.
Keep up to date and congratulations on your artistic and professional career.
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Read the book review here
Website: www.anitadavison.co.uk
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