BooksChatter: ℚ♫ Riverside Lane [1]

Today we have the pleasure of meeting up with authors Ginger Black, i.e. Gaynor Pengelly and Julia Thum, to talk about Riverside Lane (25 January 2016, Endeavour Press, 260 pages), a Cosy Mystery.

“A lovely, witty slice of English village life a la MC Beaton” ~ Sally Hamilton, Mail on Sunday

“Agatha Christie on Steroids” ~ Christine Shaw, The Baker’s Daughter

“A vivid, beautifully written page turner. Perfect holiday reading” ~ Tessa Collinson, British Independent Films

|| Synopsis || Kickstarter Trailer || Teaser: KCR Preview || Author Q&A || About the Author || Giveaway & Tour Stops ||

A very warm welcome to fellow Brits Gaynor Pengelly and July Thum; thank you for joining us on BooksChatter!

To get us in the British mood, Ginger Black have shared with us their music playlist for Riverside Lane - enjoy!

What was the inspiration for Riverside Lane?

"GAYNOR: Working as a journalist, it’s my job to write about ordinary people in extraordinary situations, so I was inspired to write a character-driven book which includes the full range of human emotions. Love, tragedy, divorce, money worries, jealousy – it’s all in there!"

"JULIA: For me the inspiration was Englishness and how frustratingly opaque we can be as a nation, particularly manners and etiquette. We set Riverside Lane in a quintessentially English village on the river Thames and this gave us the opportunity for some wonderful scene setting and portrayal of traditional English sports such as punting and cricket."

How much of yourself is reflected in this book, and how?

"GAYNOR: A lot of my own personality is reflected in Riverside Lane, good and bad. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from, most of us have experienced love and tragedy, heartbreak and happiness, ambition and lethargy."

"JULIA: Nothing and everything! There is no character to whom I relate but at the same time I can identify with many of the flaws and traits in our characters. I live on the river Thames and so on a practical level, I could write the garden scenes fairly easily and that gave me an excuse to stare out of the window and call it work!"

Why should we read Riverside Lane and what sets it apart from the rest? What makes your book unique?

"GAYNOR: The fact we are a writing partnership makes Ginger Black unique. Julia and I are very different personalities, and we’d like to think this brings a quirkiness and originality to our novel."

"JULIA: Riverside Lane is the first in a series. We hope to complete the second one early next year. If you enjoy the cozy mystery genre then our novel is for you. There is a lot of intrigue and lies but nothing too thrilling or chilling. The story is designed to remove the reader from the harsh realities of the world and escape to a beautiful place and a gentler time."

Can you tell us something quirky about Riverside Lane, its story and characters?

"GAYNOR: Setting Riverside in the Thameside village of Bray (which is famous for its Michelin star restaurants and being the Horror capital of the world, courtesy of Hammer Films), we were careful not to base our characters on anyone we know!

The quirky aspect of our Riverside Lane series is each story is based on a house swap. In our current novel, Luca Tempesta – a handsome, mysterious LA detective makes the mistake of thinking he can ‘hide out’ in an English village. As anyone who is familiar with English villages, will know, they are usually a hotbed of gossip and intrigue, as Luca quickly discovers to his cost!"

"JULIA: Well we did wonder for a while whether our writing might be prophetic! The novel is set in our home village of Bray-on-Thames but the characters are entirely fictional. After we had written it, but while it was still under wraps, we began to hear about goings on – secrets and scandals – in the community that bore an uncanny resemblance to some of the characters in our book."

Who would you recommend Riverside Lane to and what should readers be aware of (any warnings or disclaimers)?

"JULIA: I would recommend it most ardently. There are no warnings or disclaimers, it is a gentle and uplifting read with a myriad of fascinating characters who we really missed when we finished the novel. We have had some lovely reviews and perhaps we should share a few here?"

“The literary equivalent to a glass of Pimms” ~ Good Reads (This sums up the story beautifully)

“The next Marigold Hotel” ~ Wendy Leavesly, Actor

“Jerome K Jerome meets Miss Reed in Midsommer. This book deserves to be a massive hit!” ~ Amazon Reviewer

If you could / wished to turn Riverside Lane into a movie, who would be your dream team?

"GAYNOR: George Clooney who lives in a nearby village would definitely have to play Luca Tempesta. We had him in mind when we wrote the scene of him jumping naked into the Thames. Joanna Lumley would make a superb Kathy McConnell, the evil housekeeper who always comes up smelling of roses"

"JULIA: Dame Judi Dench could play any and all of the women but I think she would be marvellous as Ivy Midwinter the former MI5 spy and church organist. Danny De Vito would make a perfect Frank – the diminutive, fading game show host with a big fat secret, and his wife would need to be played by a young, statuesque raven-haired beauty so how about Kendall Jenner?"

What do you like to write and read about? Do you stick to a particular genre or do you like to explore different ones?

"GAYNOR: In my spare time, I like nothing better than to get stuck into a good crime thriller, but I don’t feel the need to write one. While there is plenty of intrigue and skulduggery going on in Riverside Lane, it also focusses on more life-affirming matters, such as kindness, compassion and generosity. It seems there is a tendency in the publishing world these days to focus on dark thrillers and horror, but surely readers only need to pick up a newspaper for that. We like to think our novel gives you the same ‘ah’ factor as a glass of wine after a hard day, and an escape from the trouble and strife of modern life.

As for writing independently, I’m working on a time—travelling historical novel for young adults – watch this space!"

"JULIA: Most of all I enjoy writing social satire with Gaynor but when I am writing on my own I write children’s fiction as well as reviewing children’s books and blogging about story writing in general. Because of that I read a lot of children’s books (middle grade) and for my adult fiction I like to alternate something contemporary with revisiting a classic. I have just re-read Graham Greene’s The End of The Affair and that just gets better and better. Everything I read informs my writing so even a ‘bad book’ (if there is such a thing) is never a waste of time."

What is in store next?

"JULIA: We are currently working on the next in the Riverside Lane series. We don’t have a name yet but the plot is planned and the characters are all alive and whispering in our ears. The story is set in Cookham, a little upstream from Bray. Cookham is a Thameside village most famous for being the setting for The Wind in the Willows and home to the artist Stanley Spencer and the eponymous gallery showing his work."

Rickett’s Farm, Cookham Dene 1938 (Tate Gallery)

And as a final quirky thing, to get to know you a little bit better... do you have a pet or something that is special to you that you could share with us?

"GAYNOR: My favourite dog in the whole world is Julia’s bull dog Rumple. He’s the boss - his picture says it all!"

"JULIA: My English Bulldog Rumpole is an unofficial member of the Ginger Black team. He muscles in on all the photo shoots and gets most of the praise. Here is a picture of him. And a picture of Gaynor and I. Sorry I don’t have one of the three of us together."

Awww!!!!! Hello gorgeous Rumpole! Lots of head scratches to you from all of us at BooksChatter!

Julia, thank you so much for sharing Rumpole with us; and of course to you, Gaynor, for being such good sports today :-)