We chat with author Jess Kidd about Murder At Gulls Nest, which is the first in a cosy mystery series about a former nun who searches for answers in a small seaside town after her pen pal mysteriously disappears.
Hi, Jess! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
I’m the author of four novels and one children’s book, along with many short stories. I also write for TV and film. I live in the UK, in a small village in rural North Yorkshire with my two dogs. I was raised by a big wild London-Irish family and have them to thank for my love of storytelling.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
We didn’t have a lot of books in our house when I was growing up but there were many brilliant storytellers in the oral tradition. I was a quiet child and preferred writing my stories down to telling them out aloud. I continued writing all through my life, even when I didn’t apply myself to my studies. I dropped out of college and had my daughter young. I was fortunate enough to be awarded a bursary to return to education to undertake MA and then Doctorate in creative writing studies.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: One of my older sisters taught me to read using Mills & Boon romance novels, which were popular in the UK at the time. I don’t remember the titles, but I still remember the pictures on the covers, usually someone swooning in historical dress.
- The one that made you want to become an author: Conrad the Factory-Made Boy by Christine Nöstlinger. Conrad is a child packaged in a tin can who arrives in the post by accident. His chance caregiver is the feral, endearingly anarchic Mrs Bartolotti. Neither of them adheres to the society-designated rules for adults or children. But Conrad must learn to be a convincing ‘real’ child if they are to stay together. I found this book magical.
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Under the Skin by Michel Faber. This was adapted into an equally startling and perplexing film. But it is the book that haunts me in the wee small hours. It’s a strange and brave and disturbing book. A character called Isserley drives the remote roads in northern Scotland. She picks up hitchhikers, mostly lean and muscular men…
Your latest novel, Murder at Gulls Nest, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Former nun in seaside mystery!
What can readers expect?
Murder at Gulls Nest is the first book in a brand-new sparkling seaside mystery series. It’s set in 1953 and follows sharp-eyed former nun Nora Breen on her first adventure. After three decades in a Carmelite monastery Nora hangs up her habit and travels to Gore-on-Sea a seaside town on the Kent coast. She checks into the Gulls Nest boarding house, a place of eccentric inmates, awful meals and fading grandeur. But Nora has not washed up on a whim, she’s here to investigate the disappearance of her favourite novice. When a fellow boarder is found dead under mysterious circumstances Nora suspects foul play. Only, it seems that everyone – even Nora herself – has a secret to hide at Gulls Nest!
Where did the inspiration for Murder at Gulls Nest come from?
There were several sources of inspiration. The idea of writing a former religious sister came from my childhood. I was taught by a former nun as a child. I was intrigued by her story, in terms of why she joined a religious order and then why she left, but I was never brave enough to ask her about it. The main setting of the first book, Gulls Nest boarding house, was inspired by a disastrous romantic weekend. We booked into an unnamed hotel in Kent, and it was marvellous but not perhaps in the way you’d hope for. There was a formidable landlady, haunted plumbing and eccentric guests. The house would have been beautiful in its day but was shabbily strange when we came to it. But I loved it for its character.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I loved writing all the characters (and some are returning in the next Nora Breen mystery, Murder at the Spirit Lounge). But I particularly liked writing the relationships between Nora Breen and her sidekick, Detective Inspector Hilary Rideout. They have great banter and sparks often fly between them. DI Rideout was a pilot in the RAF during the war and is a fascinating character in his own right.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
The biggest challenge, as a cross-genre writer, was to stick to one genre. I have used crime elements in all my novels but often a dash of magical realism too. This is not to say that my trademark twisted humour and surreal moments hasn’t filtered into Nora Breen’s first adventure!
There is a well calibrated puzzle at the core of the book, as you’d find in all crime novels. But I also wanted the book to be character-led and the setting to feel immersive. I really wanted to create a protagonist, time and place I wanted to return to time and again, and hope my readers will too.
What’s next for you?
I’ll be polishing up Nora’s second outing, Murder at the Spirit Lounge, over the next few weeks. Here is just a taster…
When Dolores Chimes, famous medium arrives in Gore-on-Sea, even surly Detective Inspector Rideout succumbs to promises of messages for the afterlife. Then a reading goes disastrously wrong, striking Dolores dead with terror. In the following days five of the six sitters at the séance meet their deaths in ways apparently supernatural. The race is on for Nora to find a ghostly serial killer before the sixth victim – Rideout himself – dies.
Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up this year?
I’m really looking forward to Hawthorn: A Scottish Ghost Story, by Elaine Thomson. The first in a quartet of ghost stories. They will be set in historic Scotland at the four turning points of the year: Samhain, midsummer, midwinter and the spring equinox. The ‘quarter days’ when the boundary between the real and spirit worlds became blurred. Delighted to see a novel-length ghost story.
