We chat with author Leonard Goldberg about A Scandalous Affair, which is the latest Daughter of Sherlock Holmes novel where Joanna Holmes must confront a shocking case of blackmail that threatens the highest levels of His Majesty’s government.
Hi, Leonard! Tell us a bit about yourself?
I am Leonard Goldberg, the USA Today bestselling author of the Daughter of Sherlock Holmes mystery series. My novels have been translated into 15 languages and have been selections of the Book of the Month Club and the Mystery Guild. After a long career with the UCLA Medical Center as a Clinical Professor of Medicine, I now live on an island off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina.
What is the newest installment of the series, A Scandalous Affair, about?
In A Scandalous Affair, Sherlock Holmes’s daughter faces an elaborate mystery that threatens the second most powerful man in His Majesty’s government. His position is such that he answers only to the king and the prime minister.
In 1918, during the height of the Great War, Joanna Holmes and the Watsons receive a late-night, clandestine visit from Sir William Radcliffe, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who brings with him an agonizing tale of blackmail; a case so sensitive that it can only be spoken of in the confines of 221B Baker Street.
An unknown individual has come into possession of salacious photographs, which not only sullies the family name, but may force the chancellor to vacate his seat on the War Council where his advice is most needed. The blackmailer has in their possession revealing photographs that show Sir William’s granddaughter in romantic encounters with a man other than the aristocrat to whom she is engaged to marry. Should the pictures be released to the public, the wedding would be immediately called off, and the prospect of the granddaughter ever finding a suitable husband would vanish.
Sir William’s family has been forced to pay exorbitant sums for several of the photographs, but even more salacious pictures remain in the blackmailer’s possession—and will no doubt carry greater demands and threats. Scotland Yard cannot be involved, for fear of public disclosure. It thus falls on the shoulders of Joanna and the Watsons to expose the blackmailer and procure the photographs before irreparable harm comes to the chancellor and his family.
What was your original inspiration for the series?
I actually got the idea from a critic who happened to give me a fine review on an earlier novel. He stated that the story “seemed to fly along on the Holmesian wings of Joanna Blalock.” That was the moment I connected the forensic pathologist Joanna Blalock to Sherlock Holmes and I knew that someday I would tie Joanna to Sherlock in a stand-alone novel. And eventually I did in The Daughter of Sherlock Holmes.
How do you go about writing about something that stems off of someone else’s idea?
Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park which is one of the bestselling novels of all time. I never met nor chatted with Michael Crichton, yet I am more than certain he copied Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World, which was written over a hundred years ago. How can I be so sure? Because when Crichton wrote the sequel to Jurassic Park, he entitled it Jurassic Park: The Lost World. Thus I believe Crichton was paying homage to the great Arthur Conan Doyle, and I think the reader can easily see the striking parallels between the two stories.
When writing a new version, you take the idea and install your own narrative, with new events and characters, change the locations and time period, and alter the ending. Then the idea and novel become yours.
What is your approach to coming up with a new book?
I usually write for two or three hours in the early morning and sometimes at night. Because I get my best ideas late at night, I keep paper and pencil by my bedside. Most of my initial ideas are sparked by the newspaper. I’ll see something that clicks, and suddenly a story begins to form. Usually I resist it at first, but if it sticks with me, and percolates, I know I have a story. Then, after I’ve thought about it for two months, sorting out the good stuff from the bad, I’m ready to write.
How has your career in medicine impacted the books you write?
Most people are surprised when a doctor writes a novel. I was surprised that more of us do not. After all, doctors are trained to be pretty good storytellers. Just think about it for a moment. Every time we see a new patient it is the start of a new story which we narrate. We weave a tale from signs, symptoms, and laboratory tests, and at times write an entire novel at one sitting. Read a hospital discharge summary on a difficult case and you will see a mystery novel unfolding right before your eyes.
When it comes to medicine in a mystery novel, one needs to be a physician or have a professional guide to assure authenticity, for without it the writer can never transport the reader into the world where there is suspension of disbelief.
