Rebecca
asked
Rosemary Simpson:
I picked up What the Dead Leave Behind because I've always thought that 1888 was an especially eventful year - along with the Great Blizzard and Jack the Ripper, the International Council of Women was formed, the London Matchgirl Strike happened, slavery was fully abolished in Brazil...are there any other major events that you'd like to incorporate into Prudence's story?
Rosemary Simpson
You’ve hit upon one of the major problems associated with writing historical fiction, a real dilemma when the genre is historical mystery. Which real events does the author weave into the story to create the atmosphere of time and place without distracting the reader from the story line? There is always so much that is fascinating during the research process. Unfortunately, it can’t all be used. Even history buffs can lose interest if they’re inundated with too many facts delivered too quickly and without apparent plot justification. I’ve settled on highlighting one contemporary major event/social problem for each of the books in the series, but I also try to add lots of period detail that the main characters hardly notice. Sometimes the event is the catalyst for the action, as in WHAT THE DEAD LEAVE BEHIND. As soon as I decided on the Great Blizzard of 1888 as the event and laudanum addiction as the social problem, I had to put other material aside . . . until future books in the series.
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