Lynn Slaughter Novelist
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Next month, A.J. Fotheringham’s latest Bailey Summers Mystery, SUMMERS IN THE CITY, comes out. I’m delighted to feature Anne on my blog today as she talks about her writing and her background, which provided such wonderful preparation for a mystery author.

What inspired you to write the Bailey Summers Mysteries? And why did you decide to make your amateur sleuth a journalist?

I have always heard you should write what you know. I was a journalist at one point and I saw the potential in that job for involvement in mysteries. So, Bailey Summers, journalist and amateur sleuth, was born. I decided to put her in various situations where she would have to solve mysteries in order to get her award-winning stories and build her career. I gave her a partner to work with, photographer Derek Carstairs, ex military, who could help out with his special skills. To my surprise, Derek and Bailey started out in a situation of conflict with each other. But over the series, their relationship has evolved. By Summers in the City, Book 3 in the series, the two of them work well together and have resolved a lot of their concerns about each other.

Give us an idea of what happens in SUMMERS IN THE CITY.

As SUMMERS IN THE CITY opens, Bailey’s father, a renowned artist, has been attacked and stabbed. He lives in an artist’s collective, founded and funded by a wealthy man who was a supporter of the arts. The collective has been subjected to harassment and threats lately, culminating in the attack on her father. Bailey and Derek are drawn into the world of art as they help to find out what’s really going on. As the story evolves, they uncover secrets and lies that have lain buried for years. The action takes them across the City of Montreal and involves international links as well. In this book, you will meet other members of Bailey’s family who support the efforts to find the truth. It is a more personal mystery that she has to solve and it’s a group effort.

What drew you to writing mysteries?   

As a child in England, I lived in an old spooky house. And naturally, my imagination was always hard at work. My father loved spy stories and let me read his books. He worked in pathology and was often talking about dead bodies. But not in a macabre way. More in the way of explaining how people had died. A strange subject for a child to be involved in, but I found it interesting. As I grew up, I read mystery stories avidly and watched crime stories with my father. It was natural that I turned to writing mysteries because they so intrigued me. I am also mad about jigsaw puzzles.

What is your writing process like?                         

I am a plotting pantser. Once I have my outline of what I want to write about, I work through the major plot points chapter by chapter. I write straight through to complete a first draft. If, along the way, I remember something I need to go back and fix or look up, I write a sticky note and post it on my computer. By the time I finish my draft, my desk looks like it has sprouted notes. I let the draft sit for a couple of days, then I start editing and going through the notes. I do a third go-through of the draft then it goes to my betas and my editor. I work on their edits and suggestions before I go to a final draft.

What is the typical writing day for you?

Mornings, after breakfast, I take time for myself. I meditate, I read, I take care of personal business and my social media. In the afternoons, I settle down at the computer to work on my books. It could be research or perhaps I work on my storyboard. I know there’s an app for that but I am a very tactile person and I like to play with my recipe cards with plot points on them and organize them on my bulletin board When I am ready to write I will work through those plot points and see what happens. 

What advice do you have for aspiring mystery writers?                                   

Read, read, read in your genre. See how other writers do it and learn. And write every day. Do morning pages. Take ideas and play with them. See how they can fit together to make a mystery story that works.

What’s next on your writing horizon?

Actually, this winter, I will be focusing on setting up the premise for a new series to debut next year. I am very excited about it. It centres on a resort town that offers winter and summer sports. And the main characters are starting to come together in my mind. I am looking forward to spending the winter with them.

www.ajfotheringham.com/

amazon.com/author/ajfotheringham

Bio:

I am a Montreal-based writer published in mystery, short stories, non-fiction, poetry and children’s. I have two mystery series published on Amazon: The Lamb’s Bay Mysteries, a 9-book series, and my latest – The Bailey Summers Mysteries – of which two books were published in 2023 and the third, Summers in the City, will be released in November. I started publishing my books after a long career in journalism and communications. I have loved writing since I was a child and was lucky to have a career that involved my favorite pastime. I am a member of Crime Writers of Canada, the Quebec Writers’ Federation and Sisters in Crime.