Author Frances Brody talks to us about her latest novel A Mansion for Murder and tells us how her writing style has changed over time.
Frances Brody is the author of the Kate Shackleton mysteries. The latest instalment, A Mansion for Murder, will be published by Piatkus on 20 October.
In October 2021 Frances launched a new series, the story of a prison, the prisoners and their jailers, called A Murder Inside. You can find A Mansion for Murder and other titles on our catalogue.
I liked Just William by Richmal Crompton and the Just Jane stories by Evadne Price. My favourite comic strip was Pansy Potter Strong Man’s Daughter in the Beano. We had lots of books in the house, and I came across W B Yeats. My party piece was to stand on a stool in the kitchen and recite The Lake Isle of Innisfree - to a captive audience. The Beano and W B Yeats – humour and melancholy, a timeless combination.
The only fan letter I ever wrote was to Paul Robeson, I heard him on the radio singing Old Man River and wrote to him care of the BBC. Neither he nor anybody else replied. That didn’t matter. It was writing to him that counted.
I wrote three novels set in working-class Leeds in the early part of the last century, based on family stories. The books were first published under my own name, Frances McNeil. They are now re-published as Frances Brody books. The first was Sisters on Bread Street, which was the street where my mother lived until the age of eleven. In the third book, there is a bank robbery, a murder, and a huge miscarriage of justice. I had slowly slid into writing crime. Those first three books are very special to me. You can read about them on the Sagas page of my website.
I wrote the book I wanted to write. My agent immediately saw the potential for a series. When Dying in the Wool was published, a bookseller said to me that if I had written it a few years earlier there would have been no great interest in a book set in the 1920s. Fortunately, the timing was right, we had a lovely cover, and Waterstones stocked the book.
On a visit to Saltaire village and Salts Mill, near the banks of the River Aire, I walked through woodland to the site of a nineteenth-century grand mansion. Milner Field was the dream house of Titus Salt Junior, fifth and youngest son of Sir Titus Salt, wealthy textile manufacturer, who opened his new mill by the banks of the River Aire in 1853. Trees grow where this fine house once stood. There are traces of the conservatory’s mosaic floor, a fraction of wall, a glimpse into a cellar and weeds growing amidst the rubble.
What remains of Milner Field mansion are stories of a house so unlucky that it became known as cursed. Those stories and the scant remains of former grandeur inspired A Mansion for Murder. I loved researching and writing because there was such a lot to discover.
I’m fortunate to have such excellent covers. I am sometimes asked about a particular moment in the story that might be right for the cover image. I’m shown the cover at an early stage and am invited to comment.
I’m still caught up with A Mansion for Murder and have a launch and appearances lined up. I have made a start on the next book which is the second in my Nell Lewis prison governor series.
Not for everyone, but I love the paintings of Atkinson Grimshaw. He painted scenes that a hundred and fifty years on I recognise. Each painting could be the beginning, middle or end of a story. I particularly like Park Row by Moonlight, which was commissioned by the directors of Becketts Bank, Leeds and hangs in Leeds Art Gallery.
Sit in bed all day and read.
Never again will I move house.
‘That coalman in your story was my uncle.’
