Regular visitors will know that I love to read about recurring characters and watch their story develop over a number of books. This new feature, A Series Business, was created so that I could ask authors to discuss all their books and try to put the focus on the wonderful back catalogue available for readers.
Today I am thrilled to welcome Sarah Hilary back to Grab This Book. Sarah is the author of the brilliant Marnie Rome books which I have loved since I first read Someone Else’s Skin not long after I began this blog.
I never begin with a question. Could I ask you to introduce yourself and ask you to ensure you take full advantage of this opportunity to plug your books?
I’m Sarah Hilary and I’m writing the Marnie Rome series set in London. Marnie is a detective inspector with the Metropolitan Police, working with her detective sergeant, Noah Jake, to tackle crimes such as domestic violence, murder, kidnap and exploitation. In the latest book, Come and Find Me, Marnie and Noah are racing against time to find Mickey Vokey, a dangerous escaped prisoner with a history of violence.
As the purpose of A Series Business is to discuss the Marnie Rome books could you now introduce us to Marnie?
Marnie is a bit of a mystery to me, but that’s all to the good. I love exploring her character and uncovering her secrets as the series progresses. As a teenager, she was a wild child, getting tattoos, getting drunk, running away from home. She deeply regrets the pain she caused her parents during that period of their lives. After she left home, they fostered a young boy, Stephen, who went on to murder them when he was fourteen. Marnie is driven by guilt, grief and the need for answers from Stephen. But I’m careful not to let this backstory get in the way of her work. Marnie is calm and compassionate, and she has a very steely core.
Had it always been your intention to build a series around a recurring character?
In a sense, yes. Once I knew who Marnie was — her complicated past, her need for redemption — I could see I needed time and many, many pages to take her on that journey. Each book has a separate crime, but Marnie’s backstory runs across the series.
Have you a character path mapped out and are you building up towards key events? Or is the future for Marnie still unclear, even to you?
No, I don’t even have a plot for each book! I abide by the rule that characters need to change, especially ones involved in police work which exposes them to trauma and stress. But I deliberately avoid knowing where a story will end. The fun for me comes from making discoveries as I write. Marnie has several times surprised me, which makes for great twists for readers too.
Have you written anything thus far in the series which you now wish you could undo?
No, thank goodness. But it does remain a chief concern of mine. I hate the thought of having written myself into a corner which might ruin a brilliant twist I’ve yet to dream up!
Do you include “spoilers” from earlier stories in subsequent books? If I were to be reading out of order could I possibly learn of a character death or a murderer’s identity which was a twist in an earlier story?
I hope not. I take care to have just enough of a flavour of the earlier stories to intrigue a new reader, but I’d hate to give the twists away. That said, to appreciate the slow burn of Marnie’s character development — and her dance with Stephen towards the truth about her parents’ murders — I’d recommend starting at the beginning.
Do your characters age in real time, living through current events and tech developments or are they wrapped in a creative bubble which allows you to draw only on what you need for the latest book?
They age. But at the moment there is only around two years time difference between the six books in the series. Each one tends to take place within a few months of the last. This is partly because of Marnie’s character arc. Can you imagine picking up book six and discovering that it’s been a couple of years since book five and she’s sorted it all out with Stephen and moved on?!
Do you have ideas for a book which just don’t fit Marnie’s world? Is there a standalone story crying out to be written?
Oh, yes. I suspect all writers are besieged by stories, all the time. I am working on a standalone after Marnie book six, in fact.
Can a Marnie Rome novel ever end in a cliff-hanger or does each book demand a resolution is achieved?
The crime itself needs a resolution, I feel. There is an individual investigation in each book which is wrapped up in the final pages. But I have written quite a few cliff-hangers involving the central characters. Come and Find Me (book five) ends with a heart-stopping shock for one of the main characters.
Colin Dexter famously killed off Inspector Morse. Agatha Christie wrote Poirot’s death and then released dozens more Poirot stories before Curtain was published. Will there ever be a “final” Marnie Rome story?
Possibly! But that depends on readers, and Marnie. If she keeps whispering her secrets to me, and readers keep wanting to find out more about her, I’d like to keep writing her stories.
Huge thanks to Sarah, I know I am not alone when I say that we really do want to learn more about Marnie!
You can order any of the Marnie Rome books through the following link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sarah-Hilary/e/B009X3U5BE/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1
