In Conversation with Miss Marple

A raven’s call, a gurgling croaking sound, echoes in the crisp morning air stirring your imagination. Your feet push through snow drifts like swirls of freshly whipped meringue and fluffy flakes like tiny white feathers cling to your face. A smile of anticipation adorns your face as you climb the granite stairs to the library entrance where once through the doors you are free to go wherever your curiosity and imagination will take you.

You’re greeted by the familiar musty scent of books and the ancient wide plank hardwood floor creaks and groans with each step as you cross the foyer. You climb the grand oak staircase to the second floor making your way to the Reading Room. The room is softly lit, the walls lined with deep rich mahogany shelves filled with wonderful books and you notice there one empty seat just waiting for you. A low murmur of amiable voices gently greets your ears and immediately you sense you are among friends. Someone hands you a steaming cup of coffee and wrapping your cold hands around it you sink down into an inviting Morgan chair with its down filled deep seat cushion and a perfectly pitched, firm back, it really is as comfy as it looks. The English rolled arms enfold you as all your cares drift away.

A hush falls over the room as a well modulated baritone voice begins, “Welcome to the Reading Room, my friends. We’re glad you could join our conversation. Please help me welcome, our new friend, Edward R. Murrow award winning broadcaster, currently a weekend morning anchor at 1010 WINS, New York’s top all-news station and historical fiction mystery author, Kathleen Marple Kalb.

Good morning Kathleen and welcome to The Reading Room where you’re among friends. We’re very glad you joined our conversation, for the love of books.

James: I know everyone in the room is impatiently wondering and hoping that I’m going to ask, do you actually have “Marple” in your name and where did it originate? Were your parents avid Miss Marple fans or were they not so secretly hoping for a mystery writing daughter?

I know it’s a family secret and if you tell me you’ll have to kill me.

Kathleen: (Chuckling) I’d be almost disappointed if you didn’t ask! It was just my late father’s last name, and I didn’t know that there was a Miss Marple who wasn’t me until I was about seven and I saw it on a book on my grandfather’s shelf (between Dick Francis and Rex Stout, I think!) But nobody ever believes I was really born with it…in fact, my agent didn’t even want me to use the “Marple” at first, because it seemed “too on the nose.”

I have spent my life showing people my driver's license or union card. I really WAS born Miss Marple. "Marple" has been a thing since I was a kid in my first radio job. People ALWAYS thought I'd changed it!

James: How very interesting not to mention serendipitous. Thank you, Kathleen.

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

Kathleen: I honestly don’t remember! I’ve been reading since I was a toddler, and somewhere in fifth or sixth grade I started thinking, “You know, I’d like to try telling the story myself!”

James: Did you write stories in fifth or sixth grade? Would you like to share one with us?

Kathleen: I did…and unfortunately, all of the stories I wrote on wire-bound legal pads as a kid were washed away, along with most of our family photos, in a flood years ago. Most of my early stuff was bad attempts at Victoria Holt-style romantic suspense because that’s what I was reading.

James: What do you like to do when you're not writing?

Kathleen: Family time with the Professor and the Imp always wins: we read or play board games together. And every day I get some kind of exercise, because it really helps me relax.

James: Sounds like you lead a well balanced life.

What tactics do you employ when writing? (For example: outline first or just write)

Kathleen: I’m a semi-pantser, which sounds like a character in one of my son’s books! By that, I mean I just start writing, usually the beginning and the end, and maybe some big scenes in the middle. Then it’s time for a synopsis to lay down the basics of the story. About halfway through, I’m ready for a more specific outline to map out how it all comes together. At the end of the day, I’m a mystery writer, so I have to be very structured about evidence and plot points.

James: Give us three "Good to Know" facts about you. Be creative. Tell us about your first job, the inspiration for your writing, any fun details that would enliven your page.

Kathleen: 1) My first job was as an overnight DJ at the little radio station in my Western Pennsylvania hometown -- I can still cue a record! 2) Off the air, I have a slight Western PA accent: Four comes out “Fow-er.” 3) I’m 6’1” and not only did I NOT play hoop in college, I can’t sink a free throw!

James: I tried to listen to your news broadcast but unfortunately couldn’t access it from Canada.

Why did you choose to write in your particular field or genre?

Kathleen: I love series mysteries because you get to spend a long time with the place and the characters, and each book is a very straightforward “episode” in their lives. I land in the cozy or light end in content because I’m an NYC radio news anchor by trade, and I have one simple rule: if it would cross my desk at work, I don’t want to write about it – or read about it, honestly!

James: There is something comforting about getting to know and spend time with characters in a favourite series.

What was the source of your inspiration for A Fatal Finale?

Kathleen: I grew up seeing all those wonderful movies with swashbuckling heroes, and I never understood why the woman didn’t get to jump in on the swordplay, too. Years later, I read about trouser roles in opera, and it clicked! Ella Shane pretty much just appeared to me, a woman who sings male roles, and does her own swordplay…but is a perfect lady offstage.

James: Sounds like the perfect solution.

Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find?

Kathleen: Of course! Many of the characters are named for people who are special to me: Ella’s doctor, Edith Silver, gets her first name from my husband’s aunt, a psychologist well into her 90s and an amazing lady. And, Ella’s original name, Ellen, was my grandfather’s mother’s name – and my own middle name before I married.

James: Which part of researching A Fatal Finale was the most personally interesting to you? Were there any facts, symbols, or themes that you would have liked to include, but they just didn't make it into the story?

Kathleen: The old-school sportswriters and reporters are lots of fun, and they balance against the opera singers and all of the frills and furbelows involved with writing Gilded Age historical fiction. Preston Dare, Tommy and Ella’s informal uncle, especially, is inspired by the acerbic old news guys I know. The original version included a whole 1890s baseball game, which was a treat to write, but did absolutely nothing to move the plot…so I had to cut it.

James: You seem to be right at home in the Gilded Age. Do you ever imagine that perhaps you were born into the wrong era?

Kathleen: Well…I’m drawn to the time period, and I love feeling the resonance when I visit Washington Square or see artifacts like clothing from the time. But the honest truth is, I like antibiotics, chemotherapy (husband is a cancer survivor) and having the right to vote. The Gilded Age is a wonderful place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.

James: Do you feel you relate to your protagonist Ella Shane?

Kathleen: Absolutely! We’re both scruffy kids made good, though her life was of course a lot tougher than mine. More, her battle with work and family is inspired by my own…which ended in a happy balance. It’s too early to say if hers will!

James: If you had a book club, what would it be reading — and why?

Kathleen: Probably one of Alison Weir’s history books on the Tudors. I’m a total fan-girl for her, and I love to read good history while I’m working on a new project. (I don’t like to read fiction when I’m in heavy writing mode because I worry about accidentally stealing someone else’s ideas.)

James: I think all writers experience the same trepidation concerning other writers’ ideas. I certainly have noticed the similar plots and tropes appearing in more than one author’s story. I think with so many years of brilliant writers before us authors today are hard pressed to come up with truly original ideas.

What is the most important tip you can share with other writers?

Kathleen: Be a pro. Approach writing with the same good work habits you would bring to any other job.

James: Sound advice indeed, Kathleen.

What was one challenge you had to overcome to become an author? How did you overcome that challenge?

Kathleen: Learning to take constructive criticism for the gift that it is! It’s never easy to hear that something isn’t as good as it could be. But if you can get past that immediate sting and look for ways to improve your work, you are REALLY on your way. The ability to take honest, well-meant critiques and make revisions based on them is a critical part of improving as a writer, not to mention a key part of the traditional publishing process. If you are going to go the trad pub route, you are going to revise multiple times with multiple people before you hold a book in your hands, and you have to be able to deal with it in a graceful and professional way.

James: Spoken like a true professional.

Pick an excerpt from A Fatal Finale you would like to share with readers.

Kathleen: A taste of Ella’s final catwalk duel with the killer, slightly edited to prevent spoilers:

He came at me with what was supposed to be a kill thrust. I blocked it and made a hard move forward to back him away. It was too much for him. He couldn’t reverse direction and hang on to the heavy sword, so something had to go. The sword. He fumbled for it, but it dropped and landed on the stage below with another shattering crash.

“Time to give up. I’m not going to fight an unarmed man.”

“No!” He grabbed my sword blade with both hands and pulled on it, almost throwing me off balance. I had to let go or fall.

But he gained no advantage, losing his balance on the forward motion as he threw my sword down to join his weapon. The sound of it landing reminded me just how high up we were, and what would likely happen to either of us if we fell.

Choking down that happy thought, I quickly regained my balance and waited for whatever came next as he wobbled. God forgive me, I’ll admit I thought about just giving him a good kick. Father Michael would not have denied me absolution—but I couldn’t do it.

He finally caught the catwalk rail, glaring at me, breathing hard. “I’ll kill you with my bare hands if I have to.” “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” I snapped, taking a couple of careful steps back. No question I would win in a sword fight, but hand-to-hand combat, two stories up, with a larger man determined to kill me—

James: Thank you, Kathleen. It has been interesting, insightful and a pleasure talking with you. I hope you will come back and talk with us again.

Bundle up warm and watch how you go on those snow covered streets. Order your copy of Kathleen’s historical fiction cozy mystery, A Fatal Finale (An Ella Shane Mystery Book 1)and be sure to pre-order your copy of A Fatal First Night (An Ella Shane Mystery Book 2) TODAY!