Nancy Atherton

(Scroll down for interview)

When I read Aunt Dimity’s Death, I thought it was much like Dorothy Cannell’s The Thin Woman – both feature young American women who travel to England, in part, for an inheritance. Both series are very gentle – in fact, some of the Aunt Dimity stories have no significant crime in them at all, just puzzles to solve. Aunt Dimity’s Death, like The Thin Woman, was selected as one of the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the 20th Century by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. (The entire list can be found at www.mysterybooksellers.com/favorites.html). I have to confess I’m a real fan of these books; I collect them in hard cover and have read the first few at least twice.

Books:

Profile

Nancy Atherton is not a white-haired Englishwoman with a softly wrinkled face, a wry smile, and wise gray eyes, nor does she live in a thatched cottage beside a babbling brook in a tranquil, rural corner of the Cotswolds.

She has never taken tea with a vicar (though she drank an Orange Squash with one once) and she doesn't plan to continue writing after her allotted time on earth (though such plans are, as we all know, subject to change without notice).

If you prefer to envision her as an Englishwoman, she urges you to cling to your illusions at all costs -- she treasures carefully nurtured illusions. She also urges you to read no further.

Because the truth is that Nancy Atherton is a dark-haired American with a generally unwrinkled face, a beaming smile, and befuddled hazel eyes, who lives in a plain white house in a tranquil, rural corner of Illinois. She comes from a large, gregarious family (five brothers and two sisters!) and enjoys socializing as much as she enjoys solitude.

So if you're looking for her at a convention, don't look for a stately grande dame in a flowery dress. Look for the woman in jeans and sneakers who's bounding around like a hyperactive gerbil.

That'll be me. And I'd love to meet you.

From http://www.aunt-dimity.com/. Used with permission.

Author Interview (2-21-2006)

Cozy Library: When I first read Aunt Dimity's Death, it reminded me of Dorothy Cannell's TheThin Woman: a young American woman traveling to Britain, in part, for an inheritance. Was The Thin Woman or Dorothy Cannell an influence on your writing?

 

NA: No, since I've never read anything by Dorothy Cannell. After I wrote Aunt Dimity's Death, I was on my way to Malice Domestic and I met Dorothy on the airplane ... she's a wonderful person and I think the world of her. While I was at Malice Domestic that first time, people were mentioning the similarities between the two books. After that, I intentionally didn't read The Thin Woman because I didn't want any more similarity.

 

One of the problems with writing a mystery with an amateur sleuth is how to have a main character that's not working. Having to clock in and clock out wouldn't be interesting. So they have to marry someone rich or be a crime writer (because we know they don't work J). Or they can inherit money so they can do the things we want to read about it. I think inheritance is a standard trope for freeing up characters to do cool things.

 

CL: What was your reaction to having Aunt Dimity's Death recognized as one of the 100 top mysteries of the 20th Century? That has to be a field of tens of thousands!

 

NA: I was so bowled over, I can't begin to describe it. I was incredulous -- to be mentioned in the same breath as Dorothy Sayers! Because Aunt Dimity's Death came out so late in the 20th Century, it slipped in at the last minute. I feel like having it engraved on my tombstone. It was a complete delight - my favorite authors are all in the list. It's funny to find yourself as someone else's favorite author - kind of an out-of-body experience.

 

CL: Some of the Aunt Dimity books have no real crime in them, yet they're categorized as mysteries. Couldn't your books also be put in the "general fiction" category?

 

NA: There's more to mystery than murder. It's true. In England, books like those of P.D. James and Dorothy Sayers are called "detective fiction," not mystery. In detective fiction, you have a detective and you have a crime to solve. "Mystery" is broader.

 

A reader once gave me this definition of mystery: anything that is secret or obscure and excites the imagination. By that definition, my books are certainly mysteries; they do pull you through with "what happened," why did this happen?" There's more to mystery than murder.

 

By the way, I have the best readers in the world, bar none. They are intelligent, fun, and kind. I'm lucky, lucky, lucky.

 

CL: I've read Aunt Dimity's Death at least three times and enjoyed it every time. Why do you think readers enjoy the Aunt Dimity books so much?

 

NA: My readers answer with two things. 1) Lori is not perfect but she somehow keeps her sense of humor no matter what's going on. Even when she's down, she's funny. Then the black humor sets in and makes readers laugh. I love that about her. She's got quick temper, says things she shouldn't but she's endearing that way. 2) There are a whole lot of people who are sick of filling their heads with violence and vulgarity. They're sick of psychos, characters they wouldn't want to be on the same continent with. My characters are ones you really want to spend time with: go for a walk, have a cup of tea, take a trip - they're good companions. A lot of people are looking for that. I don't really understand why people fill their heads with that. There's a choice. I always say, people call my books "fantasy" but axe murderers are "realistic?" I don't know about anyone else, but most of the people I know are pretty nice people.  

 

I think my books are "adult" in the best sense. Adult fiction doesn't have anything to do with pornography ... that's really the "juvenile fiction." We move on to other adventures as adults. My readers enjoy being with grownups.

 

CL: Do you believe in ghosts?

 

NA: No, I don't. Like Sirius Black (in the Harry Potter Books), I believe those we love never truly leave us, they leave an imprint on our soul. My mom and dad have died in the last few years, but I have so much of them in me, I carry them with me all the time - and that's a very real thing. I've never experienced a ghost or anything supernatural, but people who have experienced that have a perfect right to believe it. I'll believe it when I see it; for me, it takes more than someone's word.

 

CL: Was the friendship between Lori's mother and Aunt Dimity based on a relationship between real people?

 

NA: No. I'm passionately in love with history, especially English history, especially the World War I era but World War II was a huge part of my parents' lives - so that's close to us. One day, I want to write a book about Lori's mom and Aunt Dimity meeting. That book is tucked away in my brain - then I would get to write about the World War II period.

 

CL: I'm hoping you'll keep on writing about Lori and Aunt Dimity - how long do you see the series going? (In your photo, you look young, so I'm guessing you'll have many more years of writing.)

 

NA: I didn't expect to be a writer -- this was a big surprise to me. They call writing a gift. It was given to me and I said "thank you." I have no control over it. As long as the Aunt Dimity stories keep popping up, I will continue writing them. The book I'm working on now is an absolute blast. I didn't see this one coming. When they stop coming, I will start writing something else or get a job waiting tables.

 

CL: Who are your favorite authors?

 

NA: Fiction authors: P.D. James, Tony Hillerman, Georgette Heyer, Terry Pratchett (fantasy), Dorothy Sayers, Jonathan Gash, Jane Austen and John LeCarre's spy books. I do a lot more re-reading than reading - especially last year ... when I did lot of comfort reading. I was going back to old friends and reading them over again. My non-fiction reading includes books about World War I in England: biographies, journals, letters, military history, social history. That's when the universe changed, when cynicism entered the world.

 

CL: Which writers most influenced your work?

 

NA: I have no idea. Since I didn't set out to be a writer, I have been influenced by many, many writers that it's hard to identify. Books I read when I was a kid influenced my writing a lot, books like Little Women and The Little Princess, also books about noble dogs and horses that do heroic things and then die gloriously. Probably that's true for most writers whether they admit it or not. Another really big influence is poetry which I've read since I was very, very young.

 

I have a musical year ... language is my music. Poetry is about the musical use of the language. Favroite poets include Browning, Tennyson, Kipling - poets with strong characters, and a strong sense of place and the music going on. I particularly like the World War I poets.

 

CL: What are you reading now?

 

NA: Lighthouse by P.D. James.

 

CL: Anything else?

 

NA: I am enormously grateful to my readers, so enjoy their company and feel lucky to know such wonderful people. I meet people I could be friends with all the time. It's hard to be friends with everybody. They're kind, smart and funny ... that's what a friend is

Website: http://www.aunt-dimity.com/