Posts by Evie Hawtrey
A Flat with a View: Ni’s place in Bankside
In And by Fire DI Nigella Parker enjoys a posh lifestyle. Not, to be clear, on her salary from the City Police of London (I am writing fiction, not fantasy), but because she comes from a wealthy, Oxbridge educated family. Central to her daily life is a flat in Bankside purchased with money inherited from…
Read MorePre-Order a SIGNED Copy of AND BY FIRE
✍️I like my books like I like my checks—SIGNED.✍️ Seriously, there is something extra special about a signed copy of a book, and my signed copies have pride of place in my personal library. If, like me, you get a thrill when you flip open the copy of a novel and see the author’s signature…
Read MoreAuthor Leanne Kale Talks About The Process of Creating Her Novel, The Wrong Woman
Crime & Mystery Lovers rejoice, it’s author interview time!!! My Crooked Lane Books sister, Leanne Kale Sparks’ novel, The Wrong Woman, released earlier this month. And today she’s sitting down—in the blog post sense—to share some behind the scenes details on her creative process. But first, let’s start things off with a book description: In…
Read MoreWorst Beauty Product EVER
History is fascinating, frustrating, and occasionally downright gross.1 In And By Fire—while my modern-day police detectives are chasing a murderous arsonist creating sculptures from burnt flesh—a pair of 17th century amateur detectives search for a friend gone missing during London’s Great Fire. During that hunt, Margaret Dove (a lady-in-waiting to the queen) and Etienne Belland…
Read MoreKirkus Reviews AND BY FIRE, and a DISCOUNT on Pre-Orders!!!
I’ve always had MAD RESPECT for folks who Bookstagram—you know the ones, with the gorgeous, staged pictures of books with props. It’s an art-form truly. And I assumed it took a heck of a lot of work. SO GUESS WHAT I DECIDED TO DO FOR FUN LAST WEEKEND? That’s right–take some glamour shots of my…
Read MoreWood is NOT Flammable—Yeah, you read that right.
All right, I’ll admit . . . this is a matter of semantics. But when you write, words are important. And when you write Crime Fiction making sure you understand the terminology of the science involved is super important. So, what DOES wood do when it sits in our fireplace flaming or when a house…
Read More1666: The Devil’s New Year
Happy New Year all! Here we are at the start of 2022 in the midst of a pandemic. Gloomy times for sure. But at least we aren’t fearful of the violent wrath of God (are we?). In that we have an advantage over many residents of London at the start of the year 1666. If…
Read MoreShow and Tells—Looking for Lies and Omissions in a Witness Interview
“Liar, liar, pants on fire!” If ONLY it were that easy to detect falsehoods. I mean seriously—there is no way even a rookie detective is going to miss flaming pants. Unfortunately, interviewing witnesses and gauging veracity is a more nuanced and trickier business. One I took a close look at when writing And By Fire.…
Read MoreLondon’s Great Fire—A Selection of Fearsome Facts
The Great Fire of London was an event of HISTORIC proportions. While researching the 17th century timeline in AND BY FIRE, I read a collection of exceptional books on the Fire. In fact, let me drop a footnote in here with a couple of recommendations for those of you who would enjoy a deep dive…
Read MoreArson—a crime you generally CAN get away with
Please don’t think I am encouraging you to a life of crime, but most arson is NEVER detected—*shudder*—let alone prosecuted. In the US, Fire Chiefs estimate the percentage of arsonists detected and prosecuted hovers between 15-20%. And serial arsonists . . . let’s just say they get to burn a heck of a lot of…
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