1. Firstly, I really enjoyed reading 'The Dead Girls Detective Agency' and can't wait to get stuck into the sequel. Could you tell me a bit about your inspiration for the series?
Thank you! An obsession with Gossip Girl, Ghostbusters, Nancy Drew and New York (see below)!
2. Why did you decide to set the story in New York? (Incidentally it's the number one place I would like to visit)
You HAVE to go. I’m properly obsessed with New York. The Frank Sinatra film On The Town is one of my favourite movies. I’ve read Paula Danziger’s Remember Me To Harold Square so often I could quote it. And that’s before we get onto my Ghostbusters/ Breakfast At Tiffany’s/ Carrie Bradshaw problem. The first time I visited the city six years ago, I fell in love and actually cried on the plane home (*so* embarrassing). For me, New York’s the most magical, beautiful city in the world. If I had to be marooned in one place for eternity – as Charlotte and the other Dead Girls are in my books – it would always be Manhattan. No brainer.
3. Who was your favourite character to write in the book? I personally loved Nancy!
I love Nancy too. Every girl needs a Nancy in their lives – she should come as standard issue any time you’re going through a life crisis. Or just trying to get out the house when you’ve slept through your alarm!
In Dead Girls 2, I really enjoyed writing the character of Mercy Grant – the Upper East Side’s biggest drama queen. She’s super-confident, way arrogant and has zero self-awareness. It makes her incredibly annoying to be around, but made getting into her head a lot of fun. I’d love to have a bit more of her nerve – she really doesn’t give a damn – but I think I’d have a lot less friends.
4. If you only had one day to live what would your perfect day consist of?
Ohhh, that’s a toughie. I’m going to pretend I’ve got teleporting skills, like the ghosts in Dead Girls do, but I’m going to cheat and let myself port all over the place, instead of just Manhattan.
I’d wake up to a view of the sea (any sea as long as it was blue and the sky was sunny), then go to the fish market in Hamburg for breakfast – it’s a massive party which starts at 4am, and you can get the best potatoes and egg breakfast there, which everyone washes down with a glass of fizz, of course. I’d port over to New York, and spend most of my day walking around the Village where the Dead Girls’ hotel is – I love the way the streets are all leafy, but at the same time you can feel the buzz of the city on every corner. I’d take one last look at the skyline (sniff!), then port over to St Ives in Cornwall – my other favourite place in the world. And where I wrote a lot of Dead Girls 2. I’d have dinner with my family in the Porthgwidden Beach Café – it’s a tiny, perfect shack overlooking the sand – then go hang out with my friends on Porthmeor Beach and watch the sun set.
Ideally, I’d not end it getting pushed under a subway train like Charlotte did, but I guess you don’t get to pick how you go.
5. I love detective novels and TV series. Do you have a favourite detective?
I grew up in Oxford so I have a massive soft spot for grumpy old Inspector Morse. The stories are so intractably woven and clever. As a kid, whenever we spotted the TV crew filming or Morse’s red Jaguar, it was VERY exciting.
And of course Nancy Drew. She’s the coolest girl detective of all time. She never gets freaked out, gets to go all over the world solving crime, has the best side-kicks (George and Bess)… and I think I spent quite a lot of my early teens having a thing for Ned Nickerson, her boyfriend.
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