Answers by Hazel Holt
I had a few questions for Hazel Holt and doing her website gave we the perfect excuse to ask them, it also gave me an excuse to put them up on the website (with her permission) for all to see.
The answers have sparked off some more questions so this page may well expand in the future.
Webmaster, hazelholt.co.uk
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WM : Since this website is devoted to your writings, mainly as a mystery writer, what made you become a mystery writer?
HH : I suddenly came across an incident (locally) that I thought would make a perfect murder mystery - it gave me a plot (something I was never very good at) and just went ahead with it - using the first person because it was easier.Writing in the first person you automatically have A Voice, which is what every writer needs! WM : Of all the books you have written is there a favourite? HH : The Shortest Journey and Death of a Dean. WM : The character of Sheila malory is well developed, with "real life" going on around her all the time. How much of yourself have you put into the character? HH : Sheila is MUCH nicer than me - I never engage in Good Works - it's my proud boast that I have NEVER, ever, sat on a committee. We both love animals tho'. WM : Your son Tom Holt is an author as well, is this a family thing? Are there any more authors in the family tree? HH : No WM : Talking of Tom how much of him is in Sheila's good but untidy son Michael? HH : More than he is prepared to admit. All Michael's best remarks are Tom's. WM : You went to Newham College Cambridge but Sheila malory went to Oxford (although the daughter of one of Sheila's friends goes to your old college), was there any particular reason that you didn't send your main character to Cambridge? HH : With Michael at Oxford (as Tom was) it seemed most suitable - anyway I wanted to use the Bodleian. WM : You put a lot of detail into your books, for example in "The only good lawyer" Sheila looks around one characters recording studio and has all the machines described for her. How much research needs to go into a book? HH : That bit about recording studios I got from a friend of a friend who knows about such things. The only research I do is the legal stuff that Tom helps me with. WM : You have written a short story (Journey's End) for "And the dying is easy", an anthology published in America with various sleuths on holiday. Have you written any other short stories? HH : Only the one in "And the Dying is Easy" and one in the US annual collection for Malice Domestic. Both commissioned since it isn't really my medium. WM : Have you ever had to, or would you like to investigate things in real life like Sheila malory? HH : No way. WM : What books do you enjoy reading? HH : Nothing sad or miserable any more. Favourite authors (apart from Tom) are 1930s women writers (E.M.Delafield etc) Barbara Pym and Aurthur Marshal and Alan Coren. |
