Cassy’s Corner- A Conversation with Jeri Westerson

Noir and hard-boiled fiction seem to be in Jeri Westerson’s blood. She was born and bred on the mean streets of Los Angeles. Reporter, would-be actress, graphic artist; these are the things she spent her time on before creating the newest hardboiled detective, Crispin Guest—ex-knight turned PI, solving crimes in the tough setting of the fourteenth century London in her popular series. The Boston Globe called her detective, “A medieval Sam Spade, a tough guy who operates according to his own moral compass.” Her 2008 debut, VEIL OF LIES, garnered nominations for the Macavity Award for historical mystery and the Shamus Award for Best First PI novel. Her second, SERPENT IN THE THORNS, is also a 2010 finalist for the Bruce Alexander Historical Mystery Award, and her third, THE DEMON’S PARCHMENT is due for release October 12.

Please offer a welcome to Jeri. She is more than generous to spend time with us today on Mysteries and Margaritas.

Cassy: Jeri: First, thank you. This is a delight to have you here. Would you tell me about your work? You write novels that take place in the medieval times. Give us a little of your background.

Jeri: I write what I call “Medieval Noir.” It’s something a little darker and grittier from most medieval mysteries with a nun or a monk protagonist. It’s hard-boiled detective fiction set in the Middle Ages. You might want to think of my protagonist as a Medieval Sam Spade.

People ask all the time if I have a degree in history. I don’t have a history degree and I never taught history. My degree was in graphic design! Though by way of medieval history. Let me explain.

My parents were big fans of English history, the Middle Ages in particular. And so there were always books around both fiction and nonfiction. I used to love the books with the illuminated manuscripts in them, with the great little drawings and amazing calligraphy. So I started getting books from the library about calligraphy and I taught myself how to do it. And then I began inventing my own fonts. And I was always drawing and writing stories that I illustrated. I never knew ‘til much later that people get paid good money to do the kind of artwork. So though I always loved history as something kind of cool it led me to a graphic design career.

Cassy: How did you decide the 14th Century was where you wanted to spend so much time? Is there something unusually appealing to you about that time frame?

Jeri: The late Middle Ages, particularly during the reign of Richard II, was an interesting time. First off, Richard comes to the throne when he’s ten. It’s the beginning of the Hundred Years War. They’re still recovering from the Plague Years. It’s also the time of Geoffrey Chaucer, jousting, courtly love—all kinds of cool things. With Chaucer, we have the emergence of English as the language of both the people and the court. Prior to that, after William the Conqueror conquered England, the language of the elite was French. Sometimes the British monarchs didn’t even speak English. But now, King Richard is speaking English (Middle English, that is) and everyone can understand everyone else. It’s the beginning of their sense of Englishness that culminates centuries later with Henry VIII.

Cassy: This is so intriguing. Would you describe your research process for us? We've had a number of posts about research, but nothing on subjects that are centuries ago. This is a group that LOVES to hear about process, so share all you can.

Jeri: Well! How long have you got? I do a lot of old-fashioned book reading, prowling my local university library for the best sources. Then there’s the Internet to connect with people across the pond in archives in England. They have been most accommodating by helping me out and copying maps and floor plans that I just can’t get here. At one time, I was researching an old priory in England that is now a bed and breakfast. The people who currently own it were nice enough to take pictures of their house and gardens and do a hand drawn floor plan of the original priory and send it to me!

Doing research on websites, like Wikipedia should not be the end of anyone’s investigations. If you find good information, look to see if the website has a bibliography and then go back to the library for further study. I’m also lucky enough to belong to the Internet’s oldest list of medieval scholars, professors, historians, and a few authors. They tell me the best books in which to find my information and at the same time the ones to avoid. I’ve obtained translations in Latin and Medieval French from the folks on that list and all sorts of other little bits of information I never would have known how to find.

And there are also other great resources on the Internet. I have found people who are big into re-enacting the medieval period. Not just Ren Fair people but folks seriously into the research. There is a woman who writes a diary of her costuming history with lots of pictures, talking about the various vegetable dyes she used to get the results, how to make covered buttons, all the careful stitching. Amazing detail of people who are living it.

And then I do my own hands on research. I’ve made medieval recipes and brewed medieval ale. I’ve worn the garb and learned how to use medieval weapons. There is nothing like a little hands on research to know how it all feels, how you move with armor, how heavy the weapons are and what kind of damage you can do with it. It gives tremendous insight.

Cassy: Crispin Guest is an ex-knight turned detective. Tell us about him.

Jeri: Crispin is a man born and bred to be a leader but also to serve his king and his betters honorably. He’s skilled in all the finer accomplishments of a man of his class—hunting, fighting, jousting, swordsmanship, courtly manners, languages, how to rule other men as he did back on his own estates where he was part of the nobility. All that is cast away when Crispin sees that the ten-year-old son of Prince Edward of Woodstock (the Black Prince), son of King Edward III is to take the throne. His mentor the Duke of Lancaster, the man who raised him when his own father and mother died, was the better statesman and should be on the throne. He heard of a conspiracy to do just that and he joined with the conspirators. But the plot was revealed and all the knights involved were executed in nasty ways. Crispin was the last and before he was to die, the duke spoke up to his nephew the king and begged for Crispin’s life. His life was spared but all else was taken from him and he was doomed to wander London with no means of support, no help. He reinvents himself as “The Tracker,” solving crimes and finding lost objects. It satisfies his keen sense of justice and honor and helps him do his personal penance for his act of treason. But he hasn’t left his presumption of nobility behind. He doesn’t belong on the mean streets where he makes his way but neither is he allowed at court. He is a man between, just trying to live day to day while still keeping his tattered honor in tact.

Cassy: I’m being totally swept away by your descriptions. Could you talk about what it's like to write from the male's perspective?

Jeri: I’ve always been more comfortable in the masculine mind, even as a kid playing games. Always a bit of tomboy and I never really lost that. But I find the male psyche fascinating, their motivations, their primal urges that propel their actions, particularly in this time period where they can vent their more violent urges in bloody warfare and the treatment of the lower classes. I am also intrigued by the whole “band of brothers” mystique that is unique to men. Women gather into close-knit groups but not in the same sense that men do when they are comrades in arms. I love it! It’s infinitely fascinating. Crispin is such a torn and angst-ridden character who still manages to keep his wry sense of humor. That’s a lot of fun to write.

Cassy: Two of your "Crispin" books are out and the third is in the hands of your editor. Writing a series is hard. What do you see as the pros and cons of working with the same characters across books?

Jeri: I started out writing historical novels that were standalones. I did that pretty much for ten years without getting published before I switched to mysteries. When I decided that a mystery was the way to go, I knew that it would have to be a series and I was a little intimidated, first by the prospect of writing a mystery which I thought was going to be difficult, and second by the idea of continuing to live with these characters in book after book. But once I got into it, I realized what a wonderful format it was. Basically, you are writing the biggest novel of all time! Since these days your characters have to change over time, there is a story arc playing throughout each successive book and more and more of the character’s backstory and future story can be revealed. And you don’t have to wrap it all up in 300 pages. You get to keep going! So I’m really loving living with these characters for book after book. We started with VEIL OF LIES and moved to the current book SERPENT IN THE THORNS. I’ve outlined what Crispin will do for the next fifteen books and the only downside would be if the publisher didn’t wish to continue to publish them. Now that I’ve got in my head where Crispin will be and what will happen, I want to tell that story, but it’s all a numbers game. So everyone, buy new books!

Cassy: Marketing our work is a major challenge at times. Do you have any strategies you'd like to share?

Jeri: Don’t wait until you have that contract to start networking or getting a website. Now more than ever, a web presence is vital to marketing yourself and your books. Have a website and start a dynamic blog. Even if you don’t have any writing credits, you have your own series, so find something in that to make it the theme of your blog. It’s your series. Own it. Become the expert. If it’s quilting, make it a quilting blog. If it’s procedural, make it a CSI blog. Anything to put you above the crowd. Interview interesting people and advertise it to all the connections you are making on Facebook and Twitter. Bring people to your blog and get them to know your name. And, of course, continue to write your excellent books. And don’t give up if the first one doesn’t sell. It might not. Jump into book number two as if it were book number one and keep writing. Nothing succeeds like perseverance. It took me fourteen years to get published and I’m not stopping now.

Cassy: Jeri, we can’t thank you enough for joining us today. Folks, bring it on. Jeri knows you have questions and is ready to respond. Isn’t this great? We are all in this together. Questions? Ideas? Techniques for getting it just right? We want to hear. And, Jeri the Queen of the 14^th Century, is standing by.

Thanks again to each of you for sharing this time with us. We love it.