My dad likes to watch British mysteries. On my last trip to Idaho, I wrote during the day. In the evening we watched old episodes of Poirot, based on Agatha Christie’s novels. I had never read any of Agatha Christie’s works. I was intrigued.
Mystery Inspired by Agatha Christie
From 1920 through 1973, Agatha Christie wrote 66 mystery novels, 14 short story collections, and plays, one of which is The Mousetrap, which is the world’s longest-running play. The Mousetrap has been performed continuously (except for Covid) since 1952. She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott.
Many of her works have been adapted for television, film (30 of them), radio, and the stage. She holds the honor of having the most translated works by a single author.
Okay, she is a big deal.
Veiled In Mist–a romance, but also a mystery
Veiled In Mist, my newest novella, is my Regency Romance nod of respect to the extraordinary Agatha Christie.
It didn’t start out that way. When I finished The Lies We Tell, the second full-length novel in the Illusions Series, I started right in on the third novel–The Masks We Wear, but I couldn’t get Lady Helen Ramsgate out of my mind. He father had been caught working with the local smuggling gang. Their family was in disgrace. She retreated to the Phoenix House to live in seclusion.
How could I just leave her there? So, I started writing a little romance for Helen.
For years, I have heard other writers talk about how their characters take over and want something different than they planned. I always thought those stories were flights of fancy, told for marketing purposes. It so happens that those stories are true. At least it has been true for me—every single time.
The girls of the Phoenix House, a school for reforming girls, wanted to tell scary stories on a stormy night. And the former occupants of the house—when it used to be The Hydra House, a gambling hell and brothel weren’t finished with their business there. Poor Lady Helen got pulled into their plots.
Suddenly my little romance novella took on elements of a mystery. I had to research closed circle or locked room mysteries and found Agatha Christie’s name again.
I don’t claim to be anything near the mystery writer that Christie was. However, I did sometimes feel her shade leaning over my shoulder as I tried my hand at weaving a little mystery into my romance.
I hope you enjoy reading my romance/mystery novella as much as I enjoyed writing it. Veiled In Mist, releases on Amazon (and Kindle Unlimited) this week.