Cambridge of the 1820s is not all lectures and prayers, as university constable Gregory Hardiman discovers in the pages of this intriguing Regency crime novel.
I have three obsessions in life: dodgy money, justice, and research. And I manage to unite the three by writing historical crime novels that focus particularly on financial crime. My interest in dodgy money is a legacy of twenty-five years spent working as an anti-money laundering consultant, and it was while I was working that I wrote my first novel – Fatal Forgery – based on the true story of a banker who stole from his own bank in London in 1824.
I had fully intended it to be my one and only novel. But I fell in love with the 1820s and with the constable who arrested the banker, and this eventually resulted in a series of seven “Sam Plank Mysteries” taking us up to the creation of the Metropolitan Police in 1829. By then I was well and truly hooked on writing historical crime stories, and now I am working on a new series.
It takes place – again – in the 1820s, but this time the books are set in my hometown of Cambridge and narrated by a university constable called Gregory Hardiman. I am older and wiser now and already know that there will be five books in this series, which means that I can plan much more carefully and can drip-feed information about the characters in a more measured manner.
Indeed, I have to be strict with myself and call time on the research so that I can actually do some writing, which I prefer to do in silence, at a keyboard, and in the morning. I would love to be one of those writers who can sit in the corner of a coffee shop and jot down notes in a fancy Moleskine, but sadly I am too distracted if I am out and about, and so I have to sit myself facing a wall, turn off the radio and just knuckle down.
My advice for new writers is two-fold: choose something you enjoy writing about (chasing the market to jump on the latest bandwagon is very difficult, and trends move so quickly it’s all but impossible to write a book in time) and then just stick at it (which is why you really have to enjoy it – otherwise it is sheer misery, plodding on with something that bores you). I cannot tell you how many people I meet who tell me that they have a good idea for a book, or some notes in a drawer – but unfortunately for them, the only way to write a book is to actually write a book.
You might be allowed to put forward some mitigation after the verdict, but you could not defend yourself – that was not put in place until the 1830s. Not the fairest of systems… And the second surprise is how enormously helpful people are when you ask about their specialist subject.
I have contacted all sorts of experts – on paddle-steamers, poisonous plants, university processions, musket injuries and more – and without fail, they have offered their information with enormous goodwill and generosity. So if you need to know about something, just ask an expert – and of course make sure you put them in the acknowledgements section of your book. Some of them are so thrilled that you are actually interested in their pet subject that they buy several copies of the book to prove to their family that they are not the only one interested in it!
Raising awareness of individual books is a constant battle in a very crowded marketplace, and I think the key is to find the promotional channel that plays to your strengths. I am not a great user of social media in my private life and so I find it an uphill struggle as an author.
But I do love talking about my books and the history and research behind them, and I enjoy meeting readers, so I choose to spend my promotional energy on giving talks to any group that invites me. I take along books to sell, and I encourage people to sign up to my free monthly e-newsletter so that they can hear about new books as they come out. I also make sure that my books are easy for people to buy, which means listing them on every sales platform, getting them into local bookshops, and offering them in multiple formats (paperback, e-books of various flavours, and audiobook).
I had no idea that I would end up as an author. And I still can’t imagine being about to – or indeed wanting to – write stories set in the modern age and pulled completely from my imagination. But give me an historical framework into which I can fit my characters and I am, as they would have said in the 1820s, quite nuts upon myself – or extremely pleased with life!
For twenty-five years I ran my own anti-money laundering consultancy, which gave me almost limitless opportunity to write about my very favourite subject: money laundering. And the obsession with understanding the mechanics and motivations of financial crime has only grown.I have spent years haunting the streets of Regency London, in the company of magistrates' constable Sam Plank. He is the narrator of my series of seven historical financial crime novels set in consecutive years in the 1820s - just before Victoria came to the throne, and in the policing period after the Bow Street Runners and before the Metropolitan Police.The fourth Sam Plank novel - "Portraits of Pretence" - was given the "Book of the Year 2017" award by influential book review website Discovering Diamonds. And the fifth - "Faith, Hope and Trickery" - was shortlisted for the Selfies Award 2019.My new series is the Cambridge Hardiman Mysteries, set in Cambridge in the 1820s and narrated by a university constable called Gregory Hardiman. Find out more at Susan's website https://susangrossey.com/ and find her on Facebook
I had no idea that I would end up as an author. And I still can’t imagine being about to – or indeed wanting to – write stories set in the modern age and pulled completely from my imagination. But give me an historical framework into which I can fit my characters and I am, as they would have said in the 1820s, quite nuts upon myself – or extremely pleased with life!
Susan Grossey
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