Interview: Talking Cry of the Innocents at Crime Fiction Lover

The wonderful Garrick Webster interviews me about Sherlock Holmes: Cry of the Innocents at Crime Fiction Lover.

Here’s how the interview starts:

This is your second Sherlock Holmes mystery – what drew you to write stories featuring the great consulting detective?
I’m a sucker for Victoriana, and always have been. I came from a family that had a deep history with the Salvation Army, one that stretched all the way back to its early days. That meant I was brought up surrounded by Victorian-inspired iconography, from the uniforms, flags and terminology to the hugely-intimidating portraits of William Booth and his wife that used to hang in Salvation Army halls. I remember being taken to the old Salvation Army citadel in the middle of Bristol, this huge, imposing fortress of a building. It felt like stepping back in time, and I got the same feeling when I read Sherlock Holmes; a magical, almost otherworldly place, that was so very different to Britain in the late 70s, and yet strangely familiar.

Around the time, I picked up a children’s version of Hound of the Baskervilles, and, by complete coincidence, stumbled upon the Basil Rathbone film adaptation on TV a few days later. By the time the Jeremy Brett series came along I was hooked.

You can read more at Crime Fiction Lover.